Steve, my fellow Blue Tech blogger, has made it quite clear that he is an Apple fan with his reviews of both the iPhone and the iPod Touch. I myself am a Microsoft maniac, which is why my computer is a PC, and my MP3 player is the newest Zune HD Platinum by Microsoft.
It is no secret that Microsoft and Apple compete as number one and two in many categories, and MP3 players are no exception. Apple’s iPod Touch and Microsoft’s Zune are constantly battling for the top spot in MP3 sales, a fight that Apple is currently winning. Now that Steve has reviewed the iPod Touch, allow me to introduce the Zune HD Platinum. While Steve will ultimately side with the iPod Touch and I with the Zune, our goal here is not to convince you to side with either of us, but to help you make an informed purchase. With that in mind, I will evaluate Microsoft’s Zune HD next to Apple’s iPod Touch, but I will emphasize the Zune’s features, as Steve has already reviewed the Touch. Let’s cut to the chase.
The Zune HD and iPod Touch clearly set the bar high for MP3 players, but which one’s better?
The answer is, it depends.
Performance
Let’s face it, guys—performance is what we shell out $200 for when buying our new MP3 players. That said, the Zune HD delivers like never before, representing a major improvement over previous versions with its powerful, 512MB N-VIDIA Tegra processor and vibrant 3.3”/16:9 wide-screen OLED display. For all of you non-techies out there, what this means for you is blazing fast response times, wide viewing angles, exceptional color reproduction, outstanding contrast levels, and a large brightness range. OLED technology is the holy grail of TV technology, lending itself to the extremely thin and lightweight design of the Zune. Whether you are watching regular old podcasts or full length movies on Zune Marketplace, video on the Zune HD is an absolute pleasure. Compared to the iPod Touch’s display, the Zune’s screen is .2” smaller, but the Touch’s LCD technology is primitive next to OLED. In short, OLED makes all the difference here with its enhanced resolution. And while the Touch supports more video formats (e.g. wmv, avi, mpg4) than the Zune, with a display like the Zune’s, you’ll learn to deal with this shortcoming.
The Zune HD's battery life is superior to the iPod Touch’s with its 33 hours of audio playback and 8.5 hours of video compared to the Touch’s 30 hours of audio and 7 hours of video (on a single charge). As a previous owner of the iPod Touch and a current owner of the Zune HD, I can confidently tell you that there is minimal difference in sound quality between the two. The only discernable difference is that the maximum volume on the iPod Touch is a few clicks higher than the Zune’s. Both devices feature EQ presets to adjust sonic qualities such as treble, bass, balance, but the Touch has a wider range of adjustable settings. The average listener never even touches these presets, but a more music-savvy listener may derive tremendous satisfaction from finding the perfect combination of EQ settings.
Overall, this was not much of a contest, as there is currently no compact display technology superior to the Zune’s 720p hi-def OLED. The Zune takes this round hands down.
Zune 1, Touch 0
Physical Design
The Zune HD’s anodized aluminum body is sleek and sexy.
To all of you who were turned off by the original Zune’s hideous, brick-like design, you will no longer be disappointed. The Zune HD has a sexy and slender body as thin as the iPod Touch (0.3”), and it is smaller than the iPod Touch (4”X 2” vs. 4.3” X 2.4”). The best part of the Zune’s new look is its anodized aluminum body, which gives the Zune a futuristic, “Star Trekkish” look. Interestingly, the aluminum construction also allows the Zune to be 1.5 ounces lighter than the iPod Touch, whose chrome steel casing is not only heavier, but attracts major scratches and smudging. Users seeking a device with a solid, durable feel will be happy to know that the Zune has a glass covered screen more impervious to damage than the Touch’s soft screen.
Like the Touch, the Zune is a touch-screen device, so the majority of control lies on the screen. The device has a power/hold button on the top left corner, a home button akin to the Touch’s main button (below the screen), and a side button for quick access to on-screen playback and volume controls. This last button is a mystery to me! Why wouldn’t Microsoft make the button a dedicated volume control like Apple did with the Touch? Talk about making it harder for owners. The lack of a dedicated volume control button on the Zune means that it is virtually impossible to adjust the volume without taking the player out of your pocket. This is a MAJOR inconvenience.
This was definitely a close one, but the Zune gets the nod here because of the host of advantages accompanying its aluminum body, including reduced weight and scratching potential.
Zune 2, Touch 0
Media Playback Experience
Since Blue Tech’s focus this week is on the MP3 player, I want to focus on features specifically related to media playback that I feel set the Zune apart from the Touch.
From Left: Home Screen, Pins and History, Now Playing, HD Radio
1. With the iPod Touch, navigating to a certain album, artist, or song requires multiple swipes and taps of the screen. However, on the Zune, you can pin favorites on the home screen, be they specific albums, playlists, podcasts, or videos. This allows a user to avert multiples menus and submenus to reach a specific destination on the device. In a world where speed and convenience are everything, this is an excellent feature. One of the most frustrating things about the iPod Touch is that it requires several taps to get to a specific destination, and once you exit that destination for the home screen, you have to tap away again to return to where you were. With the Zune, you simply pin the desired destination to the home screen, and with a single tap, you’re there. On a related note, on the Zune’s home screen, there is a History tab that displays what you’ve been doing most on the device (analogous to a “Recent Calls” tab on a cell phone), so you can quickly get back to where you go most.
2. These days, most MP3 players allow you to sort music by artist, album, song, genre, and playlist, and the Zune is no exception. However, in the past year, Microsoft has been investing heavily in digital enhancement of the Zune’s listening experience by designing software preloaded with biographical information, discography, artist images, and more. This new software sets the Zune apart from the Touch and other MP3 players by redefining the user experience with a given artist, album, or song. When playing a given song, the Zune displays in the background a hi-definition slideshow of the song’s artist. Taking a step back, even before you choose to play a specific song, when you select an artist, a list of their albums set against a background photo of the artist, along with tabs offering biographical information, additional photos, and a list of related artists appears. What is so special about all of this? ALL OF THESE ELEMENTS ARE PULLED OFFLINE DIRECTLY FROM SOFTWARE PRELOADED ON THE ZUNE. If the Zune HD is connected to the internet, the Zune will allow you to view an artist's entire album collection and download it all instantly via Microsoft's Zune Pass (for a flat rate of $14.99 for unlimited downloads.) In stark contrast to the Zune, the iPod Touch can only display album covers or artist images if the user physically loads them onto the device. To make a long story short, the listening experience is dynamic on the Zune, while it is rather bland on the Touch.
3. Microsoft has always been the industry leader when it comes to offering radio in its MP3 players, and it still is. Microsoft has added HD radio broadcasts to the Zune’s existing FM radio tuner, which deliver premium sound quality and allow Zune HD users to instantly view information on the song currently playing and tag it for download. The Touch does not come with a FM tuner, although you can download third-party online radio applications. However, these applications require an internet connection, which is often unavailable.
These three features put the Zune in a league apart from the Touch and other MP3 players in the realm of media playback. This should come as no surprise, however, given that the iPod Touch’s mass appeal is largely attributable to its third-party applications and web browsing rather than its media playback functionality.
Zune 3, Touch 0
Room for Improvement
Currently, two main features keep Apple’s iPod Touch ahead of the Zune in the market for MP3 players. These are the Touch’s web browser and third-party applications.
While the Zune HD's web browser is similar to the Touch’s Safari browser with its tilt sensor to orient pages in portrait or landscape views and its finger-pinching zoom feature, the Zune’s browser does not support Flash content. This seriously cripples the web browsing experience by denying users access to popular videos sites such as YouTube or Hulu. The Zune’s browser also lacks the auto-fill, copy-and-paste, and multiple window browsing capabilities that made the Touch’s Safari web browser revolutionary.
Zune 3 Touch 1
Then there are the third-party applications on the iPod Touch. Arguably, the tens of thousands of “apps” downloadable directly to the iPod Touch from Apple’s App Store singlehandedly make the device the most highly functional MP3 player on the market. The Zune HD has a few built-in applications, including calculator, weather, and games, but it does not even have social networking apps like Twitter and Facebook, let alone any of the thousands of other apps offered on the Touch. The now common aphorism that goes something like, “The Touch has an app for everything” is not unfounded. The Touch literally does have an app for almost everything, including a radar detector that detects police surveillance devices when driving and a mood monitor that measures key determinants of the user’s mood via visual and audible expressions. These are just a few of the fascinating apps offered on the Touch. Others include Stanza, a book reader that grabs free titles from public domains, and Shazam, an app that identifies song titles when the user holds the Touch up to a speaker playing the unknown tune. How do you beat these applications? Microsoft has to be asking itself the same question. Apple’s third-party apps are all that stand in Microsoft’s way to the top of the MP3 player market. Unfortunately for Microsoft, these apps may be the only feature it cannot replicate.
Zune 3 Touch 2
Putting it all Together
At the end of the day, the Zune HD is a powerful media player more than anything else, redefining the media playback experience with its built-in music information database and high definition OLED display. It is not an iPod Touch, which is less an MP3 player and more like a laptop notebook with its focus on web browsing and applications. Microsoft and Apple clearly have different visions with their MP3 players, and they attract different types of customers.
The final score is Zune-3, Touch-2. Keep in mind, however, that this score emphasizes media playback as the primary benefit of MP3 players and does not reflect an exhaustive list of criteria. I chose to use a scoring system in this review because of feedback I received from readers requesting one. When deciding which one is for you, ask yourself the following question: Will I use my MP3 player primarily for listening to music and watching videos? If your answer is “yes,” get the Zune. If not, the Touch may be the better option for you, as it can do everything else better than the Zune.
Information Before you Buy
I wanted to focus on the user experience in this review, so I deliberately did not list all of the Zune HD’s specs or post a slideshow of images. All of this information, including available colors and memory quantities, are available on the Zune HD's Official Website. For similar information on Apple’s iPod Touch, also check out its official website here. If you’re hard-pressed for time and want to see a simple comparison chart between the Zune HD and the iPod Touch, check out the Zune vs. iPod Comparison Chart, courtesy of ZuneScene.com.
Thanks for reading, everyone. Please leave comments! I love hearing from you guys.
Your Blue Tech blogger,
Nabeel
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