The New Zune Media Player and Zune Download Review

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I, like a lot of people, tend to pull for the underdog, and that's one reason why, in the MP3 player Zune vs. Ipod debate, I am in the Zune camp. I heard some stand up comic recently make a joke about the Zune, saying it was; "like an Ipod only less cool". Well, that's correct, if you're into form over substance, name branding, and looking cool over being cool.

Sure, I like style, and the rounded, sleek style of the Ipod is unquestionably original, (although I think some of the colors are a little strange). I personally prefer the styling and lines of the Zune. Style, for me, however takes a back seat to function, and when you compare the Zune to the Ipod in terms of function, the Zune simply comes out on top.

Let's start with the screen, other factors like resolution and aspect ratio being equal, the Zune's screen is .5 inches, or about 30% larger, and if you've ever tried To watch a music video on an Ipod's screen, I think you would agree that any increase in screen size would be a much welcome improvement.

Now let's talk about memory, the Zune has a 30GB hard drive, and a new, sleeker Zune model now has 80GB of storage to match the existing Ipod 80GB models. If you are on a budget, 30GB of memory is certainly adequate. With 30GB I can listen to about 7,500 songs. At say, three minutes a song, that's still almost 16 days, 24 hours a day, of listening to music without hearing the same song more than once.  The new 80GB model now provides over 32 days of non-repeating music listening.  Both the 30 and 80GB models provide more than enough storage for music, music video, movies and even podcasts! 

The Zune simply blows the Ipod out of the water with its WiFi 802.11 wireless capability. based on Zune's model of social connectivity, a Zune owner can scan for other Zune owners in his or her immediate area, and even share songs and other media over an ad hoc wireless network. Can the Ipod do this? Er... No. Oh, I almost forgot, the Zune has a built-in FM tuner. Does the Ipod have a tuner? You guessed it - Nope.

It will be interesting to watch the battle of words and technical specifications in the up and coming Ipod vs. Zune competition. Hopefully, healthy competition between Apple and Microsoft will benefit the consumer in terms of price, function and yes, even style.

Admittedly, this little rant has hardly addressed all the technical specifications and different features of either the Zune or the Ipod. I will leave that up to the Uber Geeks, let me just say, in conclusion; Podheads beware, the Ipod Killer is here!