Back in May this year, I wrote an article Adios XM Satellite Radio where I complained about the programming changes brought on by the absorption of XM by Sirius.. When I first started operating the heavy equipment, earplugs were mandatory to preserve what little hearing I had left. I soon discovered noise canceling earbuds connected to a portable mp3 player made it so much nicer. I was addicted. When I canceled my subscription with XM,
I bought a Microsoft Zune 120 gig mp3 player and I haven’t looked back! What really sold me on the Zune was the online subscription service which costs about $15 per month. I can download all the music I want and it stays on my player as long as my subscription is active. In addition, I get 10 song credits per month which allows me to purchase basically an entire CD each month that I get to keep forever! Good stuff, let me tell ya!
Since I have been using the service for 5 months or so I have found the feature I really like is the Smart DJ. You can pick one of your favorite artists and Smart DJ will construct a dynamic playlist of related artists that it updates every 3-5 days. I just plug in the Zune and Smart DJ downloads fresh stuff to my Zune automatically and then I have new tunes to listen to as I rumble across the landscape in a massive earthmover. Can’t beat it in my book.
I outfitted my Zune in the heaviest case I could find for it.. The Speck Hard Rubber case is like a big rubber shock absorber around my Zune. It also came with a clear stick on screen protector. The Zune has endured some extreme conditions. Heat, humidity, vibration, getting tossed around and it has performed admirably. Now if I could just find some dozer proof earbuds, I would be set. I think I am on my fourth set right now. I have yet to find a decent set of earbuds that will withstand my lifestyle.
The Zune was especially appreciated during my trip to Italy. 10 hour nonstop flights get incredibly boring and the Zune was a real help in passing the hours.
I have found 120gb to be a huge amount of space. 6000 plus songs and I still have 70gb left. I probablly could have gotten by with an 80 gig Zune but I remember the price point for a 120 gig was not that much greater.
Update on the Zune 120 - R.I.P. XM/Sirius,
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