Zune vs iPod. Is either of them all that?

Lot’s of press lately about the Zune player from Microsoft. Is it an iPod killer? Maybe if you throw them at each other from a distance of six feet or more. What about features? OK then, let’s talk about what is known about the Zune…

Brown as a color choice: Hey, it comes in black and white as well. I wouldn’t choose brown myself, but I guess it tested well. I don’t choose a DAP based on color as I don’t see it as a fashion accessory. Want to color coordinate? Go to Macy’s

Zune DRM: Different from the Plays4Sure DRM that MS pushed as a standard against Apple’s as yet unlicensed FairPlay DRM. So far, I’ve haven’t heard any other companies that have been offered a Zune license. How else can it be seen but as creating a new standard apart from what MS was pushing before? Apple is guilty of this as well. No one else gets to play in the sandbox. We’ll see if MS allows anyone else to use it. If I had licensed Plays4Sure, I would be miffed to say the least.

Switching from the iPod to Zune: Lots of speculation, with little officially said. My guess (and that’s all it is) is that MS might allow some iTunes purchased songs to be re-downloaded as Zune tunes with their own DRM. For people that have hundreds or thousands of iTunes purchased songs (why you would have that much bought without using some kind of method of converting to a non-DRM format is beyond me), you’ll probably be out of luck. We’ll see how MS plays it.

Size of the Zune vs an iPod: Both of these are small. A 1/8 to 1/4 inch difference is really no difference to most users.

Screen size: The Zune is said to have a 3-inch screen vs the 2.5-inch screen of the iPod. Both suck as a means of watching videos. I haven’t read what the resolution for Zune movies will be (assuming they’ll sell them out of the Zune store), so it’s tough to make a comparison of how they’ll look with a Zune player outputting to another display. Apple is now using 640 x 480. They call it near DVD quality. I wouldn’t, but Apple does.

iTunes vs the Zune Store: All speculation so no comparison can be made.

Ease of use: All speculation so no comparison can be made.

For those who remember that far back, Apple originally made the iPod for Mac users only. The smartest thing they did was to go cross-platform with the device (with iTunes as well) and open it up to the other 90% of computer users. I would love to try a different player, but few of them work with the Mac and almost none of the stores do. Apple did it right for iPod users to use whatever OS (well, outside of Linux) they preferred and have the same experience. Hopefully either Zune or someone else will do the same