Why is the Zune better than the iPod?

Posted by Chris Leckness on 01/31/08

Everyone has their opinion, here is one from Wilson Ng from Sun Star...

Here are some reasons I like the Zune better that the Ipod:
1) The 3.2-inch screen is very clear and the colors are really great.
2) It has a built-in FM tuner.
3) You can synchronize wireless through your Wi-Fi network, especially if you have new videos or podcasts. That means you can synch with your computer in the house every night — without cables.
4) It jives with my network since all of them can now be .wmv files.

The Screen, the FM tuner, and the fact that it's not made by Apple are the reasons I like the Zune more than the iPod.

Read the entire article : The Microsoft Zune

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36 Responses for "Why is the Zune better than the iPod?"

Jacob January 31st, 2008 at 10:45 am 1
Zune pwn’s ipod!
Tablet PC User January 31st, 2008 at 10:46 am 2
M$FT FTW!!!

XD
kaseyart January 31st, 2008 at 10:53 am 3
All of those are great points. What I like about the Zune is the Social part of it. Not only the online social, but the face to face social. I have a few friends that have iPods and notice they say "oh there is an iPod and notice what color it is" that’s all. When I have noticed people with a zune and they noticed me we talk about the zune shared a few songs and tag names. To me that is what makes the Zune better.
hmg_guy January 31st, 2008 at 2:57 pm 4
kaseyart brings up a good point, the zune has a more social aspect to it "welcome to the social"
Xerosis January 31st, 2008 at 3:04 pm 5
You guys also forgot to add that it looks way better…and Kaseyart’s point is a good one.
rock4christ January 31st, 2008 at 4:41 pm 6
These are great reasons. the only feature ipod has that zune doesn’t is movies on the marketplace, but in return, ipod gets crappy customer service, a device that will be unhip(hipness is all podites care about) in a year, and not working at all in 2.
tim January 31st, 2008 at 5:56 pm 7
bottom line zune kicks ass apple its just that not a lot of apple owners have experienced a zune. losers.
Soccerfreak24 January 31st, 2008 at 6:06 pm 8
These are great, and obvious reasons.. If people just opened there eyes and didn’t just assume ipod was the best b/c the most people use it..
dcalvaneso January 31st, 2008 at 6:43 pm 9
I think that whether the Zune is better or the iPod is better is totally subjective and depends on who you are and what you want out of your experience. For me, the most compelling point about the Zune that makes me want to jump on board is definitely the Social, wireless sharing and the Zune Pass. For others maybe not so much.
adamross55 January 31st, 2008 at 7:18 pm 10
Yea those are the biggest reasons i like the zune better than the ipod as well
Soccerfreak24 January 31st, 2008 at 8:20 pm 11
Oh, and one of the biggest reasons’s I love the zune, as I’ve said before.. is that it’s different, your not just like every single other person. Zune’s stand out, and are original.. That’s what I love. For example, ton’s of people ask my friend about his zune 80.. but a couple of other’s just got Ipod touch’s, and Although pretty cool/new, theres no where near as much discussion about it b/c so many others have the exact same thing.
edge0 January 31st, 2008 at 8:30 pm 12
Why I like the zune? Basically, because it is not an Ipod…haha…i feel like i connect more with other zune members..than ipod users connect with other ipod users…feels like a tight knit family…the outcasts…

as far as the unit itself…screen…radio…wifi…ease of use…look…zune originals…all that definitely comes into play…
adamross55 January 31st, 2008 at 8:52 pm 13
i agree ipod users dont connect at all. The only thing they have in common is they have an ipod. On the other hand zune owners connect over a lot of things like music choice and they can actually send songs to each other, and engravings, engravings just make the zune you. I understand why they say "Zune, You make it you" its so true.
azaas February 1st, 2008 at 6:49 am 14
Good points,but imo,the screen could be a lot better and the wireless sync is still a pain in the _)_) [too slow].It also could be loaded with a real browser since it has wifi allowing you to surf.But,apart from all that,i agree.Zune is a wonderfull device.Extremelly good looking with amazing built quality.As far as i’m concerned there are still some things that need to be worked,but overall i’d take the 4/8 flash based zunes over any other player out there [except the touch which is not really a competitor to the zune 4/8].I’d also have the zune 80 over the ipod classic ANYDAY!!!!!Not even the slightest doubt about it.
Anyway,nice article

ps:Couldn’t agree more with kaseyart on the social aspect of the zune,which is unparallel to any other service provided out there.What MS has done with that is simply put epic and will be a true landmark in media players history books.
hmg_guy February 1st, 2008 at 11:28 am 15
yes it looks way better than the ipod. the ipod design is too plane the same old click wheel. the zune is new and cool!
richardcreque February 1st, 2008 at 1:30 pm 16
The main attractions of the Zune as opposed to the iPod for me are:
1. I love the screen
2. You get many more ways to express yourself. With iPods, everyone is the same. You have a white background. You don’t get to socialize with other people and share your favorite music. You can’t create a Quick List if you think of a good playlist idea on the go, limiting your playlist-making abilities and therefor your creativity. With Zune, you can do all of the above. And even better, you can get those very nice engravings that we love so much.
3. It’s not made by Apple, and has no association with Steve Jobs.
Soccerfreak24 February 1st, 2008 at 1:48 pm 17
^^ haha, steve jobs is a major reason I no longer want to support apple… he just makes me so mad. Although all those other reasons help build up my liking of zune.
adamross55 February 1st, 2008 at 5:43 pm 18
richardcreque: well actually you can make a playlist on the go.actually its called on the go all you do is select a song and hold down the center button until it blinks and then its in your on the go. I know because i only have an ipod. I want a zune really bad though.
Soccerfreak24 February 1st, 2008 at 5:47 pm 19
adamross55: Lol, i was sorta wondering the same thing when I read his post.. i’m all like hmm.. i’m pretty sure I use on-the-go lists all the time on my ipood. My complaint is that zune’s can’t delete song’s off on the go playlists, and ipods can. Another one of those no-brainers microsoft.
adamross55 February 1st, 2008 at 5:55 pm 20
soccerfreak24: haha yea cause i use on the go all the time 2. Wow i didnt know u couldnt delete songs off the playlist on the zune. Yea that kinda is a no brainer but i guess its not that bad. But i got to play with my friends zune today and i like it how if you dont have album art it will show your background. On the ipod it will just show u a blank cd with a music note. not 2 nice looking.
Soccerfreak24 February 1st, 2008 at 5:59 pm 21
Adamross55: Well, yah.. Ironically at a pep rally today My friend let me use his zune.. after I begged for bout 10 min so I used one as well. Ironically, the girl in front of us had a zune, 2 ppl right by me had zunes, and a kid behind me had a zune.. it was awesome. (although no one had wifi on) and 2 of them didn’t even have the zunes on but w/e lol. Just shows taht zunes are starting to catch on. But btw, with the ipod doesnt it just reformat the "now playing" menu without album art? b/c that’s what mine does…
adamross55 February 1st, 2008 at 6:05 pm 22
oh sometimes it does but for some reason mine shows a grey cd with the itunes symbol on it. I dont know why but sometimes it just shows nothing and sometimes it shows the blank cd. But yea there are a lot of people like at school who are getting to like the zune. Like my friend got a zune for christmas and this other kid said zune is totally gay ipod is way better. But now hes all wow u r lucky i want a zune so bad. its funny how people change their minds when they actually get to use a zune.
Soccerfreak24 February 1st, 2008 at 6:09 pm 23
I know, a lot of people when I mention zune either say… "what is a zune?" or, "zune sucks, because I don’t want a poop colored Mp3 player" lol, but I mean… The second my friend busts out his zune 2 flash, they change their opinion’s pretty fast, generally. And they realize that zune is NOT ONLY BROWN!! lol
Soccerfreak24 February 1st, 2008 at 6:13 pm 24
Oh, and Another reason I like zune better, is b/c it’s firmware updates don’t cause it to send electric pulses that can damage headphones! haha check this out: http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/zune-talk/17711-im-glad-zunes-update-didnt-do-lol.html
The firmware update for the ipod classic is causing it to send out electric pulses or soemthing crazy like that!
adamross55 February 1st, 2008 at 6:14 pm 25
Yea i dont know why they made a brown one anyway. I really hate the brown one. I really dont like the first gen zune at all. i mean its ok but the second gen is way better. Most people i know just say zune sucks but like you said they change their minds pretty quick.
adamross55 February 1st, 2008 at 6:19 pm 26
wow that is crazy they need to fix that right away. But check this out this is even worse and i have heard of a couple times when this happened even with the new nano.http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/hughes/20155
Soccerfreak24 February 1st, 2008 at 6:20 pm 27
Adamross55: Well see that’s the thing, a lot of people don’t like it, and therfore don’t buy it. Some do though, and they did.. But having an extra color that not as many people like isnt a BAD thing.. it’s just… there. When I returned my ipod 20 gig to costco b/c it was broken.. I had the choice of a 30 gig ipod, or a zune 30.. and have regretted my choice ever since…. As you said, the zune 1 wasn’t that great, and had some obvious flaws(such as the scroll wheel that didn’t scroll) But as far as features goes, and with the firmware update.. it destroy’s my ipood 30 gig.. without a doubt. BTW I hope my 30 gig doesnt exploded in my pants!!! hahaa that sounds a bit scary. Almost as scary as flaming hobo’s…(i’ve youve seen cloverfield)
adamross55 February 1st, 2008 at 6:28 pm 28
yea thats another thing i love about the zune. Microsoft gave it the same firmware as the zune 2. Apple did not do that with its new ipod firmware. Which kinda is a bummer. The zune firmware is much better than the ipod its just the 30 gb zune is kinda FAT. and yea the scroll wheel that doesnt scroll. Thats what turned me off getting it. It was clunky and the zune 1 firmware wasnt that good if i remember right.
Soccerfreak24 February 1st, 2008 at 7:01 pm 29
Adamross55: Yah, the spinwheel turned me off, but the main reason I didn’t get it was b/c I had all my music in itunes. When zune 2 came out.. I tried out the second gen software, and had my entire library in within a few hours.. that simple. To bad I hadn’t known I could do that when I chose an ipod… gah. lol.
adamross55 February 1st, 2008 at 7:38 pm 30
Soccerfreak24: Hey thats my exact problem. I have all my music in itunes and i tried transferring it and the artist names and songs got all messed up. How did u transfer you music? did u transfer music you bought off of itunes or music you downloaded with out DRM?
Soccerfreak24 February 1st, 2008 at 7:46 pm 31
Adamross55: Well, I don’t buy music from itunes, so I just set my computer to ripping music from my "my music" on my dad’s comp, and it just ripped it all out.. I had some other music scatterd around in other folders that I ripped as well, and now I got it all in zune… I don’t even bother updating my ipod music NE more, just getting my zune library ready.
adamross55 February 1st, 2008 at 7:53 pm 32
Soccerfreak24: well i just have been burning music from itunes on to cd’s and ripping them into the zune software. Do you ever have it where you will edit the name or the artist on a song and then a minute later it changes back to unknown artist?
Soccerfreak24 February 1st, 2008 at 7:57 pm 33
Well, I don’t use itunes NE more, and only ripped a few CD’s, but you may wanna check and see if theres a folder that the song’s were put into when you ripped to itunes, and if you can find that then sync from there. And as far as unknown artist, I have had that! I’m not sure if 2.3 fixed it, but I was getting that problem with a few songs. I’d advise changing the info outside of the software, so that you don’t have to go through the process of changing it within zune, and it simply changing back.
adamross55 February 1st, 2008 at 8:26 pm 34
Soccerfreak24: Well i will try and look for the folders and do that. Hey do u know when chris is gonna announce who won the zune?
Soccerfreak24 February 1st, 2008 at 8:38 pm 35
Adamross55: Umm, I have no Idea.. lol. i’d guess in 2-3 hours.. but I really dunno.. I’ve been just fiddling around with some graphic editors/pics.. b/c I have nothing to do
adamross55 February 2nd, 2008 at 1:54 am 36
Soccerfreak24: well i just killed of some time and went to a party. Still no word on the zune but ill wait