Apple Ipod Vs. Microsoft Zune

For a long time, there's been no real competitor to the Ipod for music lovers. There is no question that the Zune changes that. No matter what comparison you read, the two are remarkably evenly matched in many essential ways, including price. The Zune is slightly bigger, but slightly lighter. The screen is half an inch bigger on the Zune. But most differences are small.

After reading many reviews, everyone agrees that the Ipod looks prettier. On the other hand, the Zune is sturdier and more scratch-resistant.

The main difference between the Ipod and the Zune seems to be that the Zune allows users to share homemade music, full-length music samples, playlists, and photos between users. This feature sounds great as long as your friends have Zunes, too. However, there are a few rules. The Wi-fi device that allows the sharing requires that users be within 30 feet of one another. Any song you send from your device to another will only be available for play 3 times over 3 days. You can't share video. And you can't use the Wi-fi to sync to your computer or online music download sites. Curiously, the Zune does not allow users to listen to each others' music over a shared network like the Ipod does, either, although that might change in the future. Still, since the Ipod does not allow sharing at all, the sharing feature may be a slight advantage to the Zune.

But the crucial difference at the moment may be in the selections offered by each service. At this moment, Itunes has about two million more songs available than the Zune. Probably, this will change in the future, but for now, Itunes has a far better selection. Also, at this time no TV, movies or audiobooks are available for the Zune. Also, you cannot subscribe to or download podcasts, which are becoming an ever-more popular pastime for many people. So, if you want to use the unit for more than just music or photo sharing, Ipod is your clear choice at the moment.

Another issue involves the way selections are made available. Even if you just want to buy a .99 cent song for your Zune, you have to buy a block of 'points' from Microsoft, starting with $5 increments. Now, this is probably not a big deal, since anyone who buys a Zune is no doubt going to buy more than $5 worth of music for it, but still, it might be a minor annoyance. I would find it so, anyway.

If you already have an Ipod, and you're changing to a Zune, you will be able to import your non-protected music, but you will not be able to import any music you bought from Itunes to your new device.

As far as navigation is concerned, overall most people prefer Apple's scroll wheel to the up-down,left-right navigation of the Zune, although some people comment that the Zune is much easier to navigate while driving.

In the long run, the choice for many people is going to come down to brand loyalty. Apple lovers are going to stick to their Ipods. Microsoft fans will swear by the Zune. Everybody else is probably going to be perfectly happy no matter which one they choose.

My advice? Stick to the Ipod for now, especially if you already have one. Waiting just a little while will no doubt greatly increase the number of songs available on the Zune, and probably narrow the gap in other available selections too, as Microsoft begins to offer movies and/or TV and possibly support podcasts.

But, if you do spring for the Zune, it's not a horrible mistake. In the long run, the differences appear to be minimal.