My adventures with the Zune...

    Well I managed to pick up a Refurbished 30 gig Zune (Black...not the Brown) for $99 off of woot.com.  As a player, it's not so bad.  It's about the same size as my 80 gig ipod, perhaps a tad lighter.  I must admit, the bigger screen is nice.  The interface and controls on the unit are easy to understand (I still like the scroll wheel on the ipod better).  My biggest rant is the software that comes with it.  It wants to be like iTunes, but it's not as good.  It immediately started to grab music and pics from my documents as well as a separate music folder I have on my hard drive.  I wish it would of prompted me 1st.  On top of that it automatically started syncing with the player.  This probably make since for the average user, but again, I wish it would of prompted me first.  Also, the menu structure took me a minute to figure out.  Mind you, I never read the manual before hand, but I'm not even sure I saw a manual for the software.  Yes, I know Apple makes you download the software, but CD with the Zune fakes it way to allowing you to think you are saving a step.  During the install from the CD, it went ahead and downloaded an upgraded version of the software, and like itunes, it checks and upgrade your firmware on the device. 

    Playing around with it for the last two days, I'm starting to get use to it.  I'm probably prejudice since I'm been using itunes for over a year. So, will this replace my ipod?  Heck no, but that's not why I bought it.  It doesn't have built in podcast support (yet), nor does the unit have the extras on the ipod that I use - contacts (via vcards), calendar, games (sudoku & texas hold'em).  And I haven't found a better integration when it comes to podcasts as itunes. This is a big deal breaker for me due to the fact I spend more time listening to podcasts than my music.  I am curious to see what watching videos will be like on the Zune.  Currently I have some various episodes of House and NCIS on my ipod.  The screen on it is ok to watch tv, not sure about movies, however, I bought a cheap tv cable for the ipod for 5 bucks off of e-bay and it works great that way.  I also have the camera adapter for my ipod that alows me to download photos right from the camera.  This is nice when I'm traveling and I don't want to bring my laptop.  Back to the Zune...besides the software that came with it, I think it will serve it's purpose well as a secondary player that I can use at work.  Again, for $99 bucks, it was a steal!