Unboxing of A Zune
Finally, the long wait is over! I got my Zune today, and just now have some time to properly unbox it. Hope everything is well...
- Starts with the box. First of all, I go for the black Zune. Not brown, not white, not pink. Black. Why? Well, it's the easiest for my friend, Dony Isnandi, to grab while he's en route back to Indonesia.
The box is, well, very-not-Microsoft. If you've read Presentation Zen, you'll notice how easy for Microsoft to add information to it's boxes. But this one is quite different, just a logo, zune text, picture at the back, and small text saying "Zune(tm) digital media player. Music. Video. Pictures." Hardware and legal information are hidden on the base of the box, even that's compact if you compare it with previous Microsoft boxes. Now that's cool. - Opening the outer cover, you'll immediately greeted "Wel-come to the social". We all know that Zune has wifi connectivity, and you can share music to your friends, but it's not exactly fun right now. Too little Zunes and too restrictive sharing.
- The inner box has two compartments. I've opened the first one on the back containing the product documentations plus the CD. Product documentation is minimal at best, but taking note of how simple the operation, this is not a minus point. The CD fell out very easily, so that's the first minus on the packaging. Knowing this, I immediately backed up the CD. The CD contains the Zune software (which I already used), and a firmware update (v1.1). FYI, the latest is v1.3, downloadable. Also included is a protective leather pouch.
- Moving on to the second compartment, there's a tape with text "Lift Gently", dunno why, but I did it anyway. Voila! The Zune sits nicely. It's black, as advertised in the cover (poor me, some guy found a limited edition pink back then), and wrapped with a plastic. On the left side of the Zune is a sub-compartment containing earphones and replacement buds. On the right is the connectivity cable.
- First touch of the Zune. Well, my first impression is it feels a little heavy. Curios about the exact weight, I've gone back to the docs and found none (sigh!). The Zune feels solid, using matte plastic (in contrast to iPod, which uses glossy plastic). The Zune screen is protected by transparent sticker with text: "Let's get started." plus the start up instruction.
- The start up instruction consists of 2 sentences, one is to put the CD in, the second is to power up the Zune. I've done the first one, and now powering up the Zune. Soon after I pressed the button indicated, a big battery like drawing with exclamation mark appears. Apparently, the Zune is out of battery (yeah, I know this is coming, but just wanted to follow the instructions). Another minus point, the instruction should say connect the cables first before turning it up. I don't know, maybe this one is stored too long in the shelves that it dried up it's initial battery.
- Plugged in, and the same battery drawing came up, but now it has a cable inside of it (trying to say it's charging up). Like any other battery-operated devices, you shouldn't turn it on the first time before the battery fully charges. So I'll stick to that for now. Meanwhile, I run the CD (just in case I missed any device driver or anything). The Zune software installer runs, checks for update, and then stopped saying it's not compatible with Vista. I just clicked OK, knowing that I have the up-to-date Zune software already installed.
- Suddenly, the Zune starts itself up! This breaks the "fully charge before first use" instruction! Argh, Microsoft, you will pay for this!
- Well, since it's already up and running, we'll start playing with it. It has some preloaded contents on music, video, and pictures. Tried to plug in the earphone and suddenly it went dead. Doh!
- Moments later, it goes back up with the battery image. Apparently the Zune is restarting (after knowing the battery has filled up to a specific level (backup level maybe)). Now the PC detects and installs Zune driver, plus the Zune software is running. Switching to the Zune software, it says "Update time". You'll need to upgrade the firmware to v1.3 (as noted above). Firmware transfer took about a minute, and afterwards the Zune restarts several time (just wait). When it finished, Zune software prompts you for the name for the Zune. I've picked "ZuneMuffins", a modification of (one of) my online nickname. After that, the Zune starts syncing.
I don't have a lot on my library, yet, so things should sync pretty much quick. But that's another story for another day. Unboxing a Zune is exciting, while there are some glitches, it's probably very Microsoft (never work on first version, wait until Service Pack 1 before using).
P.S.: Sorry for no pictures, the camera went dead just before unboxing (out of battery). I've tried taking pictures with my mobile, but lacks of resolution.