How To: Extending Zune Battery Life
A new site which I came across a few days called ZuneMods.com has done a really nice list of tips Zune users on how they take their Zune battery life that extra mile.
Tip 1:
Complete Power Down
When many people are done listening to their Zune they hold the play button thinking they are turning their device off. WRONG, holding play puts your device into a suspended sleep mode. This sleep mode is good for people who use their Zune off and on a lot throughout the day, but if you are going to shut off your Zune and keep it off for longer than 10-15 minutes a complete power off is a good idea.
Turn Off Your Zune
To turn off your Zune, you hold ‘down‘ and ‘back‘ simultaneously for about 5 seconds. This will completely turn off your Zune. The only downside to turning it completely off is that when you choose to turn it back on (hold ‘play‘) it has to boot up, which takes 5-10 seconds.
Tip 2:
Backlight Timer
Changing the backlight timer is an easy way to improve your battery life. The Zune backlight timer works by automatically turning off your Zune screen backlight after a period of inactivity (not touching and buttons). In most cases the average user would find 15 or 30 seconds plenty of time for the backlight timer.
How to Change It
Start at the main menu, going down to ‘settings‘, then navigate down to ‘display‘ and hightlight ‘backlight‘ and click the select button. The choices are: ‘1 second‘, ‘5 seconds‘, ‘15 seconds‘, ‘30 seconds‘, and ‘1 minute‘. For optimal battery life use the lower settings. (below 30 seconds)
Tip 3:
Turn down the lights!
This one goes along with Tip 2. The brightness of your Zunes backlight can also be adjusted. By default it is set to medium, which for most people may be a good option, but for best battery life set it to low.
Set your Backlight Brightness
Start at the main menu, going down to ‘settings‘, then navigate down to ‘display‘ and hightlight ‘brightness‘ and click. There are 3 settngs: ‘Low‘, ‘Medium‘, and ‘High‘. For optimal battery life use the ‘Low‘ setting.
Tip 4:
The Wireless Transmitter
Everyone loves the WiFi features of the Zune. Sharing songs, sending pictures, and see what others are listening to. It’s a first in the mobile music player business. But the WiFi transmitter also eats up battery life, and if you can keep it off during normal use, and only turn it on when you are going to make a transfer it will increase your battery life.
Toggle Your WiFi On/Off
Start at the main menu, go down to ‘settings‘, and with ‘wireless‘ selected click the select button. There are 2 options: ‘On‘ and ‘Off‘
Tip 5:
The Built-in EQ
Many people don’t know this, but using the built-in equalizer actually lowers battery life. This is because your Zune must run all of your music through the equalizer before sending it out to your headphones. But, you will notice little to no difference between EQ settings, and furthermore when set to “None” it will play your song the way it was meant to be heard. Sounds good right.
Turning Off the EQ
Start at the main menu, and head down to “settings“. From there navigate down one to “music“. From this menu go all the way down to “equalizer“. Click the “equalizer” setting until it displays “none“.
Tip 6:
Movies in Moderation
It’s common sense, I know, but it still has to be said. Watching videos on your Zune is the fastest way to drain your battery. Music Videos, Movies, Podcasts etc.. Watching them significantly reduces battery life. The Zune has an estimated 3.5 hours or battery life while watching video. Thats much less than the 12 hours of music it delivers.
Tip 7:
Dont Run it on Empty
One last way to ensure your Zune battery retains its full charge for as long as possible is not to let the battery fully deplete. Each time you run your Zune battery to empty the Lithium Ion battery loses a bit of its potential charge. So the more you run your device to empty, the less charge your Zune will hold.
Full credit to the ZuneMods.com team, they did a great job, and hopfully will help allot of peoples Zune last a little longer on those long trips.
[…] How To: Extending Zune Battery Life A new site which I came across a few days called ZuneMods.com has done a really nice list of tips Zune users on how they take their Zune battery life that extra mile. Tip 1 Complete Power Down When many people are done listening to their Zune Posted in - Zune Info ( 1,035 links from 140 sites) […]
I never knew that about powering the Zune down. Like you say i have been holding down the play button thinking that did it.
I wonder does it stay in this sleep mode over night or does it eventually shut down…
I try’d the complete zune shutdown by holding the down button and the back button an it doesn’t work. The battery drained completly in one day.
I simply use the original method by holding down the play/pause button untill it shuts off an it holds almost a full charge for weeks, this is the proper way to turn off your zune.
Don’t you think zune would tell you if the complete shutdown method really worked?
Another thing you can do is get a Zune battery Extender. It takes 4 AA and can fully charge your zune 2 1/2 times on 4 AA’s. It’s worth a try
I Do everything this does. it doesnt work. it still dies in about 3 hours
i hate it! i fully charge it everynight. and i bring it to school and listen to music on the bus which is about a 20 minute ride. then i turn it off when i get to school. and on the ride home i listen to it for about 20 minutes and it is pretty much dead. the only thing i dont do is the thing when you have to not let it die completely. but that shouldnt matter.
great. this is my first day with the zune, and i run the battery down to zero. lol. THIS HELPS ME SO MUCH!!! THANK YOU!!!
wait, wats the official name for the extender?
THANK YOU for posting this.
In the quick Zune instructions that came with my player it told me you hit the play/pause ’til the screen went dark for it to turn off…I noticed that the past few days my battery was fading fast and wondered if my Zune was really off or just sleeping, like you said.
The Zune screen never showed up when I’d do this, and now I know why.
Once again, thanks a ton.
i didnt know about turning it off. i know if you un plug your zune before its fully charged the first time, it puts a false charge in it and it wont hold as much power, kinda like a cellphone. but when i first got it, i played around on it while it was charging so i dont know if that messed it up. anyways. thanks alot
Thanks this info was really useful, I am trying to decide whether to buy a zune because I was wondering if the battery deteriorates over time, I do think I’ll buy the Zune
how do u take your zune off of connected even if its not connected
contrary to popular belief a lighter background conserves more energy on any led based screen, including a monitor. The only darkness saves energy is when you have an old CRT screen which a zune doesn’t.
I used the (supposively) complete shutdown method by pressing and holding the down button and the back button and it doesn’t work, the battery drained completely in one day.
I simply use the shut off button by pressing and holding the play/pause button, an it holds a complete charge for weeks. Use the lock button to make sure you don’t turn it on by accident.
Don’t you think Zune would tell you if the complete shutdown method really worked?
I try’d the full shutdown method by pressing and holding the down button and the back button for 5 seconds and it doesn’t work, the battery drained completly in one day.
I simply use the off method by holding the play/pause button for 5 seconds and my zune holds a full charge for a week or more, just make sure you turn on the lock button to make sure you don’t turn it on by accident.
Don’t you think Zune would tell you if this (supposively) full shutdown method really worked?