They were guys of a different stock - far different from the trendier college friends who ridiculed my music player. I was the one driving when they started passing it around, marveling at the HD quality videos and gorgeous album art that would explode on the screen as songs played. On a road trip from Connecticut to California with my brother and best friend, I busted out my Zune and regaled the car with what I’m sure was Reel Big Fish-adjacent. I have so many fond memories of my Zune, including the cherished one that led to its downfall.
Zune mp3 player how to#
It was as if Apple had caused the world to forget how to press buttons this was the gray wheel generation. “How do you use this? It’s so big! How do you put music on it? Wanna hold my Nano?” My Zune was always too large, too confusing, and too different from what people were used to. They’d put on a big production, feigning frustration at the alien buttons. “Oh wow, it’s so bulky,” they’d say, unknowingly half a decade away from pining over the gargantuan iPhones of the 2010s that dwarfed the hands of grown adults. “I have so many fond memories of my Zune, including the cherished one that led to its downfall.” I have to assume other Zune owners felt at least some semblance of what I did every time a family member or stranger asked if they could touch my hideous MP3 player. I have a distinct memory of walking around Boston with my Zune in my right pocket and a charging cord in the left.
Zune mp3 player portable#
Seemingly every product out there was specifically Apple compliant: car chargers, portable speakers, etc. If you think 2021 is an unfriendly environment for owners of non-pple products, try remembering what the world was like in 2009, when a hotel chain’s cred could instantly spike with the introduction of built-in iPod charging docs in each room.
All you saw when you turned on your television was the iPod. It was bigger and less ergonomic, sure - but I found excitement in the unknown. I fell into my new social standing quite easily, trying as hard as I could to deflect the wry comments from my friends and family with facts and figures to explain what drew me to this underdog MP3 player. If you listened to your music on anything but an iPod - let alone a product from Apple’s archnemesis - you were a pariah. If you didn’t own an iPod, you were expected to get one. It was oppressive and ardent, with a sense of blind loyalty rivaling the MAGA crowd. It’s hard to describe the public’s infatuation with Apple at that exact point in history.
Zune mp3 player Pc#
I fell in love quickly, dedicating hours to burning my collection of awful CDs onto my molasses-in-winter-speed PC to then transfer onto the Zune. No box, no headphones, no instruction manual, no problem. I found the 120 GB device as beautiful as it was technologically confounding: Wireless syncing, built-in FM radio, video support, and good enough music quality for a guy who still listened to a lot of ska. A gorgeous 3.2-inch glass LCD display lit up with an image refreshingly dissimilar to Bono’s face. I picked one up and fiddled around with its substantially smaller click wheel/pad hybrid. That’s when something caught my eye from another part of the store: A display of Microsoft Zunes just itching to be touched. My thumb traced circles around its silky-smooth click wheel.
A complicated mix of envy, disgust, and shame coasted through my brain as I muttered complaints under my breath. I was meandering through Best Buy when I came upon the Apple section of the store.
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