Bye bye, Zune

I just came back from returning my Zune 80. Ugh. The return process was easy enough since I still had my receipt. I told the salesman about the buggy software and that I couldn't delete stuff off the Zune, but I forgot to mention that I suspect that was due to the fact the Zune battery could no longer hold a charge. I almost went back to tell him but... it's only a guess. They have techs to figure out that stuff, right? It's not like they'll resell it as a used item without checking it out. They need to clean out all my files, anyway.

Anywhoo, right now I'm not sure what I want to do. Try buying another Zune? Something else? Buy nothing? Aaargh. Decisions, decisions, and I only have 3 days to decide.

Zune 80 update

As an update to my previous post about the new Microsoft Zune 80, I was able to subscribe to podcasts without going through the Zune Marketplace. All I needed to do was copy and paste the podcast / RSS link into the PC Zune software that came with my Zune 80. Once I did that the software downloaded the podcasts automatically onto my computer and then synced with the Zune 80 the next time they were connected. I subscribed to podcasts from cnn.com, bbc.co.uk, and cbc.ca.

I also tested my Zune 80 battery life. I was able to play approximately 175 minutes of video before the charge ran out. That works out to 2.9 hours. According to CNET, Microsoft rates the battery at 4 hours for video (with Wi-Fi turned off). Ugh.

I'm fairly certain my Zune was fully charged (at least, I was certain before my testing) so I wonder why I'm getting 25% less than advertised. Anywhoo, next step is to check my audio life, which Microsoft rates at 30 hours.