FebruaMaximumPC 2008 02

M

icrosoft, seeing the futility in polishing turds, went back to the draw-

ing board to design the second rev of the Zune. (If only they’d do the

same for Vista!) Fortunately for early adopters, many of the new features

and desktop software will be made available for the first-gen Zune via a

firmware update.

The new player features a much-improved control mechanism con-

sisting of a touch-sensitive pad atop four buttons. You can navigate menus

by either dragging your thumb up and down (or back and forth, depending

on the screen’s current orientation) or pushing down on the pad to depress

the buttons. Depressing the center of the pad selects whatever menu item

is highlighted. If you don’t like the touchpad, you can turn this feature off

and rely solely on the buttons.

The Zune’s wireless features have undergone significant improve-

ments, including the ability to manually sync your Zune to your PC when

in range of a wireless network (the Zune must be connected to an optional

AC adapter or charging dock to sync automatically). The much-touted but

virtually useless wireless song-sharing feature remains just as useless, but

at least the three-day play-it-or-lose-it limitation has been eliminated (the

recipient, however, remains limited to three plays).

The Zune Marketplace has also undergone a much-needed retooling,

adding podcast support, one million DRM-free MP3s, and a $15-per-month

all-you-can-eat subscription model called Zune Pass. This compensates

for the fact that the hardware ties you exclusively to Microsoft’s service

(there’s no support for Rhapsody or other subscription services). The notion

of buying music with points instead of dollars and cents (which you, of

course, use to buy points in order to buy music), on the other hand, still

leaves us cold.

The Zune 8GB sounds every bit as good as the fi rst Zune, and Microsoft has

added support for tracks encoded in WMA Lossless. The 1.8-inch glass screen

looks very sharp, but it’s also very small—especially when you’re watching vid-

eos—and the fl ash player can’t be connected to your TV (both new and

previous hard-drive models do

support this feature).

—MICHAEL BROWN

Microsoft Zune 8GB

Who says there are no second chances?

8

MICROSOFT ZUNE 8GB

TESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED reviews

$200, http://www.zune.net

If you buy a Zune,

skip this model and

scrounge up the extra

$50 for the 80GB

hard-drive model

instead.

3.5

"

1.5"