Sorry for the double post, but I thought this was important. Engadget has reported that there has been reports of Zune HD screens being non responsive. Bricking.. They have even gotten two Zune's themselves and the screen has become non responsive...
So, this has even made myself think twice about grabbing one tomorrow when I go to Best Buy.
Source:
Engadget
I had the issue on my zune today
Fortunately it was because i was doing a lot of multitasking and the unit was quite hot (playing goo splat, installing 2 apps in background, playing loong playlist, charging through USB for the first charge). To fix it i just held the power button in to restart and it has been fine since - i repeated the stressing of doing everything as before and it didn't crash - it is a software, not a hardware issue.
Engadget has blown the issue out of proportion as the fix is hold the power button in for 15 seconds- they make it seem like you can't restart the device without the touch screen working (which is what fixes the issue of it not responding).
My parents now want one after seeing me playing with mine, my only problem is figuring out how to get hold of one of the zune pass prepaid cards - ebay is a rip off (2 sellers each adding $10/month to the actual price - a little too much comission, especially on the 3 and 12 month cards which cost $30 and $120 more than what it costs the seller) and i can't find anywhere legit looking to get me a 3 month card
Does anyone know where i would be able to get my hands on a legit one? (preferably somewhere which can email the code instead of posting the card, as well as taking paypal).
**edit**
here is a good guide to using the zune with some tips on how to operate it missed by the manual (like requesting a song to repeat without changing to other songs in the playlist until you tell it to move on by holding down on the repeat button for a few seconds):
power user's guide to the zune HD
I also found some perfect software for converting avi and non-compatible video/audio files to be able to be played on the zune - this is freeware so is legal. The only file it doesn't cover is mkv unfortunately, i'll post some more info when i decide which of the mkv to avi converters i've got is the best to use for the zune.
convert videos to supported zune hd file formats
convert audio to supported file types (is in same product family as above linked software)
Both of the above support batch processing of multiple files at once and converted in a pretty decent time, the video is multi-core supportive but doesn't use more than ~50% system resources i believe.
**edit 2**
I just noticed that when on the home screen there is a 3d effect as things "further away" from what is in the foreground - i.e. pins if you have the normal list in focus - move around when you tilt the device (linked to the accelerometer) - this gives a cool 3d effect on the interface. I've not noticed it mentioned in any reviews yet, and i know it's not important but i love how you keep noticing little things on the device even after playing with it non-stop for hours.