Just got my Mother a 30GB Microsoft Zune MP3 Player...for HALF-PRICE ($100)!! @ Circuit City.

My Mother likes to listen to music at her office, and while she's driving, so I thought I'd give her the same joy I do: having your entire music collection at your beck and call 24/7!!

And let me tell you, do I ever love the smell of new. I just hope she appreciates this...I mean, I'm getting it FOR her, and still, even I appreciate it! I appreciate myself for putting so much thought into this!!

I got it in brown...I guess brown has it's own pigment of classiness and style; it almost has a "Stained wood" look to it.

This thing is well packaged; and everything easy to sheath away, right back into the packaging, if you want to store it in the box, or in the worst case scenario (gasp!) return it.

Man, iPod, and even Creative better get with it! This is NICE!!

...

So, how are YOU at Christmas gifting?! Come across any good deals?! Are you going ALL-OUT this year?! Getting someone an AWEXOMELY OUTRAGEOUS GIFT that they won't be able to help appreciating?!

It sounds like you've opened and used it.

Is it flash or does it have a hdd?

For the most part I'm terribly predictable, usually sticking with electronics. I think it's safe to say I went further this year than any year prior. Here's what I picked up:

Parents: DVD/VHS Combo for the downstairs TV

Father: Two boxes of football cards (he pretty much expects cards as it is, and while it sounds mean it's pointless to put thought into any kind of other gift for the guy; some of those non-sports card gifts from the past are still in their original boxes.)

Mother: Small CD/Tape/Radio player for the kitchen (have lots of tapes and it's really getting hard to find anything with tape decks now) and a t-shirt with a Dr. Pepper Logo on it (her favorite soft drink)

Sister: Box of Football cards (unlike my father, she'll never expect it) and four CDs (Pearl Jam, Kelly Clarkson, Matchbox 20, Radiohead) which I got from Amazon instead of the local CD store so I could get twice as many with the same amount of money.

Sister's Boyfriend: Two DVD Box sets (ESPN shows, Tilt and Playmakers)

Dog: Some inexpensive toys she'll destroy before the day is out. They're in the trunk of my car right now as she'll sniff them out if they are anywhere in the house - we learned from last year's fiasco.

WELL, my Mother isn't necessarily tech savvy; wanted to make sure it works, and get it set up for her to use.

Umm...what? No, comprendo, senor...

Is it 30GB of flash memory or 30GB hard drive inside?

My money's on hdd...Microsoft's not that cool ;-)

It has to be an HDD.  30GB of flash would cost a fortune.

I dislike gift giving rituals.  A lot.  I think people should just spend time with the people they care about.  After all, time is a lot more valuable than anything else.

That said, I can play along, so I will probably get people in my office some low value gift cards and a bottle of wine or two for the ones I work with most closely.  My sister will get some DS games, and my parents will get some high-dollar voucher for something (in other words, I'll offer to foot the bill for something they want to do that's not cheap like a short trip or what not -- point being that I don't want to have to do any shopping).

Yeah, although, I'm not able to access the player's hard drive via Windows Explorer...which would make it hella lot easier to transfer music to it.

The Zune software's kinda clunky; sometimes when I roll over the text, it turns into static, and just the way the software's laid out, even if it works, it can take hours just to figure out how to find the music on your machine, and then transfer it to the player. Still, better than diePod.

OKAY, at this point, I'm pretty much figuring out that the Zune was stupid buy.

-Software's for shit

-No "Menu" button

-To exit/quit watching a video, you have to fast forward to the end

-There's no easy way to check out your "Now Playing"/"Playlist" section by any other means than using the "Back" button, until you finally return to the screen that shows you what it's playing right now

I'm glad I only got this for $100. For $100, it's a reasonably functional MP3 player with enough memory. For a person who hasn't seen a better MP3 player (like Creative's) it's acceptable. Other than that, it doesn't hold a candle to Creative.

I'll never stopped being pissed off at Apple and their iPod, for forcing out of business, or preventing any compotent producers from entering the market, especially since they sell inferior MP3 players. If people actually used Creative's MP3 players, they'd ask themselves why they ever fucked around with iPods; most people I know only use iPods because they don't know about anything better.

Oh yes, and let's not forget Apple's brainwashing, people-dancing-around-like-idiots-to-crappy-MTV-music TV commercials. A bad idea can become an acceptable idea if you present it well. Ah, sorry, but I don't fall for that kind of trash.

I mean, c'mon, if you own a PC, why the hell would you start buying into Apple products NOW?

Creative better get their arse in gear; I damn well want them to LIVE. I'd also prefer if they didn't try to imitate Apple, because Apple's products suck, and Creative's are so much more functional.

I just bought this for myself:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Sony-CD- … tDetail.do

Yay. Merry Christmas to me.

There is always the post-holiday gift-returning season.  If she doesn't like it (which sounds like she won't if you don't), then take it back and exchange it.

I truly hate this kind of crap. I had a Sony MD player I actually liked quite a bit for awhile but the damn software was so terrible (and overcomplicated); they can also shove their ARCTIC3 format and dumb attempts to curb digital piracy down their own throat as well. The other stupid thing was while it had amazing battery life burning/transferring songs chewed the battery bad and the lack of anykind of AC power adapter was an even further blow.