My Zune Hunt Was Successful!

[Jason Dunn]

I awoke this morning at 7 am, ready to start my quest for the Zune. I had figured out where I needed to go last night: back to Circuit City, where I had <a href="http://www.jasondunn.com/sleepy-in-seattle-44" target="_blank">purchased the Canon SD800</a>. They were getting in about a dozen of each colour, and would sell me up to five units. Target is selling the Zune for the same price, but are also offering a $25 in-store gift card with every purchase. I hopped in the cab, and headed back to the Circuit City, which was about 20 minutes away. We made good time, and got there 20 minutes before it opened. As I hoped (and suspected) there was no line up: the Zune is no Xbox 360, and most people don't even know what it is. The cab driver said he needed to go get gas, and offered to turn off the meter while he did so. On the way back from the gas station, I spotted a Target and thought &quot;Well, they'll let me buy one, so I might as well stop&quot;. I went inside, and much to my surprise, they let me pick up two - which meant $50 in gift cards. That reduced the price of the $99 Zune Home A/V Pack to $49, which was great. I also picked up a &quot;Z-Shield&quot; by Agent18, a hard plastic case for $25. After Target I went over to Circuit City to pick up the remainder of my Zune units.<br /><br /><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/zt/2006/zuneday-01-nov14.jpg" alt="" /> <br /><em>Figure 1: Up at the Circuit City till, checking out with one Zune of each colour. They also had a promotion going where for each Zune purchased, you get an eMusic gift card good for 65 songs. I'll be giving those away as prizes later.<br /></em><div style="page-break-after: always;"><span style="display: none;"> </span></div><br /><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/zt/2006/zuneday-02-nov14.jpg" alt="" /> <br /><em>Figure 2: The Zune display at Circuit City. They were stil getting it set up when I was there. I just noticed the Altec Lansing speaker dock now, I didn't look at it in person. Drat! Oh well, Altec Langsing says they're sending me one for review, so I'll get my chance.</em><br /><br /><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/zt/2006/zuneday-03-nov14.jpg" alt="" /><br /><em>Figure 3: Back at my hotel room with all my Zune booty.</em><br /><br />Now excuse me while I spend the rest of the day ordering room service, playing with the Zunes, and writing about them...<span class="wrapper"><span class="wrapper">and putting out the fire from the Thoughts Media corporate credit card bursting into flames from over-use.</span></span>

[sskarlatos]

I just got one at Target as well with a $25 gift card. I have started a photo album on my blog here (http://www.mydigitallife.us).

Stephen Skarlatos
The blog of My Digital Life (http://www.mydigitallife.us/)
------
Contributing Editor pocketnow.com (http://www.pocketnow.com) -- it's all about portability...
Microsoft MVP - Visual Developer Solutions Architect

[Paul Martin]

Wow...what a rough day. :) Sounds like a lot of fun! Look forward to hearing what it's like out of the box and from behind the plexiglass.

[Jason Dunn]

Wow...what a rough day.

Buying new stuff is fun, but the $90 cab fare was a bit painful. :eek:

[Paul Martin]

Yikes! Thoughtsmedia business expense write-off I hope. :D

[Jason Dunn]

Yikes! Thoughtsmedia business expense write-off I hope. :D

You know it! Same with the $600 plane ticket, the $390 hotel stay, the meals...I figure the one Zune I end up keeping will have cost me about $1500 all told. :rolleyes: :D

[Jason Eaton]

Off Topic: Are the pictures shown taken with the Canon SD800?

[Sage]

So when can we start asking you lots of questions about your new baby? :)

[Janak Parekh]

Hey Jason, where are you staying, and what room? Don't worry, no seedy folk will be coming over to take those Zunes and give them to... *whistle <whistle>:rolleyes: * :p

Seriously, looks like you made out great. I'm looking forward to your Zune Thoughts! I've gotta say, the brown is growing on me. :eek:

--janak</whistle>

[Janak Parekh]

Buying new stuff is fun, but the $90 cab fare was a bit painful. :eek: Shoulda come here. You can easily navigate NYC without a cab. ;)

(Actually: why didn't you just rent a car?)

--janak

[Paul Martin]

(Actually: why didn't you just rent a car?)

Do they let Canadians drive down here? :eek: :D

[Janak Parekh]

Do they let Canadians drive down here? :eek: :D It's the Pacific Northwest. They're probably used to Vancouverites meandering around. ;)

--janak

[Paul Martin]

Could be worse..they may have to deal with vacationing Tennesseans. Ed isn't there too, is he? :p

[Jason Dunn]

Off Topic: Are the pictures shown taken with the Canon SD800?

Why yes, yes they are. I'm quite enjoying this camera so far! It takes great pictures without the flash, the ISO noise is quite low.

[Paul Martin]

sans flash? Very nice indeed. Speaking of...any Zune hints? Are you Zuning songs between the five of them?

[Jon Westfall]

Glad you got a chance to pick up your Zunes! Perhaps you can answer the question I've been dying to find out: Can Windows Media Player 11 See the zune and transfer files to it? Does it show up as a hard drive?

Jon.

[Jason Dunn]

(Actually: why didn't you just rent a car?)

Lots of reasons, but mainly that my time is worth more than money, so the hassle of renting a car, finding my way around Seattle, and worse, being stuck in horrible Seattle traffic because I can't use the car pool lane...those all add up to stress for me that I just don't need. That was my only really expensive cab trip....

[Jason Dunn]

sans flash? Very nice indeed.

Yes, indeed. Full resolution sample (http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/zt/2006/sd-800-full-resolution.jpg), sans flash.

Speaking of...any Zune hints? Are you Zuning songs between the five of them?

Nope, not there yet, slowing but surely writing my review as I go through the entire process. It won't be published until tonight sometime.

[Paul Martin]

Very nice. At some point, I want to pick up a better digital camera. I'll definately keep that one in mind...while I'm waiting for the Zune review!

[jdmountford]

I don't think there is any better part to any job than playing with new toys and evaluating them thouroughly.

The Altech Lansing dock/speaker system is very nice, it has great sound. My Circuit City does not have them for sale yet though.

[Macguy59]

As of 7 min ago (6PM CST) Target, Best Buy and Circuit City (in the city I live in) had sold a total of 8 Zunes.

[Deemo]

You know it! Same with the $600 plane ticket, the $390 hotel stay, the meals...I figure the one Zune I end up keeping will have cost me about $1500 all told. :rolleyes: :D
Jason,
The guy I bought my M3 off of is now selling his new Z4.
Would you mind picking it up for me while you are in Seatle??
Then you'd only be up to $40K USD:p

[Darius Wey]

Glad you got a chance to pick up your Zunes! Perhaps you can answer the question I've been dying to find out: Can Windows Media Player 11 See the zune and transfer files to it? Does it show up as a hard drive?

I believe in its current state, the answer is "no" and "no". Jason's review should give a definite answer.

[Jason Dunn]

As of 7 min ago (6PM CST) Target, Best Buy and Circuit City (in the city I live in) had sold a total of 8 Zunes.

Not too surprising - this isn't an Xbox 360, and most people don't even know what the Zune is. The first six months of sales will be geeks buying them, not "regular" people.