The Dreaded Zune vs Ipod....

[Graham]

Go creative man, you can get a 8 gig micro photo for probably $100 or less now man. I have had mine for a long time and its been lovely.

[SadistAtHeart]

Well as long as you don't mind Zune Software/iTunes on your computer then they're both great choices.

The "Zune Software" is most likely Windows Media Player, which every Windows user already has.

No, there's an entire separate Zune player that's installed on your computer. It would make more sense if it use windows media player, rather than bloating your computer with useless apps.

http://www.zune.net/en-us/products/zunesoftware/download.htm

[Chariot]

The only thing about the Zune that seems good is the ability to share music with other zune users who are standing near you. However, it's fecking useless since the files are only temporary and nobody else on the face of the earth has a Zune.

I've had my iPod for a year and a half now and I love it. No problems with it, and I can get music from other peoples computers if I want...and not just temprarily, for good. Plus everyone has a computer, so it's pretty sweet.

[PapaSurf]

get the iPod.  I have never had problems with iTunes or my iPod (have had it for 2 years now).  I don't ever purchase my music or movies from iTunes, but it syncs them in just fine.  Also, since I think you're talking about the new 8 gig nano, the thing is just really small and compact.  Also, finding docks for iPod is a lot easier than Zune.

Zune is dumb anyways.  Lack of click-wheel scrolling is a real killer.

[ColonD]

Buy a Zen. Up to 32gig of space, plus external SD. I rarely have to charge the batteries.

The picture quality is also very good for vids and pics. Something like 16 million colours (?)

RESEARCH IT! It's one of the cheapest ones too. 3 year warranty with this one if you so choose.

[a-4-year-old]

I got a sansa clip, its very small, has a much better battery life than anything using a full color screen as well as fm radio, recording, and it is very compact and very cheap.

[Poke Master]

i have an ipod photo that i've had for at least three years now, probably going on 4 (well i had a replacement, but my mom got it for free).  For the most part it works great (nearing end of life though).

I'm not sure if this is what you were discussing before, but if you already use itunes, and have purchased music from it, it can only go onto an ipod and no other mp3 player.  same with the zune and its correlating store.  So if you've already purchased music online, you might want to try to stay with that vendor.

it all comes down to trying it and seeing what works for you (and price i suppose)

[jrgp]

I just checked out Amazon's online music store. From what I can see, they charge at most 99 cents for a song. When you buy a song from them, they give it to you in 256kb/s unprotected MP3, which works on every portable media player in existence.

Maybe you could consider Amazon if you want to buy songs instead of iTunes or Zune software, as both only work on one player.

If I were you, I'd go with an old iPod, only because they have huge drives and are able to install linux and games on them, which lets you play any type of music file on them.

If I didn't need these fancy little features and only wanted something to play music, I'd either go with a sansa or a creative zen.