Zune battery life: 12 hours music, 3.5 hours video

Yeah, it's a somewhat minor-seeming detail, but no one seemed to know how much damned battery life the Zune was going to have at launch. They were pretty tight lipped about it, but our new pal and independent analyst for Directions on Microsoft, Matt Rosoff, let us know that according to his contacts, with wireless off we can expect a 12 hours of music playback at 128Kbps, 3.5 hours for video playback, and 4.5 hours when running a slide show. Compare that to the 30GB iPod's 14/4 hours and the 80GB iPod's 20/6 hours, and it's a little difficult to fully envision the payoff for that added thickness and height. Still, remember: bigger screen, wireless, bigger screen, wireless. Ah well, we'll just hope upon hope that'll be something the fix before release in a couple months.

[Thanks, Matt]

[Scott @ Sep 17th 2006 10:17AM]

My Cowon A2 still kicks the Zune's ass back to Redmond.

http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/cowon/a2/

[Jeff @ Sep 17th 2006 10:20AM]

Let's see the Zune promoters around here spin this one.

My guess is there's a whole class of commenters who will now claim they'd take a big screen over battery life any day. Nevermind that they're probably the same people who complained the loudest about the iPod's poor battery life when it was first launched.

[sonyc @ Sep 17th 2006 10:31AM]

Always the same old song : blablablah Vista is better : Vista not available vs Tiger available for 18 months, blablablah, Zune is better : Zune not available & no pricing vs iPod cheaper than ever & available now...

[tiremfej @ Sep 17th 2006 10:31AM]

Maybe the Zune will also be more reliable...I loved my iPod for the 7 months it worked.

[Jeff @ Sep 17th 2006 10:32AM]

That battery life really sucks. No kudos for iPod, either. Why can't these guys learn from Sony? Fast charge, more than double the battery life, etc. I do wonder if Zune's battery life includes some amount of wireless use. That might explain a bit...

[Matt @ Sep 17th 2006 10:38AM]

This doesn't really bother me, because I'm considering upgrading from a 20GB fourth generation iPod with 12 hours of battery life anyway (it's actually less than that because I've had it for so long).

I'd still love to see it get an increase though.

[K robin @ Sep 17th 2006 10:39AM]

Would we be talking about it if it was not a microsoft product? If it was nicknamed Toshiba Gigabeat Zune as it should be... people would have dismissed it since launch.

[PMX @ Sep 17th 2006 10:40AM]

"I do wonder if Zune's battery life includes some amount of wireless use. That might explain a bit..."

Read the post again ;)

"with wireless off we can expect a 12 hours of music playback at 128Kbps, 3.5 hours for video playback"

[Jeff @ Sep 17th 2006 10:45AM]

"Read the post again ;)"

Oops. [blush]

[dov @ Sep 17th 2006 10:45AM]

LoOL..

my Sony NW-E003 Walkman has 30 hours playback, with one charge.. :D
can't use the PSP over 10 hours though.. :(

[Matt @ Sep 17th 2006 10:47AM]

I read that they are going to have multiple power modes. Some of the modes will likely double what the iPod has (40 hours/12 hours). I'll wait until the official announcement to believe the specs...

[Anders P. @ Sep 17th 2006 10:48AM]

Sucky battery life.. Would have been interested if the Zune was a flash-based player and with better battery life. Sold my 4gb nano, just ordered the new 8gb one.

[sergeij freud @ Sep 17th 2006 10:49AM]

"Why can't these guys learn from Sony?"

for some strange reason, i'm not too keen on carrying around a device with a sony battery in my pocket ....

[cb @ Sep 17th 2006 10:55AM]

Interesting...without wireless on it is 12 hours....so with it's "ipod killer" wireless, the battery life will be 2 hours???

Pathetic...in all respects!

[Dan @ Sep 17th 2006 10:55AM]

while the battery life isn't amazing, it's not so bad to discount it. i think the true test will be battery life w/ active wireless while the zune is sharing. that's the major feature this player has over the ipod, so that's what we should be looking at.

also, 12/3.5 vs. 14/4 is really not a huge difference in battery life and is surely just due to the larger screen.

[MBX @ Sep 17th 2006 10:56AM]

iPod plays audio for up to 20 hours. Or, if you’d rather watch, you can feast your eyes on movies and TV shows for up to six-and-a-half hours.

double the batterylife than zune

[dave95 @ Sep 17th 2006 10:56AM]

Wow - More and more it is looking like Jobs knew in advance about this Zune player which is why he reduced price, and updated the battery on the (hard disk) iPods. Checkmate!

Not only will the wifi drain the already low battery life (12 hours), but adding the DRM layer to files shared or WMA songs downloaded will reduced it even more....MP3.com tested it and noticed a looks of 4 hours.
http://www.mp3.com/features/stories/3646.html

So it may be an 8 hour player. To be fair this is a problem with all DRM songs from these services. Still 12 hour is just unacceptable for the richest company in the industry!

[z @ Sep 17th 2006 11:01AM]

It's rather ok to have 12 hours, but we'd expect with wifi on... Why didn't they do it using bluetooth (which is supposed to drain less), anyone's got an answer?

[maniu @ Sep 17th 2006 11:17AM]

bluetooth is much slower

[carbonbased @ Sep 17th 2006 11:24AM]

BAND OF HORSES!!!!!!!

[adam @ Sep 17th 2006 11:29AM]

oh shut up all you stupid apple lovers this would be microsofts first mp3 player and its a few steps right behind the ipod so when they release a new one it will put apple in bankruptcy tiger what kind of name is that for an os ?? at least i have a mouse that has a left and right click so burn in hell apple lovers

[Nick @ Sep 17th 2006 11:33AM]

Ok so 12 hours isn't the best time out there. Remember it's still a first generation player and I'm sure there will be some changes before it hits the stores.

Let's face it though not every player is perfect. Sony has great battery life but horrid software support. Apple have great interface and design but you can forget about sharing your music with anyone and microsoft is coming out with a brand new idea of how music players should work.

I wouldn't be surprised if Samsung jumped in and stole the best part from all three of these companies to create and ultra media player that would trump anything else on the market. Let's face it Samsun is the only electronics giant that's still offering good products for great prices.

[Mini-Me @ Sep 17th 2006 11:33AM]

The Might Mouse has a right button.

[Travis @ Sep 17th 2006 11:45AM]

"oh shut up all you stupid apple lovers this would be microsofts first mp3 player and its a few steps right behind the ipod so when they release a new one it will put apple in bankruptcy tiger what kind of name is that for an os ?? at least i have a mouse that has a left and right click so burn in hell apple lovers"

Adam, you make me love apple more and more.

Why?

Because i know whats on the other side of the fence, and i'm glad i'm not over there with people like you.

[Leo @ Sep 17th 2006 11:46AM]

If I designed the zune I wouldn't have used the directional pad as a input device. I think the logical step for Microsoft was to use a clickable trackball. How sexy would it have been if they used a silver trackball instead of that disk pad? Of course it would be user cleanable and use an optical sensor instead of traditional rollers. Not to mention make it flash based with SD card capability.

[Geoff @ Sep 17th 2006 11:48AM]

Yeah, Engadget shouldn't cover a brand new product from Microsoft. Especially a new product that is a competitor to the mighty Apple Ipod. No one is interested in hearing about it at all. Clearly the only reason they are making posts about it is because they were paid off.

[dunk @ Sep 17th 2006 11:50AM]

i like how people are saying "this is microsoft's first attempt, just you wait". when has microsoft's second attempt at anything you pay money for, not called office or windows beaten a competitor. sure as hell isn't the 360 when the PS2 still outsells it.

zune - more expensive (likely), bigger, smaller battery life, not in any way "hip" or "cool". there have been plenty of players and services that are better than the itunes/ipod combo and they're all on the scrap heap. the only difference here is that microsoft can buy market share, they just won't be able to buy engough.

of course there is a secret to competing with apple in this realm, lots of people talk about it, but no one is actually executing.

[schumi @ Sep 17th 2006 11:50AM]

@mikeR

STFU ..

[Drewboy @ Sep 17th 2006 11:50AM]

I'm curious how many hours it gets with wireless. But I look at it this way. The wireless sucks. I mean only one of my fiends are interested in the Zune. So whats he going to do? Send songs to himself.

[Abe @ Sep 17th 2006 11:52AM]

I'm not sure yet but I think I'll be getting one of these, whenever they do decide to release it. It looks like a pretty cool device but more importantly, its a cool device coupled with a subscription music store, which I would much prefer to iTunes.

[James @ Sep 17th 2006 12:01PM]

If I remember correctly, Toshiba is making the Zune player. So, we shouldn' be surprised at the less than desirable battery life. The Toshiba Gigabeat S has poor battery life as well. With that said, I have one. I love it EXCEPT for 1) the battery stinks and 2) there are no accessories. While I am hoping they can improve on the battery life, I just don't understand why they don't have accessories. It makes it seem that they really aren't committed to the product, perhaps they have a deal with Microsoft to push everyone to the Zune?

[dave95 @ Sep 17th 2006 12:05PM]

@ Jake

When I say he knew in advance, I meant he prob knew the $$. I think it was a calculated move reducing the price on the hard disk iPod, which is why MS did not offcialy release prices on the Zune, they where taken by surprise.

And to you anything but iPod (or Apple) bunch, MS could release a 5 hours player and you would praise it. Carry on!

[Ben @ Sep 17th 2006 12:05PM]

I can't believe no one has brought this up, but maybe it's just because I'm a proud Toshiba Gigabeat S owner so I've read more into it. The rated battery life matches the Gigabeat S exactly. Look at this line from CNet's review: "The Gigabeat maxed out at a little more than 12 hours of audio and 3.5 hours for video." The Zune, as we now all know, is also being manufactored by Toshiba. So why is that when the Zune is announced to go 12 hours audio and 3.5 hours video Engadget and the people commenting on the story bitch and moan but when the Gigabeat came out Engadget basically stopped short of calling it the mythical "iPod killer" (http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/03/toshiba-gigabeat-s-reviewed/)? The Zune is basically a Gigabeat S with WiFi and 16:9, improvements in my eyes, and seeing as how the Gigabeat S got rave reviews from nearly everyone, maybe, just maybe, the Zune will too. Although seeing as the only difference is Microsoft's name attached to it, I doubt it.

[Z @ Sep 17th 2006 12:14PM]

I wonder how many people have been hired to do 'viral marketing' on blogs like engadget? I always was curious to know how much you'd get to do so? Does MS pay more? ;-)

[greenfly360 @ Sep 17th 2006 12:39PM]

But that is not from an official so whats the point of believing it?

[MHD @ Sep 17th 2006 12:46PM]

I don't understand why everyone is always in such an uproar over battery life--who on earth isn't near a power plug most of the day? Who listens to an MP3 player 15 hours at a time WITHOUT charging? You would think we all live on the prarie without electricity--WHO CARES how long the battery lasts? If it's more than 3-5 hours than I don't think you are doing too bad--just go plug the damn thing in when the battery is low. Plug it in while you are driving. Plug it in overnight. What's the big deal with batteries on these things and why can't we stop bitching about them for FIVE whole minutes?

[b @ Sep 17th 2006 12:50PM]

MHD,

because people always find a reason to complain.

I agree with your post.

[Alan Erickson @ Sep 17th 2006 1:05PM]

I wonder if MS is stupid enough to only have this thing work with Vista? Sounds silly, but they do have a pretty good track record of just that kind of crap.

[AHA @ Sep 17th 2006 1:07PM]

MD

This is not 5 years ago where you only play songs on these DAPs. Wifi, Videos, slideshow, DRM etc. drains batteries. Having to plug the thing in every so often or constantly monitoring the battery is not an enjoyable experience. In a world of advancing tech, no one wants to go backwards, hence the complaints.

[Karl Wagner @ Sep 17th 2006 1:11PM]

OK, so perhaps the Zune has mediocre battery life, but you have to remember that they said they would not unveil the battery life because it was *still subject to change*. I'm sure that Microsoft are committed to trying to succeed in this market, and so they will do everything they can to try extend those figures.

Look at it from Microsoft's perspective - they want to win. They know we want equal or greater battery life to the iPod. They have to market a product we want if they want to win. Therefore, if there is a way to get the Zune to pack a bit more life, Microsoft are sure to be looking at it.

That said, I'm still leaning towards the iPod. I still haven't got a PMP yet, and although wireless is nice, the iPod has:
- guaranteeed accessory support
- touch wheel (better human interface)
- less size
- better battery life
- more style

[James @ Sep 17th 2006 1:14PM]

In response to MHD -

The battery life that is rated is if you turn the player on and just leave it either in audio or video mode. How many of us do that? I travel weekly, I watch TivoToGo and FF thru the commercials. It cuts the battery life to barely two hours, if that.

While I understand your point, I am not always next to a plug. To my earlier point or NO accessories - I would welcome a docking station, so I could plop the player in it.

I'm not complaining, just realizing that there is no player on the market that is 100% perfect but also would hope that developers listen to the common threads and focus developments on those comments.

[crescentdave @ Sep 17th 2006 1:28PM]

Let's do the math: significantly larger screen, wi-fi, 1/2 hr less video time, 2 hours less music time- I can only listen to tunes for 12 straight hours before I must recharge. Now THAT'S a deal breaker ... lol. Because EVERY one listens to their mp3 player for 12 hours straight....

PLUS subscription & to-go music. Don't care if you don't like it. It's what music is headed for- it's unstoppable. Kinda like videos these days. Want to buy your music? Not a problem. You can do BOTH if you want. Or either. Unless you own an iPod. Then you can ONLY buy the music. Choices ... thinking differently ... all inherently threatening, I guess, to iPodians, judging by some of these posts.

[mike @ Sep 17th 2006 1:32PM]

I seriously doubt anyone here is a viral marketer, given that nobody has given it unconditional praise. They just seem to be "looks good but....." - thats no way to hype a so-called iPod killer. Which it's clearly not.

Ugly, inferior specs, a gimmick wireless feature and a larger size are not good attributes to have when competing with the bottomless pit of cool that is Apple.

Microsoft can not offer shit on a stick and expect to enter the DAP market. Even after releasing a superior product (xbox) in the video-game market they failed to crack the PS2 hegemony.

[adashi @ Sep 17th 2006 1:56PM]

What is up with all this WiFi craziness?! Do you REALLY want to send tracks to someone over WiFi? I've seen the demo video and, man, that was boring, it took forever to get the track to play on the other Zune. It would've been faster to simply borrow the guy's headset and listen to the goddamn track.

It's not like you can keep the tracks once they are transferred, you can't even listen to the same track more than three times!

Seriously, I don't get the appeal of this WiFi "functionality". If I want a friend to listen to a cool track I got recently I simply borrow my buds.

[Big Bwai @ Sep 17th 2006 2:10PM]

I'm both amazed and totally unsurprised by the fact that Zune has a fake scrollwheel. Really, that's what the circle at the bottom is. It's trying to look like an iPod (regardless of what Microsoft says) but is basically fooling its potential customers by not providing the same functions. I'm not saying the scrollwheel is the end-all-be-all of interfaces, but to look like one but not act like one is absurd. Kinda says something about M$FT that it would emulate a feature in appearance but not in functionality.

[Mystic @ Sep 17th 2006 2:24PM]

"The Zune is basically a Gigabeat S with WiFi and 16:9," - Ben

The Zune is not 16:9, it is 4:3, just like the iPod.

[Brendan @ Sep 17th 2006 2:48PM]

I think the thing that people are really missing is the fact that it's so much chunkier than than the iPod. So basically the new iPod has the same video battery life, but if it was the sam thinkness the battery life would be about 8 hours.

[John Doe. @ Sep 17th 2006 2:56PM]

There are a lot of trade offs between the two devices. The iPod has a lot of pros and cons. The Zune has them as well. But battery life is one con that many people won't accept. 12 hours is horrable by anyone's standard. I mean yah sure its not 3 hours but now a days 15-20 hours is pretty much the standard.

[frabgod @ Sep 17th 2006 3:17PM]

In our interview this week with Microsoft's Chris Stephenson, he hedged on battery life details. He pointed out that Wi-Fi is only on when needed, and that mitigates the battery-draining effects considerably.

He also said the Zune battery would be quicker-to-charge than iPod's.

Full interview is on http://www.Zunerama.com

- frabgod

[Jake @ Sep 17th 2006 3:28PM]

dave95, thanks for stating the obvious

of course steve jobs knew about the zune in advance, weve been hearing about it on here for almost a year i think? i really don't think he has to worry but releasing an updated iPod with more memory, more battery life and at a cheaper price, with a huge music and video (and now full-length movie store) will make the iPod seem a much better alternative to the Zune.