New Tech Product Review: Microsoft's Zune

Zune, the newest release in the MP3 market, appears to have a bright future. With its release earlier this year, it gained high exposure right out the gate. Can Zune compete in an I-Pod dominated market or will it fall to the wayside like so many other MP3 players.

Zune, made by the Microsoft corporation, was released and was a completely new idea for Microsoft who had those far not tapped into the MP3 market. Zune came out strong and newbie users seem to love it. But for those people who already had an I-Pod, the Zune just doesn't meet the I-Pod's superior quality.

The hard drive device comes in white, black or brown and integrates wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing technology. Users gave the player good ratings in user interface, integration with the Zune marketplace, and playback performance. The basics of the player include a 30 GB hard drive at $249.99 so price wise it is compatible with the I-Pod. To the disappointment of many, the player will not play many of the songs obtained from services like Napster and Urge. Subscription tracks from those services will not play either. The Zune marketplace subscription is $14.99 per month if you are looking for a suitable replacement to the other services.

While the player is similar to many others on the market, it does have some features that are unique. The player includes music, video and photo playback, has an FM radio tuner and has a Wi-Fi chip. The Wi-Fi- chip enables users to share music and photo files but not video. Playback of the photo files is unlimited but the music files are limited to three plays of a song within three days. The Wi-Fi chip at this point will only allow for transfers within a very close proximity (like the same room).

The packaging of the Zune is minimal but unique. The package comes with the player, earphones, a USB cable, suede case, software CD, usage guide and a sticker. While the contents remain minimal, the introductory experience is done nicely.

Future upgrades are rumored to include upgrades to the Wi-Fi chip, the ability to purchase music wirelessly through the player, and the ability to share music worldwide.

The player appears to be a bit more durable then previous players on the market and the body is fingerprint-proof. The controls, which at first glance look the same as an I-Pod's are not, but are a d-pad control, which makes usage a bit more difficult until one adapts to the control.

The FM radio interface is minimal but simple to use. It features a line with the station numbers listed above it. While there is no scan, you can put the system in auto-scan mode and flip through the channels. For some channels there is a listing of the genre, song and artist.

Overall, the Zune is a well-designed, portable music player and it looks like, with a few improvements by Microsoft, this player can have a very bright future. If version 1 of the player does not long good to you, you can always wait for version 2 or 3 or 4, which we are sure to see in the future.