The Zune 4, Zune 8, and Zune 16 are second-generation models of the

Zune Zune is a discontinued line of digital media products and services marketed by Microsoft from November 2006 until its discontinuation in June 2012. Zune consisted of a line of portable media players, digital media player software for Windows Per ...

lineup, they were first announced on October 2, 2007 and released on November 13, 2007 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and June 13, 2008 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. They are

flash memory Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both us ...

-based players meant to compete with the

iPod Nano The iPod Nano (stylised and marketed as iPod nano) is a discontinued portable media player designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. The first generation model was introduced on September 7, 2005, as a replacement for the iPod Mini, using ...

and the

Sansa Fuze The Sansa Fuze is a portable media player developed by SanDisk and released on March 8, 2008. The Fuze is available in three different Flash memory capacities: 2 GB, 4 GB, and 8 GB and comes in six different colors: black, blue, pi ...

, both smaller and cheaper than the three

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnet ...

-based Zune devices, the

Zune 30 The Zune 30 is a portable media player developed by Microsoft, and the first hardware device in Microsoft's Zune brand. It was released on November 14, 2006, simply named the Zune. After subsequent versions with different hard drive capacities, t ...

, Zune 80, and Zune 120. They feature music, video, and podcast support, and come with

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

and

FM Radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

Overview

The D-pad of the original Zune has been replaced by the

Zune pad The Zune Pad, which is a squircle, is the primary control mechanism for Zune 4, 8, 16, 80 and 120. The pad lets users of this device scroll through their song list with the use of their finger, then press the button to select tracks or change ...

, which allows for touch-sensitive controls in addition to 5-way clicking. Wi-Fi is used for wireless synchronization and for sharing photos, podcasts, and music with other Zunes, although shared songs may only be played three times by the receiving Zune. The FM Radio includes

RBDS Radio Data System (RDS) is a communications protocol standard for embedding small amounts of digital information in conventional FM radio broadcasts. RDS standardizes several types of information transmitted, including time, station identificati ...

support for displaying song and station metadata, but does not support

HD-Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

. The flash Zune models also feature scratch resistant glass screens, similar to the screens used on the v2 Zunes.

Reception

The Zune 4, 8, and 16 have gotten generally positive reception. Positives and negatives mimic those of the Zune 80 and 120, as the 4, 8, and 16 are very similar devices in a smaller package: the Wi-Fi, user interface, and excellent sound quality are praised. Some reviews have mentioned the lack of TV shows in the Zune Marketplace, it has since been updated with the ability to purchase and rent TV shows and movies.

Specifications

The specifications as listed by the official web site of the Zune: * 1.8-inch color display with 320×240

resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...

* 4, 8, and 16 GB flash memory options * CPU: 399 MHz ARM Core Freescale i.MX31L *

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

: 64MB * 802.11b/g

compatible with open, WEP,

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

, and

WPA2 Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), Wi-Fi Protected Access II (WPA2), and Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3) are the three security and security certification programs developed after 2000 by the Wi-Fi Alliance to secure wireless computer networks. The All ...

authentication modes and WEP 64-bit and 128-bit, TKIP, and AES encryption modes * Built in

Li-Ion A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible Redox, reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It als ...

rechargeable with up to 24 hours of audio playback (wireless off) and video, up to 4 hours * Size: 41.4 mm x 91.5 mm x 8.5 mm * Weight: 1.7 ounces (47 grams) * FM radio tuner * Audio support: ** CBR and VBR audio, up to 48 kHz

sample rate In signal processing, sampling is the reduction of a continuous-time signal to a discrete-time signal. A common example is the conversion of a sound wave to a sequence of "samples". A sample is a value of the signal at a point in time and/or sp ...

: *** WMA Standard Up to 320 kbit/s ***

WMA Pro Windows Media Audio (WMA) is a series of audio codecs and their corresponding audio coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs. The or ...

stereo up to 384 kbit/s *** WMA Lossless stereo up to 384 kbit/s *** Advanced Audio Coding (

AAC AAC may refer to: Aviation * Advanced Aircraft, a company from Carlsbad, California * Alaskan Air Command, a radar network * American Aeronautical Corporation, a company from Port Washington, New York * American Aviation, a company from Cleveland, ...

)(.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov) up to 320 kbit/s ***

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

(.mp3): up to 320 kbit/s * Video Support: ** CBR or VBR for: ***

WMV Windows Media Video (WMV) is a series of video codecs and their corresponding video coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Windows Media framework. WMV consists of three distinct codecs: The original video compression technology ...

Main and Simple Profile *** MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile up to 2.5 Mbit/s

bit rate In telecommunications and computing, bit rate (bitrate or as a variable ''R'') is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time. The bit rate is expressed in the unit bit per second (symbol: bit/s), often in conjunction w ...

***

H.264 Advanced Video Coding (AVC), also referred to as H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10, is a video compression standard based on block-oriented, motion-compensated coding. It is by far the most commonly used format for the recording, compression, and distr ...

Baseline profile up to 2.5 Mbit/s * Picture Support: **

JPEG JPEG ( ) is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and imag ...

(.jpg)

References

External links

Product overview on Zune.netInformation about the Zune and question / answers
{{Microsoft Portable media players Zune Audiovisual introductions in 2007