New Zune review (part 2): upgrade, hardware, software and Social

New Zune2 review (part 2-1): upgrade, hardware, software and Social

Posted Nov 18th 2007 3:21PM by Ryan Block from:http://www.engadget.com
Gallery: Zune 2.0 update, comparison WiFi sync Wireless sync is a welcome addition, and definitely something we wish more portable media did, no doubt. You can't set it up without plugging in though, but the process was fairly painless, and the system supports almost all kinds of WiFi encryption. Just like turning wireless on and off, though, we wish it wasn't buried two menus deep. Another new nicety is the now playing screen, which builds up a tiled background based from your album art. Zune Marketplace hasn't undergone too many changes, except that it's a little less visually overwhelming than before, making browsing a little easier. And instead of the semi-vague way Apple tags iTunes Plus tracks, just expecting everyone to know what that even means, DRM-free tracks in the Marketplace are simply marked MP3 -- a lot more to the point, and appreciated. Podcasting The other notable additions to the software tie into other new services: Podcasting and Zune Social. Podcasting is as simple as you'd expect: search for your podcast (or browse by topic / genre), then add it to your subscription list and download recent episodes. The only real issue we saw here was that this podcast directory was missing a lot of images, and plenty of shows aren't yet filled in. Of course, that will get better with time. As for the Zune Social integration with the desktop app, well, there isn't much. Microsoft obviously wants to make the Zune Social a web-based experience, so besides seeing incoming messages from other Zune users, everything is funneled to the Zune Social site.

Zune Social The big story this week was that J Allard and his crew want to integrate Microsoft's device-centric services, like Xbox Live and Zune Social, into something a little more cohesive. If you've given Zune Social a shot and know a thing or two about Xbox Live, this won't surprise you at all. Zune Social is Xbox Live re-envisioned for a browser instead of a console, with music replacing games. Ok, maybe that doesn't sound very similar at all, but the touches are all over it. If you use the same Windows Live ID as your Xbox Live account, your Zune Social account will come pre-populated with your Xbox Live friends. And the same as Live, you can see what those friends are doing (in the form of recently listened to tracks), send messages, show off your favorite and recently listened to music, and so on It's not without issues, though. It's irritating that the one cross-platform aspect of the Zune experience -- the social music site -- works for crap in Firefox. (We didn't even try it in Safari or Konqueror or anything else.) The Flash interface loads all wonky like and the audio didn't always play. Also, when we listened to music on our device and synced back to the software, nothing changed over on our profile -- which was kind of the whole point of Zune Social, right? Oh, and what's with the fact that you can't actually use the word "Zune" in your user status? Zune Social is a fine novelty and diversion, and might one day make a compelling extension to Zune -- especially when you can do things with Zune Social FROM your Zune device, and not just a desktop -- but for music nerds it just won't replace or even really expand on powerful discovery sites we like to use to find new artists, like RCRD LBL, Hype Machine, and Critical Metrics.

Wrap-up The market leader takes it from all sides, and this year's Zune fixes many of the problems the first Zune suffered -- meaning those waiting on the sidelines for the Zune to improve will want to take a second look. But in many regards, a lot of these upgrades -- like H.264 and MPEG-4 support -- could (and should) have been rolled out much sooner to make the first Zunes more attractive over the course of the last year. There just wasn't any need to make first-gen users wait for second-gen hardware to get something as basic as podcasting support. And given the ever-so-minor tweaks to the UI, we just get the general feeling of Zune 1.5 -- not 2.0. The statement we think they're trying to make, though, is that between the interface and hardware, which got decent (but not drastic) upgrades, and the overhauled and rewritten software, Microsoft is on track to what the Zune team probably originally envisioned for the product. The only problem? This product isn't ahead of the curve, and consumer expectations aren't the same as they were when the product launched last year. You don't get ahead by playing catch-up. Granted, there are numerous things the Zune can do that the iPod can't -- just like the iPod does numerous things the Zune can't. (And don't even get us started about players like the View, which can be had for less than a Zune 8 or an 8GB iPod nano, yet has twice the capacity.) But we don't see the peripheral features on either side like WiFi song sharing or games as being key differentiators; as everyone and their mother (literally) gets a portable media device, it's becoming a matter of familiarity, and the fact is that statistically most people are familiar with using an iPod. The same familiarity that keeps the hordes of mainstream users from making any drastic changes to their technology habits will keep them from tossing in the iPod / iTunes towel so quickly. What that means for Zune is that if Microsoft wants to take some chunks -- not chips -- out of Apple's market share, they're going to have to out-iPod the iPod. They have to come up with truly compelling reasons to change. Now it's not just about having a nano killer, it's about having a touch killer and an iPhone killer too, since those devices are selling like hotcakes and pumping up the iBrand. While we've got to give it to Microsoft for not losing vision on the Zune and doing their best to master the basics, the reality is that the vertically-integrated media player game is one Apple's been playing since 2001, and any competitor, be it MSFT, SanDisk, iriver, or whomever, are really going to have to pull out all the stops if they want to thin that lead. A game-changing device is not what we feel we've got in Zune 2.0. So as we said before: same place, same time in late 2008? Bring your A-game, Zune, and we'll be read.
New Zune review part 2-1 New Zune review part 2-2 New Zune review part 2-3 New Zune review part 2-4