Zune HD

I have a confession to make. I am seriously considering grabbing an HD Zune this holiday season and I am not ashamed to admit it! Well, maybe I’m a little ashamed considering I had to qualify that statement with “I have a confession to make”.

Now I must say that currently I love my IPOD Touch for many reasons, great internet browsing, excellent media device, flawless syncing with iTunes, and it’s super easy to use. However, this is my third IPOD in a period of 5 years, and it is my third IPOD to show its age much earlier than I’d like an expensive device to.

My first was the black and white screen IPOD that did nothing but play music and the hard disk stopped spinning after about 2 years.

That forced me to acquire the first Generation IPOD video, whose battery detached from the device. I actually cracked the IPOD open and fixed the battery issue only to have my headphone jack crap out on me which was quite the bummer. Also the screen was so badly damaged that it was hard to make out images at that point.

This brought me to my IPOD Touch which upon almost a year exactly after purchase had a similar headphone jack issue. Since it was a year old, I couldn’t use the factory warranty to get it replaced and the Apple Store wanted to charge me $200.00 to swap it out for a new one. The good news is that only one jack went dead so I still get mono-sound out of the device but for a music player it’s considerably embarrassing form!

Naturally I’ve been interested in the possibility of the Zune since it first came out. But, I’d be lying if I ever said I wanted one of the little, brown, and squirtastic devices (Zune calls the sharing of music between devices squirting, I don’t make this crap up). The HD Zune sounds different though.

HD Zune, sports a few neat features that make the geek in me smile. First off it’s got an OLED screen which is the newest (that means it’s the best… and most expensive) display technology. That alone makes the device worth thinking about. Next up it will out put what it has on the device to your television. That eliminates the need for an Apple TV or Sling Box in my book and is a feature that I have been craving since my original IPOD video. Plus it’s Microsoft and maybe they will take better care of me if my device craps out a day over the warranty.

A Zune HD does have its problems and you can feel free to mention them in the comments section but, truth be told, I’m feeling a bit used and abused by Apple as of late. See my “Apple Store Fun” rant for additional details on that.