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After the initial scare from the Fedex I have finally received my Microsoft ZUNE 30GB Video player… Lets take a quick look at the player and its functions….

Qucik Details about the Product

The Product :Microsoft Zune 30GB
Product URL : Zune 30
Technical Details : Zune 30 Tech Specs
Price : Not available in India !!

The Packaging

The Package contains bellow items.

• The Quick Start Guide
• The software CD
• A velvet pouch for the Zune Player
• The Zune Player
• USB dock cable
• Earphone

Installation

As per as the manual its pretty straight forward…. Insert the software installation CD in the computer, start the installation, wait for the wizard to prompt you to connect the device and walla !!! start using it…

But the reality was far from that !!!

My system, E6600 / ASUS P5N-E SLi / 4 GB DDR-II / 8600 GT 256MB, in which I run Windows Vista x64 Ultimate…

I followed the start guide, installation from the given CD went fine till when it asked me to connect the Zune with computer via USB… I found, I had hit a major bump… Windows was unable to find or install drivers for the player….

For a non technical user, it would had been end of happiness as no clue was there why the installation failed….but as soon as I browsed the CD content, as a pro user it had struck me that only x86 version of Zune software was given in the CD…. I feel the Installation wizard should have been detected the OS version and informed the user about the version incompatibility…

Though having said that I would also add its quite expected that most of the users will be on Windows x86 platform…

Zune web site did clarify that one would need different version of Zune software for Windows x64 platform…

Download Zune x64 Software

Installation of the Zune software was once again pretty straight forward, as expected now days, totally unattended…. One would need live Internet connection to continue the installation as it would download quite a few updates before it would continue the installation…

One thing to notice was the slowness of Microsoft update server… it took really long (about 2 hours) for the Zune software to obtain 35MB update for it self using my 2 mbps connection….

How ever as soon as I connected the zune player to the system, this time around windows was able to detect and install drivers for the device…

Good thing to watch was Zune software it self prompt to update the firmware to the available latest version…

and once again I found that slow MS server it tool a lot of time to download the update….

One may watch this bellow youtube video on updating the firmware of the product… its exactly the same in my case too…

Watch the youtube video…

After the final reboot the Zune now was ready for use !!!

The Interface

The OSD Interface :

Good to see a straight forward OSD (On Screen Display) interface which will seem easy for all age group and technical or non technical users… Basic functions are really easy to access and operate !!! So it will get a plus point here from me….. !!!

One big negative point is there is no on screen clock… I feel there should have been a OSD clock… I would hope Microsoft includes a clock modules as soon as possible…

The Computer Operation :

I wont say that computer interface for the Zune software is easy for non Tech users, even I share the same idea for iTunes also… The Zune interface shares few common factors with iTunes… A lot of Drag and drop can be found where at Zune interface….

Once you know the basic, which is Creating one Play list and simple drag and drop the music / pictures / movie files in it… Next you just connect the Zune and hit Synchronize button either at PC (in the Zune software) or in the Zune Player it self… All media files will get copied in it..

Player Performance :

To start with I would say Radio is great… Auto scanner works really cool and the receiver is also remarkably strong…

The Ear phone which came with the Zune is some what pretty uncomfortable… However sound quality is as good as it is expected from a product like Zune…

One major negative point I would say is lack of support to xvid / divx format !!! Though it would support MP4 / WMA but still I would say xvid is necessary for this line up… For an advance user finding an one click converting software like ImToo is not a big deal and with Core 2 Duo and X2 type high performance processors around converting the video its self has became really easy job…. How ever I would also add that a converter application (even its a paid one provided on trail) should have been bundled to over come the lack of format support…

I liked the Multi Tasking, meaning it would continue to play the Radio or the MP3 while you can enjoy your picture slide show !!!

What I really miss the Blue tooth… Product in this range should have an opiton for blue tooth too for users like me who would like to use blue tooth headsets for complete mobility… Once again I consider this as a major negative point for the device…

Battery Performance :

The player is suppose to provide upto 14 hours of playback time with Audio and Wifi Off.. and 4 hours of video with wifi off…

I took near about 3 hours to show its fully charged and I stared using after the full charge…

I played with the device the large 3″ display was on most of the time… I played radio and MP3 but I played some video too… But after 6 hours of wrestling with it I was really feeling the pain in my ears so I thought of give up as the battery still was showing about 40 % remaining !!! So not a bad performance….

Verdict Time

Pros that I found… Off course they are my personal opinion…

• OSD Interface is really easy for all…
• Good Battery Backup !!
• Nice Mat finish design !! It feels good to hold the device in your hand…

Few cons which I really think MS should over come as soon as possible…

• Needs Blue tooth support
• Default ear phone is one real unconformable one…
• Xvid / Dvix Support is one must
• A converter application should have been bundle…

Over all I would say some how MS failed to generate the hype like iPod or iPhone as its not a bad product either… I would hope Zune comes to India soon and with some aggressive pricing it certainly has the potential to do good !!!