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iPod...or a Zune?

Haruki_Jitsunin said:
...but what if you prefer legal music that you own? I know I don't buy a CD every month (which is the price of a zune pass), but with my library well over 3000 legal songs, I wouldn't want that taken away just because I didn't want to buy a CD that month.
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Hm? You can still put those songs in your Zune I think. And the Zune pass lets you save 10 songs every month that you can keep even if you cancel your subscription. I much prefer it to iTunes where I would absolutely never buy music from. It's the most anti-consumer form of DRM I know.
 
I would rather get a Netbook with good battery life than a multimedia mp3 player. You can do so much more with it and it's tiny enough.
 
It really isn't. I use my phone to listen to mp3s on the bus. Even a PSP is too damn big for that imo.
 
It would fit in a briefcase or messenger bag, or lap... but for JUST music, I'd recommend a Zen Nano. It's like an inch long and does not have any DRM. Simple interface and ndestructible, too.
 
Firestorm said:
Hm? You can still put those songs in your Zune I think. And the Zune pass lets you save 10 songs every month that you can keep even if you cancel your subscription. I much prefer it to iTunes where I would absolutely never buy music from. It's the most anti-consumer form of DRM I know.
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Last year apple announced that all their music on itunes was DRM free... that's why they created the three price ranges for songs... likewise, any existing DRM-bound music could be upgraded for the difference in price between the album now and when you bought it... still, not expensive... maybe 30cents a song.
 
I have a first-gen 30 GB Zune, so I can't really comment on the others. I will say that Zune has what is possibly the most frustrating piece of shit software (that you MUST use to sync) that I have ever experienced. This might not be such a big deal if you aren't a heavy podcast listener, though I've had minor issues with my music library as well.
 
Haruki_Jitsunin said:
Last year apple announced that all their music on itunes was DRM free... that's why they created the three price ranges for songs... likewise, any existing DRM-bound music could be upgraded for the difference in price between the album now and when you bought it... still, not expensive... maybe 30cents a song.
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Then why not buy the same songs from Amazon for $0.99 with no DRM instead of spending more on iTunes for the same music?
 
Firestorm said:
Then why not buy the same songs from Amazon for $0.99 with no DRM instead of spending more on iTunes for the same music?
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Well a few reasons. 1. Most itunes music is still .99 with special discounts on buying the whole album. 2. From what I've found, itunes offers more "exclusive" songs if you buy a full album from them. Which in most cases is shit (like the newest U2 album), but in other cases (like lies for liars by the used, 13th step by a perfect circle) the extra songs kick more ass than you can handle.
 
Zune's software is a bloated piece of shit and you absolutely MUST use it to sync your music. Hard drive corrupts far too easily. My main problem with my zune was a few files that were 'corrupted' and thus made me reformat the drive itself every time I played the track. It's a piece of crap in every way. Microsoft shines through yet again.

This was an 80GB 2nd gen by the way. I now own a 120GB iPod classic. No problems at all, and I connect it to my Ubuntu-based iPod manager no sweat.
 
iPods are definetly more adaptable, and have more features, but as far as reliability goes, I'm pretty sure Zune is better. I've gone through 2 iPods in the last 3 years. One, the touch scroller would'nt pick up any signal, and the second one the part where you plug in the cable to charge it got bent out of shape quite easily (I charged it about 15 times, so it's been in and out of the port quite a bit, but it still felt quite flimsy to me).
Now I have the Palm Pre, it plugs in to my computer, and iTunes recognizes it as an iPod. ^_^
I've had it since early June, no problems so far.
 
My complete unbiased opinion is an iPod (preferable an iPod Touch) as the screen can be used as a nice movie viewer, when compared to the Zune HD's which isn't as big. Not really sure why you would buy a Zune taking for account you need change the songs to a specific format so it would sync to a Zune, as oppose to iPod being able to play multiple types of music formats.
 
Luduan said:
I have a first-gen 30 GB Zune, so I can't really comment on the others. I will say that Zune has what is possibly the most frustrating piece of shit software (that you MUST use to sync) that I have ever experienced. This might not be such a big deal if you aren't a heavy podcast listener, though I've had minor issues with my music library as well.
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I completely agree with this. Do not buy a Zune.

The device itself is good. The problem comes in the software. You cannot use anything but the Zune software to sync with your Zune. Not iTunes, not Windows Media Player, nothing. This means you need to rely on their poor file management (select this folder as a folder to watch, wait for it to hopefully recognize the song, and then hope it lets you sync, none of which is a given). Sometimes, for no good reason, the Zune software decides that if you make any modification to a file (say, changing its name from "01_Beethoven_Symphonie_5_c_moll" to "Beethoven Symphony 5"), it suddenly refuses to recognize that the song exists. It realizes you no longer have the original song, possibly deletes it from the Zune, but then decides "Oh, you just deleted this song that has identical data to that song, you must not want it." and then refuses to ever add it to your library again. This problem is, as far as I can tell, permanent. I have some files that won't sync again through rebooting my Zune (even by letting the battery run out and then recharging it), reinstalling the Zune software, uninstalling the Zune software and running Unzoone followed by a reinstall, deleting everything from my Zune, and upgrading the firmware / software.

I have no experience with the ipod, but keep in mind that other devices exist.
 
Do your research. I have done quite a bit and the best brand answers I have arrived at have been Creative Players and Sansa Players. I can tell you flat out from experience, DO NOT BUY an iPod/Touch or a Zune. (Zune HD will need to prove itself first and as Obi points out software is a huge problem)


1.How much usage you are going to get and what kind of usage?
2.What is your budget?
These 2 questions effect what will fluctuate the most with cost which is memory.
For music I really believe 16gb is enough for anyone using one just for music and I can elaborate why if I need to.
3.How you are going to access music you want to get and don't have?
-Subscription
(like Netflix but way better selection and the ability to transfer music tracks onto player ) IMO is the best way to go, but not everyone is prepared to pay monthly to access music.
-Illegally?
This is a personal choice and not a can of worms that we are going to open up in this thread but it will effect what kind of player is the best choice for you.
-By the track/CD's
IMO the worst option but still a viable one. Are you going to want to use iTunes or Amazon's mp3 store?

I use a combination of Subscription and then torrents to find rare or "protected" tracks and albums.

My choice was the Creative Zen X-Fi 16GB.
Probably some one of the best battery lifes in mp3 players. I run mine ragged with almost constant listening (day and night ) and even after the battery initial exceptional runs of ~30 hour battery life. I still get a great 16-20 hours of running at about %80 max volume with full brightness and long screen times on. If you play conservatively you can get more than that. It also charges extremely quick with full charges in under an hour and probably less.

Chock full of features including built in FM radio, great menu customization, a shortcut button which can be mapped to just about any function, a SD card slot, external speaker, and an actually pretty good pair of earbuds included.
I just use Windows Media Player and the Napster software to transfer music over.

My mom with my help arrived at an 8 GB Sansa Sandisk. A solid choice definitely.
 
i know nothing about the Zune.

but i've owned both a 30GB Ipod Video and, currently, a 160GB Ipod Classic, and i've not had problems with either.

i really like the interface, and media players are pretty much guaranteed to support the Ipod since it's so popular.

plus, it's the biggest HDD mp3 player on the market right now.

however, i would recommend using winamp or foobar for synching and managing your library, as itunes is fucking slow as fuck, and takes up a massive amount of computer resources to run.

also, my battery life is remarkable. i went almost an entire week without charging it, while listening to it almost non-stop. of course, i had the brightness waaaay down and the backlight set to 2 seconds, but even set normally, it can go in the range of 20-25 hours without a charge, easy.
 
Alrighty. Good, you guys. :)

Apparently, the ipod is winning the battle, while the zune is stuck in shit. I especially liked Obi's comment here. Zune software is a piece of shit, and I constantly change my song names from Japanese to English, so maybe i won't get the zune. XP

However, if there is any Zune guy out there that would like to share, go for it. I'm still stuck on my own choice, as far as surveys and Smogon is concerned. I will definitely consider an iPod Nano or touch (dunno what the price is, and I'm not supposed to look at those kinds of sites at school :P)

I'd like to hear more. Precautions and cons about the iPod is welcome, since my rich mom's not so keen about crappy things XD
 
I've personally never had a problem with Zune's software, even if it is the only one you can use with a Zune. I've changed names of songs plenty of times , as they were in Japanese, by doing it directly from Zune's software instead of doing it from a folder. Don't know how you went about changing the name obi, but I've had no problems doing it like that.

I'm pretty sure there's somewhere on the internet where you can DL the software for free from Microsoft, so see for yourself what it'll be like to navigate it. I don't think you'll have any problems, but thats JMO.
 
Witchcraft23 said:
My complete unbiased opinion is an iPod (preferable an iPod Touch) as the screen can be used as a nice movie viewer, when compared to the Zune HD's which isn't as big. Not really sure why you would buy a Zune taking for account you need change the songs to a specific format so it would sync to a Zune, as oppose to iPod being able to play multiple types of music formats.
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Er, what formats does the Zune not play that you can play on your iPod?

I think the Zune software has probably improved. I use my iPhone as my music player though. It's just all I've read about the Zune makes it seem very interesting. The only iPod I think is worth it is is the Touch/Phone due to the App Store. If you're getting anything else, you could just get something else for less cost.
 
iPod. Zune may have some better features, but iTunes is the easiest way to downlaod music, which is actually half the battle. And this is coming from a Zune owner, who has about 2 songs on it because no downloads work for me. EVER.
 
Seargeant Chilli said:
iPod. Zune may have some better features, but iTunes is the easiest way to downlaod music, which is actually half the battle. And this is coming from a Zune owner, who has about 2 songs on it because no downloads work for me. EVER.
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BWAHAHAHAHAHA...

no it most certainly is not. xP
 
The Zune software is not shit. In fact, alot of people say that Itunes is shit compared to it. You should download and try out both of them.
 
Deschain said:
BWAHAHAHAHAHA...

no it most certainly is not. xP
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Yeah I would say iTunes is far from the being the top contender in anything except for being most used and having the largest selection. They have some of the lesser published artists that other services don't I've noticed.

I really like the subscription model for music. I am going to be listening to maybe 15 new tracks a week or so and more depending on if I find any new albums that interest me. With Napster I pay $15 a month I have unlimited downloads, can put any track I want on 2 mp3 players and download it onto 3 different computers. I can also stream my library from any location with internet.
 
BitTorrent motherfuckers.

Tucker said:
can the Zune play SNES (technically the touch can't, without a little knowledge). I bought mine a few months ago, and it puts all my friends 2nd market MP3 players to shame.
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They already said they weren't looking for anything fancy, they're looking for a music player not a SNES :/

Honestly, while I think the iPod definitely LOOKS better, I'd say go for a Zune, once you can figure out how to work with the software it should be fine.
 
This is a zune.
zune_brown_2.jpg

This is an ipod.
pink_image6_20090909.jpg

Get an iPod.
 
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