Zune HD vs iPod Touch

Just a relatively quick comparison between my Zune HD and the iPod Touch (2nd gen).  More information to follow sometime later.

• The OLED screen on the Zune HD is amazing. It is quite bright, and very vibrant. When I held my ZHD up to my Touch, the display on the Touch looked, well, pathetic. It hadn't ever been so obvious how much backlight seeps through until I compared it to a device without a backlight. And as a result of the backlight, colors on the iPod look very washed out and poorly rendered when compared to to the Zune. One quick photo to compare below… The original is on the left, Zune HD’s rendering in the middle, and iPod Touch on the right.
  
  
  
  I played with the camera settings to get a better image from the Touch, and I couldn’t do it.  Its display just isn’t very good.  I’ll be posting more pictures later.
  
• Brightness on the OLED is NOT a problem. At equivalent brightness levels (the Zune only has Low, Mid, and High to choose from) the Zune's display is at least as bright as the iPod's. The real plus side for the Zune is that picture quality doesn’t deteriorate at lower brightness levels like it does on LCD.  So you can comfortably use the Low setting and it doesn’t detract from the experience.
  
  In direct sunlight the Zune is a bit harder to see.  But the difference wasn’t huge, and who attempts to use their device with sunlight falling right on it?
  
• I have been trying for several days to take a picture that shows a decent comparison shot. But none come out quite right. The white balance of the two displays is quite different (ZHD tracks in at D6500, while the iPod Touch is closer to D5000), so either the iPod's display looks yellow, or the Zune's display looks blue when they are in the same shot. And for some reason the Zune's display shows up a little bit blurry in pictures, which I can't explain. When you see the display IRL it is extremely crisp and sharp.
  
• The Apps on the Zune don't even begin to compare to those on the iPod Touch. iPod wins hands down here.  Microsoft promises more apps later, and they will be free, but they’ll never catch up to where the iPod Touch/iPhone App Store is.
  
• The browser on the Zune is better than expected. It is a hair sluggish while a page is loading, but once the page is loading the Zune zooms and pans a lot faster than the iPod. Page rendering is fine, but it seems like a substantial number of web sites are serving up their mobile version to the Zune where they serve the full version to the iPod, so direct comparisons aren't really possible. On sites that serve the full version, though, the Zune page rendering seems fine. One obvious lacking on the Zune is that only one page can be open at a time. It doesn't attempt to mimic the multi-page capability of the Touch.
  
• The user interface on the Zune is much snappier and responsive than that of the iPod Touch. Where the iPod is rendering page transitions at roughly 10 frames per second, the Zune is easily doing 30 fps or more. Scrolling on the Zune is also at least 30 fps, where the iPod is less. The iPod Touch never really felt at all sluggish to me until I compared it to the Zune's interface.
  
• The experience of listening to music on the Zune is WAY better than the iPod Touch. Between having a more logical and flexible layout of the menu structure for finding music, and the additional features that MS has added to link between artists and provide information (and photos) about the artists in your collection, the Zune provides a much more pleasing experience. And these features are available without the Zune Pass subscription. If you add the Zune Pass subscription, the Zune leaps further ahead because you can not only download but stream any of the music in the Zune catalog in real time. So any track is available at any time so long as you have access to WiFi. And the Zune's Channels feature is a lot cooler than I had eve anticipated. It not only makes music suggestions, but it actually downloads the recommended songs directly to the device automatically so they can play anywhere even without WiFi. Apple ought to be taking notes here.
  
  I’ll be doing a full video or blog post about this.  The Zune HD changes the way you experience music.
  
• Video playback on the Zune is better primarily because of the better screen. It also does a better job of organizing your video collection, because you can manually tag video files as being movies, TV shows, music videos, or other. iTunes doesn't let you do that on your own; the only things tagged this way are the ones you download from the iTunes store. Letting the user catalog their own collection makes it much easier to find your way around.
  
• The Zune's battery capacity is technically lower than that of the iPod, but it seems to be better at managing it. After two hours of watching video my iPod Touch is dead (my unit could be an anomaly, but it doesn't seem to be). I watched more than 4 hours of video on the Zune HD and the battery meter hadn't fallen past half yet.
  
• The HD radio is cool, but I have a hard time picking up the HD feeds in my basement. Then again, I can't pick up stereo in my basement on any radio either. When I take the device upstairs or outside, the HD kicks in, and it is definitely clearer than the analog transmission. The primary benefit here is that all static goes away and you get a clean signal, and higher frequencies are much better reproduced in the digital feed.
  
• One feature on the Zune I find particularly useful is the WiFi syncing. It is very convenient to be able to click three buttons and have the device connect and download updated podcasts, music, and video from anywhere in the house.
  
• Another thing I noticed is that the Zune software automatically picks up on changes in files in the music and video folders, and reflects them in the software automatically and virtually instantly. So as I was moving files in and out of my music folders the tracks would instantly appear and/or disappear. It has always bugged me that iTunes doesn't automatically pick up on music or videos that I add to my folders.
  
• As demonstrated in my last blog post, the iPod Touch seems to have some issues with sound quality.  The Zune did much better in testing.
  
• The Zune desktop software is also significantly snapper than iTunes on Windows. And I think I like the design and interface better. With its polished interface, it is certainly snazzier and more refined. iTunes looks relatively dated at this point.

Complaints

My biggest complaint is mostly with touch-based devices in general, and isn’t specific to the Zune HD.  And honestly it is something that I’m surprised we don’t see talked about.  It’s the lack of physical buttons for navigating through music tracks.

Recently we have had the dangers of text messaging while driving crammed down our throats, and it surprises me that some of this hasn’t spilled over into other areas.  Attempting to operate a touch-screen music player while driving is just as dangerous.  In order to control the device you have to take your eyes off of the road for significant amounts of time.  And many operations on both the Zune HD and the iPod Touch require two hands to perform effectively.  Just adding two buttons for changing tracks would be huge in attempting to fix this problem.  But the current trend is to move away from buttons, and I believe this is a mistake.  I’m not asking for a device with 47 buttons for every possible function, but there really ought to be dedicated buttons for the most basic functions of the device.

I took my Zune HD with me the day I got it when I went out running a few errands.  I found that it was extremely inconvenient and potentially dangerous to do even the most basic of tasks.  This isn’t limited to the Zune, either; it is a problem with every touch-screen based music player, whether it be the Zune, iPod Touch, or iPhone.  It’s enough of a problem that I must publicly shun anybody that operates one of these devices while behind the wheel.  It’s dangerous, and it shouldn’t be done.  Apple and Microsoft both really need to rethink their designs a bit to make these devices a little more friendly to situations where full attention can’t be given to their operation.

As a result of this, I will continue using my previous Zunes in my truck.  The Zune HD will probably become my primary travelling device, but not the PMP that gets used the most.

Wrap-up

So to summarize, when comparing the Zune and iPod Touch, people looking for a device primarily for music and video, the Zune will provide a much richer and more interactive experience. For people looking to take advantage of the App Store, the iPod Touch can't be touched (hardy, har, har). So if you’re buying to listen to music, I recommend the Zune. If you’re buying for the App Store, the Touch is the only way to go.  For web browsing, the iPod has a bit of an edge, but it isn't much.  Both will provide a similar experience there.

If someone already has a significant amount of DRM protected content from the iTunes store that they want to keep, there is probably no reason to consider the Zune (though they need to get out from under the thumb of the music industry). But if someone doesn't care much about the App Store and their main focus is music and video, the Zune HD provides a significantly better experience for both. Since the Zune can play all of the file formats supported by the iPods (plus more), switching from the iPod to Zune isn't too painful, and it’s a switch that I bet a lot of people would be thankful to have made later on.

New MP3 Players

Within the last week I’ve gotten two new MP3 players.

1st: iPod Touch, 2nd Gen

First I’ll start with my new iPod.  My brother was looking at maybe getting an iPod Touch, and since I’ve been considering upgrading mine to one of the 2nd generation models, I sold him my first gen and used that money toward an upgrade to the newer version of the 16GB player.

The newer version is definitely an improvement on the first gen model.  I’ve been somewhat critical of the iPod Touch (blog posts here and here) because I don’t believe (and still don’t believe) that touch screen interfaces work well for control of music playback.  But one of those complaints has been addressed with the newer version: it has dedicated volume control buttons on the side.  This is a huge plus!  Now we can adjust the volume without waking it up, looking at it, and finding the virtual on-screen controls.  If only Apple would add a play/pause button, and buttons for selecting tracks they’ll have a nearly unbeatable device.  But we already know that Steve Jobs hates buttons, so that isn’t going to happen.  Too bad… they’re close to having something great, but their pride is getting in the way of usability utopia.

Other changes over the first gen are the addition of an internal speaker so you can hear the sounds made by games, listen to music, or watch videos without plugging in headphones (this is a very cool feature that should be included on ALL MP3 players), a curved back like the iPhone 3G (thinner at the edges but thicker in the middle than the 1st gen Touch), and support for an external microphone or headset.  That last feature will allow me to use Skype, or to use it as a simple audio recorder.  Nice touches, all, and definitely steps in the right direction. 

I do have one major complaint with it, and that is its battery life.  If I’m watching a video or playing games on it, the battery is dead in a hair over an hour.  I’ve gone through the charge –> use for an hour cycle about 6 or 7 times now and it’s pretty consistent.  If the screen is on and it’s making noises, the battery is only good for about an hour.  At 45 minutes it pops up a warning that only 20% of the battery charge is left, and 15-20 minutes later it dies. I haven’t tested it for battery life for music playback (again, it’s not that great of a music playback device and I don’t intend to use it that way), but for video and games an hour is not good.  Especially considering how Apple advertises it as a great gaming device by calling it the “funnest iPod ever” [sic].  Fun for an hour, then you’re back to playing tic-tac-toe on a pad of paper, making flipbook drawings, and singing to yourself.  In contrast, my 5-year-old PDA will play games or video on a larger, higher resolution display for 3+ hours on a charge, even with all of the wear I’ve put on the battery over that time.

It still has a shiny metallic back, so it scratches VERY easily.  A protective case is a must.  I can’t figure out why Apple won’t switch to a textured back, or coat the metal with some sort of enamel or varnish layer to protect it?  I guess they like having their devices look bad after they’ve been used a while.  Or maybe it’s enough justification for people to buy new ones and they sell more that way.

Other than that, it’s pretty much the same as the 1st gen model.  The web browser is top notch.  The App Store makes it easy to find fun flashlight and fart noise applications.  The ability to read email is also nice.  Audio quality is fairly good, but still lags a little behind virtually every other line of players on the market.  (Apple hasn’t had any serious competition for the iPod line, so they seem to be okay with their audio quality suffering a bit compared to everyone else.)  The screen is bright and sharp, though this version renders the image with a warmer tint than we have seen before, not that this is bad; just different.  As usual, the included ear bud headphones are terrible, and Apple clearly deserves any amount of criticism heaped upon them for continuing to insult our ears; these are literally the worst headphones I have ever heard in my life; nearly anything else is a significant improvement. 

I’m excited to see what Apple has up its sleeve for the 3.0 firmware coming out this summer.  We do know that Bluetooth support is being added to the 2nd gen Touch, so that will be cool, along with a slew of other features that have been missing since day one.  And there should be more welcome goodies in the works with the forthcoming update.

2nd: Another Zune

I have had my 80GB Zune now for almost 18 months.  And I still really like it.  For music playback it is my device of choice.

But, like any hard-drive based player, it’s a little big and heavy compared to the flash memory models.  And I kind of get tired of lugging it back and forth between my desk and my truck just to synchronize it, so I have played around with the idea of getting a smaller capacity Zune to keep in my truck permanently.  I usually listen to podcasts and just a few of my favorite artists, so a small capacity player would work well for around-town driving.

Brent and I were in Best Buy last week and saw that they were clearing out the 4GB Zunes for $80.  I was going to get one but they didn’t have any left in stock, so I came home and tried to find a similar deal on the Internet.  I was able to find a brand-new 8GB model instead for $99 on eBay, with free shipping.  Awesome deal!  So I bought it, and it arrived today.

The one I got was apparently really old stock because the battery was COMPLETELY dead – it hadn’t been turned on or charged at all since it was manufactured in the fall of 2007.  Which means that it didn’t do anything when I plugged it in; it almost seemed like it was broken.  After plugging it into AC power and letting it charge for a couple hours it finally woke up from its coma and I was able to synchronize it with my computer.  First step was to install new software onto it (thank you, Microsoft, for continually adding new features for free!), and then I began selecting the content to copy onto the device.

I discovered something cool about the Zune software while setting this one up.  It lets you connect and synchronize multiple devices simultaneously.  So while I was setting up my new Zune today, my older one was still connected, and the two didn’t conflict with one another.  The software recognized both by adding a second icon for the second device.  That way I could choose what to synchronize with each one separately without disconnecting either by dragging to the right icon.  I didn’t think anybody would even attempt this, because synchronization is tricky enough without trying to do it with two devices at the same time.  Color me shocked and impressed.

My audio podcasts only take up about 800 MB.  I would have consider synchronizing my video podcasts as well, but it probably isn’t a good idea to watch them while I’m driving, so I elected not to include those in the sync.  I then setup two synchronization rules in the Zune software: one to synchronize any of the music I have marked as a favorite, and another rule to synchronize any music I have added to my collection in the last 90 days.  And since its 8GB of storage space is limited compared to the size of my music collection, I also set it to down-convert any high bit-rate audio files down to 192kbps on sync.  Since a lot of my music falls into that category, much of it had to be converted while it was synchronizing, so it took about 30 minutes to copy everything over.  In the end there was about 6.5GB of content copied over, leaving about 1GB of free space.  Nice fit.

One advantage the Zune has over other players is its ability to sync with a computer wirelessly.  This is why I will be leaving this player in my truck… I don’t have to bring it inside to sync it.  Just pop into the menu, select Settings, Wireless, Sync, and it connects to my wireless network and synchronizes my latest podcasts, any changes in my favorite music, and adds anything I’ve added to my collection since the last sync.  At the same time if I had purchased any music on the Zune (another great feature, BTW) it would sync it back up into my music collection.  Very cool.  And if I were to plug the player into a constant power source (or let it sit for a few minutes after finishing a playlist) it would synchronize automatically without any intervention on my part at all.  But I don’t want to drain my truck’s battery when I’m not driving it so I will be starting the sync manually.

Here’s a shocker… I actually like two of the songs included on the device.  It comes with a handful of songs and videos on it from the factory, and I actually like two of them.  Usually anything included like this is, well, not very good, and most of it wasn’t that good, but two songs and two videos actually were.  Huh.

The sound quality of the flash memory Zunes is very good.  With good headphones this Zune sounds excellent; very clear and totally noise free as far as I could discern.  The headphones included with these models aren’t very good, but they are without question better than the ones included with any iPod.  The Premium versions included with my 80GB Zune were a world better than either of those though.  But even the Premium model pales in comparison to either the Shure E3 earphones or Sony MDR-7506 headphones that I use to listen to music.  If you are at all serious about your music, consider investing in a real set of earphones/headphones.  Music will take on a new life when heard the way it was meant to be heard.

The disappointing thing about this player is that it doesn’t have video output capability.  So I can’t hook it to a TV and watch videos that way.  I have really gotten used to and liked that feature on my 80GB Zune (and I wish I could do it on my iPod Touch without dropping a fortune on a special cable), so it will be missed on my 8GB version.

For Music, Get a Zune; For Apps, Get an iPod Touch

Even after the updates to the iPod Touch line, I still feel like the Zunes are better for music playback.  Between having a more functional and easier to use interface, dedicated buttons for controlling playback, and more attention to the importance of sound quality, the Zune line is better for listening to music than any iPod sold today.  Apple has been putting all of its eggs in the iPod Touch / iPhone basket lately, so the rest of the line has been allowed to wither on the vine.  The iPod Classic still has its classic dated and limited-in-functionality interface.  The Nano is okay, but still is limited in its capabilities.  And don’t get me started on the new Shuffle, which is a joke.  The iPod Touch may be more suited to video playback than the Zunes are because of the huge screen, aside from the need to buy an extremely expensive cable to get video out to your TV and what appears to be battery life that is too short for video playback.  For playing games or doing non-multimedia tasks, though, the iPod Touch is in a league of its own for now despite its need to be kept near a charger. 

Being that these are, first and foremost, music players, my current Zune has gotten a lot more use than my iPod ever has, and I’m sure that trend will continue with my newly acquired models.  Which is fine, considering the Zunes seem to be better suited to that task anyway.

TOTW #9: Portable Music; Blurred Backgrounds

Computer Tip: Portable Music

Most of us have portable music players (PMPs), usually iPods. But when I say “portable” here I’m actually referring to the ability to move music between different software ecosystems, not being able to take the player with you. In other words, not being tied down to just one particular program or player; being able to move music between say, and iPod, and a Zune, car stereo, etc. freely.

iTunes and the iPod like to use a file format called AAC. Devices and software outside of the Apple world, on the other hand, usually don’t recognize this format. Most other players in the world don’t play AAC but rather Microsoft’s format, WMA. All can play MP3 files, though, so if you want a type of file that can be played by anyone, MP3 is the only viable option. (I’m not a fan of the sound quality of MP3 files, but there is no other universal format that can be played everywhere.)

The vast majority of music purchased within iTunes is not only in AAC format, but it is also copy protected. So not only are you limited to playing within iTunes or on your iPod, it will only play on YOUR iTunes and iPod. You can’t even share a file with a friend or use it in a video if you want to. (On a side note, I strongly recommend against buying copy protected music, just so you know you’ll be able to play it on whatever computer or device you may have a few years down the road.)

So what is the solution? Buying music from sources that supply unprotected MP3 files. Or buying CDs and copying them to the computer in MP3 format instead of AAC or WMA.

Personally my favorite source for legal MP3 downloads is the Amazon.com MP3 Store. They have a huge selection, the prices are usually better than other sources, and all of their music is in unprotected MP3 format so it plays on anything. Their downloader utility even copies music into iTunes or Windows Media Player automatically. Walmart and others also offer MP3 downloads as well. iTunes has some “iTunes Plus” titles which are in an unprotected AAC format, but once again you are limited to whatever devices can support AAC files.

Multimedia Tip: Blurred Backgrounds

Some of the nicest photographs you ever see utilize a technique called ‘shallow depth of field’ to ensure that only the intended subject is in focus, with everything behind (and in front of) thrown out of focus. This naturally draws your eye to the most important part of the image by removing extraneous details.

To get this effect on a point & shoot camera, set it to its Portrait mode. Then stand comfortably close (5 feet?) and take the picture. It helps to be outdoors or in other well-lit conditions.

To get this effect on an SLR camera, set the mode dial to Av or A. Then turn the adjustment wheel to get the largest aperture possible, which means the lowest number possible. Stand at the same 5’ distance and snap away.

In either case you should also have the camera set to its fastest ISO (lowest number) possible. Adding a neutral density filter to your lens also enhances the effect.

iPod Touch Followup

So I've had my iPod Touch for a couple weeks now, and I thought I'd follow up with more information about my experience with it.

For the most part I'm still happy with it.  There is one problem which is pretty significant, though, and something that I hope Apple addresses in a future version of it... And that is it's battery life.

I noticed that battery life seemed short compared to other devices I've used, but after a couple weeks playing with this, I'm a little perplexed.  If I had been watching a lot of video on it I'd understand; its hard to keep a backlit display running for any period of time on a battery, but even when the Touch isn't turned on it still drains the battery too quickly. 

I first noticed it on my first full day at my parents.  I hadn't touched it (no pun intended) all day, and though I had charged it the previous night, the battery was down to about 60% charge.  Odd.  Maybe it's cause I had it set to check for new email every 30 minutes?  So I turn that off.  Several days had better life, but none managed to store over 90% of the battery even when the device wasn't ever turned on.  Then today was the worst I've seen.  Automatic email checking turned off, device charged overnight last night, didn't turn it on even once today, and when I went to check it tonight it had drained to less than 10% charge.  It was low enough that it had completely shut itself off (not just gone to sleep) and I had to plug it in and restart it to make it come up.  Something seems amiss.

Other than the battery life it is still a pretty good device.  As I had suspected previously, it doesn't make a great music player because of its lack of tactile buttons.

Oh, one more issue: I have to plug my iPod Touch into my computer to charge it.  Plugging it into a USB charger doesn't work; the Touch just ignores it.  This means I can't charge it in my truck, and I have to keep a computer running to keep it charged.  Not a deal breaker, but it is annoying.

Compared to my Zune

In one of my first blog posts I mentioned I bought an 80GB Zune back in November.  A lot of people on the internet are comparing the Zune to the iPod Touch (though they are two entirely different devices which shouldn't really be compared).  Here's my two cents, since I own both:

Sound Quality: On my Shure E3s I can hear HDD motor spinup and seeking sounds from the Zune at the beginning of each music track.  Fortunately it does go away after the music starts playing.   The iPod Touch doesn't have this problem (it has no HDD).  I like the overall sound of both, with the Zune having a slight edge in fidelity, aside from the noise.  Winner: If you have a "normal" set of headphones: Zune.  If you have high sensitivity in-ear monitors, iPod Touch.  As for the included headphones: the ones with the iPod (any iPod) are absolutely awful, and anyone using them should throw them away and buy ANYTHING else.  Apple has really insulted (and may be damaging) our ears here, folks, and most people don't know any better.  The headphones with the 80GB Zune are acceptable, and are remarkably better than the ones shipped with iPods.  (Trivia: Apple switched the Left and Right headphone connections on the iPod compared to the industry standard.  If you use headphones other than ones certified for use with the iPod, the left/right channels will be swapped, if you care.) 

Music Playback: Zune's user interface is much more flexible, iPod's may be a bit easier to use, with significantly less functionality, and definitely less consistency.  The lack of physical hardware buttons make music playback on the iPod awkward.  Winner: Zune, easily.

Video Performance: The iPod's bigger screen is definitely a plus.  But the Zune supports more file formats: everything the iPod does, plus several more.  The Zune features composite video output on its headphone jack, the iPod requires a $50 Apple cable to output to a TV.  Winner: depends on your needs.  For me, its a hard call.  I like the bigger screen, but I have a lot of video that won't play on the Touch.  Either way, both devices are huge upgrades from the iPod Classic or Nano for video. 

Audio Books: iPod currently supports Audible, Zune's support is coming later this year.  Winner: iPod, for now; later this year it will be a draw.

Battery Life: Zune wins here, hands down.  No matter what you are doing, the Zune definitely lasts a lot longer even though it has a HDD, which is odd.  Winner: Zune.

Internet: It should be obvious: the iPod touch can browse the web, check email, watch YouTube videos, download music directly from iTunes.  The Zune doesn't have any of these capabilities.  Winner: iPod.

User interface:  The iPod's interface is definitely flashier, no question.  But in my opinion it puts style over substance too often.  As far as actual usability goes, I prefer the Zune's more consistent GUI (it's always the same and doesn't vary between "applications"), which is actually easier to use once you understand its paradigm.  Winner: Zune by a touch.  :)

Capacity:  The iPod's 8/16/32GB storage is no match for the 80GB Zune at a lower price.   Winner: Clearly Zune.

Non-PMP Flexibility: The iPhone's SDK is likely to be made available for the iPod Touch, so any applications which don't use iPhone-specific hardware (like the phone, or Bluetooth) will probably run on a Touch after it has been upgraded.  Google Maps using the Touch's interface is awesome.  The Zune is now expandable via XNA Game Studio, allowing custom applications to be developed by anyone using Visual Studio.  Winner: iPod.

Software: I'm not a fan of iTunes; it has become bloated, cluttered, tries to be and do too many things, and it has always had stability problems.  The Zune software is simple and clean, and overall pretty good, but is somewhat buggy.    The ironic thing is that iTunes looks like a bloated Microsoft application from 10 years ago, and the Zune software looks like something Apple might create if it decided to use a little color in its software designs.  Gotta love the irony.  Winner: Zune.

Cool factor: No description needed.  Winner: iPod Touch.

Appearance:  We all know the iPods scratch if you so much as look at them or even enter the same room, but it has better styling.  Winner: Draw.

Product name: Inconsequential, but I felt like including it anyway, cause it bugs me.  I have always hated the name "iPod."  Sounds like something out of a really bad 1960s movie.  ("Oh no!  The iPod is coming!")  And the "Touch" part doesn't win me over either; it sounds like something a dirty old man might do.  Ick.  They should have called it the iPod Fondle or iPod Grope.  Who names these things?   So uncool.  Not that Zune is a perfect name either, but it sounds cooler than iPod.   Winner: I somewhat reluctantly give Zune the nod here.

Anyway, I'm tired.  So I'm posting now.

My FiRST iPOD!

Yes, it's true... Until today I never owned an actual Apple iPod. Not that I necessarily dislike them, but my music collection is in a format that isn't supported by the iPod at all. So for the most part the whole series of iPods has been useless to me.

As part of the PPOS project (see my earlier post "I'm up to no good") we are planning on developing a mobile phone friendly web site for store owners and managers to check in on things remotely. We know that iPhones are becoming more and more popular, but no-one on the development team has one -- we all use Windows Mobile devices for their real-time email synchronization capability, and none of us like AT&T -- so I got the next closest thing and got a 16GB iPod Touch with pre-loaded software upgrade. That way we can create those web pages and test them in the same browser that the iPhone uses.

So what do I think? As a video player, it's pretty good. As a web browser, it's as good as it gets on a mobile device. For games, it has a lot of potential if jailbroken. For email, it's passable. As a music player, well, it kind of stinks.

Why does it stink? Well, because it doesn't have any buttons for selecting tracks, pausing, etc. So if you are listening to a song and decide you want to change the volume or go to the next track, you have to pull it out of your pocket, wake it up by double-clicking the Home button, then find the (small) buttons on-screen to adjust volume, or change tracks. Certainly not something you could do blindly, or even quickly; the lack of tactile buttons is a real issue here. When watching a video it isn't a problem because you're already looking at the screen. But most people don't stare at the screen of their music player while listening to their favorite tunes. Hopefully a future version of the Touch will add volume control buttons at a minimum, but knowing how Apple does things, I doubt that will ever happen (though the iPhone has them).

Thankfully I won't be listening to music on it. I'll be primarily using it to browse the web. And it does that pretty well. Not perfectly, as it doesn't support Flash and some other internet file formats, but pretty well overall. Most sites I have tried have worked nearly as well as they do in Safari on OS X. In a few cases I ran into iPhone-specific sites, and they, of course, work great.

As for some of its other functionality: for viewing photos its kind of useless without a memory card slot, or a way to receive them wirelessly from a camera, at least for me. The Google Maps application is cool, but I already have that on my phone, so nothing new for me there. Watching YouTube videos is nice because they are in higher quality than when viewed from the web. If only there was something good to watch on YouTube.

I've had a couple other issues with it. My iTunes has shut down spontaneously a couple of times while syncing, and if I try to set it up to synchronize my email contacts and my calendar the Outlook sync module crashes. A handful of Quicktime videos I've tried to play on the web haven't worked either, including some in the iPod section of apple.com. And this thing is the biggest fingerprint magnet I have ever seen, bar none.

The form factor is cool -- its really thin, and it feels very well built, with just enough heft to let you know you've bought a quality product. The headphones are, well, awful, but I won't be using the ones that came with it; that's what my Shure E3s or Sony MDR-7506s are for. The screen is surprisingly washed out for a modern LCD, with true blacks being nonexistent: the darkest you get on the screen is a definitive backlit gray, and while watching videos in landscape mode (the way they are all shown) you have to get the viewing angle just right or darker areas of the picture invert and start to turn lighter colors. I've heard the iPhone's LCD is better, but I haven't taken the time to make a side-by-side comparison.

There are other things that are very well done. The user interface is pretty snappy, especially when compared to other small devices with this level of flexibility (e.g. Windows Mobile). It is also very well thought out, and for the most part once you learn a few basics you can find your way around quite easily. I find myself wishing for a "Back" button though, because sometimes you get moved from the browser to the video player, or something similar, without a way to easily go back. Battery life looks like it is going to be very good, and I'm sure a huge part of that is because it has no spinning hard drive to power. I do wish the storage capacity was larger, mostly for other owners, because I won't be storing enough music on it to matter to me. Flash memory is still just a little too expensive for these things to be an affordable solution.

At some point I'll jailbreak it and start installing some fun software. But I'm so busy with PPOS and other programming projects that I don't really have time to mess with that just yet.

If I were to ask for any changes other than the ones mentioned above, the first would be the addition of Bluetooth. This would allow wireless headphones to be used, and if Apple would be really kind, they'd also let us use Bluetooth to connect to the internet through nearby cell phone. But that would eat into their iPhone featureset and revenue, so I doubt we'd ever see that.

Overall, though, if someone just wants to watch videos and browse the web, this is a great device to do it on. But for playing music, it's pretty 'meh.' They really should have called it something other than iPod, since iPod is virtually synonymous with music playback device. This is a device that supplements a regular iPod, not replaces it. iVid, anyone?

Zune, Zune, Zune!

Anyone who knows me knows that I love electronic gadgets. And anyone who knows me might be surprised to know that I don't own an iPod, and until now, I haven't had what I would consider a real MP3 player. Sure I bought a Toshiba Gigabeat a couple years ago, but it was too limited and ended up not being used aside from occasionally on a plane when the music I wanted to listen to wasn't on my phone, and it will soon be going up on eBay. But as of this week, I finally dived in and bought myself a music/video player… an 80GB Zune.

People have asked me over and over again why I don't have an iPod, and well, there are many reasons. But the primary being that I ripped my CD collection using WMA format before the iPod was even on anyone's radar, and Apple has chosen to disable WMA support in the iPod (it's actually there, they have just turned it off), leaving them virtually useless to me. I'm not about to re-rip 1100 CDs, and conversion to Apple's AAC format is out of the question due to loss in quality in the process and the amount of time it would take. The other big issue is that the professional audio applications that I use (Adobe Audition, Cakewalk's Sonar for example) don't support AAC. If you're happy to live in the iTunes/iPod/iLife world, the iPod is probably fine for you. But I do far more with my music, and the whole Apple "i" world is way too limiting for me. (For example, the structure that iPods use to store music makes it nigh impossible to copy music back off of the device, a capability I need to have.) Long story short, I would never be happy with an iPod.

Every other device I have looked at has had deal-breaking limitations. The most common is storage. The portion of my music library that I would like to keep with me is about 60GB, and most manufacturers have chosen to not create a device with this capacity. And most of the ones that do make large (almost unwieldy) devices. But when the Zune 80 was announced, I was intrigued. I didn't like the original Zune at all; Microsoft typically doesn't do well with a 1^st generation product, but they typically are able to get it right on the second or third version. I suspected that they had probably fixed most of the problems with the original Zune with the new version. And Indeed they have. The new device isn't perfect, but it is very well done. Microsoft got it right this time.

The new 80GB Zune is nearly identical in size to the 80GB iPod, making it small enough to not give you trouser bulges, but at the same time it is built with enough heft to feel like a robust product. The screen is beautiful: bright and colorful, and compared to the screen on the iPod Classic is absolutely huge (64% larger, with it approaching the size of the screen on the iPod Touch)! The new "squircle" control is sensitive to both directional pad-style button pushes, and also to touch; you can swipe your finger over the squircle to scroll through music, adjust volume, etc, and it is very fast. Some may still prefer the click wheel of the iPod, but the touch interface of the Zune is as good; it's a matter of preference, not capability. The WiFi feature to "squirt" songs between Zunes, inherited from the original version, is still there with a few limited additions, but they have added a really neat "WiFi sync" feature that allows me to synchronize the Zune with my desktop computer without plugging it in to the USB cable. It even synchronizes each time I place the Zune in its (optional) dock, which isn't even connected to a computer (in my case its just connected to an AC power source for charging). Very cool trick; there isn't really any reason to connect to a computer any more.

Navigation on the device is fast and easy, and is more flexible than the iPod. For example, after you select an artist, you can very quickly move to the next artist with a single right/left click of the squircle. You don't have to go "back" to the previous menu to choose another artist. Also, when selecting an artist, the Zune displays both the albums and tracks in a single list, with the albums listed first, making it easy to find a song if you don't know which album it is on. Of course you can drill down to individual albums, but you don't have to. Using these two features simultaneously effectively allows you to navigate through albums or tracks by artist with only a single button press required to change artists. This is very powerful and makes navigation very fast.

The included headphones are quite good for earbud-style 'phones, though they don't really compare to the Shure E3's that I usually use for listening to music. They are, in my opinion, better than the ones included with iPods; the sound is more full with more accurate bass and clearer high frequencies. They have an unusual characteristic, however, in that they must be inserted a little farther into the ear canal than other earbuds I have used in order to get the best sound. Fortunately they are comfortable when inserted properly.

The software has been completely rewritten from the ground up compared to the first Zune, which is definitely a great thing. The original software was basically a hacked version of Windows Media Player, but the new Zune software is a brand-new product, and it is very well done. Not only is it easy to navigate, it is very pretty to look at, complete with high quality animations while navigating. They have added Podcast support in this version (a major omission previously), a very welcome addition. It uses a three-column view for artists, albums, and songs, which gives some interesting navigation options. For example, clicking an artist shows you all of their albums in the center column, and songs in the right column, so you can very easily and quickly get to the music you are trying to find. But if you click on a blank area in the artist column, it goes back to showing all albums and tracks again. The search feature isn't especially fast, but it is effective, dividing search results into artists, albums, and tracks, eliminating the need for separate searches, or filling in multiple fields in a search screen. Marking music for synchronization is easy; just drag the album, artist, or track to the Zune device logo in the lower left corner of the window. Viewing, playing, and managing music already on the Zune is done on the "device" screen, and it again uses the same 3-column view. Very simple and very easy.

There are a few things about it that aren't obvious, though. If you play a video, the navigation interface disappears and the full window is used for video playback. This is fine, but after clicking the Exit button to get back to the navigation screen, it isn't immediately obvious how to get back to your video, even though it is still playing in the background. There is an equalizer-looking icon in the lower right corner that you click to restore the playback screen.

One thing that nobody has done right yet in device synchronization software is a simple one-click sync option. In my opinion, the best way to handle synchronization would be to place checkboxes next to each artist, album, and song, with a checked state indicating "yes, I want this on my portable device." The Zune software at least shows a small device logo next to anything that is on the player; it just doesn't allow this to be toggled on and off with a single click.

There are other things missing, too, and one or more of these may be a deal breaker for some people. The Zune Marketplace software, does not, for example, have any video (TV shows or movies) available for download like iTunes does, and Audible does not currently support the Zune for its audio books. As far as I know there are no ways to make a car stereo control a Zune.

A few final "plusses" before I go, though. The hard drive based Zunes (30, 80GB) do not require a special cable to connect to a television unlike the iPod Classic; any standard 1/8" A/V cable will work. The A/V dock comes with component video outputs for connection to a high definition television. Very cool.

Overall I think Microsoft has done a great job on the new Zune. Anyone who bought the original Zune would have had good reason to be a little sheepish when telling others of their audio player choice, but with V2 I think Zune owners can finally be proud of their purchase. (Fortunately, for the original Zune owners, they can be firmware upgraded to incorporate the new features and use the new software, all for free!) Compared to the iPods, feature-wise it comes in somewhere between the Classic and the Touch, but it is priced identically to the Classic (or Nano, if you are talking about the 4/8GB Zunes).