Hello everyone, I'm new to the Zune industry, this is the first Zune device I've purchased, the Zune HD, its the sexiest mp3 player out there. I've had it for about week so far and never go without it. I made a transition from the ipod, and don't plan on going back ever. Although its better than the rest out there, there some changes that need to be made.
Opinion Towards Availability of Apps/Games in Marketplace
First off everyone knows there's a huge lack of apps in the Zune Marketplace and a lot of home-made XNA games/apps being made now. This really needs to be solved. I'm sick of having to reboot after each game/app I play, it gets really irritating. Plus a lot of the games don't work with the 3.1 version and you are forced to downgrade to be able to do the hacks and play the games/apps made by others. I don't like downgrading, that's just me. I can't see how Microsoft can't realize that apps/games are essential to the competition. Although they couldn't match up with Apples app store, they need to at least make enough useful apps and enjoyable games. They have only four out, that's really pathetic, might as well not have any at all. The adds before some of the games is also a nuisance. Get to the app/game already!!!
Some Apps That Should Be Available in the Marketplace
I'm sick of having to get up, hook up my Zune to the computer, running XNA Game Studio Device Center, searching for a game/app that's available for my version and installing it to my Zune. I like to stay wireless as long as I can, wires drive me nuts and I don't like getting up.
Another thing is that people in the Zune community who create their own XNA games/apps have really great ideas like multiplayer pong, flash light, and a stop watch. Microsoft should adopt these ideas, possibly take their program, modify them a bit, and give the original creator credit. I use the flash light all the time because I like surfing the net on my Zune in the dark, it reveals the true screen quality.
Notepad: there should be a simple notepad app that allows to jot down reminders or anything that you feel is important, and be able to save them as separate files that you can name/rename.
Contacts Organizer: I'm sure everyone's broken/lost a phone and had to attempt to get all their contacts numbers back because the list is gone/non-transferable. Assuming you're not a sevant, you won't remember all those numbers. It's a real pain in the A** to have to do this. By having an app that you can put the contacts name and cell/home/work number in that is alphabetized would solve this problem. You could even use this when you're phones dead and need to use a friend's phone to call someone.
Calendar: People have made calendar apps before, but each time the a new update comes out, the one made for the version before it just won't work. I would like a calendar app that you could jot something down in any day of the year you would like such as peoples birthdays, special events, big school assignments due, etc.
Drawing Pad: People have also made things like a sketch and paint program, but as usual have to reboot after you're done with it. It would be nice to have a little more sophisticated draw/paint program that you could name/rename/edit and save it to your pictures folder.
MSN Messenger/ AIM: not everyone has a Myspace, Twitter, or FaceBook page, having an app for these programs would be very useful. Iming is much faster than posting something on someone's facebook wall, or a comment that can be read by anyone with an internet capable mobile devise. Plus you can talk to several people at the same time.
Games/Apps Organization
I wish the title was Games/Apps and when you clicked it had the two options, Games and Apps. I hate scrolling through both at the same time.
HUD Features
The only thing on the HUD is the battery life icon and play/pause icon. I would be nice to have a the current time and date, I'm sick of having to pull out my phone to check the time because I don't feel like waiting for my Zune to fall asleep and having to wake it up to view the time.
I do like the fact that the HUD only shows when you press the side button, it leaves more open space for the screen.
Flash
I have no idea what Microsoft was thinking when they were making their web browser. You need flash for every online video and game out there. Things like Youtube, Online Games, and Tutorial and Comparison Videos can't be viewed and are crucial for web entertainment. To do this, you have to get up, and look it up on your computer or smartphone. If someone has an answer for this, please let me know.
Video Organization
I wish the videos were organized in Artist sections not just “ALL”. Once again I don't like scrolling through all of them at once, looking for the one I want to watch.
Send Files To Computer From the Web on the Zune HD
If you're not going to get your lazy bums up and make games/apps or flash, at least let us be able to send the .ccgame, .rar, and .flv to our comptures where we could wirelessly sync them to our Zune's hard drive. I can't stand having to get .flv to .wmv video conversion software, go on youtube, and the youtube video download site to get each video, download it, convert it and then sync it to my Zune. It's really time consuming and another pain in a**. For the downloading games, I wish you could just install it to your Zune directly from the site if it was a .ccgame file.
A lot of times you see a picture that you think is cool to have or have as a background but you can't do it while surfing the web on your your Zune HD. I wish you could save it directly to the pictures folder.
Search Bar Memory
I would like it if the web browser would remember the last five things you've typed in or an email in a sign in log. Typing something in all over again every time is time consuming and irritating, especially if you accidentally hit the wrong button and have to start over.
Moving Back to a Previous Part of Your Sentence
It's very stressful when you have to use your finger to go back to correct a grammar mistake you made. Your finger blocks the few of the cursor and its basically a guessing game. It takes a lot too much time. You should be able to touch the general location of the mistake you made and then hit a button to go back or forward the the spot you want the cursor at.
(e.g) You're typing a long comment/message to some one on Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, or whatever page and you can't scroll back up to see review what you sent, you have to erase to go back, its just another irritation added to the pile.
Don't get me wrong on all of this, I really, really, really love my Zune, its just that if you make and Mp3 Player, don't focus on the screen quality and touch user-interface alone, and half-a** everything else. I hope Microsoft improves in some of these areas in the near future, it would make my Zune life much more fun and easier, please give me feed back on this just in case some of my information is wrong.
My Opinion of Needed Improvements
