Jul 21 2008

I've always been an iPod sort of girl, but when a friend of mine whipped out his Zune at a recent barbecue, I felt a twinge of jealousy. A 3.2-inch screen? Wireless syncing? Awesome wallpapers? I was a little speechless. This realization made me wonder if there was a superior device of the two. Could a Zune really KO my iPod ?

I thought I should compare both the 80GB iPod classic and the 80GB Zune for this post, trying to level the playing field as much as I could. To see the pros and cons of each device, just read more.

80GB iPod Classic

Pros:

  • Holds up to 20,000 songs or up to 100 hours of video
  • 30-hour battery life for song playback, five hours for video playback
  • Compact and thin at .41 inches thick
  • 2.5-inch color LCD screen
  • Works with iTunes on either your Mac or PC

Cons:

  • Comes in silver and black only
  • No options for custom or specialty wallpapers

80GB Zune
Pros:

  • Holds up to 20,000 songs, or 250 hours of video
  • 3.2-inch color screen
  • Touch pad makes scrolling through your media a breeze
  • Wireless syncing and sharing to other Zune users
  • FM transmitter allows you to tune in to local stations (or those radio programmed TVs at the gym)
  • Customize your Zune with engravings and wallpapers

Cons:

  • Comes in red and black
  • Glass screen
  • For PC only

Results:
Since the Zune and the iPod classic both come with a $250 price tag, and have similar capacity, it comes down to customization and compatibility. Although the Zune wins points for being so customizable – with downloadable wallpapers to trick out your device, the iPod has to take the title for being compatible with both Mac and PC users, since the Zune only functions in a Windows environment.

Which one do you sport – iPod or Zune?