For my 30th birthday I was convinced by my wife and a friend to get something fun, so I went with the Zune HD.  The day it came out I chased one down and was filling it with music that night.  I encountered the ZunePass trial but decided to hold off as I had a pretty large MP3 collection from years past.  Just over a week ago I decided to go for the trial as I found some music I had been searching for and it seemed like a convenient way to get it.  A few hours after activating the trial, I was ready to drop $14.99/month. 

Here’s why:

Unlimited downloads, any time, any where.  If I’m sitting in bed looking for a song and I find it, bam, it’s there.  Next time I sync up it’s on my laptop too.  You keep the music as long as you pay your subscription and there is no change in the agreements for that music to be subscription eligible.  By the way, you can sync the Zune HD wirelessly.

Keep 10 songs per month forever, in raw MP3 format (when available) or in protected WMA.  Go DRM free with MP3s at your own risk (i.e., you lose it you may not be able to download it again) or go with DRM protected WMA files and deal with some limitations.  The choice is yours and you keep the songs forever whether you keep your subscription or not.

As you listen and rate Zune finds artists for you.  Creepy, maybe?  Does it get it right?  Actually, yes.  Scarily so.  The Zune software already pegged me as a alt rock/new rock junkie and some of my other tastes are surfacing as well.  As of the Zune Firmware v4.3 update the song count glitch on the Zune HD which is good news because the Zune software uses your counts to award badges and find new music for you.

Find like-minded listeners and see what they are listening too.  If the Zune software metrics aren’t enough it will point you to like minded listeners.  Your Zune account is also tied to your Xbox Live account and it will pull in your friends too.  I discovered several of my friends are heavy Zune users.  Who knew?

Are there other software packages out there doing this?  Yes.  Do I care?  Not really.  For once I’m able to leverage software to help me find music that I wouldn’t otherwise encounter.  It also helped me find CDs I lost years ago.  Given what I spent on CDs in my youthful years, $14.99/month is a bargain to have access to 1000s of artists and be able to discover music that you won’t find on your typical HD radio stations (Which the Zune HD supports as well).  The way I see it is that $10 a month goes to stuff I keep, forever, and the other $4.99 gives me access to anything I want.

Other fun things I didn’t know about the Zune:

Plug it into an available USB Port on your Xbox 360 to play any content off your Zune, including protected content.  I’ve taken to playing a little Chopin for the kids to bring some peace to the house.

Earn badges for being a music junkie.  Like the Xbox 360 achievement system the Zune software gives you meaningless awards for listening to music.  Bragging rights are often worth the price.

Download songs from the marketplace that you hear using the Zune HD’s built in HD radio.  Forget scouring the stations website for a playlist, just go get the song already!