Anyone have a Zune?

I just got a Zune for $99. I hate the damn software though, but anyways besides the point. I am not about to create a Zune account and have Microsoft track my usage and also pay $14.99 a month. Does anyone know if Zune Reator a legal, a good deal, and does it work? Do you know of any other alternatives?

dja2k

 

I hear the software is an improvement from the first generation though. Is the Zune any good? I might get one this towards the end of the year...just dont like ipods.

 

Let me suggest Cowon. Excellent codec support and my X5 player has no DRM limits.

 

Well for 30 GB and at $99 shipped, I was tempted besides its really a Toshiba designed by Microsoft. Its small for the pocket and has a nice 3" screen. I wasn't about to pay more than $100 for any mp3 player just yet. Its only the brown color one, but I right away bought a silicon case for it. I was asking about the music services because I was interested in the music, video, and podcast material but Zune Marketplace isn't right just yet and was looking for an alternative. I found out that zune reactor website is just a site that posts links to torrent sites and uses its own p2p program for mp3, so that definitely isn't legal.

dja2k

 

Gah the original's software was MISERABLE. The Zune itself was fine, save for it's mediocre-to-terrible battery life. Both issues were /supposedly/ adjusted in their 'v2'. Sorry I can't offer alternatives.

 

Whats so bad about 12 hours music, 3.5 hours video? Also hardcore speaking, supposedly you can squeeze 14 hours of music as its explained here. Anyways, like I said I bought it for $99, 30 GB's, MP3 and MP4 video, 3" screen. I couldn't resist .

dja2k

 

That's not even close to the actual battery life of the original Zunes. 5 hours was max for music with about 1 for video, on two units I used. Never heard of anyone, including friends and customers, who had much better battery life of the originals. Around 10 hours music/2 hours video was the best I came across once.

 

12hours for music thats really quite bad.
the know the old ipods had 8hours battery life for music and that ment charging them once a day. my sony music player for hard drive has 35hours battery life.
erm this may sound stupid but doesnt the zune work with windows media player 11?
lodore