Zune or iPod?
 

I'm in need of a new mp3 player and I'm debating between getting the 8 gb Zune Flash or the 8 gb iPod Nano. I've heard good things about both, but bad things about both too, so I'm looking for some opinions on people that have used one or both before I shell out the money!

(Please, I'm not interested in fanboy "OMG APPLE > MICROSOFT NOOB"... give me your honest opinion and back it up with facts!)

(I meant to post this in the music forum but I was browsing both at the same time and posted here.. sorry!)

Honestly? They're not that dissimilar, and each of them would probably get the job done just fine.

I have a 30GB, previous generation iPod classic and a latest generation 8GB iPod Nano. I'm very happy with both, though I really wish they'd kept the firewire option (I do understand why they dropped it). They interface with iTunes seamlessly. They load music quickly enough. The build quality is just fine. The screens are impressive. The UI is outstanding.

I've only used the 8GB Zune at the store, but it seemed to work just fine.

I bought a 120 Gig Zune yesterday, here are my pros and cons on it after a day..

Pros
- Wireless Syncing
- Radio
- it was on sale, so it came with a free home a/v kit
- online market place is interest

Con
- the Zune program, seems to be sketchy
- touch pad is really testy - hard to hit the select button I find, but I have big hands

All i can think of right now.. but yea, very similar, only real difference I think is the radio.

I have a zune, my wife the ipod, I prefer itunes a bit since it is easier to sort through movies and tv shows, but I do like the radio feature, and have no desire to swap to itunes.

I like my 1st gen zune. no complaints. to me it seems to have a better battery life of my 5th gen ipod. (one was a gift ok.)

I hate hate HATE that having an iPod means you MUST use iTunes. There's no technological reason for this, just a way for them to market to you. I don't know if the Zune requires windows media or some other proprietary program, but it'd be worth looking into.
Meanwhile, there are tons of other similar mp3/video/etc playing devices that don't require any special software AND have a replaceable battery. I'd suggest one of those, personally.
Sorry I didn't answer your question directly =T

It was a business decision, Pulp. Apple isn't stupid, they know the iPod is very popular and want to bundle more of their products with it. iPod + iTunes = a lot more iTunes music store purchases. Personally, I agree with you, but I can't fault Apple for designing their product to work with their service.

You can use freeware like songbird instead of iTunes. That way you can copy things off your ipod, and not just on to it. There are a few other apps for managing ipods & music. Yamipod or something like that is one.

I like my Sony 4gb walkman alot. you can sync with WMP or just drag and drop files onto it. you can get up to 16 gb last I looked. some have bluetooth too. had it about a year so far. I use Ultimate Ears super fi 5 with it and it sonds awsome. mine has a radio too and it has a good reciever in it. I use it daily around DC welders and alot of other tools and it locks onto a station well. I work in a metal shop and it sits in my shirt pocket every day. it's got a decent EQ I figured, Sony makes music players, their minidiscs worked well for me so I went with them.

I get about 16-18 hrs on a charge I think. one charge is good for about 2 1/2 full 8 hr days at work. not to bad, my minidisc player got about 40 hrs on a AA.

In my household we have a few different sorts of iPod, having previously had several different DAPs (from Creative and various other companies).

The iPod is the first player that hasn't required lots of fiddling about to use the interface, and has had a simple software interface that synchronises easily.

I have no direct Zune experience, as they have not been available in the UK until vry recently, and I don't think I've EVER seen one in real life, however, the general feeling I get from reviews and the one person I know who bought one in the States is that it is a good device, but a couple of generations behind the iPod (i.e. the Gen 2 Zune is as good as a Gen 3/4 iPod). YMMV.

There are several alternatives, mostly free, and all pretty effective - some require you to do uber geeky things like rewrite the OS on your pod with Linux, but most just let you not use iTunes whilst keeping the iPod normal.

I have a Zune and a MP3 player from Insignia. The zune has a interesting interface and works very smoothly. The insignia allows you to use multiple programs to sync music to it.

Based on the use of both the zune stands out for ease of use. The only problem I have is the way in which I listen to podcasts.

I listen sorted by time starting the the lowest first. The zune doesn't allow this. The insignia does.

Now the price difference is big. My 8gb Insignia was $129, the Zune when I bought it was $199.

My iPhone is the best iPod (or iPodesque device) I've ever used.

AND I've used a few. My first mp3 player was a 30gb Archos, the one from 2001, with the big blue corner bumpers. Then I had an iRiver h340. Both nice devices for their time, and both with a strong hacker community that developed 3rd party firmwares that made them flap their arms and fly to the moon. Both WELL replaced by iPhone/AppStore.

The iPod Touch is what I use and I like it a lot. I download a lot of podcasts though.

I also like that I can get lyrics at the same time. And it can act as a small wifi-enabled internet browser if I am on my bike away from home.

If you wanted radio, I think this might work.
Griffin Tech. 9125-IFM30 Griffin iFM - IPod FM radio / remote control - black

I own a 30gb Classic and never use iTunes to manage my iPod anymore. I use a freeware program that was recommended by another TFPer (thanks, Cynthetiq) called Floola. It's pretty basic. As Daniel suggested, there are loads of other programs out there that do the same thing.

I vote iPod, but that's because I love, love, love mine. I take it everywhere. Someday I want a larger Classic.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions guys. I've been leaning towards Zune because everything I've read said the software's better than itunes, but it seems that's not the case! I'll look into other brands too.. I had an iRiver a long time ago, but it was just a little 256 mb one for working out with.

Any other brand suggestions?

iRiver does some amazing shit. I still have my H320 20GB, it's a bit thick compared to nowadays players but it has amazing sound.
In 8GB, they have the Spinn, which I haven't used, but looks pretty cool.

I have a 2GB Creative Zen V plus, which they make in 8GB now, and I'd recommend it for a lot of reasons, minus a couple things:
-the casing ended up cracking in two spots, and now the volume rocker on the side no longer works to decrease volume. Might not happen often, and I did throw it around quite a bit, so maybe I deserved it.
-Also, you'll need to do some googling, to find a software that'll let a Mac read it, if you care. I thought I didn't, until I needed to use my wife's Mac when my PC was down.
When I work out, it's a good little mp3 player.
Otherwise, my h320 still holds it down, and it's about 4 years old.

I second the Sony Walkman. No software required...just drag and drop. The only downside is that there are not any accesseries like docking stations for them.

I have the iRiver L player, love it...check it out. Also, Creative has some nice players and Cowan...nice. I like the drag and drop simplicity of them. Hook it up with your USB, open it and drag your albums, play lists, videos, pictures into it, easy.

As far as hardware goes, I love my iPod as a media player. But I loathe the company that manufactures it.

One thing that, in the past, really pissed me off about Apple and their iPods is that they 1.) could not play music files encoded with WMA, which is the preferred encoding for Windows Media Player (and for Zunes, for that matter); and 2.) most music bought from the iTunes store is encoded in the inexcusably lowly bit rate of 128 (what the fuck, Apple... ?!); and, worst of all, 3.) all music bought from the iTunes store is shackled with DRM, which not only prevents you from sharing your bought music files with your friends, but also prevents you from freely transferring your bought music, back and forth, between the computers and media players used in your household and at your workplace.

Now I see that Apple is doing away with all that...

Zune MP3 Player

However, note the $0.30 per song upgrade price! Yes, that's right: Apple is going to charge you again for each and every song you bought from the iTunes store, if you want to have those songs upgraded to a higher bit rate and freed of DRM.

:mad:

iPod touch rules (coupled with a Windows Mobile phone running WiFiRouter = anywhere internet access). Jailbreak it and it's even better. Alot of people use their mp3 player for just mp3's but it can be an entertaining little device as well. Tons of games, ssh, remote desktop connection, NES/SNES/MAME/Geneis emulators, etc. Good times. Now if only the battery lasted more than 2 hours while playing games :-P.

You can use a program called EphPod found at http://www.ephpod.com/ to get music on/off your iPod (supports all versions of iPods now, accroding to the site). For video, apparently, you can use Winamp with a plugin called ml_ipod.

I used EphPod on an old old ipod but not on my touch yet and have never tried the Winamp video transfer method, but figured I'd share the info I have found.