Ipod Video vs Zune

Ok, I had a chance to play with both of these in a 24 hour period. My nephew got a Zune, and I went and got a iPod. Why the iPod? The accessories! Everyone makes something that fits or plugs into an iPod. Zune might catch up...but that is another story.

Okay, just so we all know - this is not a Ford vs Chevy thing. I did not already have a strong feeling in either camp.

I hate both!

What I dislike about both - I don't like the "use our library software" approach that both of the system use. With Zune you have a choice, you can use the ZUNE software or the latest version of Windows Media Player to move stuff. I know its needed if you want all the MP3 tag info and seach features, but if you don't it would be nice to drag and drop to drive X:

You see, my view is tainted in that I already have more content than 30gig! I'm already organized, I have a folder called MP3, it has sub folders like Madonna, which in turn has a subfolder for each LP/CD. I'd love to have been able to drag and drop the Madonna folder and all her stuff is appropriately arranged.

I have used other companies stuff, such as the Archos Multimedia Jukebox (20 gig) for the last 4 years! Its does mp3, video and such, just like these guys, just smaller screen and more weight. But it basically a portable hard drive that you select the contents and it plays it!

If I was new to this whole thing and was going to start ripping my own CDs or just started downloading...then starting nice and organized is great and the way to go.

Also, having to convert everything to either WMV (Zune) or MP4 (iPod), is a chore.
I downloaded like 500 "iPod ready" mp4's via bittorrent stuff, and yeah there ready, but it still takes forever to move the file over via iTunes.

What I like about Zune: it does have a good size screen
What I like about iPod: it does have a nice formfacter size (physical dimensions)

I am hoping my iPod does have nice battery life.

Now for Christmas, I was able to get my daughter a 30gig MP3 player, from Creative for $89 (an offical factory refurb from Fry's). There are 512K MP3 players out there that cost more than this. Its about the size of the Zune. It also use the library system, so that is nice, as she is a beginner and doesn't know every artist, genre, and such, so the category search helps here find what she wants out of the initial 2000 songs I loaded her up with.

She already had a 1 gig "noname IpodNano clone", that does video and mp3, but it got the headphone jack kind of 'whacked' so its got small issue, but it plugs into my new car stereo perfectly (USB harddrive style, not Library style) and I can play all the mp3 content through my car stereo. I'm going to see if I get to keep it in car, otherwise if I can fix the jack, then I'll convert it to all videos, so she have he big MP3 player and her little Video player.

My recommendation:
If your new to the whole MP3/Video thing, I would have to recommend the iPOD if you want accessories! If you are flying solo and just need the player and headphones, then the Zune does look nicer for watching on a bigger screen.

BUT, if you want a bigger screen the ARCHOS media players (starting at $299) seem to have a much bigger screen, but I have researched what video file formats it likes.

Whatever you get, you'll need to find a video conversion program to preconvert most of your content. I was able to download a BUNCH of Codecs though and the Zune seems to being doing a nice job of converting and moving itself, just REAL SLOW!