Reviews for Microsoft Zune HPA-00001 80 GB Black Hard Drive Portable Media Player

Zune 2nd Generation 80GV Media Player

Strengths: Great Sound Quality and plenty of Storage

Weakness: Video Screen developed a bubble in the middle of the screen just weeks after receiving it.

Great Sound Quality and plenty of storage for all my music CD collection. The video developed a bubble in the screen weeks after I received the media player. Because of the issue with the screen bubbles I do not use for video.

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zune 80gb rocks, and kicks but against my ipod...

Strengths: beautiful huge screen, earphones, soundquality, user interface, fun to use, squircle, video quality

Weakness: battery slightly less better than ipod classic, software needs work, but software has nice interface

zune comparison vs ipod classic
ipod
has games which are fun,
and battery life is better
comes in silver

zune
bigger screen, better quality sound earphones much better than ipod. sound quality double better than ipod. looks sexier than ipod, video quality side by side comparison to ipod looks way way better.
zune is really fun to use and very easy to navigate through
and menu is faster than ipods menu

ipod may be slighty slimmer than zune but most people always carry in a case since it gets easily scratched so it defeats the purpose of it being slimmer. i like the zune because i never carry it in a case and it still looks like new.

zune is very durable i dropped my 20 backpack on it and not even one stractch on the screen- ofcourse it was an accident and i was so glad nothing happened to it.

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By member: zoglog - Dec 12, 2007

Great player with some of the most atrocious...

Strengths: Great Player w/ ample HD space, Great interface, Huge Screen, Wifi capability w/ wireless sync, Radio Tuner, Touchpad interface improvement, ZUNE originals!

Weakness: Horrendous software, Click Wheel is still a better interface

After using my 5th Generation iPod's screen stopped working just a little above 1 year (conveniently out of warranty) I decided that I didn't want to buy another apple product for my next mp3 player. The Zune 2 had just come out and the 80GB of space was quite appealing (upgrade from 30GB) and the player seemed rather improved from the first Bricky Zune. After testing the interface in the store and checking the size I was quite convinced this would be my next mp3 player. What really sealed the deal was the Zune Originals offer from MS that allowed you to laser etch a custom picture from a set # of artists onto the back of the player.

So I waited anxiously for my Zune (shipped direct from the factory in China). When it arrived the player was solid as expected and the interface was smooth..... And then everything went downhill from there. I started by simply installing the Zune software and when that was done I selected my music folders. First thing I noticed was that the ways to manipulate the sorting were incredibly limited compared to ITunes. You couldn't sort by priorities (like Album> Artist). So I either had to choose between browsing artists (where the albums would be scatted around) or by album (where the artists were scattered throughout the whole list). To top things off in browse mode, things are jumbled in the album view where it splinters off albums if you have various artists or feat. artists in a single album... Not great. Of course this could be overcome by a simple search right? Nope... the search function is horrible and non-interactive. It's not even close to as smooth as the itunes search and from the search page you cannot sync songs directly from there. Either way it makes organizing any collection a complete pain. Second off the Zune doesn't double as a portable HD if you need it while the Ipod does. And third, I often bring my mp3 player to work to play music on my PC (since my work PC has limited HD Space). For some obscure reason the Zune software does not play songs directly off your Zune unless you copy them to your HD collection first (defeating the purpose of doing it in the first place).

It really upsets me that Microsoft had a great chance to take a customer away from Apple's Ipod reign and completely screwed it up with horrible software. I wanted to enjoy the zune but it's just been a miserable experience so far that I can't recommend to anyone (esp since it's about the same price as the ipod classic). Sure, things might improve in the future and the software might be updated, but I wouldn't buy this player and bank on that. I'm even tempted now to sell my Zune at a loss on ebay and go buy another iPod so I can use Itunes again (which I don't particularly like all that much to begin with). I could go on about the positive aspects like the wireless sync and the social aspect, but really it's all just overshadowed by pure un-useability..... It's sad how they didn't even get the fundamentals correct with the software. Here's to hopping for an improvement (and I'll update my review if one comes).

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Reply by member: QrafTee
Jan 5, 2008

You make bad references to the Zune's Browse function and compare it to iTunes... which is similar to Zune's List function. Have you tried using List as opposed to Browse? And where do you work; why do they allow you to listen to music on your PC (as opposed to privately... wait should you be listening to music while you're on the clock?); and how little are you willing to sell your Zune 80 for? ;-)

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Reply by member: zoglog
Jan 17, 2008

2 months since the Zune 2 was released and still no viable software updates. It's starting to appear that Microsoft doesn't care about catching up in market share or keeping new users. I sure wish I bought my Zune off Amazon, because then I could have returned it and bought a player with software that actually worked properly.

Attached is a lovely picture of how the retarded Zune software splits up compilation albums into individual albums based off artists. Sorry microsoft, splitting my "top 100 songs of 2006" album into 100 different ones is NOT how people browse music.

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Best mp3 Player I've Ever Used

Strengths: Huge Screen. Easy Navigation. Lots of Space. Great Design. Radio.

Weakness: None worth mentioning.

This is hands down the best mp3 player I have ever used. Before this I had an ipod 60GB (5th gen). I had so many problems with that ipod I had no choice but to get rid of it. The zune 80GB is easy to use and the user interface is just great. No freezing problems like that ipod I had. The radio feature is a great added bonus. It's easily the best player on the market right now. Highly recommended.

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Zune 80 GB Black

Strengths: You can share music with other Zunes unlike other mp3's. The screen is 3.2" big and that makes watching videos much more clearer and visual.

Weakness: There aren't any weaknesses based on my opinion. The Zune 80 gb has everything I wanted: Video, larger screen, more space (80 Gb!!), FM radio. No weaknesses!!!!

The Zune 80 gb is by far the best mp3 player that I have purchased and used. I always hated the Ipod's. Never got the hang of the buttons. The buttons on the Zune are much more easier to use and flip through videos, music, photos, the radio, and much more! There is so much demand for this product that it is out of stock everywhere. I am very fortunate to have gotten my hands on one and making everyone else around me jealous lol. I love the screen setup. You can flip through videos, music, radio, photos in a flash. The player does not freeze or slow down like my other mp3 players did (Zen). This will make life much more interesting while traveling to work by train everyday! Get your hands on these gadgets as the price and quality is worth it! about time something will hopefully outbeat the ipod!
Overall I give the Zen 80 gb an A+. Sound quality an A. Video an A. Pictures an A+. This is clearly better then the ipod. Hope this review helps!!!

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Zune 80GB

Strengths: Compact, compared to Creative Zen Touch 60GB with video. Easy to use product interface.

Weakness: Zune software is weak. Poor searching compared to others. No way to make separate folders or categories that I've found.

I've had my Zune since the beginning of December. It replaced a Creative Zen Touch 60GB that also had video abilities. Unfortunately the Zen broke after about a year and 1/2.
I had the Zune software installed in advance of getting my unit. It worked fine for the first couple of days, then it stopped recognizing the Zune except over the wireless network. After a number of uninstall/reinstall cycles that included using a couple of registry cleaners to get everything I was able to get the PC to recognize the unit was plugged in, but not the software. I eventually crashed my PC and had to reinstall XP but I had a couple of minor issues before the Zune so it was not totally unexpected. Since reinstalling XP and the Zune software it is working fine except I have to start the SW manually, it doesn't always start when I plug in the Zune.
I've had 4 40GB+ Creative units and only one is still functioning. The oldest one probably just needs a new battery but has no video. I liked some features of the Creative units that MS could probably add easily. I could delete files anytime, the Zune has to be docked. I could create different categories or sub-folders for video. I've not found a way to do that on the Zune yet. The Creative would also allow you to bookmark long MP3 files like books, the Zune will not. It does remember where you stopped a video and will resume from the same point.
The Zune will also play the Apple MV4 video format. I'm still experimenting with different formats on the Zune but so far the MV4 seems to convert faster and play most reliably, but I need to try more. I'd like to have files that are still compatible with the Creative products since I got my wife the Zen 8GB on sale last weekend as a Christmas present. I don't want to have to use too much disc space on my PC's storing the same files in 2 formats.

Overall I recommend the Zune to anyone who wants a bigger screen than the iPod offers. It's certainly a much more attractive unit than the original 30GB Zune.

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Zune 2nd Generation 80GB Media Player - Black

Strengths: Good Battery Life, Video Screen Size, WiFi abilities, Works with Xbox 360, Radio

Weakness: Can't play AVI files, Zune Software isn't very good compared to Itunes, no equalizer

Let me preface this review by stating that I've owned Ipods for about 6 years prior to getting the Zune as a gift. As far as a music player, the Zune isn't really any upgrade over the the Ipod. The Zune shines though in watching movies in comparison to the Ipod Classic and also allows you to watch movies on the Xbox 360 when hooked up via USB. The 80GB drive is more than large enough to hold my collection of movies and music. The headphones that come with the player are a big upgrade of what comes with the Ipod, but still not as good as my Shure e2c ear buds.

My single biggest complaint is that the Zune Software. It doesn't have nearly the flexibility in column headings as Itunes and its more difficult to modify the information on the song (i.e. Artist name, Album name, etc.). If Microsoft can upgrade the software application (just copy Itunes and be done with it), I think they'll have a real winner on their hands.

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The Zune 80 is very fun to use!!

Strengths: screen is awesome, scroll wheel is so fun to use, design, quality of headphones, sound quality of music, share music wirelessly

Weakness: their aren't any weaknesses with the device itself-because it's great, but the software could use some small tweeks to make it more efficient.

i have both the ipod 80gb classic and the new 80gb zune.

ipod advantages over zune
-itunes is a bit better than zune markerketplace
-battery life
-has extras like clock timer and games(which i love)
-ipod is only a bit slimmer than zune-but this does'nt count for me bcuz you have to definetly get a case for the ipod so it does'nt scratch- so they end up being the same size.

zune advantages over ipod
-screen( i luv watching movies on this thing- and they look 10x better than on the ipod screen)
-user friendly interface(my 40 year old mom things the zune is way easier to use) and it's and fun to use the zune
-zune pad is better than and funner to use than ipod clickwheel.
-radio
-video output through headphone jack unlike the ipod which you have to buy like a 50+dock to view ipod movies through tv. for the zune to watch on tv i only paid 10 for av jack.
-zune also has a very sleek cool design and won't get scratch easily like ipod chrome back which got some scratches despite always having it in a case


in the end i love my zune so much more-im 16 by the way
also me and my friend share music wirelessly in school- so you can listen to each song that you get from them 3x then it expires- who cares though it's still very cool. you can any pictures from them forever and also keep podcasts forever.

also in cnet it is the top mp3 player and ipod classic does'nt even make the top five. the ipod nano is in 4th place but not the 80gb ipod classic

by the all of my friends are impressed with my new zune. and one of my friends when i told her that i got a zune she's like -eww you got a zune why? ipod is so much better. then i said well have you even used one -then i let her use it at the end of it she loved the wheel and she said- screw the ipod this is better

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GREAT!

Strengths: build quality storage space large screen

Weakness: none so far

This Zune is awesome. I've owned "other" mp3 players before but this is by far the best. The large screen is great. The quality of the earbuds is better than others. It feels nice and sturdy and well made. I don't have any of the add-ons yet, but hope to get some.
The software takes a little getting used to, but once you understand it, it's not bad.
This 2nd generation Zune is much better than the original. If Microsoft could just update their software a little, this would be the ultimate mp3 player. Personally I feel it's better than the ipod.

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Great player!

Strengths: Screen size, soft feel, user interface, video formats supported, FM radio, wireless sync, light weight

Weakness: Does not double as hard drive.

A great little player. I love the color and feel of the player and the large screen is beautiful. I had the 30GB and love the interface of the Zune.

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Zune 2nd Generation 80gb Media Player

Strengths: functional and easy to use device

Weakness: wish it has touch screen features

I am pleasantly surprised by the new zune. it is aesthetically a beautiful device. the new device is thin and smaller versus its predecessor. it surely can rival the ipod for marketshare in the any consumers' minds. the apple ipod better watch out.

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Microsoft Zune (second generation, 80GB, black)

THE GOOD: The 80GB Microsoft Zune MP3 player features a 3.2-inch glass LCD; a user-friendly interface; exceptional navigation control; audio and video podcast support; a superlative FM radio with RBDS information; wireless syncing and sharing; high-quality earphones; revamped Zune Marketplace PC software; Zune Pass subscription music support; good audio quality; and a built-in composite-video...

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ReviewGist for Microsoft Zune 2nd Generation 80GB Media Player - Black

Audio is Good according to 16 MP3 Player experts. -- "The Zunes audio sounds quite nice, too, on a par with that of the latest iPods and Creative players."-pcworld.com -- "Good sound"-stuff.tv -- "The included earbuds provide a secure fit and a decent amount of low-end sound"-pcmag.com Read more to find expert opinions on more features like Interface, Battery, Image, etc.

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Microsoft Zune 80 | Black

The Zune 80 is part of Microsofts second generation of media players that compete with Apples iPods; the Zune 80 competing directly with the iPod Classic. With the second generation of products Microsoft is refining the Zune experience expanding the WiFi sharing capabilities, and file format support. The hardware is also updated with a larger screen and a touch sensitive pad that can be used for...

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Microsoft Zune 80GB

Testseek.com has collected 26 expert reviews for Microsoft Zune 80GB and the average expert rating is 81 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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Zune Second Generation 80GB

Zune Second Generation 80GB receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 3.17 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #8 hard drive MP3 player of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer features, market value, and a...

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Zune 2 80GB

Zune 80 is one of Microsoft’s second generation portable video and audio players; also referred to as “Zune 2.” I have been really excited about Zune 2 because of the numerous articles online that praised it, pointing out the new and improved features, and saying that it was a big improvement over the first generation Zune. So, when Microsoft finally announced that they were going to...

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2nd Gen Zune better than the 1st?

For uncompromised portable video and audio playback, Zune 80GB combines a beautiful 3.2-inch screen, touch controls, wireless capabilities and premium headphones with storage for up to 20,000 songs, 25,000 pictures or 250 hours of video.

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