What Does a Zune Do?

by Jennifer Leighton
The Zune allows users to listen to music anywhere and anytime.

The Zune allows users to listen to music anywhere and anytime.

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The Zune is a personal media player that offers many options to its users. The Zune is a multi-faceted device that holds music collections and can store and play many other types of media. The Zune can handle a variety of tasks, some of which are unique to the device.

FM Radio Player

Zune players are FM radio players that enable users to listen to any broadcasts in real time. A unique Zune feature is the "V-Purchase," which allows FM radio listeners to "tag," or save, any songs of interest. These songs can later be purchased in the Zune marketplace, which automatically keeps a list of tagged songs in each user's account.

Game Player

The Zune offers free games that are included on the device at the time of purchase. These games include Poker, Checkers, Sudoku and Space Battle. Zune users can also purchase additional games from the Zune Marketplace. Some Zune games have multi-player modes, which support play with other Zune users through a wireless connection.

Personal Music Player

A Zune stores as many as 30,000 songs. Songs can be downloaded from a personal computer via the Zune Marketplace, from a personal computer hard drive, from a Windows-7 equipped cellular phone, or from the Xbox 360 video game console.

Audio Book Player

The Zune can download and play audiobooks using installed Audible or Overdrive software. The "Audiobooks" menu does not appear on the Zune until the first audiobook has been successfully downloaded. Following that initial download, all audiobooks will be accessible via the Audiobook menu.

Wireless Syncing

Zune owners who have a collection of music and other media stored on their personal computer or Xbox 360 console can wirelessly sync that media to their Zune. Following the initial setup, the Zune will automatically sync with the other device (the computer or Xbox 360) to add any new content each time it is within wireless range. While all models of Zune are capable of wireless syncing, the most recent version of the updates must be installed on the device for the sync to work properly.

About the Author

Jennifer Leighton has been a professional writer since 2007, specializing in technology topics such as video games and computers. Leighton studied psychology and computer science at the University of New Mexico.

Photo Credits

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