The Microsoft Zune started off and remains an underdog in the Mp3 war. But once you get past the flashy advertising of the ipods which system is better for the value, and should anyone buy the Zune? And which of the Zunes should you buy.

When I bought my Zune it was two-hundred and fifty dollars which was no small amount of money for an mp3 player. It was a generation one that has so lovingly acquired the title of "the brick" for its large size (yes, like the old cell phones). It had thirty gigabytes of memory, which at the time was the largest amount on memory on an mp3 player. This was my major incentive in buying it, since I had a huge selection of music to put on it, including audio books. The other draw was the fm radio (which I have rarely used, but it's still nice to have). The drawbacks were, of course, that it was a Microsoft product and thereby has compatibility issues. Another issue was that of its size which is equal to about two ipod touches stacked on top of each other. Another drawback was that you couldn't use itunes with it and had to use the bogus Microsoft Zune software. I have seen both softwares and Zune's looks ten times better, but not many people put pod casts on the Zune marketplace, meaning that it is essentially impossible to get certain content (like the majority of band pod casts).

The Zune's set up is fairly good though, giving you play lists, several functions to shuffle through the music, lots of room for pictures and video, room for audio and video pod casts, and its large screen.

The newer Zunes have cut back on size and memory since the original "brick", but they all have the same features and use the same software, so if you have less music and pictures then they are good buys, but my favorite is still the "brick". The cuts in size also include a cut on the screen which can make watching video not nearly as fulfilling, but still better than not having video at all.

Now, in comparison to the plethora of ipods, the Zune conquers in storage but fails in size of device. It conquers most in screen size (except the touch and phone) but fails in not having availability to most pod casts and other downloadable content on itunes.

I recommend the Zune because of its large storage and the easy setup and layout. However I suggest that you go for the cheapest one and buy when it is on sale, since they tend to be pricier than the ipods.

Learn more about this author, Joshua Jones.
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