The Zune v2 Review
The Zune v2 offers so many capabilities it is almost impossible to know where to start. The first thing you will notice is the new Zune is smaller. The slimmer case is only a ½ inch thick. It is 4.3 inches high and 2.4 inches wide. There is a 3.2 inch LCD screen to optimize the user's view of the videos and pod casts on their Zune. The screen is also made of optical glass instead of plastic which means the picture is totally clear with no distortion.
There are three new Zune devices offered by Microsoft. The first is 4GB at $149.99. The next one is the 8GB which runs $199.99. The 80GB is the final one which retails at $249.99. There really is no difference between the devices in the way they function and the features.
It is interesting to note that the Zune can operate in three different languages; English, French, and Spanish. This makes it convenient for everyone. There are no language barriers. When the Zune was released people wondered about the French. Since then announcements have been made about the Zune being released in Canada.
Another neat feature about this PMD is the built in FM radio. It can be programmed for North America, Europe, or Japan broadcasts. The headphones act as the antenna. The Zune radio feature also lets you see the song now playing as well as the album the song is from. Not every radio station has subscribed to the Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS) for this type of transmission, so this feature will not be available with every station. Just to let you know the RBDS replaced the old Emergency Broadcasting System which is predominantly used for sending out weather and traffic warnings.
The Zune v2 has changed the navigation pad. Called the Zune pad, it is now a touch pad and a click pad. The cool thing is the user can switch the way the pad responds. By clicking off the touch, the Zume pad is simply a click pad which will navigate up, down, and side to side. With the touch pad activated, the Zune pad acts more like a laptop style touch pad. Navigation between songs, play lists, and pictures is so much easier.
Speaking of pictures, the Zune v2 offers a neat feature. When you choose a picture and zoom, you can use the Zune pad to center the picture or slide it over to view a certain section of the picture. This is really cool if you want to see everyone's face in the picture. You can zoom the picture and scan over it until you come to the section you want. If it's a really good picture you can send it to other Zune users in the area.
This social networking system the new Zune v2 has is new to the market. The user is able to send music, pod casts, and pictures to any other Zune user. All of this with a press of the button. This wireless sharing feature is to be used in close proximity to another Zune user. However, the Zune has been tested at 20-40 meters away. When you send a song to another Zune user, they can listen to that song three times. After that, if they want it, the Zune Marketplace has it for sale.
The Zune Marketplace is a great place to find music. There are over 3 million songs listed in the Zune Marketplace. You can buy them by the track or get unlimited access for $14.99 a month with Zune Pass. Once the music is on your Zune, you can view by artist, song title, or album. It is pretty cool that Zune has the album art work on the device. You can scroll through by the album covers.
All in all, the new Zune v2 has some great features that everyone is going to enjoy.
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