Can't decide between a Zune 80 and iPod Classic

[Aker]

I'm in the market for a new player and I really can't decide between the two. I'm just going to be running whatever I get unamped through SR60's. I've tried to do some research but I feel like no matter what I read, someone isn't giving me the real pros and cons of each device, because it seems like they are very opinionated towards one over the other. I don't really know if there is a better player out there with capacity such as this, but I figured for the price, these two are pretty good choices.

Here's hoping Head-Fi can help me.

 

[Arjun_Gandhi]

I shall try to be frank, if you have an ipod already, you probably do not want to switch (since transfering your entire library could be a pain). The ipod Classic has a few things going for it. First its an ipod (kinda obvious). Second, if you like itunes (which I do) everything is fairly seamless. Third is the capacity. The classic can go up to 160 gigs. My main problem with this is that the sound quality is inferior to the zune, plus I dont think the classic looks that nice with the metal face.

The zune is a great player as well. It has better sound quality and has more features like an FM tuner (I still like radio) etc. Also if you never used itunes and used primarily windows media player then the zune works great with it. Also there is the added benefit of not being like the entire world and owning what everybody else has (good if you like individuality). My main issue is that I am not a huge fan of zune software, and they dont have a 160 GB version. But that is just nitpicking.

Personally I think that you should play around with both and see which suits you better. It truly depends on the person. While I think the new zune is a great player, I would probably get the ipod purely because I like using itunes. But I know people who think otherwise.

In the end, I say if you already have an ipod (and are happy with it) stick with getting another ipod, if not well try the zune, and if you like it great; if not well then you know what you want.

 

[Amblin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjun_Gandhi /img/forum/go_quote.gif I shall try to be frank, if you have an ipod already, you probably do not want to switch (since transfering your entire library could be a pain). The ipod Classic has a few things going for it. First its an ipod (kinda obvious). Second, if you like itunes (which I do) everything is fairly seamless. Third is the capacity. The classic can go up to 160 gigs. My main problem with this is that the sound quality is inferior to the zune, plus I dont think the classic looks that nice with the metal face. The zune is a great player as well. It has better sound quality and has more features like an FM tuner (I still like radio) etc. Also if you never used itunes and used primarily windows media player then the zune works great with it. Also there is the added benefit of not being like the entire world and owning what everybody else has (good if you like individuality). My main issue is that I am not a huge fan of zune software, and they dont have a 160 GB version. But that is just nitpicking. Personally I think that you should play around with both and see which suits you better. It truly depends on the person. While I think the new zune is a great player, I would probably get the ipod purely because I like using itunes. But I know people who think otherwise. In the end, I say if you already have an ipod (and are happy with it) stick with getting another ipod, if not well try the zune, and if you like it great; if not well then you know what you want.

I wish reputation was enabled here. I agree whole-heatedly.

 

[Aker]

Thank you for your honesty on the subject, and a great reply. I would just be comparing both 80GB versions at this time. I've been trying to find information on battery life, and it seems like the iPod wins in that category by quite a bit. I've also heard the same, that the Zune edges it out in sound quality. As far as the software goes, while I'm not a big fan of iTunes, it seems like Apple has the better management software overall. Does anyone have information on hardware issues or the rate of problems in both players? I'm just wondering if one has proven to be more durable than the other, or if one has seemingly been prone to more issues.

Thanks again!

 

[sirnice]

I have both of these playcers and I like the sound of the classic better. The vocal (mids and highs) on the classic is the best of any player I'vd heard. It's very clean while the Zune has a fuller sound signature. Battery life on the classic is also ahead of the Zune80. They're both very good players. It's really down to feature and user interface. I still prefer the Classic on both.

 

[dhc0329]

No offenses to Ipod owners but after experiencing more 4 different HD MP3 players, I found the Ipod to be most inferior in SQ. It is just all about looks in my humble opnion. At times the distortion of bass response in high volume was just unbearable. I would defintely choose the Zune over Ipod for SQ but I didn't find Zune to be phyically attractive.

 

[tstarn06]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirnice /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have both of these playcers and I like the sound of the classic better. The vocal (mids and highs) on the classic is the best of any player I'vd heard. It's very clean while the Zune has a fuller sound signature. Battery life on the classic is also ahead of the Zune80. They're both very good players. It's really down to feature and user interface. I still prefer the Classic on both.

You have the Zune80 and the iPod Classic 80? I can't give any info on the Classic to the OP, but we do have the 5.5g 30GB in the house.

Just using my experience with a few DAPS (Creative Zen Vision M and Zen V, Zune80, Sony A816 and iPod 5.5g), I can say the Zune SQ is really the best of the lot (at least tied with the Sony). Now, no EQ is a little weird, and sometimes I wish I had the option. But if matched with the right phones (in my case, the SR-80s and Atrios work great, with no amp), the Zune sounds fantastic. I do wish that both of the DAPs I use had lineout capabilities, like the ZVM, but apparently Sony and MS are making it tough on third-party cable makers to deliver line out cables. Anyway, no shock. My vote is for the Zune.

Oh, on the software front. You can't use WMP11 with the Zune, only the Zune software, which is at vers. 2.3, recently upgraded. Still flaky, but more stable (tag issues have seemed to gotten better). Having said that, I never liked iTunes, way too much bloat and system resources used. But, as Arjun says, if you already have an extensive iTunes library, with DRM'd iTunes purchases, then stick with Apple. However, the Zune will play non-DRM AAC files.

 

[assumenot]

I personally went with the Zune 80 for the reports of better SQ, the larger screen and other things like FM tuner, customizable background (I'm a sucker for stuff like that) and full screen album art. I'm am a big fan of iTunes as well and it's probably the only thing that drew me towards the classic when choosing between the two. The Zune software is a bit buggy, but it is manageable. Overall I would recommend the Zune in all areas except battery life (the Z80 has good battery life, but the classic has gotten some crazy results) and desktop software.

If I were you I would download the Zune software and play around with it a bit to understand what you would be switching over to. It was a bit jarring for me at first. They are making improvements though.

Also, I am currently on my second Zune 80. My first one suffered a HD failure within the first 2 weeks.

 

[DesertInTheShape]

havent read the replies cause this is an easy one. IPOD CLASSIC. the zune software is horrible and ruins anything that the unit could be. DO NOT BUY A ZUNE--PERIOD!!!

 

[tstarn06]

Warning: Apple fanboy. Who, by the way, adds nothing to the OP's original question. This is the second place this person has posted this exact response regarding iPods vs. Zune. Totally worthless. Sure, pick one or the other. But no reason to make idiotic statements.

 

[coredump]

iTunes also has a pretty good library of TV shows and movies. I know most wont care about that but I find it nice to download some South Park before a long flight. I personaly like the earth tones and artwork on the Zune.

 

[Warhawk]

iPod Classic 80GB vs Microsoft Zune 80

Doesn't talk about sound quality, but it should still help a little.

 

[DesertInTheShape]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tstarn06 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Warning: Apple fanboy. Who, by the way, adds nothing to the OP's original question. This is the second place this person has posted this exact response regarding iPods vs. Zune. Totally worthless. Sure, pick one or the other. But no reason to make idiotic statements.

who me? ha. yes, this is MY second response to someone who had the same question...for your information i own a trekstor vibez chief. why is this worthless? because YOU own a zune. idiotic? lol.
i think the software IS the main issue regarding zune owners and buyers, hmmmm??? I have owned both a zune and an ipod and i can tell you that as far as audio is concerned the zune sounds grainy and hardly defined. there was no "bottom" as far as i am concerned. This was actually a gift I bought for my brother (i would never buy one for myself, EVER), and he said after hearing it "I think i need to get some new headphones cause these suck." Meaning, straight of the box, the audio sucks. bad. I'm not an apple fanboy CHIEF, i just bought an ipod two days ago to rockbox. SEE, with this ipod i can change the software. SOMETHING ZUNE SHOULD LOOK INTO. (although the classic cannot be rockboxed, apple still makes almost PERFECT software in ITUNES) let's be honest here, i like the way the zune looks, but that's as far as it goes. IN MY OPINION, the zune is a terrible buy BASED ON THE SOFTWARE ALONE. add to that the audio IS NOT on par with an ipod (NOT EVEN CLOSE TO A TREKSTOR VIBEZ), there are many more options besides a zune. I will make this statement a million times zunefanboy. no need to get so offended over your cheap toy. let's keep head-fi friendly, i offered my opinion, if you feel you need to call people names go somewhere else.
to the original poster, and to you, let's go into detail with a few software issues.
1) took me about 2 hours until the software finally came to realize my zune was hooked up. (i'm not a computer moron either, google it, this is a repeated issue with zune owners)
2) once it was hooked up took another 2 hours until it would let me put songs on it. (hard to explain, because YES it should be as easy as say "drag-n-drop", but it's zune) and this was not a human issue, this was a SOFTWARE ISSUE. plain and simple.
3) all of my songs were properly ID3 tagged. UNTIL i popped it into the zune. somehow my MILES DAVIS became my John Frusciante, and somehow I had three miles davis albums of the same name. amongst many other examples. COMPLETE disaster. I told my brother it was his problem and he had to deal with it. it would have taken who knows how long to figure out what the hell the software was doing. Basically there was NO fixing it. Changing id tags would only make things worse....
4) songs and albums would delete from the zune for no reason.
5) as songs became missing so did my patience. It became apparent that not only were songs missing, mistagged somehow by zune and other complete disasters, unplugging the zune and plugging it back in I found that it began to rename them again and take off even more songs.
all of this sounds unbelievable but it is true. read other horror stories using google. I am only trying to help by offering my honest opinion of this awful machine. I honestly would rather have ANY other mp3 player than the zune, let's leave apple out, just don't get a zune.

 

[soozieq]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesertInTheShape /img/forum/go_quote.gif I will make this statement a million times zunefanboy. no need to get so offended over your cheap toy. let's keep head-fi friendly, i offered my opinion, if you feel you need to call people names go somewhere else.

Do you see something wrong with the words in bold? You insult someone's dap by calling it a 'cheap toy', (while admitting you like how it looks) then you say 'let's keep head-fi friendly'? How's that going to happen with the post you just wrote?

As it happens, I agree about the Zune software, it's truly crap, very frustrating and unpredictable. It makes SonicStage look a peach. But I don't think it sounds bad at all. It just needs decent headphones - most daps don't sound good out of the box - except the latest Sony models, which surprisingly come with some decent-ish headphones for a change.

 

[tstarn06]

It was a worthless post because it was advice totally based on just one aspect of the Zune. Hey, you love iTunes, I think it sucks (for many reasons). And I have used it plenty (used to own an iPod Mini and use the latest version all the time with a 5.5g). But I wouldn't tell anyone not to buy an iPod under any circumstances because I don't like iTunes.

Saying the Zune sounds grainy, etc., may just be your objectivity being tainted by your obvious frustration and problems with Zune software. I never said the software was great. I just said it wasn't that big a deal (for some of us). The latest version fixes some problems (including some of the tagging issues you mentioned). It does create problems, but none that are so overwhelming that they make me (or apparently other Zune owners) send it back for a refund. I guess if you happen to be a fanatic over album art, tagging, etc., then it might make you nuts. Me, I just like good sound quality and the ability to get my songs on the DAP.

In fact, it sounds fantastic, and the screen and form factor are, for me at least, better than what Apple currently has to offer in an HD player. Sure, the Zune can't compete on video content (vis a vis iTunes), but that's not a concern for me.

You say you have owned both a Zune and an iPod, but then you say you bought a Zune for your brother. You owned it, or not? And why did you do that, considering your believe that iTunes is the perfect software.

Next, you said you owned an iPod, but then said you just bought one two days ago. iTunes software perfect? But you are not going to use it.

Anyway, I'm not saying the Zune is perfect. I just believe it's the better choice between it and iPod Classic 80GB. Your opinion of the software is fine, but your opinion of the SQ really is out there all alone for the most part.

Plus, your original opinion was friendly? Some people seem to like the Zune (just a bunch of morons, me included, I guess). Fact is, we have iPods at my house too, and when I listen to them, they don't sound as good as my Creative ZVM, my Sony DAP, or the Zune. If software is what the OP cares about most, great, maybe he should get an iPod. If it's SQ (and software that will get better in time, no doubt), then I believe the Zune is the right choice. Nothing more than that. But I would never tell him that under no circumstances should buy an iPod.

Guess I haven't suffered all of the pain you have in your Zune experience. There are some issues, no one denies that. But I guess all the Zune buyers out there must be just losers who love spending their time problem-solving. It just isn't that bad is the point. Too bad your experience was so traumatic.

You hit it right on the head. You would rather have any other DAP than the Zune. But some idiots, including me and apparently a lot of other who have purchased and kept their Zunes, don't really feel that way. Hard to believe? It's true.

You came out blasting, and when someone called you on it, you blasted again. Notice, I didn't need to use upper case to make a point. Keep it friendly? I guess you could have just outlined your problems, said you'd choose the iPod, and leave it at that. Instead, you made it sound like anyone who buys and keeps a Zune is a moron. Nice and friendly, right?

And please, don't call me CHIEF.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesertInTheShape /img/forum/go_quote.gif who me? ha. yes, this is MY second response to someone who had the same question...for your information i own a trekstor vibez chief. why is this worthless? because YOU own a zune. idiotic? lol. i think the software IS the main issue regarding zune owners and buyers, hmmmm??? I have owned both a zune and an ipod and i can tell you that as far as audio is concerned the zune sounds grainy and hardly defined. there was no "bottom" as far as i am concerned. This was actually a gift I bought for my brother (i would never buy one for myself, EVER), and he said after hearing it "I think i need to get some new headphones cause these suck." Meaning, straight of the box, the audio sucks. bad. I'm not an apple fanboy CHIEF, i just bought an ipod two days ago to rockbox. SEE, with this ipod i can change the software. SOMETHING ZUNE SHOULD LOOK INTO. (although the classic cannot be rockboxed, apple still makes almost PERFECT software in ITUNES) let's be honest here, i like the way the zune looks, but that's as far as it goes. IN MY OPINION, the zune is a terrible buy BASED ON THE SOFTWARE ALONE. add to that the audio IS NOT on par with an ipod (NOT EVEN CLOSE TO A TREKSTOR VIBEZ), there are many more options besides a zune. I will make this statement a million times zunefanboy. no need to get so offended over your cheap toy. let's keep head-fi friendly, i offered my opinion, if you feel you need to call people names go somewhere else. to the original poster, and to you, let's go into detail with a few software issues. 1) took me about 2 hours until the software finally came to realize my zune was hooked up. (i'm not a computer moron either, google it, this is a repeated issue with zune owners) 2) once it was hooked up took another 2 hours until it would let me put songs on it. (hard to explain, because YES it should be as easy as say "drag-n-drop", but it's zune) and this was not a human issue, this was a SOFTWARE ISSUE. plain and simple. 3) all of my songs were properly ID3 tagged. UNTIL i popped it into the zune. somehow my MILES DAVIS became my John Frusciante, and somehow I had three miles davis albums of the same name. amongst many other examples. COMPLETE disaster. I told my brother it was his problem and he had to deal with it. it would have taken who knows how long to figure out what the hell the software was doing. Basically there was NO fixing it. Changing id tags would only make things worse.... 4) songs and albums would delete from the zune for no reason. 5) as songs became missing so did my patience. It became apparent that not only were songs missing, mistagged somehow by zune and other complete disasters, unplugging the zune and plugging it back in I found that it began to rename them again and take off even more songs. all of this sounds unbelievable but it is true. read other horror stories using google. I am only trying to help by offering my honest opinion of this awful machine. I honestly would rather have ANY other mp3 player than the zune, let's leave apple out, just don't get a zune.