The newly updated Zune Software is going to be the subject of my first review here on Not Waving But Drowning.

I do not have a Zune MP3 player although I am considering purchasing one through Amazon as regardless of Microsoft’s iPod killing smack-talk they still haven’t even made the smallest of steps towards releasing the Zune in countries outside of the US.

Luckily the Zune 2 software has been available for some time for anyone to download and I checked it out a while ago to see what it was like.

Like the player themselves, the Zune 2 software was a incredible improvement over the original version. Features were somewhat lacking, but the program itself is very attractive and shows promise. In the end I left it and continued using Windows Media Player and Media Monkey.

With this update for the Zune however I have begun using the software more extensively, even as one of my main music libraries on my laptop.

Feature Update

• Addition of Video to Zune Marketplace
• Gapless Playback
• Improved filtering or music and video
• Autoplaylists
• Improved syncing via “sync groups”
• Metadata editing
• Zune Social Integration
• Removal of the ‘marketplace’ option for users outside of the US

Comparison

This update does a lot to bring the Zune in line with dominate competitor iTunes. It still lacks in many ways, but this update has shown promise.

Zune 2.5 has added a meta data editor, but unfortunately it still lacks when compared to other music organizers such as iTunes which has a far more advanced system and WMP11 which provides a number of options with its ‘advanced tag editing’.

Autoplaylists are let down somewhat by the over simplified ‘favourite’ system and lack of detail in the meta data editing. Still, there is a significant improvement here in adding this feature to the Zune once again.

The lack of genre browsing was a severe annoyance of the original software but this has now been rectified.

Video Support

Microsoft promised the Zune Marketplace would have a whole new take on video, however this has failed to materialise and Video is available to purchase in just the same way as iTunes, although admittedly Microsoft did manage to get some TV networks such as NBC on board that iTunes couldn’t (or wouldn’t).

The Zune’s 3.5” display is actually very impressive and dwarfs the iPod classics 2.5” screen. It was a pity then that viewing video was only possible through ripping and converting your own DVDs, something only a small amount of people would bother to do. (Some music videos did become available with the Marketplace 2.2 update).

Now anyone can download and watch TV shows and movies on their Zune including the Office and Heroes.

Interface

I love the Zune interface. I find it both attractive and functional.

In fact even though I used WMP11 as my main music library and tag editor, I often used the Zune 2 software to play through my library. You can see the interface below… a huge improvement on the visualisations most media players have which in my opinion are pretty pointless.

 

Conclusion

iTunes is still a much better Music Library and service then Zune 2.5, but Microsoft has gone some way to levelling the playing field. No news yet of a version 3, but when it comes round I am hoping we see a more advanced meta data editor, improved star system and Marketplace support for users outside of the US who may wish to purchase music.

I know this software is designed for the Zune, but it would be nice to be able to sync any media player such as my Toshiba Gigabeat.

This update gives me hope for the future of the Zune. A global Zune release will make me think the Zune really has a chance to increase that 4% marketshare somewhat. However I am guessing we will not see that till the Zune 3.

Interesting article by Paul Thurott called “Can Microsoft save the Zune?”

Note: For some reason however Zune 2.5 caused some problems on my system. Seeing as it doesn’t seem to be a complaint for other users I would assume it to be something I have done rather then the program itself. It frequently crashes or slows my whole system down when running.

Update: Seems to be running fine now.