Ace over at ZuneBoards pointed out a recent article from c|net ("Best MP3 players and accessories of 2007"), where the iPod Classic is rated "Best overall MP3 player".

This is surprising since the Zune 80 has a c|net editor's rating of 8.3 and the iPod classic has a rating of 8.0. Also, the Zune 80 beat out the iPod Classic in 4 out of 5 categories in c|net's recent prizefight article "Apple iPod Classic vs. Microsoft Zune 80".

So why did c|net title the iPod classic as "Best overall MP3 player"? I contacted the article's author, Donald Bell, and this is what he wrote:

I realize that the individual product ratings and prizefight are seemingly sending mixed messages, but my decision to call the iPod Classic 2007's best "overall" MP3 player is no mistake.

Just to be clear, our prizefight editorials are based around the subjective opinions of three reviewers, which are then averaged together. Prizefights are meant to be fun and evocative, but ultimately, it's just a round-up of what three people like or dislike about two products.

Individual product reviews, on the other hand, try to sum up all the pros and cons of a given product and assign it a fair, objective rating. For MP3 players, this rating is based on the average of three scores for design, features, and performance.

Just because a product has a high rating, however, doesn't mean it's the single-best product for everyone. A product like the iRiver Clix has an 8.7 rating, but frankly, I think it's design is a little too feminine for men to use. One of my favorite devices, the Archos 605 WiFi, also has an 8.7 rating based on it's considerable value and feature-packed technology--but I would never suggest that my mother should buy one.

When I was asked to recommend the "best overall" MP3 player of 2007, I picked the iPod Classic over the Zune. The iPod Classic is an MP3 player I feel good recommending 90% of the time, whether you're young or old, tech-savvy or Luddite, Mac or PC. It's not a perfect device, but "overall" it's a sure bet, with lots of great accessories, solid software, and plenty of fellow iPod owners to help beginning users through the learning curve.

Now, if I had been asked what the "Best MP3 player for Donald Bell" is, or "Coolest MP3 player of 2007", I would have said the Zune 80. "Best overall" or "Safest bet" or "Most generically appropriate" would have all gone to the iPod Classic.

Hopefully it makes a little more sense now that I've given it some context. Thanks for the email.

-Donald

Because of the Zune 80 supply problems, are you constantly checking the online stores to see when you can order a Zune 80?

The site NowInStock.net makes things easier for you. They have a dedicated page for the Zune 80 and it will report when any Zune 80s start selling at a major online retailer.

The site not only tracks Zunes, but it can track other hard to find items, i.e. "Guitar Hero III",  Wii, etc., which may be convenient during this holiday gift season.

Source: http://www.nowinstock.net/zune/

As we all know from reading tech and Zune-specific blogs, there has been a shortage of Zune 80s.

Well, it seems like the general media is getting wind of the Zune and its limited appearance. Yahoo News has an article describing the situation.

As a Zune owner and fan, I am glad to hear some positive news about this Microsoft gadget starting to reach a wide audience.

I thought I would introduce myself to the gotZune community in my first gotZune post by posting a question.

What podcasts do you subscribe to?

I've never really explored the world of podcasting, so when I heard people were ecstatic that the new Zune software and firmware supported podcasting, I thought I would have to give it a try, and surprisingly, I found myself liking some of the podcasts that I found.

Currently you can use the Zune cards to find people with similar music tastes and find more songs that you might like. Unfortunately, the Zune cards don't yet support doing the same thing with podcasts, (although, I imagine eventually they will), so I thought it might be interesting to find out what the readers here are subscribed to and see if any of us can find some new cool podcasts.

These are a few podcasts that I subscribe to which I really enjoy:

TWIT - "This Week In Tech" - Did you ever watch TechTV? Many of the people from that channel sit down and discuss the latest tech news of the week. It's great to hear Leo Laporte again. It would be great if I could find a video podcast that had Leo.

Best of YouTube - Like podcasting, I never really explored YouTube very much. I've never really had the time. Wouldn't it be great if someone picked the best and funniest things on YouTube and made a video podcast of it? Guess what, they do.  It's only a weekly podcast, but it's great.

National Geographic Video Shorts - I really love the video podcasts and what's better than national geographic video?! National Geographic has some of the best educational and entertaining video and photography so it's great to watch a few short clips so you can feel yourself getting smarter.

Battlestar Gallactica - I bet a high percentage of Zune owners watch the new Battlestar Gallactica show. The producer of the show, Ronald D Moore, has a podcast after each episode discussing the behind the scenes of a week's episode.  This past week, I had the great fortune of going to a Zune sponsored advanced screening of some pre-season episodes of Battlestar Galactica, so I can't wait until the producer creates a podcast about these episodes so I can find out what the creative team were thinking when they made these episodes.

So what are some of your subscribed podcasts?