Update II: Last week Microsoft announced the new Zune 120 and new 3.0 software. Best of all older Zune players (mine a whole 3 weeks old) will be able to get the new software enhancements. WalMart has the 80gb players for $198.00 so if you can handle only having 80 GB of storage you can save yourself $50 and upgrade your software on Tuesday the 16th of September. My favorite Zune web site is ZuneThoughts.Com. Check that site out for the latest news and info on the great Zune players.

Update: A Zune 120GB player may be right around the corner along with new desktop software. If and when it happens we will update this article.

Well now that I am headed to Cleveland in October and plan on being wedged between two fat people on every flight back and forth from Phoenix I decided it was time to upgrade my mp3 player. I wanted something with video so I could tune out on the long flights.

So what did I buy? Believe it or not the Microsoft Zune 80. What not the iPod Classic or Touch? You mean I actually found something from Microsoft that I am happy with? Yes, I did. For a complete review of the product go here: Anythingbutipod.com

I really wanted to get on the iPod bandwagon but there are a few things the iPod lacks which I really wanted. Mainly FM Radio. The iPod is a great device but has not been updated in a long time. Apple pretty much sits on their laurels and knows “we are the coolest” so everyone will buy our product whether it is the best or not. Therefore I continually search for alternatives. I was very close to buying another Creative MP3 player when I decided to research the Zune. The Zune 80 is the 2nd generation Zune player. The first generation received well deserved horrible reviews. The 2nd generation fixed a lot of these issues.

Players I researched: (At length of course)

• iPod Classic 80gb
• Creative Zen 16gb
• Creative Zen X-fi 16gb
• iPod Touch
• Zune 80gb
• Sansa View

While I generally buy everything online I decided to head to my local Fry’s Electronics to see if I could try before I buy. A friend of mine was kind enough to let me borrow his iPod Classic for a few days as well. I have owned Creative MP3 players since the beginning. My first player looked like a CD player with a whopping 6gb of storage. It still works so generally I would say Creative makes a good product. The wife also has a Creative Zen Touch which we have been mostly happy with.

The Creative Zen and Zen X-fI have received pretty good reviews. What I didn’t like about them was they felt cheap. All plastic no metal and felt toy like. On the plus side the screen quality is extremely good and they do include an FM tuner. For me FM is important because at the gym you can tune in the TV stations with FM and I like to listen to talk radio. While you can have 10,000 songs on your MP3 player it is still nice to just listen to the old FM. AnythingbutIpod.com has good reviews on the Creative Zen players. You may find they are what you are looking for. One nice thing about these players is they have a SD card slot. This makes it easy to expand the storage capacity of the device and transfer larger moview files from your PC to the player.

Ok enough of the background information. Here’s why I choose the Zune vs the iPod Classic and Touch.

Simply put to me the iPod Classic is a dead device. It has not changed over the years and Apple needs to add a model that would include Wifi and an FM radion tuner. Of course the best thing Apple has going for it is 95% market share. That means there are TONS of accessories for the iPods. If you have deep enough pockets the iPod Touch is a great device. High tech, largest screen available, wifi, etc, etc. The only thing it is missing is an FM tuner. If you have really deep pockets go buy the 32gb version and have at it. If you are looking for a new phone then get the iPhone 3G 16gb. For people that don’t need a billion songs and movies on their device those work nicely.

Zune Pros:

• Largest screen in its class other than the iPod touch
• Affordable at $249.00
• Great podcasting capabilities – Lots of free video and audio content to keep you occupied
• Great FM tuner. The FM even has RDS which means if the radio station broadcasts the artist and track information you will see it on the Zune
• Good quality ear buds with the device
• Simple controls that work

Zune Cons:

• Wifi for sync and sharing only not web browsing or streaming audio
• Zune desktop software can run a bit slow on less powerful machines
• No native Mac support
• Can’t delete files directly from device you must use the desktop software
• Can’t view Zune player as a hard drive on your PC for simple drag and drop file transfer

Links:
AnythingbutiPod.com Review
Cnet Zune vs iPod Classic – Great comparison
Where to buy online? Amazon.com or newegg.com are good choices.

In Summary:

I really wanted to be assimilated into the Apple family. However, Apple needs to update the iPod classic and add a few features. If I was flying for Southwest I probably would have bought the Touch 32gb but at $499 vs $249 for the Zune 80 I couldn’t justify it. The Zune 80 meets and slightly exceeds my requirements. The larger screen vs the iPod classic will be very useful when watching longer video files.

I will be writing another article on how to grab video from sites like hulu.com and other streaming video at a future date. Currently I am using Replay Media Catcher from Applian. Check it out if you get a chance.

Here’s a good article on the Anything but iPod mentality.

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