good things do come in small packages

Okay, so those that have had any contact with me over the past few months know that I would not shut up about the Zune HD and how much I want it, and how pretty it looks - and yesterday, I finally got it =] I had given up on receiving it from my parents for Christmas when they just didn't seem at all interested in it in all its amazing-ness (my mother even suggested that I get an iPod Touch instead because it was simpler to obtain).

The postman knocked on the door, terrifying me because of its loudness and randomness - no one knocks at that time in the morning, like ever! Stumbling out of the shower, drying off and pulling some clothes on I made my way to the door to find nothing there but a pick-up receipt addressed to my mother. Perplexed, I gave her a call and she acted quite shady saying that she will pick it up after work.

When the parentals arrived back home, mother came in with a package and made sure that I saw it: it was from a cousin in the USA. At this point, I was partially giddy and my fingers were itching to open the package - before I was sure that it was indeed the Zune.

The package - obviously with parts blurred

The box - it's so cute and little

So after the boring administration and setup - software installation and updates, initial charge and such, I loaded the music that was spared from my computer crash a couple of months ago and put this little baby to the test.

I love the user interface - it isn't at all rigid. The menus sort of flip over and back, it's quite fun to watch. In album, artist and song view, the items are alphabetised under these adorable squares that remind me of scrabble tiles (see photo below). I love the navigation - it makes it so easy to flip back and forth through the different views (sort of like HP Media Centre in which you side-scroll through artists).

Not mine, photo belongs to Ubergizmo. My Zune is currently charging and I didn't have the heart to disrupt it

During playback, the screen shifts from the usual boring display of album art, and track details to a dynamic screensaver-esque thing comprised of picture of the artist with rolling text, album art, time and other details layered on top. It's incredibly fun to watch =]

Another thing - I didn't have to compromise my values/preferences to get a fun music player. I got a non-Apple product instead, which means it is different to what others have, which is always a plus. (I promise that I won't Apple bash any more in this post).

To turn it on, you do the usual thing and press and hold the power button, and then lift up the screen (which I have changed to the usual Alice & Jasper tile wallpaper that I have on most of my devices) - and to turn it off, you press and hold the power button and lift down the wallpaper.

The things that could be improved about my darling Zune are minimal. I'd rather that it was a tad chunkier rather than the sleek body. That, and the fact that it was bought before they decided to release the coloured ones - the green one is particularly appealing, although the platinum one I have is rather awesome =]

But my main sadness lies in the social features - in other words, the music sharing and discovery which sets the Zune apart from other media players - are moot here in Australia. It would be great if it could work here - say if I'm on the bus with a friend and they've got this song that I've been itching to listen to. They could send it to me, and I could satisfy my craving for that song. And it's not P2P file sharing either - the license for the song expires, which is good because it will encourage me to actually buy it legally.

So it's safe to say that I adore it - I used up a good deal of the battery today listening to music and playing Texas Hold 'em today. I reckon I will pull a Kass and start naming all my own devices from now on. The name has to be every bit as awesome as my Zune, so it may take a while.