Updated 15 Feb, 2012, 6:16 pm IST

iPod vs. Zune: Get, Set, Go!

20 Sep, 2006, 3:13 pm IST | Aalaap Ghag

We'll drag the current king of digital audio players, the iPod, with the new kid on the block, the Zune, spec by spec, and tell you who will win.

Connectivity
This is where it gets really interesting. The Zune connects to your PC via USB and it also offers WiFi for wireless connectivity! The iPod only does wired, with USB and FireWire/IEEE 1394 support. The Zune's WiFi also enables personal Zune-to-Zune networking so you can wirelessly send a track that you like to your friend's Zune, much like you can with cell phones using Bluetooth, opening up a whole new world in music sharing.

But there's a downside to that - all tracks get sent in a DRM-wrapped WMA (presumably) that can only be played back three times over a period of three days, after which you can either delete the track or flag it for purchase on the online Zune Marketplace. There's a growing concern over what happens to free, legal music when you send it to your friend - something we'll only find out when Microsoft actually lets someone use the Zune for once! Hence, only half a point for the Zune in this rev making it nudge the iPod, side by side!

iPod 3, Zune 3.

The Zune can also connect to your Xbox, letting you play music from the device on your gaming console, but seeing that almost any USB mass storage device can be connected to the Xbox, this is not something as jaw-dropping a feature as WiFi support is.

Online and Software
A very important aspect of digital media players is their online counterpart. The Zune Marketplace is to the Zune, what the iTunes Store is to the iPod. Very little is known about the Zune media manager software (that connects to the online Zune Marketplace), other than the fact that it lets you transfer music and media (including photos) to your Zune, and lets you browse, preview and buy songs from the online library of music. The new iTunes 7 also lets you buy movies online, whereas the Zune Marketplace will not be selling movies or TV shows, at least not this year. Naturally, this should happen down the line, they have a 3-inch screen that plays back WMV files, for cryin' out loud!

Music in the Zune Marketplace can be purchased either by credit card or Microsoft Points, which are the same points that you can use to buy stuff on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Like Xbox Live Tags, the Zune Marketplace will also allow for Zune tags, so you can expect some interaction between users when online. Maybe not voice chat, but the ability to browse another user's music and perhaps also download tracks and/or flag them for buying... stuff like that. Can't do that with iTunes!

Each gets equal points for movie purchasing and Zune Tags' community potential, so they still scrape each other's doors. iPod 3, Zune 3.

Both the iPod and the Zune have firmware updating capability.