After synchronization completed, which took between 2 and 3 hours, my Zune is full with 5560 songs (my iTunes library - protected songs), 5628 pictures and 28 videos. I clearly have room to clean up. I don't need the majority of the pictures and videos.
Zune storage status under settings/about/storage.
Things I like so far:
- User interface. The user interface (UI) is based on the Windows XP Media Center UI and is actually better than the iPod UI (most reviewers think so and I agree). With Apple's historical claim that they have better UI designs (at least better looking), it is a coup for Microsoft to take the lead. Zune's UI is intuitive and pleasant to work with.
- Although some have reported instability with the Zune PC application, I have had no problems. Although the navigation is not as intuitive as it should be, connecting and disconnecting Zune is much easier and faster than with iTunes.
- The ability to have a custom background.
- Excellent screen size.
- The videos I created from my Tivo for the iPod work well.
- The photo show video I created in Adobe's Photoshop 5.0 works, although the stills are a little blurry. This hopefully is just an adjustment when I create the video.
Things that are missing or need work:
- No search capability. iPod has this on their latest iterations of the iPod.
- No clock. No one wears watches anymore, why would Microsoft have left out this feature.
- The WIFI sharing feature is getting lamer everyday. Now, Microsoft is admitting that the 3 play 3 day rule does not apply to all purchased music. It is up to the artist/publisher, so check the license before you buy. Come on...
- Blurry album art, this needs to be fixed.
- No digital camera adapter.
I will add to this list as I use Zune. This is a good first release and all the basics work well, but a lot more work is required to make Zune a real competitor.
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