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MP3 Players
All About MP3 Players & iPods
Here you can read the latest reviews and find out and compare various MP3 Players
iPods and eReaders. These MP3 Player, iPod and eReader reviews are all
independent reviews and are updated on an ongoing basis, |
Microsoft Zune 8
Device Features
The Zune 8 comes with the preloaded games which are pretty good. The new Zune has the compatible audio and the clock. To add to the features, screen lock is provided.
Product Review
The brand new Microsoft Zune 8 comes with wide colours to select from. The available colours are Blue, Silver, glossy black, green, pink and red.
Battery
The Zune can support music up to 24 hours and videos up to 4 hours. The charging time may take around 3 hours to get fully charged.
Screen
The screen is a 1.8 inchs colour display with the new scratch-resistant glass. While playing music the orientation of the screen is vertical and horizontal for pictures and videos. The resolution of the screen is 320 x 240 (pixels) with 18-bit colour display.
Audio Support
The new Microsoft Zune 8 supports Windows Media Audio Standard3 (WMA) (.wma) and it extends support for constant bit rate (CBR) and variable bit rate (VBR) up to 48 kHz sample rate.
The WMA Lossless Codec
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), the video codec's are MP4, M4A, M4B and MOV. The Zune 8 supports JPEG picture format.
Video support
The various video formats supported are Windows Media Video (WMV). The screen resolution is 720 pixels x 480 pixels which can play up to 30 frames per second.
Zune software is capable of encoding HD WMV files into its supportable video format. It also extends support to MPEG-4(MP4/M4V).
The Zune 8 includes accessories such as Headphones, Zune Sync Cable, three pairs of foam earpiece covers. The Zune 8 has two ports. They are the Connector port and the Headphone jack / AV output. The software provided with the Zune 8 is the Zune 3.1.620.0. Further, the Microsoft's Zune uses Flash memory.
Wi-Fi Connectivity
The Wi-Fi connectivity extends up to 30 feet. The cool feature is that, with the Microsoft Zune 8 one can see the other Zune users "now playing" status within the range of the Wi-Fi connectivity when that option is enabled in the player. Further this is extended to send and receive songs and pictures.
The Good
The Zune player comes with the inbuilt FM radio with RDS/RBDS. The preloaded games attract the youngsters and it is fun to use with. The Microsoft Zune 8 has got a very good video rating. With the given screen dimension and resolution, it offers a good video clarity. The sound rating is comparatively good when compared with the other players in the market. The Zune 8 comes with software which has one step video conversion and transfer. We can readily buy them from online stores and they are shipped from local addresses.
The other cool features are the multi-touch, accelerometer, and 3D graphics. The Zune HD makes portable gaming even more exciting. One can also download free games from Zune's popular titles like Vans Sk8.
Zune Pad
A cool new feature in this gadget is the touch-sense Zune Pad. The Zune pad responds to light brush movements of your fingertip.
The Bad
Though the Microsoft Zune has various features and comes with the preloaded games, the main drawback is that it has no proper video output. The screen may seem too small for video for some users who have used other players available in the market. The new compatible Zune cannot be used as a mass storage drive which makes the data non portable.
The audio and the video content can only be transferred with Zune software that is provided. It has the additional drawback that it cannot convert AVI or MOV files. The Microsoft's own Zune 8 does not support the Windows Media Player application while most of the other players offer support. Zune 8 is not well satisfied with the battery backup it provides.
Areas that could be improved
The Battery life could have been improved. Watching videos would be more pleasurable if the screen size was increased and the Zune software should be modified to support conversion of AVI or MOV files.
Verdict
High quality audio, reasonable storage space and high speed Wi-Fi connection are the iPods highlights. The shortcomings are the low battery life, average video quality and lack of proper video conversion software.
Score: 75%
Price: $270
Capacity: 8GB (Up to 2000 songs or 25000 Pictures or 24 hours of video)
Size: 41.4 mm x 91.5 mm x 8.5 mm (w x h x d)
Weight: 1.7 ounces (47 grams)
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