Looking for a Microsoft Zune?
Why? I favor iPods chiefly because Microsoft's version of an MP3 player is always 2 years behind what Apple has going on and there are three sizable reasons not to buy a Zune. It lacks the features of any present day iPod. The current Zune basically has the features that iPod did 2 years ago.
AND they lack the user base, and character of the iPod.
On top of all of that, there have been problems getting the Zune software to work Microsoft's own Vista operating system. (who do we blame for that, the Microsoft operating system division or the Microsoft MP3 player/entertainment division?)
Plus
1) They only allow three friends to share your music files instead of the 5 Apple lets, (though MS advertised the Zune as able to give music for free, permanently to anyone wirelessly.... deliberate false advertising). It seems this "wirelessly send a song to a friend" was some type of
advertising come-on by Microsoft.
Apple lets you share a purchased song among 5 authorized systems... Microsoft just 3.
2) Though you carry 6000 songs with you that you already know you like.... Microsoft also has you schlep around an FM radio around with you too.
3) Many things that are repairable in an iPod are permanently soldered down to the logic board on a Zune. For instance, if you drop the ZUNE with the earbuds plugged in it lands on the earbud plug driving it into the device. It will knock out the left side hearing permanently. That headphone jack on the Zune is soldered down to the logic board and NOT replaceable and obligates you to buy a completely new Zune player. In the iPod doing the same things knocks out the right side hearing permanently but the part is replaceable. I charge $28 for the part and $40 labor/return shipping.
Both iPods and Zunes use the same hard drives and batteries so the pricing for those and labor is the same. But the iPod is really a much more repairable device with a lower longterm cost of ownership.
There is a good reason that iPods reached the top of commercial acceptance in this realm. It really is better.
And then this from CNET on December 31st 2008:
Looks like the Midwest isn't the only thing that's freezing up this holiday season: many people are reporting their 30GB Zunes are spontaneously going on the fritz as well.
The symptom is reported widely on discussion boards about Microsoft's music player, including Zune.net, ZuneUser.com, and ZuneScene. With the problem, people's Zunes reboot but freeze when the startup status bar reaches 100 percent.
Some users reported the problem happened at exactly midnight PST, at the very beginning of the last day of the year, leading some wags to call the problem Z2K after the Y2K problem that was widely feared to cripple the computing industry when computer clocks moved from 1999 to 2000.
"It reset itself. I don't know why," said one owner who posted an account of his Zune problem on YouTube after reporting it on the Zune.net forum.
Microsoft didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday morning.
"I hate to say it but I believe this is the end of the road for the Zune and I. Just as I was happy with the last update and things were fine, we get another major meltdown. I was always supportive and had good things to say about my Zune to those that would ask, however this is the nail in the coffin," griped user Redinight on a ZuneScene discussion board. "I can't take it anymore. I can't sit here all the time and wonder what Microsoft does right or wrong anymore, I just want to get up and go listen to my music. Listening to music is about the last thing I do with my Zune. I always have to reinstall, download new firmware, or wait for the slow software to catch up. Now this? I want to throw it away and never look back."
(Via CrunchGear.)
I'm in Sonoma County... Northern California wine country.
If you live nearby, are traveling through or live in the San Francisco Bay Area bring your iPod to me and I can do the work while you wait or go wine tasting for a while. Send me an
email just to make sure I have on hand whatever parts your repair will require.
Call or email me
with questions or to set up a repair. You can also call, I am here most days from 8am to 8pm
Toll Free 1-877-iPod-Pro (1 - 877 - 476-3776)
Send the device to:
Frank Walburg
2145 Service Court
Santa Rosa, Ca 95403-3139
Methods of payment
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