Want to Win a Pink Zune? Here's How...

[Jason Dunn]

<img border="0" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1189548268.usr1.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br />It just so happens that I have a pink Zune to give away, and it just so happens that <em><strong>most</strong></em> of you Zune Thoughts readers are eligible. Why &quot;most&quot;? Here's why: since launching Zune Thoughts nearly a year ago, I've given away two Zunes. Being in Canada, I'm particularly sensitive to the frustration of seeing a contest where it says &quot;USA only&quot;, so I always strive to have my contests be open to anyone in the world - that's the way I think it should be. <br /><br />Random chance seems to agree: both of the Zunes I gave away went outside North America. One went to Poland, and one went to The Netherlands. Much to my dismay, <strong><em>in both cases the Zune never showed up for the winner!</em></strong> The second one was particularly baffling because it was send via Purolator courier with a tracking number (the first was regular postal mail) - after a two week investigation the courier company declared the package as lost. The first Zune I gave away was paid for out of my own pocket, and the second one was donated by the Zune team, but it's still frustrating for a winner not to get their prize. So, because of the problems I've had with my two previous Zune contests, I have no choice but to declare this contest only open to people in the USA or Canada (sorry Mexico). Maybe future contests I'll feel more lucky and try to ship it someplace far away...<br /><br />So how do you enter this contest? Simple: just post a message in this thread telling me one of the features that you like about the Zune. I'll randomly select one person that posts, and that person will win the Zune. That's it! I'll leave this contest open until <strong>12 noon (GMT -7) on Thursday the 20th</strong>.

[chemgrenades]

Customizable backgrounds! Something my lame ipod doesnt have.:)

[mcwilliams132]

In!

I love the 30gb capacity! Mo music! Mo music!

[pinkzune]

Before you say anything... think about it. A visualizer would be awesome. No other device has it and you could show it your friends and they would be all like "Wow 1999 called and they want their feature back." and you would be all like "Whatever. I like it."
On second thought how about a browser.

[williamc]

FM Radio is my favorite of the standard features, especially the Zune's ability to read metadata from the radio stations about what song is playing. :)

[sboots]

Hi, Jason. Sorry to hear about the loss of the first two contest Zunes. :-(

My favorite feature of the many would have to be the ability to tell it to play all songs in random order. I use my Zune while working out and rather than try to decide what to listen to, I use this feature to let it play a surprise for me. It works great!
-steve

[Rocco Augusto]

I was going to say "You should have used UPS" but then I just checked the traking number of the last UPS package I sent which was my Zune to the repair center and it took over 10 days to get there! They're only a few states away!

I guess you just can't trust anyone to deliver your packages on time, or actually deliver them anymore :(

[Rob Cannon]

My favorite feature is the quality of the video screen. It large enough to have good looking videos but still small enough to fit in my pocket.

[trolane]

I like the large screen although i'm waiting to see what gen 2 offers before buying a zune.

[Alber1690]

I would have to say...the UI. It's the only "new" thing that's innovative and works.

Good luck to all. :)

[priesmeyer]

My favorite feature about the Zune would have to be the storage capacity. I have considered buying a cheap 1 or 2GB mp3 player -- but I absolutely cannot have only a small portion of my music with me.

I have to have my entire library because I never know when I'm going to want to hear a particular song.

Thanks for a consistently great site, Jason and Team. The Thoughts Media sites a great for the tech community and I appreciate all the hard work you guys do.

[BugDude10]

I know it isn't really a "feature", but the thing that most impresses me about the Zune is that it exists at all. I'm glad that Microsoft -- not normally the underdog -- took on Apple, the 800 lb. gorilla in the portable-music-player market. While the first-gen Zune may not be revolutionary, it is a perfectly decent first attempt, *and* it shot Microsoft to #2 in the market, IIRC.

Like everyone else here, I'm eager to see what the second-gen Zune brings to the dance. In the meantime, though, I'd take a free first-gen Zune if someone were to FedEx one to me...

[jadesse]

There is no "I" in the name. I am so sick about hearing about the ipod or iphone.

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The wireless connection is cool.

[Joe66]

This is probably one of the easiest questions that I've ever had to answer, there are several things that I like about the Zune, the large screen is certianly one of them,I just love the feel of the Zune in my hands,combine that with the elegant UI that the Zune team put toghether and one of the features that I feel they still have over the original iPods, the Zune is hard to beat. It's also interesting to know that this is just the begining and there are good things coming from the Zune team.

I love the choice of colors and pink is a color that my 5 year old daughter would absolutley love.:)

[azieba]

It's hackability. Multi-Extension support hack + Windows Media Center PC means I can catchup on all my TV shows...

[Roan]

My favorite feature of the Zune really isn't a feature, per se.

Its the color scheme of the device itself. I really love the "Double Shot" effect with the color. The brown Zune showcases my two favorite colors: Brown and Green. :D

[cjhp]

Well I will name my two favorite features. The first is the Zune pass subscription service. The second is the UI on the Zune device. Thanks J..

[digitaldoc]

My favorite feature is the WiFi. This was the revolutionary feature of 1st generation Zune that I'll remember about the player a decade from now. Then again, Microsoft should have made it less restrictive to use.

[Kevin Jackson]

It's not an iPod :)

Seriously, though, I like the inclusion of WiFi, if only for the possible future uses.

[David Tucker]

the last UPS package I sent which was my Zune to the repair center and it took over 10 days to get there! They're only a few states away!

Hey Rocco...isn't 10 days significantly better than never? ;)

[Ranger_000]

I really love the "Twist Interface" otherwise known as the UI...

[Jorm]

I like the "Quicklist" feature. It's nice to be able to put together a playlist on the go.

[jdmountford]

I love the Zune for so may reasons that Just picking one is nearly impossible. So hopefully I am not dq'd for going overboard...
1st, I would say the Subscription service (though it is much malighned).
2nd, I love the big screen.
3rd, I like the WifI (my daughter and I swpa songs when one of us finds something new)
4th, it is not Apple!!
5th, the FM Tuner
6th, the housing is fantastically solid.
7th, I love the "Doubleshot"

What I dont' like is simple, I want over WiFi Marketplace, I want Stereo Bluetooth, and I want my wife to give up her iPod (hence entering the contest)

[bleeman]

What I like the most is the ease of use of the "buttons".

I'm on the road a lot each day traveling from client site to client site. I have my playlists setup for random play and my Zune plays through my radio via the FM transmitter. But if I need to mute the device, skip a track etc. I love being able to reach over and do it by touch keeping my eyes on the road. When I had my Nano I basically gave up using it while on the road as I always had to physically look at it to make changes as the "wheel" would usually spin way past what I wanted.

[tbird]

Jeez.....I got at least 3 reasons....
Love the screen size....
The FM rocks......(use this all the time)
Can change my front page anytime I want.....
Doesnt scratch.......
Does what it said it would do!
Sorry I guess I have at least 5 reasons.....:D

[Dyvim]

The 3" screen and the UI

[Brothernod]

I like the color brown... seriously.

2nd choice is a tie between the large screen on a harddrive mp3 player (the screen is the reason it still has a chance since Apple has nothing with a good amount of storage for watching videos) and the click pad/wheel/thingy... it's raised and distinct enough I can change songs while it's in my pocket, and that's hot.

[sigur]

My favourite feature is radio with rds and the screen size. I loved my zune but I have to send it to my brothers in Romania (Europe) for his birthday because he loved it too. Now I have to wait someone to make a trip to USA for another one beeing a little frustrating because I emigrate to Canada and I cannot by an american product !!!

[DesertLarry]

I love the soft casing and the doubleshot. I think my wife gets jealous when I sit there and caress my zune.

[Timothy Huber]

Album art... even if it's only 240x240

[The Yaz]

It's got to be the screen for me! I just can't fathom how people strain their eyes trying to view video on smaller screens.

[Kristo_Olson]

I like the capacity, and screen size most of all.


Kris

[Chris Gohlke]

I like the Xbox 360 integration, I just wish it would also show cover art from the Zune on the TV.

[Heatwave316]

Tough call, but I think it would be a tie between the large screen size and the FM radio. I like to take a break from my music to listen to the radio....:)

Pink is my favorite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ChrisToohey]

Custom backgrounds, TRUE random lists, the wide screen, and the fact that I'm not drinking the iKool-Aid like everyone else...

[rck]

One really nice (but I assume little used) feature is the ability to output the Zune's display and audio to a TV or home entertainment system. The Zune encoded video playback is not always the greatest picture on the larger screen, but it is nice way to play back your video with others instead of everyone huddling around the Zune screen.

[doc]

Gotta remember to check my feeds more often. I'm 15 hours after posting here.

The best feature I like is the larger screen. This is why I switched from an iPod.

[DrMobo]

The radio. My commute used to be in a car where I listened to National Public Radio. Now I'm fortunate to be able to walk to work. With the Zune I once again can listen to NPR.

[MarxMarvelous]

My favorite feature is the durable exterior. It's nice to be able to carry it around without a case!

[pocketDragon]

The one feature I most like in the Zune is it's feel in the hands.
I'm not one of these people that only like the smallest and the thinnest devices. Though small and thin can be good, an appropriate size for he job at hand (no pun intended) is much more important.
My Dash has taught me the pleasure of a rubberized grip device. Comfortable to hold, secure to use.

[Rocco Augusto]

Hey Rocco...isn't 10 days significantly better than never? ;)

But thats 10 days without my Zune! Plus you have to count in the weeks that it will take them to fix it and send it back, plus another 10 days for UPS to fudge around... I'm jonesing here!

And when you really think about it, i mean really think about it, isn't 10 days just a smidge away from never? :rolleyes:

While I know I can't win since I write for our fabulous sister site, Smartphone Thoughts (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com) (<-- shameless plug), it would be nice to own since it is pink and that means the misses would stop stealing my Zune :(

I wish they would just announce Zune 2.0 already so I could know when it would be safe to buy her one and save mine. I just can't justify going out and getting a Zune 1.0 as everyone has hinted towards a holiday release and it is already September :D

[ujnhunter]

awsome, my wife would love me if i gave her a pink zune! (not that she doesn't love me already... heh)

[Adam Krebs]

My most-used feature is one that few other players have, yet is rarely talked about. It's found within both the Zune software and on the Zune device. I'm speaking, of course, of the flag! A comparatively simple feature when assessed amongst pseudo-random, custom-eq's, scrollable menus, et al., but infinitely useful to me. I have hundreds of songs flagged in my inbox, and it's one less thing to relegate to the notes feature on my cell phone.

I would definitely think it'd be cool if they added a flag for the radio. Just think... You're listening to a brand-new song you've never heard before and want to download from the Marketplace when you get home--you just hit the center button and scroll down to "flag", and it'll couple the RDS data with the flag, so it shows up, "John Vanderslice - White Dove" (etc.) with a link to its Marketplace page (as is done with current flags). For stations that don't yet use RDS, it'll append the frequency/station name with the time, and allow you to manually look it up the web--most stations have some sort of feature like this.

But yeah, I love the flag!

[jawlaw]

My favorite feature is the big screen size as I use my for video most of the time.

[feo]

I would have to say the screen. I want to get more into actually creating video files for it.
I was a computer animator in what now seems like another life. I used to carry a small TV/VCR combo to show my portfolio to meetings.
Now you can do it on something smaller than the size of a VHS (or Beta) tape... :p

[julioangelortiz]

The Twist interface. It was a bit of a revelation. :D

[mrozema]

I love the customizable wallpapers, although that's not its best feature. The wifi is... Riiiiight...

At least one other person already mentioned it and that's the full collection randomization feature. Does the iPod not do this (I clearly don't know...)?

[zuneone]

my girlfriend (http://zuneone.net/zuneone.jpg) would love a pink zune.
she listens to audiobooks constantly...

[bygaudio]

I have had a number of small MP3 players of the years, I had a Diamond Rio w 32MB, a 512MB Creative MuVo TX, I also bought my son a 2GB Pic n' Roll because it was cheap.

The Zune though is the first one that I like. Easy synching, album art, playlists, big screen and still being portable. being able to store 30 GB (even though 80 or 120 GB would be better).

I hope Microsoft keeps developing for the 1.0 devices so we can better use the WiFi!

Lastly, I don't mind the newer iPod devices, I still can't stand iTunes. After all of these years it is still a beating to use.

[MrJoe]

I bought a zune a few months ago because of the user interface on the zune and the zune windows software. This was a big upgrade from my old RioVolt mp3 cd player which I had been using for around 7 years. I had started borrowing friends' ipods quite often over the last year, and they were cool, but I really like Windows Media Player 11. The Zune Windows software is essentially an extension of that and the Zune interface seems to operate in the same light. In fact, the only complaint I really could come up about the zune is that its interface could have more features like WM 11 has. However, I think the interface is still the best on the market.

[Ricardo Dawkins]

integrated FM Tuner FTW!!!
send my the pinky.

[donc36]

There are a number of differentiators that prompted me to buy a zune last november. The large screen, wifi (OK, so wifi is near useless for me...), the integrated FM, etc.

However, for me, the primary reason I won't be jumping the zune ship to a competing device is the Zune Marketplace subscription. For $15 a month, I'm exposed to all the music I grew up with, and I'm exposed to music I wouldn't really hear elsewhere on the radio stations I usually listen to, so it's a cost effective to listen to other artists. It's basically the price of 1 CD a month, and I can legally let my wife download music onto her zune with my account too.

[jimlat]

I love the bif, crisp, clean, bright screen (especially on a pink Zune for my wife) ;)

[suave4ever]

I own an ipod also, but I love the zune better, because of the large screen, the customizable background, fm tuner and my favorite one: the ability to share music and picture wirelessly to other zune users!

[deltrey]

would simply be the fact that I would be the only person in Halifax NS with a Zune. Let alone a Pink one. :)

Seriously though....customizable backgrounds and fm radio are two of my favourite things.

[lisaspec01]

I love that all of my music is on my Zune so no matter what my mood I can find something to listen too.

[nutzareus]

It would be a great gift to give to my wife so I can get out of the doghouse for buying other technological gadgets. :-)

[jugo23]

ability to change the brightness level!

[m0onpenguin]

The integrated radio...a feature ipod (I can say that word here can't I?) continues to gloss over.

[Celinya]

I like that when you watch a video the Zune flips to widescreen and the controls flip too.

[jerboa]

I would have to go with the FM tuner - As much as I like my iPod, once in a while, I just want to listen to the radio... Why is Apple so opposed to adding that to its players??? :confused:

[trooper94]

I love the large screen coupled with the custom backgrounds. I just wish the zune software had podcast feed support.

-Simon
----------
- If two wrongs don't make a right, try three.

[Jason Dunn]

Ok, no further entries...doing the random drawing now...and the winner is...

williamc (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/member.php?u=535) from Chicago! Congrats to him!