Hello everyone! As promised, whoever is the runner up (4th place) to the Got Zune Original Contest will receive this Schick Quattro Titanium Razor Zune Speaker set. Good luck to everyone and keep those contributions going!

Today at work, I threw the Zune 80 in my pocket. I was pretty busy and preoccupied so I didn't even notice that I threw it in my pocket that I keep my big ole keyring in.  Well, 2 hours later, I realized it and was like, "Oh damn...".

The good news is that the Zune 80 passed the accidental scratch test...

Over at Zune Thoughts, Jason Dunn shares an issue he encountered recently with his Zune 80.

I was recently in Amsterdam, at a Microsoft conference called Mobius, and there were a few Zune users in the room. Two of them were Microsoft employees, and we decided to share a few songs wirelessly - or, more accurately, we tried to. No matter how many times I tried, my Zune 80 simply would not connect to either the Zune 8 or the other Zune 80 in the room. At first I thought it was because I was about 20 feet away, but that seemed kind of feeble - I was sure my Zune could reach the other Zunes. And it was certainly seeing the other Zunes ok, so why couldn't it send?

Wonder what was up with that...

Anyhow, this past weekend I had issues of my own. I lost my 500gb external drive that houses all my movies and music. With the Zune Software not able to see this drive, I had some issues. I am fairly sure it's related... All my songs went to and error message and would not play. Tonight, I got that drive back to work and resync'ed the Zune 80... No luck. I rebooted the Zune... No luck.

What I ended up having to do is erase 40gb of info from the Zune and start over. It's still resync'ing now. The good news is that my songs *do* work again!

Donald Bell, a longtime iPod loyalist "had a lot of mixed emotions ordering a Zune 80."

Part of me felt like a traitor, honestly. I thought about my poor 5G video iPod, which had been ignored for weeks at the bottom of my messenger bag while I played with Microsoft's loaner for my review.

All in all, Donald admits the Zune deserves some recognition for the Zune Originals.

Update, here is Donald's Snapshot too...

-chris

Read full review and video here.

I did my little video prize fight, now Cnet has their famous prize fight online. Who is the winner?

What an upset! We promise this fight was not rigged. We wanted a clear champion as much as you did. The Zune seemed to win most rounds by just a hair, but the compatibility round was the fatal blow to the Zune's ability to triumph over the incumbent iPod Classic. Microsoft really could have swept the floor with the iPod if it had just buried the hatchet and made the Zune both Mac- and PC-compatible. (Supporting its own DRM-WMA and DRM-WMV formats would have helped, too.)

The fact that the Zune even tied the mighty iPod Classic should be enough to send Apple's most devout fans into a reactionary hissy-fit. Surely you must have an opinion on which one should have won this fight.

Source: CNET Reviews

Now, this is what I am talking about. Some really limited edition Zunes. Only 10. Not sure if that is 10 of each variety or what... Stay Tuned.

Hip hop legend Bun B (of UGK) and elite producer Swizz Beats teamed up to a play a free show at the War Room last Friday night here in Seattle.

We're also partnering with Goods to release an limited edition (only 10 will be sold) Zune.

Source: Zune Insider : Bun B, Swizz Beatz, Play Show for Zune + Goods

sinizter has pointed me to Expansys, a company famous for their Pocket PC and Smartphone sales, has the Zune 80 available on their .CA domain.

No guarantees that you'll score one, but it looks promising.

This is a 2 part comparison video of the Zune 80 to the iPod Classic 80. Please excuse my gruff voice, I am pretty sick with the weather going from 40 to 70 ever other day.

Video 1 of 2

Video 2 of 2

Let me preface this with envy. This website has the very best domain name on the internet. I think I have had to mention that at least 10 times on Mobilitysite, but this is the 1st opportunity for me to link these guys here.

Anyhow, Anything but iPod thows down their Zune 80 review....

The bottom line is the Zune is a fantastic device but may not appease the hardcore crowd. The DAP enthusiast will miss the countless features that other brands offer and may feel a bit trapped by a single piece of software and single choice for music services.

I would without a doubt fall into that hardcore DAP enthusiast category but I do really appreciated the Zune for its simplicity and clutterless features set. The first Zune round I was not impressed with, it was a nice player, but not to unlike everything else on the market. With the introduction of the new firmware and the Zune 80, I am definitely enjoying it. The form factor is compact and the design is solid and scratch resistant. The interface is a very easy pick up and use interface much like the old one, just dressed up a little more. The wireless has finally been put to use with wireless sync. The social aspect they started touting in the first generation is just now starting to show its head with the ability to show off your listening preferences at Zune.net.

The Zune could without a doubt use more codec support, there is no reason not to include free license codecs like OGG and FLAC. DivX/XviD native support would also be a great edition or at the very least let ups easily convert these file types with the Zune software. There are a few bug fixes and tweaks that the Zune needs so it is by no means perfect. But I still see the Zune as a work in progress much like the XBox 360 where updates will add more functionality and this could be drastic like Zune 30 owners saw with the firmware update.

Read the entire review

Being in the the tech site community for a couple years, I know that getting your opinions heard is easy said than done. While the size of Aximsite / Mobilitysite's readership is pretty damn big, they have nothing on Crunchgear, so it's great to see a regular commentor and GotZune Blogger get some Crunchgear love today.

Jaxim got his Blind Review linked to from Crunchgear's main page today. Great Job sir.

I don’t own one of the new Zunes that just came out this past month, but my friend allowed me to test his out pretty thoroughly and I was able to ask him what he didn’t like about it.

I must say I really enjoyed it. However there are a “few� things that I thought were lacking with the device. Despite these deficiencies I would still purchase it over an iPod classic. Read on…

read the rest here...

Note: This is his big chance at a Zune 80 too. Head over and help him win a Zune 80!

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