The Switch

So I landed an iPod Classic 120GB. No, I did not purchase it; I won it at a recent event. At any rate, I've decided to give it a go for a while against my Zune 80. I've been using it for a few days now, and I've got some thoughts on it:

Good:
1) I got the black one, and it's pretty slick looking. Years of design have leant the iPod a great, almost natural feel in the hand.

2) The screen is the same resolution as the Zune's, though smaller, so it has a higher pixel-density. This makes everything look gorgeous.

3) iTunes integration is a thing of beauty for me. But do I really need to touch on that?

Bad:
1) No WiFi. This may not seem like a big deal to those who have never had it, but it sucks. I really liked having Zune Marketplace available in the week that I was actively using it.

2) Channels and The Social. I know iTunes has Genius (which is pretty cool to create playlists), but to have a professional DJ create a list that changes and syncs every week is awesome. To have a list of similar listeners and friends that you can see what they're listening to is even more awesome.

3) No subscription. Zune Pass is awesome on more levels than one. WiFi Marketplace, Channels, and The Social are all fully accessible without even plugging in for one price! I really think Microsoft is doing the subscription thing the right way this time. Rhapsody, Napster, and others have all had only flagging success, but The Social takes things to a whole new level.

4) The interface. I really love the "Crossbar" interface the Zune has. It's just more intuitive, in my opinion.

And there are more differences, mostly minor, between the two that I'm not going to dig into. In the long run, I'm not sure which player I'll stick with. While I like the Zune a bit more, 10 GB of dedicated hard drive space for Windows just to use it sucks. It's very tempting to nuke that virtual machine and just use iTunes. Time will tell, as will I in a future blog post.

I can now actually say both players are really nice, and I personally think the Zune edges out the iPod due to it's integration of WiFi and the Zune Pass. That's pretty impressive for someone who's only been in an iPod-dominated marketplace for a few years. Will it kill the iPod? No. Being a little better than the iPod isn't good enough. You have to redefine the arena. And Apple already did that with the iPhone/touch. I hope Microsoft continues with the Zune as it is a great product, but I don't know if it'll garner the market traction before it gets the axe. The question is, how long will Microsoft give it, and how much market share is enough?