Zune Music & Photo Sharing: That's Just Plain Cool

[Jason Dunn]

There have been many complaints about the Zune and how the WiFi sharing is crippled from a functionality standpoint, and nearly useless because there just aren't that many Zune around. I've been one of the people complaining, because I think there's potential for so much more. But even today, when two Zune users get together, some cool stuff can happen. A friend of mine here in Calgary has a Zune, and one night a couple of weeks ago we swapped some content. I beamed him a whole bunch of Zune-sized wallpaper images, along with some funny photos I've collected over the years. He swapped out his wallpaper a few times, looking at the images I sent, and several people in the room used his Zune and my Zune to look at the funny photos and we all had a good laugh. Without the ability to send images over wireless from one Zune to another none of this would have been possible. The Zune's screen size also made looking at the photos a great experience - though I once again curse at the fact that portrait-oriented photos aren't displayed in the proper orientation (this is a very bad decision on Microsoft's part).<br /><br />On the music side of things, he beamed me over two full albums. I remembered to listen to them the next day, and I spent the next hour or so grooving to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.mosesmayes.com/">Moses Mayes</a>, a band I'd never heard of until then. The three plays limitation was enough for me to listen to the whole album three times, and by then I definitely knew I liked the band. I'm still not convinced that three days is a long enough - I don't listen to music on my Zune every day - but overall I'd say the scenario of sharing music is a very cool one that, once enough Zunes are out there, can make discovering new music easy and fun.<br /><br /><br />So, despite a rough start and some limitations, I'm a firm believer that wireless media players have great potential and sharing media with friends is a great social activity that the Zune makes possible.

[Aaron Roma]

though I once again curse at the fact that portrait-oriented photos aren't displayed in the proper orientation (this is a very bad decision on Microsoft's part).
This is quite anoying isn't it. I've recently started using my Zune to share some photos, and one of the first questions I'm asked when showing a portrait-oriented photo: "Can't you turn that the other way?"


I'm still not convinced that three days is a long enough
I agree. Why isn't simply the three-plays limitation good enough? Why should it matter how long that content stays on my player if I'm not listening to it? Whoever is forcing this issue needs to lighten up. This sort of song sharing and sampling could be a HUGE souce of revenue for the music industry.

[cjhp]

Just received my zune last week and was visiting my nephew and talking with him and his friend that are high school age. They both have ipods of one flavor or another and I was showing them my zune. I was telling them about the wireless capabilities and they really liked the idea about it. I think I had them both talked into a zune for their next device...:) They really thought it would be cool to be able to share music with friends, etc. I do wish the time limit were longer... the 3 plays is plenty for me because I usually know after the first listen whether it is my cup of tea or not but the extra 2 times would allow me to decide whether it is something I like well enough to purchase.

I would agree about the picture thing. It is a little annoying. It should be smart enough to know.