Microsoft Zune vs Apple iPod - Essay Example

The Apple iPod and Microsoft Zune: Playing the Same Tunes Differently People enjoy listening to music because it can relax and soothe one’s nerves and at the same time, pump up one’s energy. This goes to show that music plays an important part of life. Music players have changed significantly since the first phonograph was invented. Today, the most popular devices are called media players because they do not only play music but show pictures and play videos as well. The two most popular media players in the market today are the Apple iPod and the Microsoft Zune.

Apple released their first ever portable media player, iPod Classic, in 2001. Like the usual portable media players, one can listen to music, watch videos, show pictures and even play games on the iPod (Kahney). Apple has since modified the original iPod and has made it small and wearable (iPod Shuffle) and with more and more features like having built-in Wi-Fi and enabling it to record and edit HD videos, download and play online games, among other things (iPod Touch). Each product has its own device generation as well.

Microsoft released its own media player device in the year 2006 and called the original Zune 30. The numbers in their name indicates how big the capacity of the device is. Zune 30 can play songs, video and show pictures just like the iPod. The only difference is that photos and videos can be watched or played in either portrait or landscape mode (Broida). The Zune can also be modified to play games and can play in many different audio formats. It also has a Zune-to-Zune wireless sharing of music and photos.

Next is Zune 4 which has the generation of 8 and 16. According to Surhone et al. (2010), it can be clicked 5 ways. Like its predecessor, it has Wi-Fi used for wireless sharing of photos and music in other Zune. It has also a FM radio. Zune 80 or 120 was the next release for the Microsoft, which produce positive results as it was called an “iPod alternative” (Surhone, et al). The features are the same as its previous predecessor but with higher capacity as the number indicated in the name and bigger screen.

The most recent release is the the Zune HD. As its name suggests, one can buy and rent high-definition (HD) movies and TV shows, play HD radio, download apps and games and surf the internet on the Zune HD (Surhone, et al). Zune and iPod have a lot of things in common. The two media players initially had the same capacity for music and photos but Zune had more capacity when it came to videos. Zune has a bigger screen, display mode can be portrait and initially released its media players with Wi-Fi.

Zune HD and iPod Touch have almost the same features, except for iPod Touch having the FaceTime application (Ricker). While the two media players were quite alike, they also had their differences. The wireless sharing wasn’t initially available for the Apple iPods. iPods can share photos but only through their applications by using the PC or Mac. Perhaps one of the most critical differences is that since Zune is manufactured by Microsoft, Zune media players can only be used on PCs not on Mac (Layton).

Some consumers are discouraged from using Zune because they claim that Zune has software installation issues and can’t be used as external hard drive. However, Zune is cheaper than the iPod and the music downloads are cheaper too. iPods and Zune have their own online music market, which are iTunes and Zune Marketplace respectively. Music for the iPod can be found at iTunes only unlike other media players which can be used like flash drives in installing files. Also, because of the protocol given for the wireless shared music for Zune, one is forced to buy or rent the music in the Zune Marketplace (Layton).

Thus, consumers who go for cheaper devices, cheaper music download, ease of music downloads, and Wi-Fi sharing, generally opt for Zune while those who prefer more popular, more features and more applications, go for an iPod. References Broida, Rick. How to do everything with your Zune. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2007. Layton, Julia.  "How does Zune compare to iPod?"  15 November 2006.  HowStuffWorks.com.  02 April 2011. Kahney, Leander. The cult of iPod. No Starch Press, 2005. Ricker, Thomas.

“zune vs. iPod specification smackdown.” 3 October 2007. EndGadget.com. < http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/03/zune-vs-ipod-specification-smackdown> 02 April 2011. Surhone, L., Timpledon, M., Marseken, S. (2010). Zune HD. 02 April 2011.