Zune Video Overview: See The Zune in Action

[Jason Dunn]

We've put together a video from some of the stock video footage that Microsoft has made available to members of the press - wait, I'm a member of the press? Well, glorified blogger perhaps - but as long as it gets me the good stuff, I don't care what they call me. I've seen other sites posting the completely silent video, but I wanted to do something a bit nicer. The video footage is designed for TV stations to broadcast with a reporter doing their story voice-over - so that's exactly what I did, and I added some background music for good measure. We have two versions of the video for you: the YouTube version is below, so if you're in a rush, watch that one - like all video on YouTube, the quality leaves much to be desired, but it's easy to access.<br /><object width="425" height="350">
<param value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OFObAiTTWYU" name="movie" /><embed width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OFObAiTTWYU"></embed></object> <br /> If you have a few moments, I'd suggest the <a href="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/zt/files/640x480-zune-video-overview.wmv">640 x 480, 2000 kbps version instead</a>. It weighs in at 41 MB, but it looks excellent and really shows the Zune in the best light possible. Enjoy the video, and let us know your comments! I should add that I didn't have a script for the voice-over, and it was done in a single continuous take, so my apologies for the times I pause to think. ;-)

[Alvester]

The screen looks excellent displaying the UI and various graphical backgrounds on the device. I would gather there must be some level of customization in the background department which I think will fit in nicely with the whole community-based initiative surrounding Zune. I don't find this to be critical but if it enhances the experience without slowing the device down then I think I would enjoy something like this.

The screen quality looks very similar to that of the Gigabeat S series with maybe even a bit more crispness. I'm happy to see the colors look natural without the over saturation I've seen on my Creative Zen Vision:M which makes photos look cartoonish in my opinion.

I'm lovin' the UI look too. It's a nicely tweaked version of PMC. Though the initial capacity size is not what I need, I have a good feeling I'll be getting this for my wife if it's available around Christmas time and is on par with my Gigabeat S in terms of sound quality. I let her try out my Gigabeat S and within a few short minutes she had it mastered whereas spending a week with my Creative Zen Vision:M resulted in frustration for her.

MS definitely has a winner on its hands with Portable Media Center's/Zune's interface. It doesn't require a techno-head to figure it out.

[JordanR]

Looks outstanding. Really interested in replacing my current MP3 player.
Have they reported on the dimensions and weight?

[randalllewis]

First things first. Nice job Jason. You've got a good broadcast voice with just enough of a hint of accent that the American market would be wide open for you. A new voice over career awaits.

Now about the Zune. I was not overwhelmed by this first unit but not disappointed either. People need to keep in mind this is a first step in a long process. It is my hope MS will focus efforts on improving the Zune Marketplace offerings more than worrying about lots of new models of player. Making the Marketplace distinctive and more compelling the iTunes will drive business.

And because everyone else has weighed in on the brown color, I will too. I agree with MS that brown can be a popular color and that trends are favoring earth tones again. (Black is the new black for 2007.), but this brown is just not an attractive brown. The brown is just not rich enough. It seems way too flat. This maybe just the quality of the pictures and my monitors, but I don't think so. The brown on the Zune packaging is a nice, rich color that has the qualities I am talking about. The brown Zune should be that shade of brown. I'll stick to a black Zune.

[Alvester]

The higher resolution video of the two shows off the colors nicely. I really like the earth tone look of the brown one. I can see the green around the edge too. It seems like it has a translucent skin on it that refracts the light in an intriguing way or is that actually a light inside it that makes that color on the edge? It looks subtle in the video but it's made me curious about seeing it in person.

[Darius Wey]

Looks outstanding. Really interested in replacing my current MP3 player.
Have they reported on the dimensions and weight?

Check out our "Diving Deep on the Zune" (http://www.zunethoughts.com/news/show/64/diving-deep-on-the-zune-q-a-with-microsoft.html) article. Some specs on size are covered in there.

[fem.]

The higher resolution video of the two shows off the colors nicely. I really like the earth tone look of the brown one. I can see the green around the edge too. It seems like it has a translucent skin on it that refracts the light in an intriguing way or is that actually a light inside it that makes that color on the edge? It looks subtle in the video but it's made me curious about seeing it in person.
I was wondering about that too, as well with the white one a little:

http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/zt/2006/zune-whitedrop-big.jpg

But yeah who woulda thought microsoft would try to be so stylish? the combo of the colour and trim on all of them is perfect. :D