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zune vs ipod

Zune is the product-line brand name for the Zune portable media players, Zune software, and Zune Marketplace services sold by Microsoft, which provide online music, video, and podcast downloads.

Zune VS iPod

iPod is the brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Inc. and launched on October 23, 2001 (2001-10-23). The product line-up includes the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the video-capable iPod Nano, and the compact iPod Shuffle.

So, which is better about Zune and iPod? Compare these two phones in three aspects, hardware, software and their performance. You can easily find the answer.

Zune vs iPod

1. Hardware:

The price and storage memory is what user concern most. For Zune $249 120 GB is the same as iPod. Screen Size of the Zune is 3.2", but iPod is only 2.5". The Zune weighs less than the iPod. So I think iPhone win in this round.

2. Software:

Zune have the ablity to sync wirelessly to your computer.  You can share songs between other Zunes. Even download media from the marketplace when in a WiFi hotspot. Which the iPod can not. What I believe Microsoft did well to put in is this one.

3. The performance:

As a media player, the Zune software supports the following formats - for audio: MP3, AAC (.aac, .mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov), WMA; for video: MPEG4 (in .mp4, .m4v and .mov containers), H.264, WMV (.wmv), ASF (.asf); and for still images: JPEG (.jpg).

The iPod supports audio file formats including MP3, AAC/M4A, Protected AAC, AIFF, WAV, Audible audiobook, and Apple Lossless, can additionally play MPEG-4 and QuickTime video formats, iPod Photo introduced the ability to display JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, and PNG image file formats.

Lets get a conversation going around this following table, it is really easy to find which one is better.

 Category Zune iPod
Vendor Microsoft Apple
Price  $249 $249
Storage 120 GB 120 GB
Weight 4.5 ounces 4.9 ounces
Screen Size 3.2" 2.5"
Video out (TV) 720x576 640x480
Wi-Fi yes no
Wireless Sync yes no 
Portrait Mode yes yes 
Online Service Zune Marketplace  iTunes
Social Networking  yes no 
Compatibility  PC Mac, PC
Colors black, red silver, Black
Support formats
MP3 yes yes
DIVX no no
iTunes (Protected)  no yes
AAC yes yes
WMA yes no
AIFF no yes
WAV (uncompressed) no yes
WMV (Video) yes no
MPEG-4 (Video) yes yes
H.264 (Video) yes yes
JPEG (Photos) yes yes

Conclusion

These are some of the big differences between the devices, as you can see when it comes down to Zune vs iPod. Zune dominates the iPod on almost every front. So, comparing the Zune to iPod can help you made right choice.

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