Category: Technology
How to get Befuddled
Let`s say everything is going well for you - thinks are working they way you expect they should - your technological gadgets are doing what you bought them to do and the instruction manuals all make sense. You may say to yourself "I really need to get a gadget that doesn`t work right, one that will regularly send me into a fit by doing unexpected, annoying things out of the blue". What you need is a Zune!
That`s right, A Mircosoft Zune.
Now, let`s have a full disclosure blurb here. I`m not a Mac guy - or an I-tunes guy for that matter. My charming bride has both of these devices, but I`m a Windows guy and have been for a long time. I didn`t really pick Windows - Windows picked me. Actually the corporate world picked Windows and picked me as well, so I`m a Windows guy because I have to be (XP that is, haven`t gone down the Vista road yet...). But I don`t mind Windows - in fact, it has many, many features that are dramatic improvements over using a quill to inscribe parchment and deliver it with carrier owls. It does have some annoying features - such as those annoying little windows that pop up and say
"We`re sorry, something happened and Windows has no idea what to do next, so I`m going to throw up all over myself and quit. Press the debug button if you would like some unintelligible information to mull over before you loose all your work"
But, I`ve digressed, the main point was that I don`t have anything against Microsoft products in general, but when it gets to the specifics about Zune, it drives me crazy.
The device itself is actually quite fine - I`ve never had a problem of any sort. But the software... man what a train wreck. You can`t put a thing on the Zune without going through this disaster zone. Sometimes you plug in and the software can`t see your folder for some reason, so it immediately syncs your Zune and erases all of the music on it. Other times, when you dump music into a folder it is supposed monitor, it fails to recognize it. Then you`re sunk, because then there`s no way to get the music on the Zune. And all of this is just the beginning.
So, what`s the verdict? If Microsoft every updates the interface to allow you to drop files onto the Zune like a USB drive - buy one. Until then, steer clear unless you need the frustration it can add to your life.
