Sometimes I wonder if we’re secretly making things happen in the tech world. It seems like every time we complain about a product, it magically gets better in a few days. ;) Just last week I pulled the plug on my Zune, mainly because we didn’t see any anticipated new functionality or extensions of the current hardware. Lo and behold, the second coming of Zune is here and some of my personal qualms are rectified.
There’s new hardware of course, but I won’t focus on that because there isn’t much earth-shattering or game changing there. It’s the software and the experience that really get a boost. Your new (or old) Zune will now wirelessly sync automatically whenever docked or charging. That’s certainly a nice use of the wireless technology, but probably adds more value with podcasts rather than music. Folks don’t sych their music libraries that often; still, a nice feature. Even better in my book and something I clamored for out of the gate was the ability to watch recorded television on the Zune. Programming from Windows Media Center is now viewable and will sync over automatically, which is great.
I’ve read elsewhere that the new software supports H.264 playback, but I didn’t see that in the press release. If that’s true, it’s a nice bonus. I haven’t yet seen the new Zune music client, but that’s also reported to be better looking and more usable. The addition of a million non-DRM tracks is an equalizer in terms of iTunes and Amazon MP3, but I still think the Zune Pass subscription plan could be a huge advantage.
Again, I see most of this effort bringing the Zune platform near the iPod platform. It could exceed it with a WiFi store since only the newest iPods have that ability while every Zune could have it. Will I keep the Zune that I was going to eBay? I think I will… for now. Mainly, I want to work with the new features to get a feel for them and it would give me more reason to get Windows Media Center up and running again. There’s enough new features for me to stick with the platform for a few more months; perhaps we’ll see additional features sooner rather than later.
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