November 26, 2007 4:37 PM PST

Zune 80 official battery test results

Posted by Donald Bell
Photo of Microsoft Zune 80 next to Apple iPod.

There's still no touching the iPod when it comes to battery life.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Our CNET Labs have just published the results of their Zune 80 audio-only battery drains and the numbers are somewhat disappointing. Microsoft rated the Zune 80 for 30 hours of audio playback with the Wi-Fi feature turned off. Lab testing revealed that the Zune 80 is realistically capable of 22 hours of audio playback with the Wi-Fi feature turned off, or 18.5 hours with the Wi-Fi feature enabled.

While 22 hours is certainly better than the 13 hours we got from the first-generation Zune, it's nowhere close to the 45 hours we were able to get from the competing 80GB iPod Classic.

What do you guys think? Is 22 hours enough? Does the fact that the Zune's screen is nearly twice as large as the iPod make up for the battery life being about half as good? Air your disgruntlement or ambivalence in the comments section below.

Recent posts from Crave
Yelle, 'Je Veux Te Voir': Free MP3 of the Day
Looking back, looking ahead: The week in laptops
Attention back-to-school shoppers: Find your laptop reviews here
Gear4 shrinks 'BlackBox' speaker to travel size
Review: 2009 Acura TSX
Add a Comment (Log in or register) 35 comments (Page 1 of 3)
Yawwwwwnnnnnn....
by HooHaa November 26, 2007 5:43 PM PST
Reply to this comment
Microsoft misleads but not gonna lose sleep over i
by In2Lectual November 26, 2007 5:52 PM PST
Granted, when they say their product will last for 30 hours, it should last for 30 hours. But it only making it 22 hours won't keep me from buying it. I am simply running away from my iPod and hoping to never return. I have gone through 9 iPods due to the harddrive and battery dying on me. Although the same thing may happen with the Zune, I just am not going back to an iPod. Ever. The huge screen on a Zune definitely attracted me like a magnet as well. But the iPod definitely threw me into the arms of Zune. Haha
Reply to this comment
Video battery life
by samhardin November 26, 2007 6:55 PM PST
Are there any results for the actual battery life for video? I believe the advertised life is 5 hours?
Reply to this comment
Response to a Response
by wusupjohn November 26, 2007 7:24 PM PST
The Zune is a response to a near perfect product. There is no way that it can compete
Reply to this comment View reply
And this matters for what reason?
by DarkHawke November 27, 2007 2:56 AM PST
C'mon! Even 10 hours would be okay! Sure it'd be great if I didn't have to plug in my DAP more than once every 8 days or so, but assuming I'm not going to be listening to it continuously for that long a time or I'm not traveling to some backwater place where there's no electricity, I gots ta give it the big SFW. Does it really break a lot of folks to have to plug their DAP in every night? They probably do as much with their cell phones, so where's the real problem? The poster before brings up a good point about how long you can run it just watching videos, which could be a point for, say, a long plane ride where hooking up a power supply/charger would be impractical if not impossible. I'd have y'all go yet further, and figure out a reasonable mixed usage pattern, including listening to music, watching videos and using the wireless sync, and give us a more real-world battery life estimate.
Reply to this comment
Battery life? How about device life.
by Badams76 November 27, 2007 7:13 AM PST
Battery life is not as important to me as buying a device that lasts me longer than a year. I've gone through three iPods so far - one dead harddrive and two dead batteries - and I'm never buying another again. I got myself a Philips MP3 player with 30+ hours of battery life and I'm very pleased with it.
Reply to this comment
Works for me
by jmackowi November 27, 2007 7:54 AM PST
I just got the Zune 80 a few days ago, replacing a 2 year old Zen Sleek from Creative. The battery on that was down to lasting only 4 or 5 hours on a full charge, and this was just with the black and white screen for music only. I enquired with Creative about them replacing the battery and they told me that they could not replace it, only send me a refurbished player for $160. You read that right, $160 for a 2 year old player. I'll never buy another product from Creative as long as I live. Napster to Go also lost me, as Zune has been amazing so far. 22 hours on a full charge is a huge upgrade, plus I have a vastly superior player that has a subscription option.
Reply to this comment
The Creative Zen has better batery life
by davinp November 27, 2007 10:35 AM PST
Everything is always iPod, but what about the Creative Zen players? The Zen Vision:M has a better battery life than the iPod. The battery life for watching videos is 2 hours longer, than the iPod. Creative invented the iPod's interface and gets no recognition.
Reply to this comment View reply
Apple states UP TO 30 hours for iPod 80
by ioncostco November 27, 2007 1:20 PM PST
So you get 45 hours while Apple claims @ http://www.apple.com/ipodclassic/specs.html <quote>UP TO 30 hours of music playback; up to 5 hours of video playback</quote> (capitals are not part of the quote). iPod will be the first device/car/whatever that gets better mpg than stated by the manufacturer. And that is by a wooping 50% margin. Isn't that sweet? It sounds like CNET found a solution for the energy crisis.
Reply to this comment
How Stupid Are Ya??????
by r13k1 November 27, 2007 2:37 PM PST
Cnet's own review clearly states the manufacturers battery life at 20 hours. 22 hours would be 2 more, Daaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Reply to this comment
1 | 2 | 3 | Next 10 Comments >>
Powered by Jive Software
advertisement

About Crave

The name says it all. Crave is our blog about gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. If you would like to contact Crave with a tip or comment, please write to: crave@cnet.com

Crave feeds

I Crave

advertisement
Click Here.
Crave home

Crave

Switch background color:
A Blog from CNET

A Blog from CNET

Welcome (log out) |View profile
Log in | Sign up Why join?
Visit other CNET Networks sites: