Zune vs. iPod: The Underdog Doesn’t Always Win

 

 

Battle Royale

 

If you don’t know what a Zune is, I’m not surprised. It is Microsoft’s mp3 player. They haven’t been selling very well, but how can you compete with the iPod?

Since most people don’t know anything about them, I’m constantly asked how I like it. So here it is.

The Zune has some great features. I love the ability to customize the background of my Menu. I’ve also used the FM radio several times. But surprisingly enough, I have only used the Wireless feature once. With a Zune, you can wirelessly transfer music from one Zune to another. It will detect other Zunes within a certain range and allow you to beam an entire album in about a minute. But nobody has a Zune so it’s pretty much a useless feature.

One thing I have noticed that really annoys me is that there is a several second delay imposed by the Zune between songs. It disturbs the flow of a lot of the dance/techno albums that I listen to on occasion and is pretty frustrating.

I love my Zune, but it’s more of a sentimental love. I didn’t expect it to last very long, but it has. It’s also been a pretty good conversation starter. However, if I were offered the choice, I would probably take an iPod over a Zune. The Zune software just flat out sucks (you can’t manage the device through iTunes) and there is absolutely no Mac compatibility. Those are two things that I just can’t put up with for too long. But it works well enough and it only cost me $80 (thank you woot.com!) I am happy with what I’ve got and there is no reason to change over to an iPod just yet. Later this summer though? This piece of junk might just be headed for the trash. The frustrating part will be reloading my Dave Matthews and Led Zeppelin collections onto yet another mp3 player.

rainer