Recently I have changed my default media player from Windows Media Player to Zune Software. Well, both media players are from Microsoft, but apparently they are miles apart.
The layout of Zune Software is distinctively clean and uncluttered. In addition, Zune Software utilizes your graphics card to provide a set of smooth flowing, aesthetically pleasing animations to the user interface.
Zune Software: In its full elegance
At the upper left-hand corner of the Zune Software, you can see 2 tabs: "collection" and "social".
The collection tab shows your library of media files, and there are 4 subtabs (i.e. "music", "videos", "pictures" and "podcasts"). There is also a useful search box at the top. I find the nested tab navigation system more intuitive than the drop-down navigation system used in Windows Media Player, or the spreadsheet-like navigation system used in Apple's iTunes.
The social tab brings you to a feature called "The Social". It is basically a service that allows you to share what music have listened with your friends.
There is also a selection of backgrounds under settings; the default background for Zune Software is just plain white.
Now Playing mode: Delicious
While playing, if left untouched, the Zune Software switches to "Now Playing" mode. This mode changes your background to a collage of all the album covers within your music library. Of course, for this feature to work properly, your music library must be rather well-organized and your MP3 files must be tagged correctly.
While playing, Zune Software also shows a small visualization near the bottom of the window. Looks pretty neat.
In terms of performance, Zune Software beats the rest with its fast and responsive user interface. Startup time was way faster than Windows Media Player on my setup, and slightly faster than iTunes. In comparison with iTunes, Zune Software looks more consistent (iTunes has frequent visual glitches).
The only drawback that I had faced was that Zune Software taxed the CPU (and possibly GPU) quite a lot. Just by playing a song, it uses somewhere between 25% to 35% of the CPU. This problem can be worked around, however, by minimizing the window.
Overall, Zune Software is a strong contender. I have not had the chance to try out the Marketplace (where you can purchase songs and videos), but just for regular desktop usage, the Zune Software is a winner. =P I would recommend anyone to try it out (and eventually replace Windows Media Player).
Zune Software can be downloaded from Zune.com. Be warned though, the installer is pretty heavy, weighing in at ~124 MB.
The layout of Zune Software is distinctively clean and uncluttered. In addition, Zune Software utilizes your graphics card to provide a set of smooth flowing, aesthetically pleasing animations to the user interface.
Zune Software: In its full elegance
At the upper left-hand corner of the Zune Software, you can see 2 tabs: "collection" and "social".
The collection tab shows your library of media files, and there are 4 subtabs (i.e. "music", "videos", "pictures" and "podcasts"). There is also a useful search box at the top. I find the nested tab navigation system more intuitive than the drop-down navigation system used in Windows Media Player, or the spreadsheet-like navigation system used in Apple's iTunes.
The social tab brings you to a feature called "The Social". It is basically a service that allows you to share what music have listened with your friends.
There is also a selection of backgrounds under settings; the default background for Zune Software is just plain white.
Now Playing mode: Delicious
While playing, if left untouched, the Zune Software switches to "Now Playing" mode. This mode changes your background to a collage of all the album covers within your music library. Of course, for this feature to work properly, your music library must be rather well-organized and your MP3 files must be tagged correctly.
While playing, Zune Software also shows a small visualization near the bottom of the window. Looks pretty neat.
In terms of performance, Zune Software beats the rest with its fast and responsive user interface. Startup time was way faster than Windows Media Player on my setup, and slightly faster than iTunes. In comparison with iTunes, Zune Software looks more consistent (iTunes has frequent visual glitches).
The only drawback that I had faced was that Zune Software taxed the CPU (and possibly GPU) quite a lot. Just by playing a song, it uses somewhere between 25% to 35% of the CPU. This problem can be worked around, however, by minimizing the window.
Overall, Zune Software is a strong contender. I have not had the chance to try out the Marketplace (where you can purchase songs and videos), but just for regular desktop usage, the Zune Software is a winner. =P I would recommend anyone to try it out (and eventually replace Windows Media Player).
Zune Software can be downloaded from Zune.com. Be warned though, the installer is pretty heavy, weighing in at ~124 MB.
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