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September 17, 2009 3:02 PM PDT
Spec to spec: Zune HD versus iPod Touch
(Credit:
CNET)
If the MP3 player market was a fault line, we'd have a boatload of busy seismographs on our hands. Certainly, two of the most exciting releases of the past couple weeks are the new iPod Touch and the Zune HD. Now, if you're curious how the two devices compare with one another, you could always read the deluge of articles available on CNET and around the Web, but we can certainly see how that might be a bit overwhelming. Soon enough, we'll pit the two players head-to-head in a knock-down, drag-out brawl (aka Prizefight). In the meantime, we've created a purely technical spec-to-spec comparison chart to tide you over.
| Zune HD | iPod Touch | |
| Capacity | 16GB/32GB | 8GB/32GB/64GB |
| Price | $219/$289 | $199/$299/$399 |
| Colors | Platinum, black, red, green, blue | Black/silver |
| Dimensions | 4x2.1x0.4 inches | 4.3x2.4x0.33 inches |
| Weight | 2.6 ounces | 4 ounces |
| Audio battery life | 33 hours (est.) | 30 hours (est.) |
| Video battery life | 8.5 hours (est.) | 6 hours (est.) |
| Screen type | Glass-covered full-color OLED display | Glass-covered full-color LED screen |
| Screen size | 3.3 inches | 3.5 inches |
| Screen resolution | 480x272 pixels | 480x320 pixels |
| Software | Zune Software and Marketplace | iTunes |
| Online music | Yes, 5-million DRM-free tracks available (MP3) | Yes, more than 11-million DRM-free tracks available (AAC) |
| Subscription music | Yes, $14.99/month | No |
| Online video | Yes, TV shows, movies, music videos, and vodcasts | Yes, TV shows, movies, music videos, and vodcasts |
| Video rental | Yes, movie rentals for 320 Microsoft points (about $3.99) | Yes, movie rentals for $2.99 (library titles) and $3.99 (new releases) |
| Wireless | 802.11b/g, Web browser, Wi-Fi downloading, Wi-Fi syncing | 802.11b/g, Web browser, Wi-Fi downloading, A2DP Bluetooth |
| Text input | Onscreen QWERTY keypad; multitouch | Onscreen QWERTY keypad; multitouch |
| PIM functions | None | Syncs calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes |
| Audio formats | MP3, WMA, WMA DRM, WMA Pro, WMA Lossless, AAC | MP3, AAC, AAC+, MP3, Apple Lossless, AIFF, WAV |
| Photo formats | JPEG | JPEG |
| Video formats | WMV, HD WMV, MPEG-4, H.264, DVR-MS, HD MPEG-4 (with auto transcode) | H.264, MPEG-4 |
| Video output | HDMI or composite (accessory needed) | 480p and 576p component TV out (accessory needed) |
| Podcast support | Yes | Yes |
| Audiobook support | Audible 4, Overdrive | Audible 2, 3, 4 |
| EQ options | None, accoustic, classical, electronic, hip-hop, jazz, pop, rock | Flat, acoustic, bass booster, bass reducer, classical, dance, deep, electronic, hip-hop, jazz, latin, loudness, lounge, piano, R&B, rock, small speakers, spoken word, treble booster, treble reducer, vocal booster |
| FM radio | Yes, with HD Radio and preset slots | No |
| Recording options | No | Voice recording, line-in recording (accessory needed) |
For more than five years, Jasmine France has covered a variety of tech products for CNET--from scanners to keyboards to GPS devices--but she's happiest where she is now: sitting atop a pile of MP3 players, "testing" every music service known to man, and jamming a variety of earbuds in every shape and color into her absurdly small ears. E-mail Jasmine.
Donald Bell is an electronic musician, a veteran record store employee, and a fearless hardware hacker. He's also CNET's Senior Editor for MP3 and digital audio.
Jasmine France is CNET's resident digital audio doyenne, writing and editing product reviews, crave blogs, and feature stories on all things MP3. And if you need advice on headphones, she's your girl.
In my opinion, the knockout punch that lands the zune is first place is the breathtaking software. A friend of mine once said, "wow, you sure know alot about music" and I replied, "no, I use the zune software."
So true. I was trying to make this point to someone on the gdgt Zune HD discussion forum, and the guy just wasn't getting it. There's much more to the music experience than "they both play songs."
The Zune software does have smart playlists. I believe they're called auto playlists though.
Actually, it's called Smart DJ, and it runs similarly to Pandora Radio in that it pulls in music from the cloud. And unlimited skips!
That is, if you have the Zune Pass. But with that said, you MUST get a Zune Pass subscription if you get a Zune, since as he said, it's like Pandora, but unlimited skips and unlimited downloads!! AMAZING!
@ace - yes, pandora is a great setup, but it has some specific limitations that the zune subscription pass doesn't - first and foremost, it only streams, where as smart dj will actually download to your mp3 player for use when you don't have internet. I think there are some other disadvantages to pandora radio, but I don't use it, I'm not quite up to speed on all the details.
All MS has to do is advertise this a bit, then it'll take off! Also, pre-install Zune into Windows :D
I already know the Zune HD is better but it's just the ipod zombies that fail to admit that.
I am sorry, but for the price, you can do alot more things on an iPod touch than you can a zune HD. In addition, the zune HD will (if it ever gains a store) have an extremely limited number of applications and why? Because noone wants to develop for a player that less than 1.5% of the market uses. They would rather develop for a market that already has 60%+ market share, because it would make them more than 10 times the profit.
Hardware-wise, the zune is good. Feature-wise, the iPod touch is sooo much better.
you are clearly ignorant of the fact that people do develop apps for zunes.
it is not set up the same way as ipoo's, but they still exist.
i personally use an alarm clock app on my zune every day
Give it some time. Once MS puts some good games on the Zune and leverages its xbox 360 base, it might start gaining share.
Really? 74.1%? I thought iPod was over 80% before; so what happened?
(yeah, I know...it's called the iPhone...just couldn't resist getting a dig in).
You are clearly ignorant of the fact that I never said that people don't develop for the zune. In an attempt to get back on track, I will clearly state to you what I said, quote:
"the zune HD will (if it ever gains a store) have an extremely limited number of applications"
Do you read anywhere in that line that I said people never develop for the zune? I don't think so.
And if you think that you have it great because your zune comes with something as simple as an alarm clock, then you don't know what you are missing out on.
@Ducttape36,
Quality vs quantity? Are you joking? Last time I checked, the zune browser was god awful for browsing the internet. You call that quality? Oh wait, of course you would, I realized that zune fans are freaking out over something that iPods have had for years. And last time I checked, my iPod was better quality than my friend's zune, who after using it for about a year, said that she hated it, and bought an iPod instead. My other friend's 1st gen screen broke. Not only that, but he suffered an incredibly ridiculous "leap year" bug. Good quality? Think again.
@all of you
Do you seriously think that over time, zune will gain a large marketplace? Like hell! I will be surprised if zune's app store ever gets 500 apps. The reason for my reasoning is this: People who wanted smart-PMPs already got it 2 years ago. Not only that, but the iPhone is was built for a phone as well, meaning it penetrates more customers. There is no zune phone, winmo apps are not compatible, and the zune market share will plummet after MS discontinues their other zunes. Sorry folks, but in real life, the zune has not succeeded, and will probably not succeed, unless MS does something absolutely stunning. Knowing microsoft, they have always been followers, so I do not see a positive change for the future of the zune brand.
Its not as simple to simply say one is better than the other, but rather look at what each one is best at. Zune, in my opinion, is a great music device with great sound quality that beats the iPod, and with a strong focus on music discovery through use of their Zune Pass. Its weak point is the lack of a huge game library and utility applications, and without the Zune Pass, the Zune is just a music/video playback device.
The iPod Touch is a great all-purpose device with a great emphasis on games and utility applications. Its essentially a PDA/mini-computer that allows you to find an app for most any of your uses. And it plays music! Its weakness, however, is a lack of new music discovery, since you essentially need to buy albums to listen to new music. Sure, the Pandora app alleviates this problem somewhat, but that feature isn't integrated with the software.
Each device is best for a specific audience: hardcore music fans will enjoy the Zune's ability to have an all-you-can-eat music buffet at an affordable price, though they (currently) must give up the use of many apps. iPod Touch users gain the large library of apps and games to use/play, but finding new music is not as easy, and more expensive if they plan on buying those albums and end up not liking them.
I love my Zune, but as a tech/spftware guy, I can see why an iPod Touch is attractive. To each their own.
You're not as smart as you think.
The lead-in graphic gets close though.
iTunes is known, KNOWN, to be a terrible program. And it's design is even worse.
the specs mean nothing
the software is what makes the difference
the zune is a well designed piece of hardware and has a great UI {although a bit form over function}
it still lags behind the ipod touch in features and capbilities
forget the app store and the accesories market
lets talk about the apps that come bundled with the device
on the touch you have a mail app, a faster web browser with multiple page support, rss feed reader
google maps app, a calendaring app with great UI etc
the ipod touch is more of a PDA type of device with internet and Media capabilities
while the Zune HD is completely a media centric device
the internet capabilities are laughfable at best
a single page web browser? what are we in the 80s !
Just saying...
Does the iTouch have an always on connection to the net? If not, how important can any of these apps really be?
a woman wrote this, what do you expect beetch?
do you understand what I mean? LOL?!
*insert sexist remark here*
Also makes me wonder what happened to Origami......anybody remembe that?
Jasmine - you "forgot" the most important feature: the number of apps available... 80,000 vs 9
Another feature you might want to mention is the # of videos available on itunes
It is clear who the winner in the applications aspect is. Regardless of whether or not you believe that Zune HD should be exempt of comparison based on its new release, it is a factor that must be considered; it is a first generation device that has yet to see the fruition in this area.
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by BCF1968
September 18, 2009 5:31 AM PDT
- Supported video formats
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by Rod Roddy
September 18, 2009 9:01 AM PDT
- Archos 5 is cool, but it's a niche market. By far for a true gadget-head...with deep pockets ;-)
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by Brent212
September 18, 2009 1:50 PM PDT
- @Rod Roddy:
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Showing 1 of 4 pages (161 Comments)Zune HD
WMV, HD WMV, MPEG-4, H.264, DVR-MS, HD MPEG-4 (with auto transcode)
Apple Ipod Touch
H.264, MPEG-4
Nuff said. To be honest I'd rather get an Archos 5 Android over these 2.
I agree about the niche market thing, but deep pockets? I saw the previous model (regular Archos 5, no Android) with 250 GB for something like $230 on amazon recently. You can get the new model with 160 GB for $330. That's $70 less than the 64 GB ipod touch. More storage for less doesn't strike me as something that's reserved for people with deep pockets.