While yes, the Zune HD is a far improved device over its predecessor, it's still way behind the iPod Touch in nrealy ever category besides screen resolution.

Also, I work at Best Buy and we have tons of both SKU's sitting, waiting to be purchased. We're out of new iPod Touches though in the 32 and 64 GB SKUs, only a few 8 GB's sitting.

Zune apps are terrible, you still can't use it on a Mac, and the thing reminds me of the Sixaxis controller when the PS3 debuted. Too light, it feels easily breakable and like a toy, whereas the iPod Touch (and now the Dualshock 3) has a solid feel to it.

I know it's preference, and that's mine.

I'm actually debating about getting one, though I won't be until it has at least a few hundred more apps to it's name(And some really good and free ones at that. I don't want to pay for apps) . So I'm interested in why the apps it DOES have are terrible. (I don't really care about the structure since I've already used one in Best Buy and it felt exactly like a square iPod Touch.)

Looks like i'm eating a big crow dinner tonight then. I'm surprised the zune hd is turning out to be so popular

@Shadowblind

It only has 2 apps at the moment. A calculator app and a weather app. They are both free and work pretty well. I don't see how they are terrible.

It is a really fantastic PMP. Coupled with the Zune Pass and WiFi, it is an amazing tool for music discovery. When you click on an artist's name, content is streamed over WiFi such as bio, discography, song lists, and related artists. You can click on any album or song and download it immediately to the Zune. The related artists thing is quite nice as well as you can find out some similar artists and download their stuff immediately as well.  And because of the Zune Pass, it is basically an all you can eat buffet.

It is really quite nice for music enthusiasts such as myself. An entire world of music entirely at your fingertips, ready to be listened to.

I have a older Zune and gotta admit I'm jealous. I want to be able to output hi def video and play PGR Ferrari edition when It's out.

But for the price It's a hard pill to swallow. I got my older Zune for $100. I'm probably gonna wait till the drop in price over the next year before I pick one up.

With that said Zune HD is very sexy. My work place only got in a few of each so I think MS isn't mass producing those, maybe in part they didn't think it would sell as much at the high price?

That information is actually stored on the Zune HD. The Zune software automatically downloads relevant information (bio/pictures/discography/related artits) and stores that information on your Zune when it syncs with your PC. It only goes online to retrieve information when you explore further than the current artist's page, Maretplace or Internet Explorer. Try turning off your wifi, you'll see what I'm talking about. It's also a good habit to turn off wifi, when your not using it, to save on battery life.

Yes, I understand it will cache what it can, but the WiFi enables content for related artists and such to be streamed.  I was mainly speaking about discovering new music, which would need the use of WiFi.

The thing I am most loving about the new ZuneHD is the Pins and Quicklists.  Those combined with the SmartDJ just makes it absolutely awesome for discovering new music.

Though the SmartDJ is only really good with a ZunePass.  If you have a Zune Pass you can click on any artist or song and have it build you a playlist kinda like Pandora does.  But what really rocks is how it mixes songs you already have with a bunch from the marketplace you have never heard before.  Then while listening to the music it is just two taps away from being added to your collection.

I also like the "repeat once" option on the device while playing songs.  Maybe I am weird, but sometimes while listening to my music I decide I just want to hear it again after it is done.  So I press that right away rather than waiting till the end of the song and rewinding like I used to do with my old iPod or Zune80.

While it doesn't have nearly the app support of the iPod Touch, I find the Zune to be a significantly better music player.  I do hope it gets a lot more apps and games specifically, but even if it didn't, I would still love it for the music experience.

^^I agree.