Zune at the 6 month mark — it still sucks
This Wednesday it’s been six months since the Zune launched was announced in North America (and four months since launch), and I’m sorry to say it still sucks. What can I say, I was really hopeful. The one message Microsoft tried to get across to me at the launch was: “It’s a work in progress. We know it’s not there yet, but it’ll get better. We’ll add more features, and this will be the device people want it to be because we’re listening to our customers.” Nothing has changed, nothing has improved since the Zune launched, no new features have been added, and it’s still buggy as hell. Let’s take a look back at a couple of highlights of the last six months of Zuneitude, shall we?
Zune sharing restrictions come to light
Still no European release (don’t worry, you’re not missing much)
Bug fixes due for firmware 1.3… but it’s still not out yet
Possible potential patent infringement on doubleshot
Cracked screen rumor
I still can’t sync my device properly, my Zune software still crashes on updates, and it’s still unbelievably frustrating to use. (Yeah, I took the above screenshot today.) I stand by my Zune review, and I stand by my initial impressions of suckiness. I’m over the “first generation fire and forget” method, and I’m definitely over the fact that the portable media player market is almost a decade old, and still no one has made a device to rival the long-deceased Rio Karma.
Co-founder of 
Long deceased for some Ryan but mine is still chugging along :-) I would however replace it if only something better was to come out.
[...] The conclusion is: Zune at the 6 month mark — it still sucks [...]
Hmm. The laughing people in the back of the error message could be interpreted as in pain? Yep. Kinda fits the picture.
My Zune plays music and videos just fine, I’m not sure exactly what you would consider to be better?
I’m not under any conception that there’s something better — I think the market effectively flatlined when Rio died. There’s been minor bits of innovation, but nothing groundbreaking. Seriously, why is it so hard to get these guys to use free and open codecs like FLAC and OGG, too?
Microsoft/Apple would push their own tech because they spent so much developing it. For everyone else, Creative, IRiver, Cowen, its marketing. Currently there are not good music stores for ogg/flac, and a player without a service integration is not marketable. Plus, how much would it cost to configure and test ogg/flac to ensure quality when the audience is so small. Just because the codec is free, doesn’t mean the manufacturer can add it at no cost.
I’m not sure how much component costs are for a versatile decoder and DSP, but I don’t have any reason to believe it’s not a nominal cost. Either way, it’s not just about FLAC/OGG, it’s about innovation and pushing the envelope in design, interface, usability, etc.; I’d sayonly iRiver’s newer devices (namely the clix 2) and some Cowon devices are developing on a decent arc, but even their players are often riddled with issues.
You asked what I’d consider better, and I’d say not much. With a select few other devices, the Zune stands at or near the top of a huge market of stagnant desperately in need of some innovation that isn’t just a color screen, album art, and DRM support.
Minor point: it was released on Nov 14, 2006… so it has been 4 months since release, not six. :)
I’ve had a good experience with mine – and if I’m forced to watch Spider-Man 2 on my next flight, I’d pick Zune over my video iPod anyday.
It certainly isn’t perfect, and I hope it improves over time. But it stands up well in my experience with the HDD iPods – despite the conventional blogowisdom.
Ah, thanks! Good point, updated on the dates.
Yes, the 3-inch screen is pretty decent for watching movies, but the Zune makes a pretty poor distance traveler. The WMV-only codec support is the real killer there though. How many WMV videos does the average person have? I have precisely none in my sizeable media collection!
For video on the go I’ll take the Cowon A2 any day. It’s pretty big, but damned if that thing doesn’t play 10-15 hours of video on a single charge (which is absolutely amazing), and support a decent (although far from perfect) list of codecs.
The original MS press release proudly touted the Zune would be at 30,000 retail stores … with RoughDrafted guessing sales at around 30,000, that’s a whopping sale of ONE per store …
That background photo is just disturbing…
I still have my old rio karma. Anyone know a fix for the “failed to transfer” bug? It has been collecting dust for quite some time because of it.
if so email it to me at insertmynamehere@hotmail.com