Microsoft Zune

[Eric]

For those who don't know, Zune by Microsoft uses Freescale i.MX31

For proof -> see the photos of a dismantled Zune here from bunnies's blog
Also from Cnet

Zune reviews

http://www.zunescene.com/80gb-zune/
"The hard drive cannot be used as a memory stick for storing and retrieving word documents, zip files, and other such data. This is by far the biggest drawback of the player considering most competing devices are recognized as mass storage drives by computers."

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139474/article.html

http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/zune-second-generation-80gb/4505-6490_7-32638989.html
"The Zune is a PC-only device that requires its own software and still does not support older WMA-DRM9 music files; Zune Marketplace does not offer TV or movie downloads; the USB connection is proprietary; no Wi-Fi music streaming; and the EQ feature has been removed."

Comments Welcomed.

[Titom]

I actually own a Zune 80gb for a year.
It is a great MP3 and Video player, it offers podcast, FM Radio. Good. I'd say that the Zune does very well what it is allowed to do. But.

But it is so frustrating to have a great piece of hardware that is locked. It has wifi abilities but does not use them unless to do some useless stuff (what is called Zune Social) when so basic stuff like email reader or RSS reader may have been included, it has a 80Gb HD but cannot be used as external device, it is bind to Windows due to the Zune Software, it requires conversion to read video files (AVI for instance), no additionnal software can be installed on.

So, yes. As a MP3 player, it is pretty good and at a competitive price. But if you want/expect more, the Zune is disappointing. The iPod Touch offers a great alternative in terms of functionnalities but it is expensive and cannot compete with any HD based player. I'd guess that the Android PMP can fill the blank between this two players: offering functionnalities, scalability, storage at a reasonable price.

Titom.