The New Zune Review

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I got a Zune for Christmas! And I love it. It has 30GB of storage space. I couldn't possibly ever fill that, could I? Well, maybe. But it might take awhile.

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The Zune requires special software that you have to load on your PC to be able to then load music, pictures, podcasts, videos, etc. on to your Zune. It's a little clunky to me. I thought the Zune would just show up as an external drive on my computer and I could drag things to it and be done with it. It's not that simple. You have to open the software on the computer, hook up the Zune using the special USB cable and let the Zune "sync" with the software.

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It doesn't take long to load files though. So far I have added 7 CD's and 60 miscellaneous songs. I have also loaded about 150 photos. I have only used about 1 GB of space.

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I love that you can share files wirelessly with other Zune users. (Eric also received a Zune for Christmas!) Pictures can be shared forever, music however is different. You only get 3 plays per song. (Or 3 days, which ever comes first.) However if you want to just borrow a friends CD and load it into the Zune software on the computer and "sync" it to the Zune, you're set forever. I think it's just Microsofts way of being "legal" with the music guru's.

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I have really been enjoying the radio feature on my Zune. I don't have a radio in my office, so when there's nothing I want to watch on tv (which happens quite often!) I can now listen to the radio. Or my cd's/mp3's.

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It really is a fun little device. I have never had (aside from a Sony Walkman in the 80s) anything like this. I can't wait to figure out all the neat features it has, I know I have barely scratched the surface. I highly recommend the Zune. And thank you Eric for my fun gift!