Why does the Zune HD have the message “For our Princess” inside of the case?(blogs.msdn.microsoft.com) |
Why does the Zune HD have the message “For our Princess” inside of the case?(blogs.msdn.microsoft.com) |
BUT! Zune was great. I had the zune app with spotify-style music subscription before spotify was a thing.
The Zune software was really pretty and nice, and you could plug your zune into your computer and it would act as an external hard drive without fighting with it.
The Zune HD was a decent music player, don't get me wrong. Well designed, easy to plug and play, good battery, etc. But it released at the same price point as the iPod Touch (iTouch as some called it) and looked like and was advertised as a competitor. Even had the same general design.
Yet MS did not have the foresight to make the Zune app friendly. Zune HD had app "support" (e.g. calculator app that took 5+ seconds to load, barren app store if it even had one). iPod Touch exploded (everyone in my high school got one for Christmas in 2008/2009!) because of the apps. For Apple, the music was a solved problem and not something worth talking about in length. Being able to have a music player that had Wi-Fi and could play games was a genius idea back when no one had smartphones or most people didn't want to spend the money on one. MS just felt like it was catching up and it showed all the way through the Windows Phones.
As I mentioned, both the original Zune and Zune HD lines are good devices but were hampered by MS' slow execution and lack of vision of what people wanted.
Can't comment on the actual Zune subscription service. Never used that.
MS had nothing comparable to build the Zunes from. Windows CE/Mobile was a technically valid potential base, but it wouldn't easily convert to a sexy consumer-friendly system.
I'd very much like to see a story or an interview with the designer(s), who deserve recognition for that work. If such a piece exists, a link would be appreciated.
Windows Phone 7 was a direct decedent. WP 8.1 was an iteration on that design language.
Edit: I get that we have to worship Steve jobs, but the iPod wasn't revolutionary. Others before and after did it better.
The market clearly values some attributes of devices differently from you. That’s fine, and it’s good that there are a variety of different decices out there to fulfill different needs. But “mediocre” or “shitty” are really not useful words in this context.
I have a Zune 120 and Zune HD as well but I don't find them either as good, especially on FM radio.
You’d be better off spending the same money to buy a battery pack to recharge your phone when it runs low.
Maybe I should just bite the bullet and switch.
Either way, I'll second the recommendation to get an external battery pack - a high-quality one will give more audio playback time than a media player, with much more utility and convenience.
I'd recommend to look at options by Sony, Fiio, Astell & Kern, Onkyo, Cowon, iBasso or Pioneer. Find additional information at the Head-Fi forums: https://www.head-fi.org/forums/portable-source-gear.15/
1) http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story...
[0] http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/03/have_you_seen_the_h...
Now I'm just hoping the incumbents copy enough of the good design to make the loss bearable.
Though that was more of an iTunes feature, that I wouldn't mind seeing in Spotify!
It let you make auto-updating lists to keep your library fresh, and not rely on the shuffle feature.
The app must use Androids playback API though.
Every time I look for something, it seems like there's only $20 junk and $100+ players to choose from. I've gone through 3 Sansa Clips that just keep dying. I bought a Fiio x1 and had the wheel die on me in the first year, and using the warranty was way too much hassle.
Software is nothing special, but shuffle play artist/album/song/playlist it can do.
[1] e.g. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mint-Used-BlackBerry-Bold-9900-Unlo...
1. The Creative Nomad had a slow-refresh screen with mushy buttons, vs a wheel on smooth ball-bearings and a quickly refreshing screen and intuitive hierarchy to navigate
2. The iPod took about a second per song to transfer music with Firewire, compared to the ridiculously slow USB on the Creative Nomad
3. The Creative Zomad was a little larger than a Discman, and fit in a very large pocket. The iPod fit into jean pockets
The nomad was far superior to the iPod in my experience (you didn't have to use the garage iTunes software). Currently the Dell XPS line kicks the shit out of anything apple has made. A pure Android pixel surpasses an iPhone in every way possible.
And yes every way possible reason, its on my list "don't recommend unless I hate the person" if I could give a yelp review, it edge out Samsumng slightly