Comments on: Will Zune HD challenge iPod Touch?

Microsoft says Zune HD is designed to go head to head with Apple's touch-screen iPod. But will its HD radio and OLED screen be enough to provide healthy competition?

[ithomas94]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the Nvidia Tegra chip yet. Is faster processing speeds not so important on a PMP?
Surely people would want a faster, less laggier experience on their media player.

[darklink8]

hey mac noobs, not having an app store does not mean that the device can't use apps. my winmobile phone has no app store but I can use google to find modaco.com and howardforums.com

[drearydan]

hey there genius cnet reviewer. What about zune's HI-FI music subscription service? How the hell does i-Tunes compare with that? i-Tunes sucks, amazon is way better, just because the dumb thing is popular doesn't mean its any good.

[Charli3w]

Ok so having had both a zune and ipod im here just to leave my expirences with both and pray some ignorance will be lifted off this topic (although fruitless i fgiured why stand by and let zunes name be bashed) I read the entire first page of comments and i was sorely dissapointed. I;ve owned my zune from the very beginning (about 2 to 3 years maybe more) and honestly i can tell you that it not only still runs perfect but:

A. Battery life is still at a whopping 13 hours of straight and constant music
B. The screen is perfect no issues at all
C. after being pressed a thousend times the buttons are still in perfect clicking order.
D. software runs perfectly fine and is easy to navigate (Heard some junk about the font being large and honestly it fits on my OG zune screen im assuming its large to allow people to touch the option they want hassle free.

Heres some interesting facts im comparing to my ipod video released eh around the same time:

A. Battery life is non-exsistent atleast on my first i've since purchasing replaced for a total of 4 ipods (so anyone suggesting the quality of the hardware can seriously **** honestly lmao)
B. Screen fades and begins to die out weridly enough (couldnt find a better term for it but thats what it did wouldve cost more then the ipod itself to replace)
C. Buttons became irresponsive and alas completely broken.
D.Used a friends itouch and was so aggrivated in the menus like *** is the deal i dont have midget fingers honestly.

Now those are just a few of my noticed facts of ipod vs. zune hardware and issues.

This time lets talk about the software at a first glance the zunes program was slightly overwhelming having it be a new product having seen itunes before it was dramatically different. After sitting down and familiarizing myself with the software i was very pleased now when i see itunes i chuckle heh. Zunes software is not only easy to use and intergrate into your xbox live account (yeah you can see all your friends and what music they listen to and have in their libraries), burn and rip cd's, download the music from marketplace and itunes is simple but heres where i hate itunes completely lets say hmm i like a song on gerrys computer but i have an ipod so i guess ill just write it down (comparable to radio) and go buy it when i get home probabaly forget about it anyways. Now if i had my zune i can connect to gerrys pc as a guest and drag and drop his whole library onto my zune hassle free with no consequences likewise i can then put those songs on my computer DRM free no password needed to play them.

XD this is liek a firggen essay lol

Apps are honestly ******** you boast a big talk of oh! this app does this and this app does that but honestly how many do you use on a regular basis... because all the itouch users i know dislike them andd barely use them infact barely even use their itouch out of the house due to wifi connectivity issues (a bunch of them honestly just bought because it was cool touch screen oooooOOHHHHhhhh fancy indeed). Now I'm not here to completely bash apple i mean i'm a way bigger fan of PC's and all things alike but really it begins to get irratating listen to people just read other apple fans comment and think they know anything about the zune, having used both products im here to say my honest preference and those ive managed to sway them from buying likeing apple to going oh wow theres something better for me deffinatly is i personally love the zune it has everything and more ive ever wanted and btw guys seeing as how xna is being used to make games you can make more things then just that yeah a good friend at a popular zune forum is dissigning an instant messenger between zunes/aim/yahoo/hotmail/gmail/icq but installing it as a game btw its working so far :P so more people can be like hmm no app for this idea but i want it looks like ill just have to make it myself then they can distribute it only free of charge or lawsuit from microsoft. I may seem like im rambling and thats honestly because i am i got a bit pented up hearing all this bad slang about the zune so i needed to share my terrible expirences with my apple products and boast mcriosoft and im for sure buying this 100% **** appple pardone the language but theres no better word almost every zune comment is real honest opinion every apple comment is the exact same **** we've all heard so just read one and skip em imo (trust me i really read all off them... ugh) well im gonna go before i take more time.

[Thaislandboy]

its nice but should have been a flash based device.

[Cambot339]

thank you Charli3w =] I have an Ipod touch and i can say i'm sad i got it. The aps where enticing and the big ass touchscreen! But it is a piece of garbage. It crashes all the time when i use apps! Not to mention i use never use apps anymore. My ipod that i payed so much for is now used for music and facebook. Apps loose there fun very fast and i would like to say there are about 5 or 6 of the 30,000 or what ever that are worth downloading and they are all free (and not games)

Right now i have only used what music i already had because im not willing to pay $$$ to download 1$ songs and i wish i had zune pass right about now... You may whine "but you can get on the internet" well really i just use my Computer its much faster (and despite the fact that it uses Windows i can tell you mac ******** it has not once crashed in the 5 years i had it). And honistly im really excited that the zune can be used with my xbox and my computer thus letting me play music and play at the same time. Right now because Itunes formats all there music my xbox is like "no music found" so i can tell you unless apple dose something that's worth buying like maybe for gaming (lolz) im going to get a zune.

iPod touch/ iPhone is not the future. The future is where you can connect and share and play music, movies, anything wireless and without a program such as iTunes standing in the way. The only good iPod is a jailbroken iPod. The only good Mac is one with an illegal Microsoft OS on it for playing games. You Ignorant Mac fanboys may take the new Zune specs at face value but lets say the new xbox has a wireless function that lets you connect your zune and play music wireless or lets you play a movie on your PC, TV, or zune depending on what you want to at the time, or even simply drag the movie to your Zune so you can watch it on the go then when you get back pick up on your TV where you left off though you Xbox

iEnything is stuck in a bubble that will only pop the Apple decides to 1. make the iPod open source and 2. make the iPod compatible in this new connected world

[LinuxRules]

Are you kidding me, the main reason for me to fork the dough is because of the oled screen and digital radio! It will have to be the smallest digital radio on the market available and portable to boot (I would not need to drag my car around just to listen to digital radio broadcast). The major down side is I do not buy M$ software or hardware. SO BUMMER.

[Scooter1885]

"For some reason there is about 3% of the population that wants a radio tuner on their portable music player. The rest of us think of it as wasted space and money. With iPod Touch or iPhone you can just download an app that allows you to stream your favorite FM radio station directly to your device."

Yea, because there is ALWAYS a wifi hotspot around so we can connect to the internet and stream the radio station. Oh wait no there's not. The advantage of having an FM tuner is that you aren't restricted to a WiFi area. Maybe if free wifi is ever broadcast over the now vacated "white space" left by the DTV transition, than you'll have a point.

Also, because the radio works on....radio waves...having an AM/NoAA radio would work fine in a PMP (as opposed just a smartphone) because you aren't limited to having service/wifi. Radio reception, especially on AM, is pretty good.

[Kilerz1901]

First i own both zune 80gb and ipod 80gb. And althought the zune 80gb is not an Ipod killer, it doesnt matter, i personally like the device way better than the ipod. As people with no bias know, Apple is all about a product that Forces people to retain business AKA Itunes. But onto the touch, yes it has a good App store, Music store, and yes its the best today. But how can you knock on the new zune experience when u havent even used it or seen it yet. Are your apple fan boys forgetting about Netflix? the Arcade games, That are more than likely going to be compatible on the zune hd, and actually, the Hd dock is very good, as ive seen full 1080p Movies at 8gb w/ little or no artifacts. So 720p could easily be smaller, with decent quality. And sure u can say but hey just wait until the next ipod comes out, which most of you have, itll come w/ BLA BLA BLA, Well guess what, Ur next ipod is going to have th esame features as My zune HD, only ill have it for only $200, while u spend 600 (your ipod touch now, and ipod touch future) And i also believe they dont want this to be an ipod killer, but they want it just to get notice, so when they do what they did to ps3, (created xbox 360 way earlier) they are going to have a head start on apples next gen sooner or later, and Destroy them (asuuming by then their app store, and zune store, features will be much larger) Apple Vs Zune Zune wins

[joshstiles4]

Sounds pretty ba. I think microsoft could just use an app store like xbox live marketplace anyways and wouldn't have a problem contracting even more third-party app makers than apple because of its assets, and as for iTunes store, who really pays for their music anyways. I found out it would cost $30,000 to fill a 120GB ipod if you actually paid for all of your music using itunes; and how many 120GB iPod owners do you really think paid $30,000 to fill their iPods? I have owned a zune and currently own an iPod touch 16GB @nd generation, and I have to say I miss the radio feature. I think an HD radio would be awesome, not to mention being able to hook it up to my HDTV. In addition, most American console owners have an Xbox 360, and I can say it would be pretty awesome to be able to hook 120GB of music to my xbox too.

[Zune_HD]

Heres some Hardware facts

Zune HD:multitouch interface with gestures
itouch:multitouch interface with gestures

Zune HD:3.3 inch screen with OLED vivid 16:9 widescreen display (480 x 272)
itouch: 3.5 inch screen with LCD 3:2 display (480 x 320)

Zune HD:built-in HD radio receiver
itouch:

Zune HD:HD video output at 720p
itouch:

Zune HD: wifi 802.11b/g/and maybe n
itouch:wifi 802.11b/g

Zune HD:Intergration wiht XBOX LIVE
itouch:

noting those facts The Zune HD is far more advanced and superior when it comes to hardware but as far as soft ware goes there are some question marks but on the other hand Microsoft hasnt revealed all yet so there should be. As far as software goes we only know enough now to say the itouch has a slight upper hand like apps and safari over internet explorer(although I'm perfectly fine with ie), also The Zune HD may have flash in its internet browser if it does then its browser obviously wins seeing as the itouch only has a specail form of youtube and not a real flashplayer. So that only leaves the itouch with the advantage of apps, but that is the most important advantage of all.... I'm 99% sure The Zune HD will have apps too if it does the itouch loses at everything software and hardware minus their 480 x 320 screen resolution but if you think about it they dont even win in screen resolution, it might be a tie even though The Zune HD's resolution is 480 x 272 because the itouch's screen is 3.5 inch and The Zune HD's screen is 3.3 inch and that 0.2 inch less is where those 48 extra pixels went. For instance The Zune HD's screen is like the itouch's screen with your hand covering 0.2 inches of the itouch's screen, the actual pixels per square mm is the same, the screen is just slightly smaller for The Zune HD but the actual resolution is identical and how it looks! That would mean that The Zune HD beats the itouch in every category-but! only if they get apps which like I said before I'm 99% sure they will and if they have flash in their browser.

Also Dan the ******* said that no one would develop for Microsoft app store if they had one. People have been making games for the zune for a really long time so they already have a good amount of supportive programmers and Microsoft is going to port alot of apps from their mobile app store, sidebar and they're already working with people to make apps for the HD's launch. When the itouch launch they didn't even have an app store so Microsoft's Zune HD will have a quicker start out of the gate than Apple did causing for beter sales in the long run.

The Zune HD is better than the itouch in every way
Microsoft > apple
Zune HD > itouch

[1penydragon]

I think MS rushed the Zune HD to sell. I mean only the US can get a Zune? There are only about 9 apps total? That is a pretty pathetic way to start. You should start selling a product once it's impressive enough to make people want to buy it. We don't even know exactly when we are getting new apps. It's all very clueless on what is going to happen exactly in the future.

[Austin98989]

I have both ZUNE HD and IPOD TOUCH (3rd gen) And i use the ZUNE HD more

I think its better in my opinion tho!