Microsoft Zune 16GB review (third generation, 16GB, pink)

The Zune supports WMV, MPEG-4, and H.264 video formats natively at a DVD-quality 30fps frame rate. Windows Media Center users will be happy to know that the Zune also imports DVR-MS recorded video content.

Although the Zune's screen displays at a 320x240 resolution, video files stored on the Zune can be as large as 720x480 and played at full resolution through an optional Zune AV dock.

The Zune software is still simplistic, but we're finally seeing better editing features.

Selecting the Social feature from the Zune's main menu gives you a window onto your friends' (or total strangers') listening habits.

Within the Social menu, you have an in-box for messages and friend requests between Zune users, a Friends tab displaying any current Zune users you've befriended through Microsoft's Zune Social network, and a Nearby tab that detects the Wi-Fi signal of other Zune's in physical proximity to you. You can dig deeper into the Social to preview and purchase the recent or favorite songs of people in your network, piggybacking on your friend's music tastes the same way you might with an online service such as iLike or Last.fm. We're all in favor of getting music recommendations from friends; however, the slow adoption of the Zune means that your actual friends are nowhere to be found on the Zune Social, requiring you to befriend Zune-using strangers in an effort to make the Social feature feel useful. That said, now that we have used the Zune Social over the past year, we've found that the pseudo-friends forged in the Social have routinely provided some surprisingly good music recommendations.

If you're a fan of audio and video podcasts, the Zune is one of the only alternatives to the iPod that provides integrated, hassle-free management of your podcast feeds. Like the iPod, the Zune's closed software and hardware ecosystem is able to automatically download new podcasts, load them onto your Zune, and clear out the old content. The Zune desktop software lets you browse, search for, and subscribe to podcasts within the Marketplace directory, or paste in the direct link for the feed. Podcast playback on the Zune supports autoresume, episode information, and the capability to unsubscribe from podcasts directly from the playback screen.

Finally, if you're a Zune Pass music subscriber, Microsoft has added a new feature called Channels that offers a podcast-like automatic rotation of new music playlists for your Zune. Channels are sorted by genre, affiliation (Grand Ole Opry, Fader Magazine), or type (Billboard Top 20), and content is updated weekly. You can update your Zune's Channel content by connecting to your computer, or updating directly over Wi-Fi. If you don't hold a Zune Pass subscription, you can still subscribe to Channels and preview songs on your computer, with the option to purchase tracks a la carte.

Zune desktop software
It wasn't pretty when Microsoft overhauled their desktop software alongside the release of last year's Zune. Thankfully, the upgrade to Version 3.0 has brought nothing but improvements and stability to the Zune's desktop client. The software runs noticeably faster on our old Windows XP machine, and includes menu settings that let you throttle the software's graphic performance to match the capabilities of your computer.

The latest software hasn't made any radical visual changes, but there are a few subtle enhancements. The software's background image is now white (goodbye pink swirls); there's a new Picks tab under Marketplace with personalized recommendations; your Zune Social card has now been integrated better; and the Now Playing screen offers an enhanced view with tastefully treated artist photos that float and fade like a custom screensaver. The most interesting new feature included on the Zune 3.0 desktop software is a Mixview pane that graphically represents the currently playing song in relation to similar artists, songs, and top listeners. Using Mixview, you can explore the connections between artists, preview similar songs, and acquaint yourself with other Zune users in a way that is much more visually engaging than the storefront design that permeates iTunes and Zune Marketplace.

The Zune software is far from perfect, however, and still lacks the fine-grain control that users can find in iTunes, Windows Media Player, and Winamp. If you're a power user, yearning to outfit your metatags with lyric data or import your FLAC music files, the Zune software isn't the place for you. Unfortunately, the Zune hardware is only compatible with Zune's own desktop software, so if you can't stand the software's deliberately vanilla approach to music organization then you may want to consider another MP3 player.

Performance
The Zune's audio and video quality hasn't budged since last year's model, but its battery life has made some gains, as well as some losses. Microsoft rates its flash-based Zunes about 24 hours of audio playback and 4 hours of video. When our CNET Labs tested the Zune, they squeezed out an impressive 29 hours of audio playback with Wi-Fi off and 22 hours with Wi-Fi on. The Zune's audio-only battery life is not only better than last year's model (which maxed out at 20 hours), but it beat out Apple's fourth-generation iPod Nano, which only mustered 24 hours of audio playback under the same lab test. Video-only battery life test results were not as flattering, however, revealing 3.8 hours of battery life with Wi-Fi off and a paltry 2 hours with Wi-Fi active. By comparison, the iPod Nano reached 6.7 hours of video playback under the same test conditions.

Despite its lack of EQ controls, the Zune sounds amazing over a good pair of headphones. Video quality on the Zune is unchanged and rivals the 2-inch screen found on the iPod Nano.

Zune versus iPod
The Zune still has a hard road ahead of it if it wants to catch up to the iPod. Microsoft is doing an admirable job, however, of carving out a niche of music fanatics who value the Zune's emphasis on music discovery and subscription-music gluttony. But unless you have a grudge against Apple or are tempted by the Zune's subscription-music service, the iPod's superior battery life and accessory options make it a better option for most users.