Bought a New Zune HD

There has been a bit of talk lately about Microsoft discontinuing the Zune hardware. I hope they don’t. Although they have not been on sale in Europe I’ve been using the devices pretty much since they came out.

The Zune HD was released a little while back and is a truly lovely device.  I’ve played with iPods and other music players, but I prefer the sound of the Zune device, and really like the user interface. I can also use the lovely Zune Pass to get all I can eat music for nine quid a month.

The other thing about the Zune that I like is that it doesn’t seem to age.  I’ve got a first generation device and it looks pretty much like it did when I bought it. My iPod on the other hand looks somewhat battle scarred.

Some Apple products seem designed to age badly. The ultra-shiny backs really attract scratches and drive someone like me, who is somewhat obsessive about keeping his stuff looking new, up the wall. They also don’t get the same software support when they grow old.  My iPod can’t do lots of things simply because Apple don’t release firmware upgrades for it. In contrast my early Zunes can do everything the brand new ones can, because they have been upgradable all the time.

I’ve just managed to pick up a 64G Zune at a very good price for such a capacious best. It looks lovely and works a treat. If you are looking for a music player with really good sound quality and a nice user interface you could do a lot worse.

Comments

[RoguePlanetoid]

Everyone who has seen my Zune HD (32 GB) has always commented on it being good - I still use mine for listening to music, even though I have a Windows Phone now!
Wish I had the 64GB version, it didn't exist when I got mine though - did get it via Zune Originals in Red however!

[Arjun Taheem]

I loved the UI for zune and its one of the reasons why i wanted a windows phone device. I think the actual pc software is much better than itunes as well. Its just kinda annoying that last.fm scrobbling isnt supported with windows phone. I would probably use it all the time if that was the case.

[John Harrison]

What model of iPod are you using? I've not seen a model of iPod/iPhone that Apple haven't supported for at least 3 years with firmware updates.

[Rob]

it is the 160G large one. "Upgraded" by Apple to the 120 Classic a month after I bought it (just as their Genius thing came in that would have been really useful on a machine with lots of space). Steadfastly refuses to upgrade.