Microsoft Zune Black (30 GB) MP3 Player

I bought this for my son as a Christmas present. He had asked for an mp3 player and asked for a specific item. (Not an iPod.) Not knowing a lot about these things I did a little research and couldn't see spending $70 more for an item that did less and had less capacity. What he wanted was 8gb, what I got was 30gb. He wanted it primarily for videos/movies. The Zune will hold as much as 100 hours of video and has a larger screen to view them on. And it was less expensive than the unit he'd asked for which has much lower capacity and a smaller screen.

When it arrived I had my 19 year old daughter check it out. She charged it, loaded some software on the computer, and in short order had over 1,000 songs loaded and a couple of videos. Sound quality is fine and the picture, small as it is, is bright and clear. My daughter liked it so much that she immediately amended her Christmas list to include a Zune.

I'm sure other players must have some of the same features. The video orients itself to play in either landscape or normal mode depending on how you hold the unit. Its wireless network detects other Zunes and apparently you can wirelessly share songs for a limited number of plays. Great!

On the down side, it is a little larger than the mp3 player he'd asked for, and marginally heavier. That said, I doubt there's any risk of a hernia being caused by the difference in size/weight. There are lots of available accesories. There are cables to hook it to a TV or stereo to play it through. Car charger and FM transmitter that allows it to broadcast to the FM radio of the car so you can take the vast library of tunes on the road. My son doesn't drive yet, but I'm sure he'll want to take control of the radio in that way on long trips. Fine with me.

Going back to the price, you can find these all over eBay for just over $100 - $125. OK, so it's refurbished and not 'new'. Big fat hairy deal. The savings off the 'new' units are at least $60 and that lets me stretch my Christmas $$ to cover a little more of the Christmas lists. I'm all for that. It looks new, feels new, and best of all, works like new. It is warranteed same as new. So really, what's the difference? The box says refurbished. Will that matter to my 15 year old son? Nope. What will matter? That it works well. That it is easy to use. And not that he'll think of it, but the difference in price will enable an extra gift or two to find their way to him. And that's a plus he will appreciate.