Photo Courtesy of Gizbuzz

I know this is a bit old, but I have never voiced my opinion against the two. Popularity states that the iPod is supreme ruler of the portable music world. Is this true? Lets find out.

For starters, the iPod has a long running history of portable music players. The sound quality is superb, the ease of use is supreme and the quality and sleekness of the device is very sexy. The Zune on the other hand is pretty much the exact opposite. It’s not sexy, sleek or visually appealing at all. Come on, BROWN?

Alright, I’ll have to admit, their advertising itself leads you to believe that the Zune is the “Michael Jackson (1980’s) of portable players”. Yet, when the advertisements suckered me into buying one, it left me thinking “This piece of junk is the 2007 version of Michael Jackson”. It left me 100% confused, and often times, left me feeling like stalking little kids.. Ha ha, just kidding.

The Zune packaging itself is amazing. You pull the cover off, after breaking the 1,000 seals that Microsoft placed on the packaging to ensure that not even a ninja could stealthily maneuver around it, without triggering someones idea that it had been tampered with. Once you get the actual package opened, you’ll notice that when you flip open the cover, the Zune sits there, in all it’s majesty. Centered within the packaging, ear buds on one side, usb cable on the other. It looks visually appealing.. I mean, very visually appealing. But that’s about as far as it goes.

Once you pull the Zune out, you’ll notice that the extreme bulkiness of it can’t be put into words… Or can it? I’ll try my best. I pulled this monstrosity out, and was extremely put off by it’s weight, size and physical dimensions. I thought, “hmm, I’ve never owned an iPod before, but from what I’ve seen, this is about double the size!”

I was correct, not only is it double the size, but double the weight.

Upon powering the device up, I notice the software was neatly laid out. I tried scrolling through some of the features to figure out how it works, and again, was put off by the sheer complexity of it. I mean, you turn on an iPod, and everything is right there. You can read exactly what to do. You hit “okay” and whatever was highlighted pops up. Unlike the Zune, where you have to see the left and right arrows that show that you can view stuff that’s not on the screen. I personally didn’t like it.

One thing I’d have to give to the Zune. Playing videos on it was amazing. Yes, it was very small. But, Mall Rats was a very good movie, and it showed pretty good on the Zunes screen. The software that accompanies the Zune was horrible. Upon installation, I wanted to throw my pc out the 2nd story of my house. It SUCKED.

We purchased two Zunes at the same time. In order to get MY music on MY Zune, and HER music on HER Zune, seemed nearly impossible. It worked sometimes, but other times, it just didn’t work. It’d erase all the songs on my Zune, and reload the same stuff, taking precious hours of my time, waiting for it to load up 7 or 8 GB worth of music. Then, in the middle of my workout, Kenny Chesney (which I do not prefer to listen to… IE: Her music) would pop up and I’d totally lose focus on what I was doing, nearly killing myself in the meantime. The Zune is a killer!

To sum the Microsoft Zune up in 3 words: Don’t Buy This. It’s not worth your money, and in my case, Microsoft should stick to computers. Portable market is not their niche!

On to the iPod: I traded my Zune in for a 30GB iPod Video, consuming myself in the popularity of the iPod. Why did everyone want one? Better yet, why did everyone own one? I know I’m probably the last person on this earth to buy one (or sucker someone into trading me for one.) I powered up this petite electronic goodness and was instantly hooked.

I’ll have to say, the touch circle for volume/scrolling is crappy. I don’t like how touchy it is. I don’t like how hard it is to settle on one song, as my fingers seem to always skip it by 3 or 4 songs. I don’t know if its from lack of experience, or if the design is so stupid and ridiculous that Steve Jobs needs to find a new career.

The software is very easy to navigate. I had a hard time trying to create my own play list, but after a few minutes (around 20) I was able to fully customize my play lists to suit my needs. Either way, I prefer the speed and ease of use of “iTunes” over “Zune” software any day.

My personal opinion would be: Buy the iPod. It’s a GREAT device. Decent battery life and incredible sound (beat Zune in my book by a mile!) The wireless feature of the Zune is not worth the lack of quality. The accessories and iTunes store make the iPod, hands down the winner in my opinion.

Microsoft Zune Website: Microsft Zune
iPod Website: iPod

- Barry

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 30th, 2007 at 10:28 pm by Barry and is filed under View Barry's mind, Products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.