The Unboxing
As with any new gadget, especially those that make noise, I was anxious to rip the box apart and get right to my shiny new brown Zune. However upon inspection the packaging was much too fine to be treated with anything but scrupulous care. To me good packaging means that the maker of the product loves it enough to give it a good ride. Particularly the brown ribbon under the device to help raise it out was a nice touch. Once out and in my hand, my expectations of the device's large size were confirmed, but I was surprised by its light weight.
Inside the box I was delighted to find a nice brown veloury case that can double as a screen cleaner. This reminded me of the cloth case that came with my first MZ-R30 MiniDisc player, which I've always adored. Soon I found the sync cable which seemed very familiar. The dock connector was molded using the same technique as the device which gives it a unique and matching look. I had read about the magnets in the earphones and even though it may seem gimmicky, it's pretty cool. That combined with the slidey thing that can cinch up the stereo cables, it's actually possible to keep them from getting tangled up.
Dorking Around
As quickly as I could get the earphones out of their packaging I had them plugged in and was navigating. I didn't expect much however I was very impressed with the intuitive interface of this device. The first menu is simply broken down into music, videos, pictures, etc. When you go into music it breaks into a two dimensional navigation where side to side goes between albums, artist, genre, and up and down goes within that selected category. By using a four directional arrow instead of a scrollwheel, there can be a whole other dimension to the interface. Beautiful visual effects enhance the experience as well as generous use of the album covers.
The pre-loaded content, while not really my style, was a creative way of giving users the opportunity to start playing right out of the box. I found a skateboarding video to demo the video features. The screen automatically rotates for the videos which play fullscreen. The I'm not really a video geek but it looked good to me.
As I was listening to some of the tracks I found a feature that addressed one of my Ipod frustrations. When listening to a track, if you click on the middle button you get a menu with "shuffle" and "repeat". This makes it super easy to turn these features off and on, instead of backing up into the main menu and going into settings.
While I scoffed at first, I think I'll actually be using the radio feature. I tuned to my local NPR station and was pleased to find that the Zune will pick up the radio metadata including the station name and current program.
The outside is a hard semi-rough plastic that's partially translucent. There's a slight hint of green around the edges. The buttons are normal click buttons, which I like because their less likely to be accidentally pressed.
The Good (and bad) Stuff
At first the earphones didn't seem too bad for stock, but my ears tend to adapt. I grabbed the Grado SR-60's out of my night stand and listened for awhile. Nothing special, just good normal un-amped noise. Later I switched back to the Zune earphones and was reminded of why my Ipod earphones are still sitting in the box. I'm working on getting some new buds, possibly some Yuin PK2's. Once I got to the office I was able to plug the dock into my Larocco Pocket Reference and Beyerdynamic dt250's. Now I know this sounds crazy, but I think the Zune has a small sonic leg up on the Ipod. Not much, but I think there's a wee bit more sound stage and more defined bass. Again, feel free to call me crazy.
The single most disappointing matter of the whole deal is that the device itself doesn't support lossless encoding. You can rip to WMA Lossless, but it will automatically be converted to 320k when you sync. However I do have the utmost faith that Mr. Bill will see the light and add lossless support in a future firmware update.
Anticipation
Other than lossless support, I see a lot of potential for this device. I have a strong feeling that the developer community around the Zune will grow, and MS will maybe even provide development APIs. This means a whole bunch of cool software and plugins for the Desktop and the device itself. For example you could have Winampesque visualization plugins that could run on the device. Just the idea of an API for the wireless interface fills me with joy. And why not have a plugin for Vista's Sideshow feature?
All in All
I am impressed with the quality and craftsmanship of both the hardware and software that make up the Zune. The interface is surprisingly innovative and easy to use, and the devices is solid. There is room for improvement, much of which can be done through firmware upgrades. It doesn't really matter if it's an "Ipod Killer", cause it's a damn fine device that has its place in the wonderful world of high fidelity.