Forget the Zune HD; the Nokia N97 plays Zune Pass music and more
If you follow my writing on ZDNet then you probably read a few of my Zune HD posts. I have a pretty small physical music collection and thus I thrive on the Zune Pass subscription service that now give me 10 free non-DRM songs per month along with unlimited music playing on my Zune HD. I previously wrote about how the Zune Pass also works on the Nokia 5800 and Nokia E71x devices too. I recently tried out the capability on my T-Mobile Touch Pro2 and even a Microsoft device does not support this capability. I wanted to create this post to let all of you Nokia N97 owners know that the Zune Pass works just fine on this device too and with 32GB on the device and more available via microSD you can carry a ton of music and enjoy it with the N97. If you want to experience this, then enter my N97 contest to try to win a free N97 to get you started.
While I honestly love the super compact form factor, beautiful OLED display, and capacitive touch screen of my new FC Sounders etched Zune HD there are a couple of advantages the Nokia N97 has over the Zune HD. I am looking at this just in terms of media playing capability since the N97 is a full blown smartphone and should not be compared to a media player:
- Integrated stereo speakers: the Zune HD has none so headphones are needed to enjoy content
- Removable battery: you can always carry a spare and listen to music for hours
- Larger, higher resolution display: 3.5 inches at 360×640 pixels vs 3.3 inches at 272×480 pixels
- Angled display for easy video viewing
- FM transmitter: you can enjoy Zune Pass content wireless without an accessory
Now, the Zune HD has better media player software and the ability to output HD movies to your TV via the dock is pretty cool. That said, you can save yourself some money and add the Zune Pass to your N97 without picking up a Zune HD. Shoot, did I just talk myself out of my Zune HD purchase?
7 Comments to Forget the Zune HD; the Nokia N97 plays Zune Pass music and more
I forgot you figured out how to make it play ZunePass. I’m using Napster To go right now, but this might be a future option!
I use a Zune 80, and a N97. This is great news! Do you know if video content such as movies can be synched as easily to the N97 as video content from Amazon’s Video on Demand service? Movies downloaded and synced from Amazon’s VOD look great on my N97.
October 15, 2009
[...] [via Nokia Experts] [...]
DpmtOctober 15, 2009
Sounders FC Zune HD. Nice!
I haven’t tried video yet, but I will soon and report back.
JohnOctober 15, 2009
I know that Napster works really well with my Nokia N86, anyone ever compare Napster vs Zunepass? I think Napster has a bigger music library. Any thoughts?
I bought an N97 when they first launched back in August or so and it did indeed play my zune pass items. I sold that N97 because I got tired of waiting for 2.0 software. I recently picked up a new N97 that is running v20.2.x software, and it will not play my zune pass songs. I am curious as to what version of software you are running.
October 14, 2009