Good to see that MS have brought their A game

I'd hope that after 5 years they would be able to get their s**t together!

Let's see Apple bring it on for the next round - should get interesting, and benefit everyone with a little competition

God damn that is a fabulous interface.

Zune is offically the new name for butter for being faster than butter itself....and 10 times faster than my friends ipod who only has 1 gig of songs (out of 30gig) and still takes a few seconds to load or do stuff...

WOW! I must say that I am pretty much sold on these. Apple has been very lazy lately with their iPod interface. That...and the fact that they have yet to come out with a new iPod when they used to update them all the time. This is going to be the iPod killer this holiday season.

Nice, but you have to choose the bg image wisely, I had trouble reading the text at the bottom part of the screen few times before it was hi-lighted. Let's see if Apple sticks with the simplicity or goes with the battery draining effects too.

Does anyone know if the ZUNE will allow recording FM to the HD?

If yes, can you also listen at the same time?

Thanks...

Yeah, yeah. But when are you going to tell us HOW IT SOUNDS.

Spiffy. But five questions come to mind:
1. will it play more than 10 seconds of video smoothly?
2. will the battery last more than 20 minutes?
3. can they price them to make a profit, or will it be another loss-leader market grab, a-la X-Box?
4. How badly does the DRM cripple any real world practical use of the thing?
5. is the Giz shilling for MS now? Your Zune posts sound like paid advertisements. Ick.

Finally a non-apple mp3 player that looks like it's actually worth buying. After suffering through the partly superior/partly inferior functionality (and inane names) of irivers and iaudios, I am really looking forward to the Zune.

Will there be a SDK available? as a CE developer I can think of some neat apps. that would take advantage of WiFi and outdoor readable screen.

I am ready to buy!

Nice.. Might have to give my Zen Xtra the ol Boot and pick one of these up.. Lots of nice features, great size, great WiFi potential and a decent price for what you're actually getting.

This player looks like it's got it all together - which is important...

But one of the most important things to me in regards to an MP3 player (not including sound quality) are accessories! Whenever you go to a electronics shop you'll see rows and rows of iPod accessories and NONE OTHER! I have another MP3 player and I actually had to buy an iPod arm band in order to use it during my runs.

Thank goodness MS has the financial backing to give as much Apple does to their accessories department!

Nice to see that Microsoft can put out a quality product made by someone else with their name on it!

Seems like they really put a lot of attention into the details, especially transitions (crossfading pictures!). Also having the giant alphabet letter during scrolling is a VERY smart usability feature. I'd be 100% sold if it had a powered mic input. But it'll have to stay in the 'maybe' column for me for now.

So, does anyone know how much these things are going to cost?

So does anyone know how much these things are going to be?

I'm really thinking about one but I still want to get hands on.

At this point to be honest, it looks like I may dump my ipod for a Zune.

i agree, i feel like giving my ipod to my lilbrother

Zune...I'd buy that fo' a dollar...

ok. straight up-

zune = ipod + itv(kinda) + radio + ipod case

its seriously a no brainer. better UI than ipod, can stream wirelessly to xbox360 (if you have wireless adapter)...maybe the itv is a stretch, but firmware upgrades are going to eventually make it possible, it has a tuner, and the casing is much stronger and scratch resistant than the ipod.

Very nice, I was hesitant before, but when I see something as nice as that interface, it really ups the ante. what I would like to see zune products flood the market like ipod products.

My iPod is definitely going to have company this fall. I've decided I'm gonna drop some cash on this baby. I have enough time to save up for a gen. 2. Anyway, what I' waiting to hear about, like everyone else, is how the sucker sounds. Othwerwise consider me sold on the sucker.

I think Maura has hit it on the head- so many people have so many dollars already invested in ipod-specific accessories that they're not going to want to switch.

I can plainly see that the Zune is vastly superior to my 60GB ipod photo, but:
A) My ipod still works, so no need to replace it
B) I already have various cases, chargers, docks and cables for my ipod that will work with any future ipods I might buy.
C) My car has a built-in ipod interface, so unless someone makes an adapter that will let a Zune plug in and by controlled by the HU, I'll probably be sticking with Apple. I just hope that now that they have some serious competition, they step up and try to match some of what MS is bringing to the table

Meh - I can spot a simulated image like that any day.

To Just Dave:

Spiffy. But five questions come to mind:
1. will it play more than 10 seconds of video smoothly?
2. will the battery last more than 20 minutes?
3. can they price them to make a profit, or will it be another loss-leader market grab, a-la X-Box?
4. How badly does the DRM cripple any real world practical use of the thing?
5. is the Giz shilling for MS now? Your Zune posts sound like paid advertisements. Ick.

You question if Giz is a shill which implies you read Giz. Therefore YOU ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER TO YOUR OTHER 4 QUESTIONS. Don't be an ass.

um Inverted Mind, I hope you know that Apple doesn't manufacture the ipod. And it is very common for companies to outsource manufacturing.

that's a nice toshiba gigabeat.

Well, it's a prettier interface than the iPod but it looks like it's less efficient...the list of songs and videos didn't seem to display as many items as the iPod does. The following still remain to be seen:

- Battery life
- How quickly the interface effects grow old and get in the way of functionality
- Easy of synchronization with your PC (an oft-underrated iPod strength)

Yes, I'm an iPod user but I still evaluate each new device as it comes out to see if it's better and I won't hesitate to switch when I find one that is. I've seen nothing to convince me yet that the Zune IS, in fact, worth the switch.

Even though I'm a little biased towards Apple, I must say that the Zune's interface looks pretty sweet. The 'Nearby' feature looks like it shows what nearby Zunes are playing. I wonder if this can be turned off. I don't necessarily want other Zune owners on my bus/train knowing what I'm listening to or watching.

Dave, while your questions are valid(albeit slightly exaggerated), I'm fairly sure that the one sticking out most - the battery life - will not be a problem, I doubt MS would put so much work into a player that plays for half an hour... at least I hope so

InvertedMind, the iPod is made by FoxConn, a Taiwanese company; parts of the PSP's design were sourced to them as well. Makes you think doesn't it?

Seems like they really put a lot of attention into the details, especially transitions (crossfading pictures!). Also having the giant alphabet letter during scrolling is a VERY smart usability feature.

They're certainly paying attention to something since the iPod does both of these (in addition to the other typical photo transitions such as cube, push, radial and wipe).

Of all the non-iPod UIs, the Zune's definitely looks to be the best so far (though I don't get what the zoom in, zoom out, zoom in, zoom out of the background image accomplishes).

@ someToast

Transitions aren't supposed to accomplish a thing except to make things esthetically pleasing to the eye. I think MS is trying to have a slick UI with these transitions. To me this adds up to a pleasant user experience.

I don't think they are mimicking the fruit company at all. As far as I know, Apple doesn't have a patent on transitions. And the idea of having the giant letter is improved with the Zune. You have to scroll really fast to get the feature to come up, sometimes overshooting your selection. Yeah yeah big woop. It misses, big deal. But if I can scroll more accurately I will be a better driver behind the wheel when surfing for a new tune.

On another note, I wish someone would manufacture a dash mountable HUD so I don't have to look down at my iPod. If someone has that already, please throw out a link. Otherwise it would be freakin' awesome if someone created that.

My iPod is pretty old (and broken, damn thing), but do the new video iPods have that alphabet during the scrolling? Either way, that's the coolest thing about this interface.

I definitely won't get a Zune on launch, but I never get anything on launch. I'll wait for the hardware to switch over from the Toshiba, and for geeks to figure out how to sync it up with my iTunes library.

If nothing else though, this is at least good enough to get Apple off their asses. The Zune looks pretty damn competitive, especially for a first try, so it'll be interesting to see the back and forth between the two companies. Competition is awesome.

DetergentDinners,

The MS rated battery life is 14 hour audio (Wifi off) and 13 hours audio (Wifi on). I think was people are interested in is real world tests preformed by unbiased reviewers (to see how close MS's number are to reality). The MS numbers are lower than the current generation iPod, but more than sufficient for one days listening pleasure. Let's just wait and see if they hold up to scrutiny.

FROST1 i dont know wich ipod has your friends but mine is very fast!

@ KurticusMaximus

The new video iPods do have that Alphabet during scrolling.

I might pick one up...not yet sure...I wish it didn't have wifi...I know most love that feature though....but I have zero use for it...al it will do for me is make the device more pricey...oh well.
Also...Why is it ALL of these players are FM only??? Is there not a high enough demand for AM to? I like AM, talk radio, news, etc.

Lets all begin a chant: A-M (boom boom) A-M (boom boom) A-M (boom boom) A-M...etc.

AM sucks! teeheeheh j/k Actually that would be cool to have in order to recieve sports coverage. I think you are going to like the wifi feature for updating your Zune without cables (crossing fingers hoping that this feature will exist).

Wow...that's the money shot. Seriously, I'm seriously considering Zune now. I've been happy with my iPod, but seeing that gorgeous interface was so damn drool-inducing!

I did just buy a 2nd gen nano for running, so maybe I'll wait to see what MS can develop in-house for their 2nd gen Zune (keeping in mind that this one was based on Toshiba's infrastructure).

Did I just use "seriously" twice in one sentence? Oh well...one more thought - what's with the 2 click method of playing songs? That is, the first click on the song title brings up a small menu, from which you can play the song. I think that could get on my nerves.

Transitions aren't supposed to accomplish a thing except to make things esthetically pleasing to the eye. I think MS is trying to have a slick UI with these transitions. To me this adds up to a pleasant user experience.

I was talking about two separate things.

The first was that synaesthetique's apparent excitement over the Zune's transitions when displaying photos -- "(crossfading pictures!)" -- really should have been filed under the category of BFD.

The second was that the zoom/shrink the Zune does to the background image when entering/leaving the home menu serves no purpose in the UI. (Well, I could see it causing queasiness. Only drive the Zune sober.)

Effects done to be "slick" and "because we can" very quickly go from cool to tired to annoying to where's-the-hidden-pref-to-turn-this-shit-off?

Moot point for much of this, though. Once I select a playlist, the only interaction I'll have with my device for a week is the play button.

ugadawg-
monster icruze

Wow, that navigation looks just as absolutely painful as every other MP3 player without a click wheel. Click down . . . click down . . . click down . . . click and hold . . . oops, too far! . . . click up . . . click up . . . click up . . . realize I'd never put even 10GB on something like this . . . click up . . .

I'll stick around Gizmodo long enough to see if you'll actually pan the Zune when it is released and everyone else sees it sucks, but right now you're losing all your credibility for what probably isn't all that much Microsoft money.

Go Zune! Go Zune!

downalodable themes?

To those who responded to me...my point was that Microsoft's best products are generally the ones where their input is largely limited to where they put their logo. I couldn't care less that Apple doesn't make the iPod either. I'm no fan of either company, really.