We all know that Windows Phone 7 has Zune music service features built in, but how exactly do they compare with the Zune HD? Well there are many similarities, but also some significant differences. Check out the video below for a quick overview.
The thing I miss the most in Windows Phone 7 is the Smart DJ button. You’ll see this in the Zune desktop software as well as the Zune HD. What this does is automatically create a playlist of music based on whatever artist you’re currently thinking about listening to. So say you feel like listening to some Carlos Santana, but you don’t want to listen to only Carlos Santana, Smart DJ will pick out a bunch of songs that kind of go along with that musicians style. What’s awesome about this is that if you have a Zune Pass subscription, it will also stream music that you may never heard before from the Zune service. This is a fantastic way to discover new/old music that you may never have heard otherwise. While you’re listening to Smart DJ on the Zune HD, if you hear something new that you like, you can press the “Add to Cart” button in order to save it for download or purchase later.
You’ll also notice that the Windows Phone 7 artist section is missing a few interesting tabs that you see on the Zune HD. The Zune HD has a great “Related Artists” section, hyperlinks to other Zune content in the Artist Bio, and a few nice photos of the artist.
The Zune HD’s radio interface is more advanced as well. It will recognize a song playing on the radio (sometimes), and if you press the “Add to Cart” button, it will search Zune for the song so that you can download or purchase it later.
Zune Channels are also not supported by Windows Phone 7, but to be fair Channels are really just occasionally-updated playlists.
Lastly, you’ll see the Zune Social is not supported on Windows Phone 7. The Zune Social is pretty much what the iTunes Ping social network is copying. It’s a way to share your musical tastes with friends and see what your friends like to listen to. Alternatively, a cool feature on the Windows Phone 7 is the ability to email links to Marketplace music albums and apps to your friends.
Now that you’ve seen what you’re missing in the Zune HD, are you hoping more of its features will come to Windows Phone 7 in an update?
Originally published on Pocketnow on October 21, 2010. More Windows Phone articles from the Pocketnow archive.