The Battle of Titans: Microsoft vs. Apple MP3 Players

The ease of use, a wide array of downloadable content (iTunes) and original design have made iPod a standard for gadget lovers. Apple faces competition on the MP3 player market, Microsoft being its main rival. The latter hunts for greater market share building alliances with third-party companies (Creative and SanDisk).

The 'white player' is to be replaced by the Zune which paradoxically is in white as well. This portable media player features most of the iPod's functions, adding the possibility to wirelessly share music with others.

So here are confronted the iPod's reputation, meaning years of gained trust, and Zune's novelty and enhanced features. Which one is going to win more trust and the greater share of the market? Since summer 2006 when Zune was released, Apple's iPod is still among the favorites due to its loyal fans.

Microsoft at its turn, is not going to wait its defeat. It is constantly pecking away at competitor's success by making their player better with each new generation.

One thing both of the rivals are sure about is that the score depends mainly on the armies of supporters. Namely, on us! Of course there are those of us who will take one of the side just because 'it is iPod' or because 'Zune is better'. Still, Apple and Microsoft will fight for the 'free minds'! They will look for gaining the trust of those who are not decided what player to take yet.

So, what player should you choose? Below you'll find a set of key features of the Zune versus the primary iPod 5G (video). This should help you to make your choice.

Storage, Size & Price

Apple iPod: The Apple's 5G iPod has two models basing on the criteria of storage capacity (30 GB and 80GB). The 30GB model (7,500 songs) costs about $249 and 80GB model (20,000 songs) goes about $349.

Microsoft Zune: The 1G Microsoft Zune has a storage capacity of 30GB (7,500 songs) and its price is about $249.

Microsoft has the tendency to minimize the costs for the same storage capacity if comparing with iPod.

Audio Files Supported

Apple iPod: iPod supports such audio formats as MP3, AAC (with attention to the copy-protected subset of this format, which is what you get downloading music from iTunes).

Microsoft Zune: Zune supports MP3, Windows Media Audio (WMA), and others. WMA is Microsoft's traditional music file format. Audio files you will download from the Zune Marketplace are in WMA format, which means better quality and greater size.

Note: iPod users won't be able to use Zune Marketplace content; Zune users won't be able to enjoy iTunes Store music because of the copy protections and lack of compatibility. On the Zune Marketplace you will find files in WMA format; whereas iTunes Store provides music in AAC files format.

The bad news for Zune users is also the fact that they cannot enjoy music from online music subscription services like Napster, Yahoo or MTV's URGE. This is because they are PlaysForSure certified. Though PlaysForSure is a program run by Microsoft, it had planed Zune as a separate entity and it is not allowing crossover.

Video Files Supported

Apple iPod: iPod is able to play a wide array of video formats. Plus it can playback hundreds of hours of video from the iTunes Store.

Microsoft Zune: Zune supports Microsoft's Windows Media Video format and subscription video only from Zune Marketplace.

Image Files Supported

Apple iPod: iPod supports JPEGs viewing formats.

Microsoft Zune: Zune also supports JPEGs viewing formats considering the fact that it is the widest spread image format.

Display and Controls

Apple iPod: Apple has equipped its player with a 2.5-inch QVGA transflective LCD display. For the iPod control has been provided a multi-directional and easy to use Click Wheel. Though the iPod's screen is smaller than Zune's one it makes it possible to view great quality digital images and movies.

Microsoft Zune: The Microsoft's Zune sports a 3-inch LCD. It can be oriented vertically or horizontally and is controlled by a four-way D-Pad. The Zune offers a nice viewing and the ability to change the viewing angle makes watching videos easier.

Dimensions and Weight

Apple iPod: The Apple's 30GB iPod measures 4.1 by 2.4 by 0.43 " and weighs 4.8 ounces.

Microsoft Zune: The 30 GB Microsoft's Zune measures 4.4 by 2.4 by 0.6" and weighs 5.6 ounces.

The dimensions make the iPod smaller and lighter then the Zune, which for some people can be a matter to consider.

iTunes vs. Zune Marketplace

Apple iPod: The iTunes Store offers a growing collection of about 3.5 million 99¢ songs, 65,000 free podcasts, 20,000 audiobooks, 200 TV shows and over 75 movies.

Microsoft Zune: The Zune Marketplace set of songs number over 2 million songs for either individual music purchases or a monthly subscription.

Worth to Mention

Apple iPod: You can choose among two housing colors: black or white. It has to offer a large amount of accessories, search and scroll functions for quicker finding music selections, etc.

Microsoft Zune: Microsoft Zune is available in black, brown and white. Key Zune accessories are actually made by iPod accessory makers. You can benefit of playlists, pictures and personally recorded audio directly from Zune to Zune.