Zune or Ipod? - Comments

Thanks for the overview Bob. If an FM tuner is important to you, you can get one and many many more accessories for the iPod.

Myself, I did my research and got an MP3 player by Lexar that includes voice recorder, FM tuner, FM broadcast to wirelessly play it on your car or home stereo, and more. Its much smaller. It won't play videos and has a small 3 line screen but for music on the road, its better in my books and with no hard drive to toast, should be more reliable. The key feature though was an SD card slot. Then internal memory is no issue. I just pick up a 1 GB SD card, load it up with songs, and I can swap any time, say from rock to folk, or to classical - whatever the mood. So theres no upper limit. To me, its strange theres not more players with SD slots.

My son however - he wanted an iPod. Its what he knows from friends, its simple to use, and he can load his favorite videos.... Love the click wheel.

The Zune I've heard is having underwealming sales so make take some effort to become a real competitor. I either case, I've heard you'll want to upgrade the earbuds to get the capable sound quality.

I LOVE my iPod. But I'm a dedicated Mac user, at home and at work, so having a Mac MP3 player made sense. I also have a Monster cable so I can listen to my iPod in my car. This was definitely worth the price! I have a 4G mini - in pink. Might not matter to a lot of people, but I'm an artist and art educator, and I want color.

The sound is great. However, definitely upgrade the earbuds to get better quality - Apple saved money by using mediocre earbuds. (And get some over-the-ear buds, so you can dance to the music.)

Both are losers. Drop it once and the hard drive is toast. $250 gone. Best to get a cheapo flash-based player - it breaks, you toss. Sync'ing via WMP 10 is painful to learn but flawless once configured. I rip 'em to the PC and then sync what I want to the device. No backup issues because everyone backs up their PC rigorously - right?

I received a Zune for xmas from my wife and I love the player. I bought my wife a iPod for Valentines Day last year and she has yet to use it (it is too difficult use). I know how to use but compared to my Zune the iPod is much more difficult to use. The Zune is easily manipulated. Songs, pics and video files are added and removed from my Zune very easily. My wife's iPod needs a 3rd party software to remove files and iTunes totally messes with my computers. Buy the Zune, it's a better unit!

How do you pronounce Zune? like Tune with a z or zooney or zooney like money?

I like the FM radio, I listen to NPR when I am walking. I still cant get the hang of the battery, it runs out in 2 or 3 hours of listening. The problem maybe I dont know if it is on, standby or completely turned off. Just because the display is blank doesnt mean it is off.. right?

EDITOR'S NOTE: It's prounced ZOON, like Tune. Not sure about the battery issue, maybe someone else can chime in on that...

While both of these mp3 players are fine choices, what about the Creative Vision:M series. I have a 30Gb version that cost me $180 (significantly less than both of the discussed choices). My Vision looks great in black although they offer other color choices.

This unit plays plain old mp3's without conversion to proprietary music formats. It also has an FM tuner, plays videos (although I have not tried this feature out) and will display all of my jpg picture files (they look great on the 3" screen). The Vision is also Audible compatible so I can
listen to audio books in my car.

The interface is intuitive and simple to use. The only thing that I do not like about this unit is the adapter block that plugs into the base to connect the unit to USB, a DC converter and audio output. This seems to be a liability to me and I think these connections should have been integral
to the unit.

There is a reason the iPOD has sold 10 million and the Zune has trouble taking off. Apple integrates hardware and software perfectly. I'm no fan of iTunes store for the price but its so easy to use. I rip all the CDs I have and use Emusic.com store.

You also did not mention how PODcasts integrate into iTUNES and make FM Radio obsolete. There are millions of podcasts that YOU pick. Why listen to FM radio with constant commercial interruption? iPOD sells smaller Flash drives as well as the bigger hard drive models. and go read on the web more before you buy. "Each of these iPod flavors individually are outselling Zune. iPod models also holds a total of eight slots in the top 25."

Have to agree with Bill McCormick - the Creative Zen Vision:M is a more than satisfactory alternative to either the iPod or Zune. And it plays videos like a dream. I'd also put in a plug for the bundled software - easy to use, and doesn't try to be more than it needs to!

I'm another one who agrees with Bill McCormick. I love Creative products (they're the ones who make Soundblaster, and I've been using Soundblaster for a decade and a half). I have an 8GB Zen MicroPhoto, and it happily plays WAV, WMA, and MP3 files with no problem (and the sound is awesome, too). Another thing I like about it is the accessories. I travel internationally, and they sell a universal charger at a decent price which can be used anywhere in the world. Finally, I *love* the fact that Creative's tech support is right here in the good old USA, instead of being outsourced to India or who knows where. Yes, you pay toll charges for the call, and there can be a long wait, but it's well worth it.

I love our iPod! :) Though I can't speak on the other players out there, it is extremely easy to use and has fantastic audio output quality.

Having an iPod totally changed the way that we listen to music. I almost never listen to radio anymore since it's great to play music on my car stereo without commercial interruption and also great to listen to informative podcasts ranging from every topic under the sun. Of course, you do not need to have an iPod to listen to podcasts since it will work with any type of device.

I have bought my sister a nano for her birthday and my nephews each a shuffle for Christmas. Everyone is estatic with them and keep telling me how much they enjoy them and their music. I wouldn't switch to another device for anything.