A Preview of Microsoft's Zune HD MP3 Player

Microsoft's previous Zune MP3 players failed to succeed commercially even though they were good products that many swear by. The iPod simply was too popular for the Zune player to catch up to it. Microsoft is trying to challenge the iPod Touch's head start and runaway success with the Zune HD. Set to release September 15, 2009 the Zune HD is looking promising.

The biggest feature the Zune HD has is its 3.3 inch OLED touch screen, this allows it to show an extremely crisp picture, while providing a long battery life. Much like the iPod Touch, this touch screen supports multiple touches at a time and also features an accelerometer. The Zune HD can play thirty three hours of music, or eight and a half of video without needing to be charged. This is very impressive for a device that has a relatively small battery.

Another big feature is the Nvidia Tegra processor that the Zune HD uses. This processor allows HD video to be played back without draining the battery, and also sports numerous other features to help boost battery life. This processor is what makes it possible for the Zune HD to output 720P video to HD capable screens.

Microsoft is also including an HD radio receiver that will get FM radio at CD quality and AM radio at FM quality. The HD radio allows users to tag songs for purchase later. The Zune HD is also going to include a web browser and app store. I had the privilege of handling this device at a preview event and the web browser seemed to work very well, although I wasn't able to get a look at the app store.

The interface of the Zune HD is very easy to use, and very well designed. Every section of the Zune HD is easily accessible with a few swipes of your fingers. Each section of the Zune HD is also uniquely designed to provide a very aesthetically pleasing effect.

The look and feel of the Zune HD has been vastly improved over previous models. Smaller than the size of your hand and weighing in at 2.6 ounces the Zune HD really has a good feel in your hand, it feels compact and weighty. The price is right for this model of the Zune HD too. The 32 GB model is priced $100 cheaper than the 32 GB model of the iPod Touch. The 16 GB version is also $50 cheaper than the similar iPod Touch.

Microsoft is looking to score big with the Zune HD, and after looking at the features and the price they may have a winner.

Sources:
gizmodo.com/5298206/confirmed-zune-hd-rocks-the-nvidia-tegra
www.zunethoughts.com/news/show/94804/the-official-zune-hd-specifications.html