What are these things made out of? It looks like it's already got one of those cheap plastic cases on it. And it looks about the size of my 1st gen iPod, but with more DRM.

I'd rather that plastic then the crappy glossy metalic finish and front finish. I dont think you can go a day before scratching the damn ipod. Ipod sucks.

Damn, now where am I supposed to put my wallet?

Yeah, they are not that astheticly pleasing, but they do have WiFi, so that could be why its bigger, maybe. . . no probably not that much bigger, and yes the case looks a bit dull, but on the other hand it looks less likely to scratch.

Don't forget, bigger to hold the battery to power that lovely big screen.

iPod has the wheel. i'll judge Zune once i'll have tested its buttons. if it can't beat the wheel, it can't beat the iPod. period.

Don't the Zunes only come in 30GB? If they do, that's a pretty huge difference in size compared to an 80GB iPod. The Zune has a larger screen, but the resolution is the same as an iPod, making the pixels bigger... To me, that sounds like a downgrade. I'd stick with an iPod.

Redkitten: "iPod has the wheel. i'll judge Zune once i'll have tested its buttons. if it can't beat the wheel, it can't beat the iPod. period."

...Because sound quality, wifi and a bigger screen mean nothing, right?

The Zune might not challenge the ipod in terms of sales, ever, but in terms of features, it looks like a better bargain already. Wifi is a pretty huge feature, and it's not hard for a DAP to better the ipod in terms of sound quality. Sure, the ipod may look a lot nicer, but I never thought it had the sound quality or the battery life of many other players out there, namely the big Korean and Japanese brands (Sony, Cowon, etc)... These are things that *should* be important for a DAP. The only thing the ipod has going for it IMHO are the looks, and the UI/scroll wheel (which is admittedly kickass in terms of usability). Itunes is cool, but it's not that important to me.

That plastic really looks tad cheap. And the WiFi is pretty much useless, I guess you can sync your Zune with it, but you still have to connect the cable to charge it. Until they come up with way to buy songs on the go, like walking to music store and downloading single or album while standing on the store floor, I doubt there is any reasonable use for it. It's way too powerhungry to be kept on all the time, so to be able to check someone elses songs or something both parties have to switch it on to be able to connect, PITA if you ask me. Not to say it's bad player, I'm sure it's as decent as they all are, just looking cheap and generic.

Bohemeth!

Dear Zune,

Way to be fat, fatty.

Love,
The Internet

I'd like neither.
I'm not ready.
and
It's not where I want to go today.

I already feel like my 60G iPod (Same size as the 80G shown here) is an embarrassingly bloated behemoth next to my sisters 30G.

redkitten,

You do know that the blueprings for the scroll wheel was originally created by Creative, not Apple. Also, you ipod fanboys have no idea how much Microsoft helped you guys while you were in your bankruptcy period.

LPXXFAINTXX
-www.Zuneboards.com

Anybody else want to see the back of the Zune? I bet it has a fatty...

It has an FM radio doesn't it? That's always a good thing. Which iPod are they comparing the size with here. Would the Zune look as large next to my 60gb iPod?

joey

Wifi, FM, Larger Screen, TV output at 640x 480 for an extra cm...stop bitching.

Oh... Autonomous2323, how do you like your DRM free ipod?

Microsoft is really thinking different. Cram everything you can in a plastic container and call it a player. Yea this company knows how to innovate. And the MS diehards will once again say 'cheese' and poney up because that's their comfort zone. DRM is for the music companies,for those too busy rebooting!

if it can't beat the wheel, it can't beat the iPod

Shouln't be hard. The wheel is my least favorite thing about my iPod.

I had a Dell player about a year ago that had a scroll wheel much like you'd find on a mouse. It was awesome.

This guy compared a 30gb Zune to a 80gb iPod. An accurate comparison would be to the 30gb iPod as it's lighter and thinner than the 80gb iPod.

When November comes around and people actually hold the Zune and iPod at Best Buy, bigger screen and wifi or not, people are gonna leave the store with an iPod.

The Wifi is only marginally usefull right now. Give it time grasshoppers. Microsoft is positioning mutliple products to work together and this is just one more step along that path. Don't think about what it's gonna do RIGHT now, think about what it will do next year. I don't know about you guys but I don't buy anything over 200 bucks without examining how I'll use it for the next year or more, these things arent some random consumable item.

As for size it's got packed in a bit more with the wifi, bigger screen, and I'm willing to bet some unused hardware or capability.

The fanboi'esque arguements are just a bit silly at this point, try taking an 'outside the brand' look at things sometimes.

Personally, I think the iPods are almost excessivly thin anyways... being a little bit fatter doesn't seem like a big deal.

Also, something to note is that the guy says the iPod's actually heavier. Although this may give it a feeling of "good build quality", it's also going to make the iPod a lot worse off in case of an accidental fall. The less dense something is, the better it will fare in drop tests.

Granted, a solid build quality could make up for this difference, kinda making this point a toss-up.

Ah, yes, I remember the Dell DJ. Real successful product there.

About the only good thing I can see about the MS Zune is it'll push Apple a bit and maybe force some innovations they'd otherwise sit on.

How can you compare a KIA to a Mercedes? The Zune looks more like a cheap device than an impressive mp3 player. But again, no surprise here, it's Made in Microsoft.

Exactly Deedawg, competition breeds innovation, and the last "update" for the iPod proves they need a bit of competition to keep them on their toes. Also keep in mind that J. Allard is in charge of this project with Microsoft budget to back him up. Allard is setting this up just like the XBOX; this product is not designed to make money on the first generation, and possibly not even on the second generation. Wallenc is right, look to the future and how you will actually use it, not the fanboy, "OMG my toy beats ur toy!!1!1"

just because something isn't too successful (dj ditty) doesn't make it a bad product. could be marketing and a ton other reasons.

don't you remember beta cassettes?

I... like... big... DAPs and I cannot lie,
all you other suckers can't deny,
when a zune arrives with a 30 gig drive
and some song trading wifi, you get sprung.

If people actually start watching video on these things, then the larger Zune is the winner. However, most of us are buying an MP3 player to listen to music.

In 6 months to a year, iPods will magically get a WiFi sharing feature, and iPod fans will rejoice at Apple's innovative ideas!

Good Job getting quoted by the BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/default.stm -
it's not everyday that type of recognition

besides a few of us geeks on here, myself not included, who is going to buy this thing. you got the sexy apple ipod, or the big ugly zune. if you say "zune" to most people they just be like "whats that a new ipod?"

i still feel Zune looks ugly. microsoft have a lot of $$$$$, they really can't found a better designer?

KsprayDad says:

Oh... Autonomous2323, how do you like your DRM free ipod?

I like it a lot, thanks. I just use MP3s on it. I've never really understood the whining about DRM on iPods. "Buy" the CD and rip it if you hate it so much.

what good is WiFi when the songs you transfer disappear after 3 days...even Creative Commons stuff. ...doesn't matter if it's free or not, it's gone in 3 days/plays.

DRM: Dirty Rotten Manipulation

Wallenc,
What makes you think that there is some secret features that Microsoft will magically unlock in a years time ? When has ANY company ever just said "oh, here is an extra feature we were hiding, go use it now for free. Sorry we didn't tell you sooner, we forgot" No way. New features that come are used in the new model. So you will buy Zune 2.0 or whatever. You are living in a fantasy land if you think your zune bought today will have untold wonders that Microsoft will open up to you later. If it had them, they would tell you now so you would buy it now.

I don't understand the wifi sharing. I can log onto other people's zunes, copy a song, listen to it for a short amount of time, ans then have to buy it. Thats lame. You know what I want my digital AUDIO player to do? Play audio. Why does every gadget have to do everything. Thats why I love m y nano. It plays music, and its little.

lpxxfaintxx said,
"...you ipod fanboys have no idea how much Microsoft helped you guys while you were in your bankruptcy period."

Bet you failed history, huh? Apple has never been anywhere near bankruptcy, and the event to which you are referring was when MS paid Apple 150 mil to settle their long term dispute over MS copying Apple's look & feel (which they still do to this day). At the time MS paid their measly 150 mil, Apple had Billions in the bank. That's Billions, with a B.

asashi said,
"And the WiFi is pretty much useless, I guess you can sync your Zune with it..."
You guessed wrong. All you can do with it is loan a tune to someone else with a Zune (if you can find one) that they can play 3 whole times - then they have to go buy it. But get this, even if you loan your buddy an mp3 that you made yourself (I mean with your own band), they STILL can't play it but 3 times. Talk about going overboard with DRM!

koolsmokey said,
"...wifi and a bigger screen mean nothing, right?"
Right, wifi doesn't mean that much. See Above. And bigger screen? Okay, its 20% wider, but it's the same 320x240 resolution. Same number of pixels. It means you can hold it a couple of inches farther away from your face while watching it, but it won't be 1 speck sharper. But, it WILL be dimmer, as the iPod has a much brighter screen than the Zune.

WCD_Thor said,
"...on the other hand it looks less likely to scratch."
Guess you weren't aware of the new anodized aluminum cases on the new iPods.

Some of you guys need to do your homework.

You might says it is fat since you have an iPod, but since the screen is bigger and the unit is more useful, I see it as more of the bigger muscular new kid and new captian of the football team. Where as the iPod is the current popular pretty boy who gets all the girls because he spends most of his time on his hair.

(yea crappy analogy, but I did not pick highschool as the medium to compare them in the first place?)

and I too think the WiFi is dumb

How dumb do you have to be to be impressed by a product for what its 3rd generation model may be in 2 years time? Like Microsoft has ever produced what it promised let alone what its fanboys imagine. Wow the marketeers must really love you guys. As for wifi it will be great in a year or so, you know when all players have it.

Before we know November has come and Zune's gone away...

Ooooooh iPods are better...

No way, ZUNEs are!

Hmmm?
Who cares? Buy what you want, you can point out the obvious about both if you want.

And the obvious I want to point out is that for years and years and years people have lived with the blue screen of death, viruses, worms, having to reboot and reinstall, adding more this, waiting for the bigger and better and have stayed with Microsoft. Only those who knew better and got out when they could have learned their lesson.

You get what you pay for... and if you pay practically nothing, then that's what you get.

But on the other hand, you pay for what you can afford. Like a Hyundia versus a Honda. I laid out $4k for my G5, my Plasma monitor, my Powerbook 3, and my iPod 3 years ago, and feel spoiled.

I guess this is one of those posts where if you have a comments account you have to leave your two cents so here goes...

We techojunkies already knew the Zune wasn't winning any beauty pagents up against the iPod, so its pretty worthless for us to sit around going "It's fat and ugly!!!1"

By that same token, MS knows that they aren't taking away a sizable chunk of the DAP market with the first-gen Zune. They're testing the waters to see what works and what doesn't so that they can continue tweaking to make a better product. Just like looking back on Apple's improvements to the iPod to date, it'll be awesome to see what the Zune and iPod will look like in 5 years.

Anyone has an photo of 30gig ipod compared to zune?

if you'r reading gizmodo i believe that you shouldn't but a product for its look. otherside m brother wouldn't be married.

*otherwise my* sorry listening to music

You microsoft fans have no idea how much apple helped you out - by inventing the concept of Windows!
No doubt apple will come up with something none of us had even thought of - AGAIN!

Well, when it comes around to Apples big birthday in April and the 'true video iPod' gets a release this will all be academic.

As for the Microsoft attempt right now, I've a got an Atari Lynx that is smaller.

juicyJ is my man.
I just have one thing to add to this flame war, how long til the first zune viruses come out? where are the pimply 15 year olds in the dark basements at on that one?

And with wifi am I the only one forseeing spyware, and pop ups galore for this when you have a wifi signal?

Who wants to write virses for a computer platform that holds only 5% of the world market? - Oh! And how about the plethora of fantastic Macintosh games available? Not to mention the abundance of freeware, shareware and third party software written for the Mac......(NOT!)
I'll be able to plug this Zune thingie directly into my TV and watch the Mpeg4s right out of it....And what's with ipod never having a radio?

Ha! Ha! Wallenc

The good ole Microsoft "but next year it'll do soooooh much more" con

We're still waiting for Vista (now cut down as they can't get it to work!!!)

Also as far as I know anything copied to a Zune via WiFi is automatically deleted after 3 days (even non-copyright material!)

Just get a cheapo MP3 player!

Personally, I am more than happy with my old-fashioned 4th gen ipod with a black and white screen - perfectly functional and doesnt need a backlight on to read it. I use my ipod to listen to music and have no idea why anyone would want to squint at such a tiny screen to watch a movie... Same goes for the zune...

Also, the zune is a microsoft product which lets face it doesnt have the best history of bug free products - how long does it take to boot a zune?

Let's be straight. The Zune is a MS licensed product...it is not, itself, a product designed or manufactured by MS. That distinction goes to Toshiba, and it's a poor distinction at best.

MS has slapped some DRM on someone else's hardware and has proclaimed "in the future it will be much better." and that's a weak marketing position to start with...because it's a weak product to start with.

Folks, it doesn't deserve this much attention.