zune vs. ipod

ChrisT · **Posted:** June 3rd, 2009, 7:40 pm

Hey guys, was just going through a lot of sites that try to put down the zune. Being a zune owner and previous ipod owner (have went through a lot of mp3's actually), and Ive heard most of you have ipod this and that. i wanted to see why you guys would rather a ipod then a zune.

Creating a list of pro's and cons of each (oh and only talk about regular ipod/zunes since zune hasnt fully released hd)

zune

ipod

ps. its gotta be legit. Ive seen a lot of stuff against one or the other that isn't true. (example: all music from zune store isn't DRM. Whats wrong with drm anyway. unless your gonna illegal use it you shouldn't need to worry about it)

Adbot · **Posted:** June 3rd, 2009, 7:40 pm

Marking22 · **Posted:** June 3rd, 2009, 8:50 pm

well the reason i like ipods better is because of itunes
im not sure what zunes uses but the itunes program is amazing for me
and plus on my ipod touch i can do w/e i want to do on my computer but on my ipod touch
also i think the ipod is lighter but i have not yet to hold a newer moldule of the zune
but i remebeber that we had a video ipod and the zune and the ipod was lighter which is a plus

ChrisT · **Posted:** June 4th, 2009, 7:05 am

zune has its own program also. and its pretty much the same as itunes but with the extra stuff that zune has (ex. social)
also when you add stuff to zune you just have it watch a folder.. my experience with itunes was if you got new music and watched the folder again then you'd get multiple of the same song. zunes software deletes the multiple automatically.
yup itouch is like a computer but lets see what hd is like..

as for the weight of the newer models until you get up to the 80 gb range on both its the same. but then u get to the bigger mp3's and zune wins out - 4.9oz (iPod), 4.5oz (Zune)

i will agree on ipod being lighter. my zune is hard to see the screen when its in almost direct sunlight. usually you just cup your hands around it though but that might be awkward if your driving. ipod i didnt have a problem with that

Tal Ormanda · **Posted:** June 4th, 2009, 3:06 pm

Apple was the first to do it. They will always have people going to them for that reason. If Microsoft was first I could see it being exactly the same way.

King Kulla · **Posted:** June 4th, 2009, 3:48 pm

There was a big discussion on this in Episode 204. You should check it out

Personally, I like the iPod, just because it was the first thing I got. It hasn't given me any reason to switch to anything else, so why not keep it?

Shane · **Posted:** June 4th, 2009, 3:49 pm

Zune: Too little, too late. (the classic Microsoft problem)

Along side this is the DRM issue. There's no reason for DRM as it prevents you playing something you've bought on another device. I can understand the DRM for the subscription material. As for the folder reason mentioned above, there should be no reason you need to physically access the folders of the device. There are ways to access the iPod folders if you do ever lose something.

Also what's fantastic about the iTouch is that it's an application platform. Thousands of applications, it really can be your pocket internet device.

Adbot · **Posted:** June 4th, 2009, 3:49 pm

Pfkninenines · Global Moderator 12/4/08

The Zune HD will only output HD, it won't have an HD screen built in.

I've got an iPod Video 30GB and an older model, and both work quite well for me. I don't buy DRM music anyway, so which device I use really doesn't matter that much. I've been interested in maybe upgrading sometime, but I can't see paying $300 or more for a device with 8GB of storage. I'd love a 32GB Video, but I'm not ready to fork over that much money.

I would have liked the ability to listen to the radio, which is one of the reasons I looked at the Zune. I ended up finding out that the battery life was quite a bit worse, and that is one of the big deal breakers for me.

As for the $15 for an unlimited amount of music to download with DRM and the ability to keep a couple songs is pretty junky IMO. When I'm in the car, I don't want to hear random music, I want to hear what I like. I've already downloaded and bought the music I enjoy, and find more through Pandora when I feel like something new.

The whole thought of DRM is arcane in my opinion, and I wish it would just go away. You may think it's not a problem for people who don't do something illegal, but when you're syncing multiple devices or multiple computers, you run out of options quite quickly. This is not to mention that once you have something DRMed, you are forced to use that program and hardware to access it. Because I specifically get non-DRM music, I can put it on a CD, thumbdrive, iPod, Zune, PC, really anything, and I won't have problems. If you try to put some of your DRMed music on something that isn't your Zune, it won't be able to authenticate and allow you to access your files. Plus, if for some reason the DRM authentication servers go down, you're stuck with a bunch of non readable files.

Anoi · **Posted:** June 4th, 2009, 5:30 pm

The ipod is the winner for me (even though you have to get craptime to use itunes)

ChrisT · **Posted:** June 4th, 2009, 7:11 pm

lol well alright that proves point i guess that i had before. everyones got different needs so just get the mp3 player that fits those needs.

i might try out pandora. never heard of it so ill see what it is and everything. buying songs for 99 cents a song has always been the way ive done it. 3 people in my family has zune's so we all are able to share in the zune pass. so it fits us pretty well. every time we want something different we just wifi and get it.

btw: problem with illegally doing it came when this email came and said they saw we were dling illegally. so had to stop :/ so watch out people that do it

edit: ahh pandoras for those itouch people.. only problem with that is u gotta be in a hotspot. zune's radio works in places my car radio wont lol. and forgot about shanes post... so why does alot of people have microsoft computers. i dont really know anyone that has a apple computer other then friends on here.

Pfkninenines · Global Moderator 12/4/08

Pandora, Last.fm, and other similar services I'd use on the PC. My point was that if I wanted to listen to random music to figure out what I liked, I'd do that. Why bother downloading when you can stream for free?

ChrisT · **Posted:** June 5th, 2009, 9:18 am

i did last.fm and it was kinda cool. if i had the money to buy a itouch i probably would and then keep my zune for music. the only reason for the itouch i see is the applications really. doesnt the internet cost on it? thats another thing thats weird. its almost like a phone but unlike a phone im thinking that service is free or something.

oh and for the 204 episode.. that kinda got me thinking on this all together. but as for the first thing you got everything breaks down sometime so thats why zune has a chance. while you guys are using your mp3's zunes getting better and better and soon they might be right next to ipod. just look at the jump they made from v.1 to v.2... unscratchable glass (forget tech term for it), touch pad, more games, 10 songs to keep on zunepass (added that near the time v.2 came out) and more size hardrives to choose from. they're comeing close to rival ipod and that was just the first wave of changes.

Earth · **Posted:** June 6th, 2009, 9:48 am

I <3 my iPhone,i would never trade it for a Zunephone or something like that

iPods FTW.
EDIT: fine...I'll argue...
My phone has a microphone,speaker and applications,as far as I know the Zune has none of those and if it does,they are nowhere as good as the iPod/iPhone apps.

ChrisT · **Posted:** June 6th, 2009, 11:37 am

you make no fight for why iphone is better earth?

oh and i just got more info on zune hd. Its starting to sound actually pretty good. the web browsing i think has converted my last decision. i was in a mac shop for some reason and there was these itouches you could try out. It had all the tools you could try out just like an actual itouch but just idk, maybe i didnt spend enough time with it but i couldnt navigate through it very easy. took a couple of minutes just to switch to a different application. and when ur scrolling through it you gotta touch the right spot or it wouldnt scroll

whats up with that. the only thing i saw that might not come out on zune is the external speaker. havent seen that in the specs yet.

Tal Ormanda · **Posted:** June 6th, 2009, 3:02 pm

Shane wrote:

Zune: Too little, too late. (the classic Microsoft problem)

Along side this is the DRM issue. There's no reason for DRM as it prevents you playing something you've bought on another device. I can understand the DRM for the subscription material. As for the folder reason mentioned above, there should be no reason you need to physically access the folders of the device. There are ways to access the iPod folders if you do ever lose something.

Also what's fantastic about the iTouch is that it's an application platform. Thousands of applications, it really can be your pocket internet device.

That is what I use it for.

ChrisT · **Posted:** June 6th, 2009, 7:30 pm

Tal Ormanda wrote:

Shane wrote:

Zune: Too little, too late. (the classic Microsoft problem)

Along side this is the DRM issue. There's no reason for DRM as it prevents you playing something you've bought on another device. I can understand the DRM for the subscription material. As for the folder reason mentioned above, there should be no reason you need to physically access the folders of the device. There are ways to access the iPod folders if you do ever lose something.

Also what's fantastic about the iTouch is that it's an application platform. Thousands of applications, it really can be your pocket internet device.

That is what I use it for.

the web browser was very limited isnt it? like you could check email i think and browse stuff but for runescape and sites that are more complicated it wont work. might be wrong so correct me if i am.

forgot to post this in my other posts.. should a mobile device really be so many things in one? for example i bought a camera phone so id be able to take pictures and it had mp3 capability too. But then i started using it and it has horrible quality for photos. And then i tried the music part of it and could only fit like 50 songs or so on it so that was bad.

now i look at the iphone and its: a phone, camera, web browser, mp3, and tons of applications. Every time u add something to a device it would seem to douse the quality of each new feature. theres where gf's purse come in

bought a camera, zune 120gb, phone, and then i have my computer at home that i can call a family member if i need to look something up or get email

everything a itouch or zune hd could do but better quality.