I got my hands on a Zune yesterday thanks to some friends at Microsoft who showed me the device and how it worked with audio and video content. The first thing I noticed about the Zune was its gorgeous screen. It’s considerably larger than the screen on my iPod video, especially in landscape mode. I suspect that at $249 it will really take a bite out of the current portable video player market served by iRiver, Creative and Archos. Another thing I noticed was how much Microsoft has tried to make iPod owners feel at home with the smooth and curvy edges. In the hand, it feels like an iPod video but thicker and a bit longer. The navigation “wheel” works well but isn’t as intuitive as the iPod. It was easier to select a single song or video within a small list, but wasn’t as quick moving down a larger list of the same. The iPod is great in getting into the neighborhood of the song I want from within a long list but selecting the exact song still takes a bit of thumb finesse that I can’t seem to pull off consistently.
Will the Zune steal market share from Apple’s iPod? I don’t think it will. The wireless sharing of songs sounds like a cool feature but will only work if your friends also own one. All my friends (with the exception of one who owns the ghetto iRiver) have iPods. I guess for the kid who wants to be different maybe the Zune will fill the bill. But I don’t see it making much of a splash because it doesn’t do anything a lot more compelling than what the iPod can do and it’s not as easy to use. But I have to admit that I was quite impressed with the device. For a first gen product it feels quite polished and Microsoft is smart to price it competitively. Maybe it will appeal to the Microsoft fanboys or those who are sick and tired of the ubiquitous iPod.
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