Gizmodo
When we're making a comparison between the iPod and the Zune, it's also important to note that the software makes a big difference in your music experience. You'll have to use the software suite extensively for both playing back music at your computer and organizing songs onto your portable device. This is why both iTunes and Zune Software play such a large part in determining which music player you should purchase.
So which one is better? That depends largely on your personal usage habits, but suffice it to say iTunes has a challenger on its hands. Find out why after the jump.
It's hard to customize a music player or music library for everyone's use. Some people don't use ratings at all—I love them—and some people don't use smart playlists. So to figure out which one's better for you, you'll have to pick and choose the features you like and decided on that. Here we go.
Music Importing: On install, the Zune automatically imports your existing iTunes database, for the most part without any hiccups. It even grabs the playlists and converts them to Zune's default playlist format. What it doesn't do is import the smart playlists, so you'll have to start all over with those. Except you can't, because there aren't any smart playlists in the Zune. In any case, the Zune should carry over the non-protected iTunes music, but if you purchased songs from the iTunes store (or any other online store) you're out of luck.
Also, you can't drag and drop stuff onto the Zune, you'll have to set up folders that it automatically monitors. Useful in one way, but kinda awkward in another, since it has to rescan all folders every time you add a new folder.
Music Store: Some of you won't care about this, *cough* file sharers *cough*, but in the realm of selection, Apple has a couple million more songs than Zune. Eventually Zune should be able to catch up, but if you want more music now, you'll have to go with Apple. However, if you're looking to buy tons and tons of music, Zune has a all-you-can-eat subscription plan to rent music for $15 a month, which is great if you want to load up your entire 30GB with songs that you don't currently own. Buying music is equally simple on both, as long as you've either already have an Apple account or a Hotmail/Xbox 360 Marketplace account.
Also, there are no TV and Movies on Zune. This may either be a big deal or a non-issue.
Music Playback: This could be me, but on the default equalizer settings the Zune Software sounds a lot fuller and better than iTunes, even on the same MP3. Even after fiddling with iTunes' equalizer I couldn't get it to sound as good as Zune's. This is subjective, and could totally be in my imagination, but there ya go. Both have a "Now playing" area in the player, a minimized mode, and playback control.
Music Transfer/Loading: Thanks to iTunes' smart playlists, you can easily pick only the songs you want, in interesting combinations, to sync to your iPod. Only five starred songs that you've played between three weeks and a month ago? Done.
The Zune Software (which just locked up as I plugged in a Zune, incidentally) has a concept of "Auto Playlist" for syncing, and only for syncing. You can filter by all the song's criteria, including play count and rating, which makes it similar in functionality to iTunes, but it's kinda hidden. You'll have to right click on your Zune's name, then go to "Set up Sync" in order to see your lists. The functionality's there, but Microsoft should make this option more visible and accessible.
Music Presentation: iTunes 7 divides your music up into your library, the store, and your playlists. Zune has playlists, your library, and marketplace. Quite similar, save for a little rearrangement of items. When browsing your library, iTunes has Coverflow view, album view, and list view, whereas Zune has icon/tile view, which shows all the album covers, and details view. Once you get to a single artist, you get an album view which looks similar to iTunes. Honestly there's not that much difference here, but you do get Coverflow when you go with Apple's software.
Music Organization/Playlists: Zune only has regular playlists here, which causes my own experience to suffer since I love smart playlists. Both Zune and iTunes have smart playlists, except on Zune it's called Auto Playlists and they're kind of hidden. And when you view a playlist in Zune, you can only view by detail view and not album view. iTunes wins here, but only if you like smart playlists.
Music Searching: Both suites search "while typing", but Zune's search is quite a lot faster. Not a huge deal if you have a fast machine, but if you search often the times add up. Zune also downloads the Zune Marketplace database locally, so even store searches are fast. Another bonus to Zune is that if you search for something you don't have, it'll show a link to Zune's Marketplace automatically. So if you're on a subscription plan, you can go and download the song quickly.
If you're just starting out and picking either an iPod or a Zune, you should be satisfied with either music management suite. The two match each other pretty well in functionality, save for smart playlists, but are just about equal in other ways. iTunes has more music, but Zune has the subscription plan.
If you're already an iTunes user, you may find it harder to switch over to the Zune because the Zune doesn't carry over your purchased songs, nor does it import your play counts. You lose smart playlist functionality, plus whatever plugins you've got for your software. And if you're a Mac user, you're just plain out of luck.
Of course, this is just for the software, and you'll have to consider the other half of the puzzle, hardware, to make up your mind.
Zune vs. iTunes Image [Gizmodo]
Zune Product Page [Amazon]
iPod Product Page [Amazon]
Comments
Considering since iTunes 7 (even with the two updates to 7.0.2) came out, I can't listen to iTunes while doing anything else on my home machine without iTunes skipping around, I may give the Zune software a try.
I like itunes because it looks like a piece of audio gear. It's silver/grey and has an LCD-like window with the pertinent info in it. The latest version seems a little cluttered, and I'm not a great fan of the way the store is laid out but it's still very intuitive and useable.
The zune player looks like a computer program that just happens to play and organize music.
It's funny, cnn, cnet and engadget don't like the zune as much as gizmodo...but even so, i guess gizmodo is known to REALLY love microsoft from some strange reason...im' okay with MS lovers, but the bias is getting kind of ridiculous
hmm... i like the idea of subscription, but i couldn't live without the clickwheel. gimme a clicktangle or something and i'll switch! ...when it comes out to europe
There are also no podcasts on the Zune player if posts from the other day are correct.
oh and yes, the iTunes a year ago and before was a complete piece of crap, and i used Winamp for music management. it still uses up a load of my 2GB ram, and i can't play music while rendering video.
Even better than both of these options: Foobar2000
I'll stick with iTunes - even though Coverflow doesn't work on my system. I guess a 25gb music library causes it to gag with only 1gb of RAM.
"Zune software" is just WMP.
You can use audiobaba to do automated similarity playlisting in WMP or iTunes:
http://www.audiobaba.com/
Hmmm, I am a little surprised. I actually expected Gizmodo to pick a side in the end instead of letting it be up to the readers...bravo!
How come my comment doesn't post?
Man if I ever thought about gonig for a Zune, this officialyl sealed the deal as a definite no. Smart playlists are my life. Another big Zune disappointment.
So Zune has an FM tuner and a poorly executed wifi sharing method. Way to go. Def. makes up for being 5 years late to the game.
BTW I can use coverflow OK and I have 1GB of RAM and a 200GB library...
Music-Lawyer said it all; FB2K all the way.
a note about iTunes and the suite of Plays4Sure music.
You 'should' be able to burn a CD of all your DRmed music (legally purchased) and then rip that CD into MP3s with no DRM on them anymore This falls within legal 'fair use' for purchased music. (read: If you buy a CD you can rip it to MP3 and listen to them on whatever player as long as you don't distribute, etc.)
I can't speak from experience on Napster or iTunes or that other store I can't recall at the moment but I'm a Rhapsody user and all the tracks I bought that had Plays4Sure on them I simply burned, ripped and am actualy listening to right now on my Zune. Legally. I would assume the same process would work on any legally purchased music by burning the CD from the native software you purchased it in.
I agree with Dr. Paul. The Zune software *must* adopt smart playlists to be a contender (for me anyway).
now my own opinions.
I don't particularly miss smart playlists but I was never a very extensive iTunes user. I use Rhapsody for most of my music purchases (still do and still will for a while, more on that in a minute).
Functionally as far as what buttons and functions are advertised in both products it's a toss up for me.
Use wise though I hate them both. Itunes is laggy even on my faster system and browsing the store is a pain, Zune is faster but crash prone and however they're doing their DRM is still buggy. I have a subscription to Zune currently so I should be able to download songs... I can on one PC, I'm supposed to be able to on three PCs but for some reason I can't on any other machines except my work PC. The error is great too, sends you to a webpage that has almost nothing at all on the actual issue and the helpdesk tells me to 'wait 30 minutes and try again' which translates to 'I don't know and I'm off in 30 minutes.'
I really, really like my Zune but for now just because of what a pain in the ass it is to use their software I'm still using rhapsody, buying music, burning it, ripping it, then adding it to the Zune library so I can sync it. I'd rather go through all that than have the sofware crash on me 'again' because I tried to download some 50 cent by clicking on the DOWNLOAD button.
No importing of play counts? If the Zune software is already using the XML file to get information from, I don't see why it can't bring over the playcount as well..... this of course, assuming the Zune has a play count feature.
chilly: it has a play count feature and it doesn't get imported. Check out the big screenshot to see.
What interface do you use to load photos/videos onto the Zune?
Nice comparison. I'd miss the smart playlists too much. I use them all the time now.
I like the general direction of the Zune software's design, but it seems unfinished and flat to me. Not that I'd hope for some giant, gradient-happy, glosstacular of glass and neon. I love the idea of having the current-playing albums track list over on the right, so you can browse your library, but keep that list handy.
iTunes search function is horrible as it's video playback in iTunes but it's smart play lists makes it a winner for me.
wow. finally a non-bias objective look at the iPod vs Zune that actually has some useful information...
it would be interesting to have seen the memory footprint of the software compared as well. i've always found that iTunes takes more memory than a music organizer should, but Microsoft is generally no better in this category.
I don't know. I'm having an awfully hard time getting the Zune software running in OS X.
What about reliability? Is it a coincidence that every article talking about the Zune install experience points to the crash screen? I know iTunes is a RAM hog, how nicely does Zune play with others?
Isn't the "Zune Software" Windows Media Player 11?
Lance:
What you're doing isn't actually, technically, legal. Despite that it absolutely SHOULD be, the DMCA makes it illegal to use any method or technology which circumvents copy-protection. This includes burning & re-ripping.
And so while I advise everyone to continue to remove the DRM from their files this way, recognize that the DMCA is flawed by making this illegal.
For me I never use iTunes for movies/tvshows/music videos, I don't use/listen to podcasts, I don't use smart playlists, play count matters very little, and I have never used any online music store-Napster and iTunes included. So it really doesn't matter for me what program I use.
One big thing that I find better with the iTunes software is the searching, while the Marketplace will give you a link to the store it also seems to give a link to your own music as well. I like the way iTunes just filters out everything else while still looking like it did before you searched. Know what I mean?
I also really like the design of Marketplace with the black theme and the side panels. My "motif" here is standard black (Visual Styles) and it goes really well. Plus I have a widescreen and the side panels work better than panels on the top and bottom.
And as others above have said it has to run well too. I reverted back to iTunes 6 because v7 never played well with any programs I happened to be running. v6 works well with BF2142 which is a memory demon, often eating nearly 1gb of my 2gb of ram. How well will Marketplace do?
Thats my opinion.
The only feature that has kept me married to that memory hog itunes is my airport express which allows me to play music throughout the house. As soon as I figure out an easy solution for pumping winamp or even WMP 11 through my airport express I will make the jump.
I find it odd that most of the review conclusions were along the lines of, "well, iTunes does better here, and better here, and here…", etc., yet iTunes "has a challenger on its hands?"
Seems to me that Gizmodo should have picked a side.
What's the difference between Apple's Smart Playlists and Microsoft Auto Playlist? It looks identical to me.
Quote: "...concept of "Auto Playlist" for syncing, and only for syncing..."
In the Zune software, if I right click on Playlists to the left, I get Create Auto Playlist. I then create my "Rock with 4+ Stars" auto playlist and I can play that on my desktop, just like iTunes had. Or is there something else you can do with Smart Playlists besides listening to and syncing them (which is all that I use them for).
neither the ipod or zune is what i want. i want an mp3 player that loads music and videos, etc, just by drag and drop through windows explorer. you can use whatever software you want to organize and listen on your computer, that makes no difference. my cowon x5 is great and would hope they have a new edition this year. and with rockbox it really can't be beat. and two words: subscription & tunebite -- i guess thats three words
http://zunecorps.com/?p=182
FYI, Zune does have smart playlists.
They call them " Auto Playlists ". It does all the same things as Smart Playlists, only it also has an "rss" type that will automatically add new songs based on your criteria. ( so it can update podcasts for example )
however, it doesn't have a way to auto delete old ones of off your Zune, so it still isn't a "podcast feature" yet.
just thought you might want to know since you seem to love smart playlists.
-Woody
Songbird rules!!!
Woody: Yes, they have Auto Playlists (I mentioned that up above) that are only used for syncing and not for playlist management.
how does it not support podcasts, there just audiofiles?? or does it just not have a playlist for podcasts? how can you leave out podcast?? fools..
Did anyone notice that the scroll bars are nearly identical in both apps? That's a weird coincidence, huh?
Jason: Can you elaborate on playlist management?
I thought all smart playlists were was the playlists that specify certain criteria ( such as only songs with 4 or more stars ) and updates as new songs meet that criteria.
for example I have a comedy auto-playlist. When I changed "White & Nerdy" to "Comedy" genre, it was added to my comedy auto-playlist. When I changed it to "prank" genre, it was removed. also whenever a new song comes in under that category, it is added to the auto-playlist.
it can also be categorized by many other things... so how is it different from iTunes smart playlists? ( is there something I am not seeing on my itunes? )
oh btw, sorry I didn't see your part about auto-playlists, I apologize for my stupidity.
The difference is that (apparently) the Zune's Auto-playlists are only for synching to your Zune. They won't play within the desktop software. iTunes Smart Playlists are playable right within iTunes, and also transfer to the iPod.
I have a pretty decent sized library of music and each day iTunes seems to get slower and slower every time I add to my collection. Startup times for iTunes are absolutely pathetic compared to Zune. We're talking, 10-12 seconds for iTunes to open, and Zune takes about 2 seconds. Granted...lets look at the memory usage and Zune uses nearly 100MB of ram while iTunes is still (only) using 70MB.
I agree that if you're not already deeply embedded into the abyss that is iPod/iTunes then I'd suggest a Zune in near future. However, personally I am waiting for a few months. They seem to have plenty of bugs with the player/software to work out. (not to mention, hopefully they will figure out that the current wireless situation absolutely sucks!).
As for podcasts, sorry...personally I could care less. Most "average" music listeners won't care neither. Podcasts are a novelty that will hopefully die very soon.
Smart playlists? No thanks, I like my regular playlists just fine. Not a big loss there either.
In summary, I love the fact that the Zune looks this good in the first generation. This really is exciting because finally the iPod will have some real competition.
I'll likely be getting a second gen Zune (or a very middle-life first gen) if I can figure out a reason to get rid of my amazing Zen Vision: M.
You can play your Auto-playlists from the Zune software, so I don't know what is the difference between the two.
I do know that my thumbs will be be the same size now that I don't have to deal with a scroll wheel. Now both thumbs are fat lazy button pushers.
the music player, Zune, looks good and feels good. I like everything the hardware has to offer (surprising, considering it's not microsoft's specialty). What i don't like is the Stupid POINTS SYSTEM. I'm not changing from my Sandisk Sansa until MS gets rid of that stupid idea. I can buy a song from napster, walmart, etc for 99cents. I can't buy a song from ZUne for 99cents, i have to pay 79 points??? or $5 for 400point increments. . .wtf? if all the reviews are right, that's just evil. it's like paying an oil company in points for buying gas. Thank God, PlaysforSure doesn't do something this stupid.
???POints????
Kesh:
I don't know what kind of software anyone is using, but the Zune software I am using is letting me play the playlists just fine... I am playing my comedy auto-playlist right now....
I also have a wma ap, mp3 ap, and aac mp ( I use for reference but they play also )
I don't know how or why Jason can't play his auto playlists, but mine play just fine???
Just follow the directions of the post ( I linked to it earlier ) and it should work.
what parameters are you using? I will try and replicate the problem.
iTunes converts the music going to an Airport Express to the Apple Owned "Apple Lossless" format before broadcasting - it doesn't transmit it by anything other than and wholly owned apple codec - so there will be no converting or compatibility with other programs Apple has that whole thing locked down. (they rwite the code, own the codec, make the device, and write it's firmware).
Which is fine with me, cause pumping music out to 6 AP expresses is so much fun!
J
"iTunes converts the music going to an Airport Express to the Apple Owned "Apple Lossless" format before broadcasting - it doesn't transmit it by anything other than and wholly owned apple codec - so there will be no converting or compatibility with other programs Apple has that whole thing locked down."
Airfoil has been around basically as long as the Airport Express has been around. so that isn't entirely accurate (at all). in addition they now have a Windows XP version as well.
and i quote :
"With Airfoil, you can now send any audio right through your AirPort Express. Use RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, WinAMP, and almost any other application with your AirPort Express."
sounds like what was being asked for.
http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/windows/
i tried it out... but i don't like the latency between pressing the "Play" button and hearing the sound for the Airport Express in general. it's the same reason i normally just run RCA cords to my stereo if i am doing anything other than playing through a whole playlist.
that said... for someone who is already using an Airport Express and doesn't mind the latency... i see know reason why Zune + Airfoil + Airport Express wouldn't work the same as iTunes + Airport Express.
I tested out the Zune software (probably going to buy one tonight after work) and it imported all my podcasts into Zune as regular audio files along with the songs I had in iTunes. They played fine.
I NEVER buy music via iTunes, I still buy CDs and rip them so everything is legally MINE no matter what. That's why I think I'm leaning towards Zune. The last iTunes software update has been dreadfully slow and video never worked right for me. Zune seems much faster and so far less glitchy. so far...