2008 Taste Test – Zune vs. iPod

gdemetrick — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:13:33 +0000

MP3 players are not new to me at all. Even before the iPod came out, I bought an EMPEG in-dash MP3 player for my car in 1997. I mean, what geeky guy could pass up a Linux box installed in a Civic with 28 Gigs worth of music. At the point, I converted my entire CD collection to MP3, loaded up the Empeg, and took my music everywhere.

But as drive failures continued, Rio discontinued servicing and SONICBlue went bankrupt, I started to seek out an alternative in 2002. In walks the iPod. 15 Gig was less than the 28 I had and letting iTunes control my music after I had complete control over files and menus was not welcome. But at least it didn’t break down every 6 months or so. I then sold the Empeg to pay for a new head unit in the car and the iPod.

Fast forward to 2008 when the iPod finally failed from one too many drops. Normally I would just buy an 80 Gig Classic and go on but fate has intervened. I ended up winning an 80 Gig Zune through some luck which will replace the iPod.

Will it be better? How painful will it be to set up? How will it compare to the iTunes experience? Will it really matter seeing how I rarely use my iPods anymore? Well we will all find out in this week long series. The Zune arrived today and I will post over the course of the week my impressions compared to my other MP3 devices.

Webfluency » Linux

2008 Taste Test – Zune vs. iPod

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