Zune: not as good as you think?
At the moment Microsoft are releasing a new portable music player which basically copies the iPod.*
It will be have a 30 gigabyte hard drive, and WMA, MP3, AAC, JPEG, WMV, and MPEG-4 playback. You will be able to connect to wireless internet connections with it because it has an onboard 802.11b/g wireless interface. With it you will be able to update it’s firmware and also transfer pictures between them both.
It will have a 12.5 hour battery life when playing music non-stop and a 3.5 hour battery life playing videos.
While researching the product, I found a web page comparing the iPod to a Zune, so I have put a copy of it here.
| Category | Zune | iPod 30GB |
| Price | $249 (about £130) | $249 |
| Storage | 30 GB | 30 GB |
| Wi-Fi | YES | none |
| File Sharing | YES | none |
| Landscape Mode | YES | none |
| Portrait Mode | YES | YES |
| FM Tuner | YES | none (note as the Zune is new it would have an FM tuner – they have only just been legalised) |
| Preloaded Audio | YES | none |
| Preloaded Video | YES | none |
| Custom Background | YES | none |
| Gapless Playback | YES | YES |
| Manufacturer | Japanese | Chinese |
| Screen Size | 3″ | 2.5″ |
| USB | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Colors | White, Black, Brown | White, Black |
| Scroll Wheel | none | YES |
| Tactile Control | YES | none |
| Online Service | Zune Marketplace | iTunes |
| Song Price | £0.79 | £0.79 |
| Unlimited Downloads | $14.99/month (about £8) | none |
| Podcast Playback | YES | YES |
| Battery | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| XBOX Marketplace Integration | Yes | none |
| Unique Online Tag | Zunetag | none |
| 3rd Party Accessories | YES | YES |
| Social Networking | YES | none |
| Weight | 5.6 ounces | 4.8 ounces |
| Width | 2.4″ | 2.4″ |
| Height | 4.4″ | 4.1″ |
| Depth | 0.58″ | 0.43″ |
| Official Insider News Blog(s) | YES | none |
| Compatibility | PC | Mac, PC |
| Replaceable Batteries | NO | NO |
| Semi-Transparent Case | YES | none |
| Special Edition | none | U2 |
| Vendor | Microsoft | Apple |
| Other “Brand Family” Products | none | Nano, Shuffle |
| Headphones | earbud | earbud |
To me this seems to be very biased in the direction of the Zune, as it does include the Apple iPod’s special functions, for example, the games.
File Compatibility
| Format | Zune | iPod |
| MP3 | YES | YES |
| iTunes (Protected) | NO | YES |
| Zune Marketplace (Protected) | YES | NO |
| Plays For Sure (Protected) | NO | NO |
| AAC | YES | YES |
| WMA | YES | NO |
| AIFF | NO | YES |
| WAV (uncompressed) | NO | YES |
| .aa (Audible) | NO | YES |
| JPEG (Photos) | YES | YES |
| BMP (Photos) | NO | YES |
| WMV (Video) | YES | NO |
| MPEG-4 (Video) | YES | YES |
| H.264 (Video) | YES | YES |
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Good copy and pasting!
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It seems it can do everything the Ipod can do, but more, and at the same price.
So what exactly is the problem?
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Yeh, great info, but what exactly do you mean. I can see what you mean about windows trying to copy apple, but, like josh walsh said, what exactly is the problem?