Zune 120 GB Video MP3 Player (Red)

by Zune

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 5 x 1 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001FA1NJG
• Item model number: H3A-00008
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (564 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,282 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Color: Red/Silver

Amazon.com Product Description--Posted January 13, 2009

Massive capacity in a deluxe device that delivers uncompromised audio and video quality, the Zune 120 GB can fit a huge collection and still have room for videos, podcasts, and more. This major player hooks up with innovative discovery features like Buy from FM and wireless sharing, so you never stop gobbling tunes. It holds up to 30,000 songs, 25,000 pictures, or 375 hours of video. Watch a demo on Zune.

Every Zune device lets you listen to your favorite FM radio stations and tag songs for later purchase.

Download millions of tracks, whole albums, or playlists with the Zune Pass subscriptions service.

Remotely sync your Zune device with your PC collection.

The Zune Marketplace offers millions of songs, albums, TV shows, audio/video podcasts, and more.

A full family of accessories is compatible with all Zune devices.

Buy from FM
Click to buy from the built-in FM radio. Every Zune device lets you listen to your favorite FM radio stations and click to tag the songs you like for later purchase when you sync your device with your PC.¹

Zune Pass
With the Zune Pass subscription service, you'll get millions of tracks for the price of one CD. Download tracks, whole albums, or playlists. Explore new music or rediscover old favorites--then sync them to your Zune. Extend your subscription online or by purchasing a Zune Pass card. Or, if you like, purchase songs or albums individually.²

Wireless Sync
Remotely sync with your PC. Connect to your home wireless network and remotely sync your Zune device with your PC collection from your dock, AC adapter, or speaker dock accessory.³

Device to Cloud
Your Zune player can access thousands of wireless hotspots around the country. Automatically update your collection, browse Zune Marketplace, refresh your Channels, exchange favorites with friends, or buy songs you've tagged from your FM radio. Take advantage of a Zune Pass and access the music you love where you want, at no extra cost.

Wireless Sharing
Music is in the air with Zune wireless sharing. Send your favorite songs, albums, playlists, pictures, and even audio podcasts freely between any Zune devices. Listen to the full track of any song you receive up to three times and pass them along to other friends. If you want to buy a song, click to tag it and have your Zune find it later when you sync with your PC.⁴

Channels
Like your very own radio stations, Zune Channels are custom programming stations that deliver personalized playlists to your Zune from a variety of sources you select, such as music experts, celebrities, or top radio stations. Channels you subscribe to automatically update whenever you're connected--to your PC, home network, or even selected wireless hotspots. When you subscribe to Zune Pass, you get an unlimited Zune Channels experience.

Games
Zune players now come with a selection of fun free games. Choose music from your collection to create your own personal game soundtrack. Connect and compete wirelessly with other nearby Zune users.

Video/TV Shows
Choose from a growing selection of TV shows now available on the Zune Marketplace video store, and take your favorite episodes or whole seasons with you wherever you go. Use your Zune device to watch popular shows like The Office, South Park, Heroes, and 30 Rock from NBC; shows from Comedy Central; Adult Swim from the Cartoon Network; and countless other shows from other major networks.⁶ Also, if you're recording TV shows or movies with Windows Media Center in Windows Vista, you can import and sync them to your device. Load up your favorite videos, and hit the road.⁵

Zune Social
Discover, share, and connect with the Zune Social, a free online community that lets you share your musical tastes with friends and millions others. Customize your Zune Card and Zune profile page with your favorite music and pictures. Then connect and share Zune Cards, music, and messages with friends and other members of the community.

Zune Marketplace
Fulfill your entertainment desires at Zune Marketplace. Millions of songs, albums, TV shows, audio/video podcasts, and more are available--plus, your online store is always open and only a mouse click away. Download or subscription? It's up to you. Buy individual songs and albums, or an unlimited Zune Pass music subscription².

Audiobooks
Let your Zune read to you while you can't. Listen to everything from your favorite novels to the latest bestseller. Now you can transfer your existing audiobook files from sites like Audible.com to your Zune device and enjoy them whenever you want.

Xbox 360 Compatibility
Ever wish you could play games to the sound of your favorite tunes? Now you can. Connect your Zune device to your Xbox 360 console and play your favorite songs while you game on Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE. You can share content from your Zune collection to an Xbox 360 console on a home network and play your media through the Xbox Dashboard.

Accessories
Traveling, working late, or working out? Whatever you're up to, your Zune will be right there with you. Make sure you have the best accessories to keep up with your lifestyle.

• Zune AC Adapter: Fast recharge wherever there's an outlet
• Zune Car Pack: Ride with Zune as it charges while playing in your car
• Zune Home AV Pack: Hook up your Zune to any home stereo and control it via remote
• Zune Premium Earphones: noise-isolating design that delivers superior sound quality and comfort
• Zune Cable Pack: Provides every cable you need to stay connected
• Zune Dock Pack: Nonstop your tunes while you charge your Zune

Legal Disclaimers:
1. Buy from FM feature available with stations broadcasting RDS and RT Plus data
2. Zune Pass is a monthly music subscription service; some songs are not available via Zune Pass. Available Zune Pass content may vary over time.
3. Wireless sync feature requires access to a home wireless network
4. Zune to Zune wireless sharing may not be available for all songs in your music collection and works only between Zune devices within wireless range of each other. Recipients may play full-length sample tracks up to three times.
5. Requires a PC running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate and an integrated or external TV tuner.
6. Available content may vary over time.

What's in the Box?
Zune 120 GB Digital Media Player (red), earphones with three earpiece covers, Sync cable

Product Description

With dimensions of 2.4 × 4.3 × 0.5 inches and weight of 128 grams, this handy device can store thousands of multimedia files. The 120 GB capacity can hold up to 25,000 photos, 30,000 songs and 375 hours of video. Music lovers can go crazy with all the songs they want. This Zune player has innovative features like buying from FM stations, where songs can be tagged for later purchase. The advanced tuning feature of this player displays the current songs playing on selected frequencies. With the Zune Pass subscription service, users can be able to do download millions of songs, complete albums, or playlists directly to their device. There is no need to connect using the PC. Extending the subscription can be done online or though a Zune Pass card that can be purchased.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

385 of 401 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Thorough (Long) Review from a Zune 30 Owner an a iPhone 3G Owner, September 21, 2008

By 

Super Mum (California) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Zune 120 GB Video MP3 Player (Black) (Electronics)

No matter your opinion on Microsoft, the amazing fact remains that every time they update a Zune they include a free software update for all past Zunes making them nearly identical as the new Zunes. I am sure one day this may stop due to the fact that the new hardware will require a different type of OS that won't work on the old Zunes (i.e. a Zune Touch or something). Until then, I am have been a very happy past/present Zune owner for this reason.

I owned a Zune 30 for 2 1/2 years prior to buying the Zune 120. My old Zune worked perfectly and was not a factor in my decision to upgrade. Did I need the extra space? Not really... but I wanted to try out the touch/click "squircle" before the new Zune games were launched. I read that some games may not work (or work as intended) with the Zune 30 since it does not have the touch sensitive pad. We'll see how true that is when games are put on to the Marketplace.

My opinion after owning the Zune 120 for a couple weeks:

The Good:

-I am a rabid/avid fan of the Zune Pass. I don't mind renting music, in fact I LOVE it. It really opens me up to new bands without wasting $10-20 on an album I may hate. For $14.99 a month [for unlimited downloads on up to 3 Zunes and 3 Computers] I can download from more songs than I can fathom and not be upset if I pick a few tone-deaf artists along the way. If I love an album enough to keep it I can buy it from Zune or Amazon or whomever. If you think about it, the Zune Pass could save you money by allowing you to test out bands before committing to a purchase. Also, if throwing a house party or having guests over, you can download music for your guests that you might never consider buying for yourself.

-Audible support now available. Not sure how much I will use this feature yet but for now I like it and am happy I am not closed off from this option.

-WiFi: the options are now amazingly more advanced and now having WiFi on the Zune makes sense. Being able to download songs over a WiFi connection is huge. McDonald's is teaming up with Zune and will be offering their WiFi connection to Zune owners in the near future. While iPod does this with Starbucks, there are many more McDonalds than Starbucks in the U.S. Though not sure if this is a good thing ;)

-Channels!!!: I love the new channels built into the software. As a Zune Pass subscriber I love taking advantage of this. The software makes a "channel" once a week of songs it thinks I will like based on a genre (I have a "My Classic Rock" channel, "My Rock" channel, and since I share my Zune Pass with family members a "My R&B" channel). I choose which, if any, channels I want to subscribe to (so I can skip the R&B one if I desire) and it downloads a playlist of sorts that changes every week. Also, I can subscribe to other generic channels (i.e. "Rock" Channel, "Punk/Ska" Channel etc.) not tailored directly to me if I so desire. This has been a great way to sample new bands/music that have relevance to my music style. Of course if you love a song/artist you can always permanently download the songs. If you are an avid gym buff or runner there are some very cool channels titled "Walk" "Jog" and "Run" that have songs which consist of the same range of beats per minute to keep you moving at a constant speed. Very cool.

-Mixview: Much better looking than "Genius" on iTunes since Mixview uses album art and artists pictures rather than plain old text and Mixview's suggestions seem more relevant to me than Apple's "Genius." This can always change in the future as each product develops and I am excited that there is competition in this arena since it can only make this better and better. If you don't know what Mixview is, it is Zune's way of gathering data based on your music preferences (and the preferences of others) to recommend new music to you. Pandora (the Internet Radio website) does a BEAUTIFUL job at this. It's free and I would check it out if you have never used it before. Amazing.

-Battery Life: Much better than the Zune 30 which is a nice surprise. Leave WiFi off for a longer battery life.

-Accessory Compatibility: the charger, dock, remote, car charger, etc. from the Zune 30/80/120 all work together wonderfully. If you have the version 1 dock you will need to remove the plastic insert in order to have the 80/120 fit. It only takes a few seconds and is very painless. I would add a link to websites that show video/pictures on how to do this but Amazon removed two posts in the Zune forum where I did this. Do a search, it's out there. The cases for the Zune 30 do not work with the 120 but the 80 is the same size and both use the same cases. Heard there are problems with older FM transmitters working with the newer Zunes. Not sure how prevalent this problem is as I use an AUX jack in the car.

-The Squircle: This is the only "big" difference between the Zune 30 and the 80/120. It did not take long for me to get used to using this but my learning curve may be shorter than others as I am used to swiping on my iPhone and now clicking seems more difficult for me. (You can turn this feature off if you just want to use the squircle as a click pad.) When I went to buy a case I found that most cases covered the squircle and was concerned it would mess with functionality. I want to report that it did not take away the ability of the Zune to notice my movements. However, the case makes it not as smooth of an action as the bare squircle (I have a silicone cover that makes my finger "stickier" against the case so the glide isn't as smooth). Something to think about when purchasing a case (which I would recommend.. see "The Bad")


The Bad:

-I LOVED the Zune 30 casing. That was one beautiful thing that the Zune had over the iPod. The iPods scratched and showed wear very quickly and the Zune 30's casing was virtually indestructible. With the new casing (party in the front/business in the back... the reverse mullet) it seems that the possibility for scratching is now higher. The shiny front is a fingerprint magnet and the matte black back has a silver/gold metal underneath (as evidenced by Microsoft's Zune Originals website where you can have your Zune engraved professionally.. they "scratch" [engrave] a design and the gold/silver color appears). Not sure how deep you would have to scratch to get to that color and I won't volunteer to be a guinea pig. Sorry!
I highly recommend getting a case and I am a sucker for buying a screen protector as the Zune is nearly all screen on the front and should remain beautiful and scratch-free.


The "I don't care"/ "No opinion":

-The Clock: There is a clock now.. and I don't care. Many did so they will be happy. No alarm built-in, so beware clock lovers. (Microsoft updates the firmware and software quite a bit so you never know if this could be added soon.)

-Buy from FM: I hate the radio in my smallish town. There are only a couple decent stations but they aren't good enough for me to stop listening to MP3s and tune in. For those who have better stations and are in to Top 40 or what is new on the charts this may be an amazing option for you. Getting artist and album info over Zune's FM radio could be helpful if your DJ never states the name of an artist (like so many don't) and, if you really like the song, you can download it immediately or tag it for download later (depending if you are in a WiFi hotspot or at home with plug in hand).

-Headphones: the Zune 30 came with "run of the mill" headphones, the Zune 80 came with "premium" headphones and the Zune 120 went back to the "run of the mill" headphones. I use third-party headphones ($100+) so I don't care what comes in the package. Others might so here it is.

-Games: as of today's date, there are no games available for download on the Zune Marketplace. This is supposed to change soon and I sure hope it does. However, there are two games that come loaded on the Zune when you plug it in to the computer and update (Hexic and Texas Hold 'Em). Apple has the upper hand here and has done wonders with the App store. I hope Microsoft takes note and does something like it with the Zune. Heck, I hope the do something even better so then Apple steps up their game even more... and around and around we go. Competition is great for consumers.

I think here is a good place to mention that I love my iPhone 3G AND my Zune and I need to have both in my life to be happy (in the materialistic sense). I don't listen to music on my iPhone due to limited space (after adding apps, photos, podcasts, etc. there isn't much room for music) and also because Apple does not have a subscription music "rental" service. Ideally I would like to see Zune make a phone similar to the iPhone or the iPhone to have a subscription based music service (both phones would need a large capacity drive) so I could carry around just one device (either iPhone or ZunePhone depending on the offerings). Until that day I live in harmony with my Zune 120 and my iPhone 3G.

102 of 111 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic product!, November 23, 2008

By 

Travis Brown (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zune 120 GB Video MP3 Player (Black) (Electronics)

I love my Zune. After 4 iPods (in a span of 10 years), I decided to try something different. I never really had an issue with my pods, but I was curious about the Zune. I decided to purchase the Zune 30 a year after it was released. The player [Zune 30] was extremely durable, and I loved the device interface; although hated how I had to click in order to scroll down. There was much to be improved.

Fast forward two years and several major Microsoft updates later, I now own the Zune 120. I absolutely love it. The capacity is enough for me at the moment; although I'm a music junkie. The playback quality of the songs is noticeably better than the quality my iPod's. The features, such as wireless sync, song sharing over the air, and the Zune Pass are wonderful. I lended the Zune to my girlfriend for an entire week so she could discover some new music (over 8000 tracks on my Zune), and she came back wanting to purchase one herself.

Pros:
- Great interface
- Wonderful sound quality
- FM radio + buying songs from FM
- Wireless syncing
- Sharing music over the air with other Zunes
- Improved software (more usable than iTunes, in my opinion)
- Support for podcasts and audiobooks
- Zune Pass
- Purchasing and streaming songs off Wifi
- Free updates every few months; they recently added games.

Cons:
- Battery life could be better
- Included headphones are good but not great.
- That's all I could think of.

Final word:
I still use my iPod nano and video from time to time, but I love my Zune more. There's nothing wrong with iPod's, but if you'd like to give something different a try, by all means give this a try. You can't go wrong with purchasing one.

Extra:
Living in a populated city like NY and taking the train to school every monrning, and coming back in the afternoon, there's always at least one other person on the train with a Zune. Sometimes I get random "let me send you a song" request. Totally discovered a few new artists from random people with the 'send' feature.

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Mixed Bag of good and bad [mostly good], September 17, 2008

By 

paranoidxe "paranoidxe" (Pleasant View, UT United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Zune 120 GB Video MP3 Player (Black) (Electronics)

The Zune is overall a great product and I would recommend it to anyone. This review makes some comparisons to the iPod Classic because many are familiar with the iPod Classic and are debating between these two often.

Positives for the Zune:
- Sound Quality exceeds that of the Classic, while the classic is good it has too much focus on the low end and really isn't all that great in the mids. The Zune has great balance meaning it plays low/mids/highs exceptionally well, matching the 5th gen iPod in my opinion. [Tested with Bose Around The Ear Headphones, won't be noticed much with cheap/stock ear buds]
- Interface is wild and more modern than other MP3 players. You'll feel like you are in 2008 with the device's interface. You can also customize it, while customization is limited to changing the wallpaper its still something not many other players have. [including the classic]
- The large screen is nice for video..I haven't ran into any pixelation problems that some people report with the resolution of 320 x 240 on that size of the screen..however your mileage may vary. The screen is much better suited than the dinky 2.5 screen that is on the Classic.
- Navigation with the Zune pad is a breeze and better than the Classic. A few reasons being that a) you can press the buttons to adjust volume in your pocket [the classic relies on luck that you can actually get the touch sensitive wheel to respond through your pants], b) the zune pad sticks out from the unit which makes it easier to feel for than the classic which the click wheel is pretty well flush with the unit itself, c) you can navigate with pin point navigation, use the touch function to scroll fast and the click function to get precise.
- Microsoft continues to make improvements to the product like the Zune 3.0 release that adds the FM Radio feature that allows you to add music off the radio to your cart or with wireless download the song directly to your Zune. Clock is introduced [a feature that was lacking that people constantly complained about, MICROSOFT LISTENS!], and the Wifi Marketplace is also introduced which allows you to browse the marketplace wirelessly as well as preview/download songs instantly if you have a Zunepass.
- The software on the PC looks very modern..where as iTunes has virtually remained the same since its release on the PC. The software has the ability to combine albums with a simple drag n drop which allows you to combine singles into their full featured albums with a simple click. Getting Album art is easy as well as track listings for a album if you are missing tag information..if you are missing tag information and the software can't find it, it will give you a drop down list of all albums on the CD and allow you to choose which track is the right one..none listed? No problem you can keep it its current track name. Manual Sync is NOW supported officially, meaning the device can run independently of your Zune Collection. The software can actually work with a external drive, when I tried with iTunes 7.6 it would close by itself. Mixview is nice, you can simply right click a album click mixview to get a view of several related artists to find new music with.

Neutral:
- Zune Pass, almost all the music on the Marketplace supports it..some might be annoyed with the fact you have to pay $15 a month forever unless you want to lose your songs, some might also have a problem with not owning the music or that some songs aren't available for the Zune Pass. I personally think its a great concept and I have absolutely no complaints about paying $15 for all the songs I can download.
- Smudges and scratches might be a problem for some if you are really picky the new gloss front is prone to scratches from metal objects [keys, coins, etc.].
- Its made of plastic which could be taken either a) a good thing because its lighter b) a bad thing because its obviously not as tough.

Negatives:
- Software is still behind when compared to iTunes but improves with every update. Some complaints include, Rating system is a "Like, Don't Like" System giving you very limited options when you find songs that aren't GREAT but are OK..you either have to hate it or like it. If you are in a certain spot in your collection and click Marketplace then go back your spot is lost and Zune software returns to the top of your list. The same happens when you are at a certain spot in the marketplace as well, you leave and you end up reseting the marketplace back to home.
- Marketplace layout is very generic and needs some serious tweaking where as the iTunes Store is very precise the layout of the Marketplace is just sloppy, there really isn't much browsing you can do unless the artist is new because when you browse through artists in a specific genre they aren't in alphabetic order they are just scattered about I assume by popularity.
- Premium Earbuds are gone replaced with generic earbuds.


Overall a great alternative to the now dying Classic [which didn't get any upgrades beyond battery and the genius feature..unless you consider the 120GB a upgrade from the 80GB model last year]. I do not regret my purchase and would recommend it to anyone.

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