Under strict orders, I went out this morning to get one of those Zune things.
I rose at the crack of dawn, and rushed across town to my nearest Target store to join the throngs of wannabe Zunies. I was expecting mayhem.
As I screeched into the parking lot, and rushed pell-mell towards the entrance, I looked around and saw... a whole lot of nothing.
There was an eerie calm. Maybe I was the only guy in America in line for the Zune. That was either really cool or really lame. I couldn't decide which.
The doors opened, and I hustled over to the Electronics department. Looked around. Still no Zune. I asked a forlorn-looking sales person, and after much explanation, the light went on, and I was led to the far corner of the store.
The display was nice. A little understated, but it had that minimalist cool that Apple do so well. I was surprised by the concealed placement though, and I suggested they move it to the front, explaining what a momentous occasion it was. After some head scratching the response was, "Um, sure." Turns out that they only had 12 devices. 4 of each color. Not really expecting them to fly off the shelves.
I picked the Brown one because... well, it is just different. I grabbed a coffee for the drive into Minneapolis, and couldn't resist opening the packaging there and then. Again, first impression was very nice and more than faintly iPodesque. Welcome to the social. Nice tag line, but how social can it be if I am the only one with a device.
Back at the office I loaded the software. Setup was somewhat long. Lots of screens of teens having unfeasibly happy times with their Zunes. Only one crash. When the thing was finally up and running the UI was impressive, slick, responsive, and quite intuitive. The consensus seems to be that the device is neat, but the software needs attention. The Zune feels good in the hands. Not as "precious" or sleek as its iPod counterpart, but really not bad. Others have called it clunky, but it is an improvement on the Apple Newton.
Author
Topic: The ZUNE experience (Read 1529 times)