I will preface this by saying that I am not trying to jump on the MS sucks bandwagon. If MS really sucked that bad, people would be using Linux. I have tried Linux and I do not believe it is ready for wide spread adoption by people who “just want it to work.” Now:
Why are Zunes completely locked until you sync them with your computer for the first time? You can’t even see what the interface will be like and what settings and options are available until it’s been synced with the Zune software.
Why is a Zune harder to install in Windows than an iPod? The Zune interface took an hour plus to install because it wanted to update it self first. Never was there an option to not download updates right now. It then spent more time “preparing the computer,” whatever that means. I’ve never had any other piece of software take that long just preparing to install.
Why does the Zune require the installation of the Zune software when a variety of other MP3 players work just fine with Windows Media Player and other third party apps? In iPod terms, the Zune software is equivalent to iTunes which puts the pre-installed Media Player as the equivalent to Quicktime (?). BUT, MS has gone to some length to make Media Player work with portable devices, why not their own???
The only hardware issues I have: why can’t the Zune show up as mass storage for non-music items, same as the iPod? Other than this, which is in reality an interface issue too, I generally like the Zune hardware, but the above software / interface issues are to be honest, ridiculous. How are you going to claim any semblance of ease-of-use when it takes 5 hours just to get the thing to work with your own operating system?
So, to Microsoft: Your hardware team (which may well have been Toshiba) did a good job. Your software team, they dropped the ball.
