Zune 16gb vs iPod 16gb - which one?

Kendo Nagasaki · 14 Sep 2008 at 19:09

Looking for a bit of advice, i'm in the market for an mp3 player, i'll mainly be using it at work but i'd like something portable that I can use anywhere if need be. I don't need anything bigger than 16gb and I prefer the flash based players - the question is which one is better, Zune or iPod (new Nano)? Is it personal preference or does one have better sound quality, etc.

I don't have a real preference either way and if i have to use iTunes then so beit (i'm using a Shuffle at the minute). I quite like the styling of both players and was thinking that the Zune might be good as an alternative and not follow the crowd

.

I think they are both released this week and any advice would be appreciated (this isn't a fanboy debate

).

Thanks

Tobes · 14 Sep 2008 at 20:34

Zune has no launch date in the EU.

So... unless you want to import one... you only have one choice.

marc2003 · 14 Sep 2008 at 21:06

why limit yourself to choosing between those 2? sony have some nice 16gb players available. also a cowon d2 (only 8gb i think but can take memory cards) might be worth a look as well.

Kendo Nagasaki · 14 Sep 2008 at 21:08

Thanks for the reply.

I've found a website that does 'Zune things' and has a limited number of these with a 3-5 day delivery for £165!!

Do you know of anything more official?

Kendo Nagasaki · 14 Sep 2008 at 21:20

marc2003 said:
why limit yourself to choosing between those 2? sony have some nice 16gb players available. also a cowon d2 (only 8gb i think but can take memory cards) might be worth a look as well.

Thanks for the heads-up, the Cowon iAudio's are interesting and the d2 looks good but I'm not as fond of the Sonys as they look like a phone!

With the Zune & iPod being released at a similar time and competing against each other, it'll be interesting to see what happens.

Hxc · 14 Sep 2008 at 21:21

My zune 120gb comes from that website that does zune things tommorrow.

Reaaally looking foward to it.

If I wanted a flash player however, I would go for a Sony. My 818 was spot on and sounded fantastic, and a 16gb one is probably cheaper than the equivilant iPod (which requires the god-awful iTunes) and Zune, which is overpriced over here.

bitterSTAR · 15 Sep 2008 at 19:27

Personally, I'd also look at which player has the best software support. If you like using iTunes or winamp then the ipod is a good choice, if you like using windows media player then i believe the zune is a good choice. I'd always take into consideration which media software you prefer using, as well as looking at the features of each device.

Also, I personally dislike Sonicstage which comes with the sony players. But I haven't used it for 2/3 years, so things may well have improved since! The sony device was great, but the software was awful.

I currently use an iPod, mainly because there are lots of accessories out there for it, and it works well with winamp (if you get the ml_ipod plugin).

Hxc · 15 Sep 2008 at 19:33

Sonys are fully drag and drop now, so that's no problem.

The Zune software is functional and does not fall apart like iTunes does with massive playlists. Just don't let it mess with your ID3 tags!

Raikiri · 15 Sep 2008 at 19:45

Hxc said:
The Zune software is functional and does not fall apart like iTunes does with massive playlists. Just don't let it mess with your ID3 tags!

What's with people complainng about iTunes all the time?

What would you consider a massive playlist? Because I have around 10,000 songs weighing in at 50+gb and iTunes has never crashed in the 4 years I have used it.

Hxc · 15 Sep 2008 at 20:05

Raikiri said:
What's with people complainng about iTunes all the time?

What would you consider a massive playlist? Because I have around 10,000 songs weighing in at 50+gb and iTunes has never crashed in the 4 years I have used it.

iTunes with my 6000 song playlist lags like hell, and is just a horrible experience to use on a Windows PC.

On a Mac, it is different.

bitterSTAR · 15 Sep 2008 at 20:08

Hxc said:
iTunes with my 6000 song playlist lags like hell, and is just a horrible experience to use on a Windows PC.

On a Mac, it is different.

I second that! I found iTunes laggy with my music collection too. I'd hate to imagine what'd it be like now if I tried iTunes again - I have 18000 songs.

Raikiri · 15 Sep 2008 at 21:00

Hxc said:
iTunes with my 6000 song playlist lags like hell, and is just a horrible experience to use on a Windows PC.

On a Mac, it is different.

XP Home - XP Pro - Vista Ultimate

Never owned a Mac.

ginger_pat · 15 Sep 2008 at 21:04

Dont worry mate zunethings is legit i got my original zune frm there and wouldn't hesitate from buying from the website again i was just unfortunate to get mine on release and took a little bit longer to come but i did get told tht this may happen due to demand.
Btw get the zune software worth it as long as you have quite a quick computer the ui of it is very nice and graphical compared to itunes.

Clowned · 16 Sep 2008 at 11:04

Tobes said:
Zune has no launch date in the EU.

So... unless you want to import one... you only have one choice.

Zen X-Fi 16GB

Tobes · 16 Sep 2008 at 13:21

Clowned said:
Zen X-Fi 16GB

lol. Tbh I have had iPods and I don't think they are as good as others out there. I waiting for the Zune to be released in the UK. I want a custom one but the only way to get it would be to know someone in the US and have them send it over.

Clowned · 16 Sep 2008 at 15:19

Tobes said:
lol. Tbh I have had iPods and I don't think they are as good as others out there. I waiting for the Zune to be released in the UK. I want a custom one but the only way to get it would be to know someone in the US and have them send it over.

I got my 32gb zen x-fi sent over from the usa, nice to have to family five thousand miles away sometimes