Digital media players are fast catching up with today's world. Apple was the first which captured the hearts of many using their iPod flagship product. Many vendors started having sleepless nights thinking about the popularity of the iPods and decided to manufacture products similar to it. Microsoft Zune is a direct result of such an impact. This article attempts to study the Zune in detail.

Zune was first released in Nov 2006. The initial models were purely hard drive based. Later flash based devices with slightly lower capacities were released by Microsoft. Zune software, Zune marketplace where users can buy digital music at a price etc comes as a part of the Zune package. The connectivity options include wireless and USB using which it can be synchronized with a PC. The Zune 8GB was released in November 2007. This newer counterparts were different from the older siblings in many ways some of which are being listed in here. Touch sensitive usage was one of the major additions.

The Zune pad, by which it is commonly termed, had replaced the original D pads. The Zune pad also supports 5 way clicking. Wifi is the primary mode of wireless transmission and reception in Zune. A gripe present in Zune while sharing songs using wifi is mentioned here. The recipient will be able to play the received song only to a maximum of three times. HD radio is not supported by the device at present but it includes RBDS. The glass screen present is also scratch resistant.

The 8GB storage roughly translates to 2000 songs, 25000 pictures or 20 hours of videos. The form factor is also thin at 0.3" and the device weighs just 1.7 ounces. The audio formats supported by the device are MP3, WMA, AAC. JPEG pictures and videos with the format of WMV, MPEG-4, H.264 is also playable on the device. It features a 1.8" screen with a resolution of 320x240 LCD. Zune pass is required to use the device in the Zune market place. The subscription to the Zune pass is monthly and on yearly basis. The lithium ion battery featured in the device helps in seamless playback of 24 hours of music at a stretch and 4 hours of photo and video playback.

Although released with such fanfare and pomp the devices have received a feeble response all over the world. The device is solely PC compatible, and cannot be used with Macs while its rival products from Apple can the used both on PCs and MACs. This gives an added advantage to the Apple products. The song and video pricing are in tandem with the Apple iTunes Marketplace. Many songs, videos, podcasts, pictures come preloaded with the device. The firmware of the devices is kept updated using the native Zune software. Minor revisions and bugs have been ironed out in the process. The player is also DRM compatible. The product can be used with the proprietary software of Microsoft, just like the iPod. This has lead to wide spread criticisms.