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[BullishDad]

From some of the reviews I've read, the Zune HD could be a worthy competitor to the iPod Touch. 

I realize that MC14 won't work with either, but that's OK for my purpose.  I'm thinking of loading up the device with music and making relatively few changes after that.  If I'm going to buy a new player, I want it to have Wifi and a good browser, support album art, have an intuitive interface and crisp sound characteristics.

I've looked into the offerings from Sony, Cowon, Archos and Samsung and nothing jumps out at me as being better than the Touch or Zune HD.  Of course, I'd prefer to sync with MC14, but it's not a requirement.

Until I can play with the Zune HD myself (and it may not be that easy to find one), I am wondering if it will display Album Art inside an MP3 file and whether it has something similar to Coverflow on the Touch.

I'd like to hear from my fellow MC users with their opinions on the Zune HD or other players that maybe worth exploring.  Thanks.

[BullishDad]

Still nobody has a Zune HD?

Based on reviews I've read, plus a video review on Amazon, it appears that Album Art inside a MP3 file is supported, and there is album based scrolling like Coverflow.

However, I am wondering if Coverflow-like scrolling will show album art from within a Playlist.  In order words, if you select a Playlist and start scrolling thru the list of songs, do you see album art displayed with the track title?

Also, I read that there is a neat display of artist photos and bio information.  Do you have to be connected via Wi-fi for this to work?  If not, and the data is stored on the unit with the track, how much additional space does this typically take?  Say, in percentage terms of a 256kbps MP3 file.

[Frobozz]

Why would a MC user get a Zune or Zune HD?  You can't use MC or any other third party media player to sync the Zune.  You have to use the Zune software to create playlists and sync the Zune.  Why would a MC user ever want to do that?

The only reasons I keep up with the Zune or pay it any attention is that it does gapless playback and I have friends who work at MS.  The gapless playback feature is huge for me and the reason why I have an iPod rather than something else.  I need gapless playback and there are very very very few choices for portable mp3 players that do gapless.  iPod, Zune, and a few minor players are pretty much the only choices.  I hope one of my MS friends gets a Zune HD so I can play with it, but I won't be buying one.  I'm more interested in seeing what the Android based portables are going to be like.  Will they do gapless?

I'm also curious about how well the Zune HD does gapless.  It's a new hardware platform and version 1 firmware.  Did they get it right or will we have to wait for firmware updates and hope that they can get it done?

[BullishDad]

Why would a MC user get a Zune or Zune HD? 

The Zune HD hardware looks pretty slick and the reviews on Amazon have been very positive so far.  If you're not going to be constantly moving music on and off the device, then you can use the Zune software to send files to the device and use MC for everything else. 

To answer my own question asked earlier, it seems that the artist info and pictures are moved to the device when syncing (you don't need wifi to view) and take up a negligible amount of space.

I haven't purchased a Zune HD and am more likely to get the iPod Touch at this point.  I'm still hoping something new comes out that can be used with MC14 but can compete with the Touch or Zune HD on features and price.

I'd still like to hear opinions from MC users about the Zune HD because I haven't ruled it out and MC users can better appreciate how well the interface works, especially for music.

[Frobozz]

I haven't purchased a Zune HD and am more likely to get the iPod Touch at this point.  I'm still hoping something new comes out that can be used with MC14 but can compete with the Touch or Zune HD on features and price.

The iPod Touch ties you to iTunes much the same way the Zune ties you to the Zune software.  The advantage to the Touch though is that there are utilities and add-ons available to make syncing between iTunes and MC easier.  I don't know if the same can be or will be done with the Zune HD and Zune software.

A device worth keeping an eye on is the Creative Zii.  It's still in development.  It can run either Google's Android OS or the Zii Labs Plaszma OS.  It should compete with the Touch and Zune HD in features and function.  I'm hopeful that it will be able to sync easily with MC and won't have the kinds of restrictions that are on the iPod Touch and Zune HD.  The Zii Egg is the developers version and is currently available.  The Wikipedia entries for Zii Egg and Creative Zii have some more info.

[mhsmd]

Zune is a great hardware device.

Alas, won't sync with anything other than the Zune software. Can't use jriver MC14, for example.

Makes the device all but useless, because it is so proprietary.

[BullishDad]

As an update, I did get an iPod Touch 8 GB about two months ago.  It's a great device, and I enjoy using it, although I don't use it constantly. 

I had problems using the MC iTunes Synchronizer, so I exported some Playlists and imported them into iTunes.  I've managed to fit about 700 MP3 tracks (using Extreme quality), about a dozen Apps and over 100 photos with about 1 GB left for future use.  I don't expect to change the music too often, so I can get by without syncing to MC14.

You can test drive the Zune software without buying the device.  It was decent, but nowhere near as good as MC14.  I took it off my machine after two days because I didn't want it to interfere with MC.  I didn't have any problems with the installation and uninstallation but I was careful about making sure that defaults wouldn't do things automatically and take over filetypes.