After our third Creative mp3 player in 2 years stopped working, I bought a Zune. I really enjoyed the Creative Labs mp3 players we had. They were really easy to use, we could put any files we wanted on them, including protected content. The problem was they just didn’t last very long. I love my Zune player. It’s attractive, it’s a nice size, it’s got a great screen…but the software I have to use with it SUCKS. Trying to load files onto the player is one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever done. I’m not even talking about illegally downloaded files; I’m talking about things I paid to download, songs from CDs I bought, and mp3s I used to check out from an audiobook library. When I first loaded up the player with all my mp3s, only about half of them copied over. I still haven’t been able to get the other half copied, or figure out what the problem is. Not to mention that it’s really pretty confusing. First you have to add it to the library, then from there to the Zune device. Everything loads into the library; it just doesn’t all make it over to the Zune. Then there are a few songs that I have only once in my library, but somehow have 30 copies of on my Zune. I guess you’re not supposed to buy a Zune unless you’re willing to buy all of your music (and rebuy what you already have) from the Zune marketplace. I also thought the podcast feature was really cool when I first bought it, but it doesn’t work very well. Often the podcasts I’m subscribed to have been uploaded to their websites for days before the Zune software picks them up. It also deletes some of them before I’ve had a chance to listen to them. As much as I love the actual player, when I buy my next mp3 player, I’ll switch brands again, to something with more user friendly software.
