Installation

Now, what's important to note here is that the Zune HD will not function right out of the box.  It's one of those unique products that will require mandatory steps in order to simply use it.  This is quite amusing actually, as many who actually purchased one before its release date found they were unable to make full use it.

Don't expect to take it out, plug it in and transfer your music over.  You'll want to install the Zune Software prior to connecting it and upgrade its firmware.  This update is very important, as it will unleash a number of features not present in the shipped firmware.  The update is extremely easy though and you'll just follow three simple steps before receiving confirmation that it has updated successfully.  However, note the update will take some time to perform and remember that you should never unplug the player during a firmware upgrade.  This is important with any product that is firmware-upgradeable. 

After you have updated your player, you'll want to sign in to your Zune account or create one if you don't have one.  Normally, the login credentials are those of your Hotmail account but can be created using any other email account.  The final but important step is to tell the software how it should sync to both your device and your PC.  You have full control on how it should handle all types of media files and I actually like this very much.

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Once all is done, it will automatically find and sync the device.  If you have a large collection of music, sit back and relax, watch a movie or whatever because it will take some time for it to transfer all your files over.

The Zune HD has wireless capabilities and therefore, will allow you to conveniently sync your music collection wirelessly.  Setup is extremely easy and can be done via the Zune Desktop Software.  You'll want to access the advanced menus to get to the settings available to configure your player on your secured network.  It's a simple and trouble-free process.

Software

With the launch of the Zune HD was their latest Zune 4.0 software.  After owning other Zune players and playing with previous versions, I will say this is not only their best, but one that I highly recommend to those who may not even have a Zune player.

Before playing with the software, you'll be prompted with many options for your media and rip/store locations.  You can fully customize each of these options to your specific needs and even remove any of the defaults if desired.

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Zune software is an excellent tool to discover new music.  As a hardcore music lover who is always in search, this is an excellent feature that does not necessarily cost you anything to take advantage of.  When you first attempt to set up a marketplace account, you will be prompted to select three of your favorite artists.  This will play a big role in its ability to provide you with artists you may be interested in.  Note that this is just the starting point though, and the software will somewhat "learn" what you're into based on your collection and other settings as well.

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One very surprising setback was the window that popped up above.  It came up when attempting to play some of the music files in my collection.  You'll definitely want to set up an account and log into the marketplace prior to playing your music collection in order to avoid this explicit content restriction.  While I honestly found it quite annoying, I can understand why it was implemented.

Now, the software has many impressive features, all of which I can't possibly cover in this article.  With that said, I have done my best to detail its main features as best I can.  In short, the software consists of four PC main menus and six PC sub-menus.  Additional menus are available when switching to device mode.  However, in this article, I will cover the key menus and provide screenshots of each with full content already loaded.  

The music menu on collection management conveniently displays your entire music collection in a three-way split.  This consists of artist, album and song but there are additional submenus to change its display by genres, playlists, etc.  Overall, it's a very complete and convenient view of your music collection and if you're coming from something like Windows Media Player, you will eventually love it and find it much more useful and easy to find what you want quickly.  You just need to give it time and get used to it.  The second submenu will display all videos present in the folders you specified it should monitor when installing the software. 

Despite doubts from many posting on numerous forums, the Zune does fully support podcasts and that's a good thing.  The reason many who are not computer savvy think it doesn't is because even after upgrading its firmware, you will not see such a menu on the player itself.  You will actually need to start exploring the world of podcasts and download them to your collection before it ends up syncing to your player and displaying this menu.

Now, if there is one area of major doubt, it is certainly the question on whether or not the Zune HD does support Apps.  In fact, I have read so-called professional reviews where they state otherwise.  This is incorrect and would like to clearly state that the Zune HD does support Apps like its main competitor.  However, what you should note is the fact that this is all new to Microsoft, so it is still in its development stage.  Via its software, you do have some application downloads available to you for free.  Just don't expect an extensive collection of them right now, as it has just been released.  On a positive note, you can expect a wide range of additional apps as the product matures a bit. 

There are two last menus I'd like to cover here.  The first is the "picks" submenu under Marketplace.  This is just one of many areas where you will discover new music and one you will actually love.  You can click on any of these artists and listen to sample clips before deciding to actually purchase any of the tunes.  The last menu is the "social" menu.  This happens to be one of the best features of owning this product in the first place.  You can add friends and browse what they are listening to in their own collection, leading to new discovery.

Next: Interface & Features