hmm, thats kind of discouraging with those statistics, sam...but not too sure if thats all too correct, since that is referring to the first gen of zunes, not the second.

HExploit, I did hear that the software boggs down your pc a whole lot, so that is a downside. The drag and drop issue shouldnt matter to me too much, i have all the music i want in one folder, only like 1 gig worth though.

Thanks for the comments so far

 

I got a refurbished one last year for $50.  It played two movies on the plane on the way to Hawaii (why I bought it).  I've also dropped it many times getting out my plane...still working.  The software is not bad...and not nearly as bloatful as iTunes on my wife's computer.  I like it.  I only use it when I fly/travel for business....otherwise it collects dust at the bottom of my flight bag.

As I believe we've established, HolyJaw is a bit of a mac fan. I used to be an ardent anti-mac kinda guy, but then I began to get around and before long I fell into the mac world. I own a 5G iPod 30GB, and an iPod Touch 8 GB. (as well as other mac devices unrelated to this topic.)

That being said, there is something to be said for Zunes. I think first and foremost I enjoy how much Microsoft has tried to dissociate its brandname from the Zune name. Kinda says something about the company. Aside from that, the biggest part about the Zune is Zune Social. Basically, download any song you want for a one month fee that will disappear after awhile... share songs with friends, let them know what they might like just Zune to Zune... Oh and in the next revision of their software, IIRC, they will link together your Zune profile and your XBOX Live GamerTag... imagine THOSE possibilities.

And to me, that's all exciting.
--- If you're a family member of a top-paying RIAA executive who is constantly trying to find a way to stop piracy.

For the rest of us, we have torrents and iTunes Plus downloads that are DRM free and Amazon mp3 (beta) and friends' CDs and iPod ripping tools that take any of the tens of thousands of songs that your friends have amassed and the list goes on and on and on and on and the point is if you REALLY like a song then you can just buy the fucking thing DRM free or if you can't spare the 99cents download it or the entire album and it WONT automatically delete after a few days.

tl;dr: Zune has Zune Social, what I believe to be the biggest thing going for it, and it's fucking huge, but it's also rather worthless. Unless your Live GamerTag is your world.

As far as Creative Zen products go, I had a teacher once who bought a Zen product and was moderately satisfied with it. There wasn't too much to rave about (this was like 2 years ago, I heard their latest products may be a good rave) but it certainly wasn't all that innovative.

Honestly, if you're hating on the iPods just because you're used to hating on them, maybe you s hould give them another look. The only downside is that you can only use iTunes, and that's a downside for Windows users because iTunes runs like shit (at times) on Windows but smooth as a white baby's bottom on Mac. But you can get over and get past all that because it's not like iTunes is FireFox and you'll be using it 24/7.

thanks for the replies, i really appreciate it.

I'll take a look at the Zen mp3's, I have heard alot about them but never really looked at them.

Holy Jaw: as for the zune social, as i dont have an xbox even, i knew from the start that the social would not be a selling point for me. What I do like about the zune is its toiuchpad that lets you swipe your finger across and it scrolls easily. I tried it out in a store and its simple, yet amazing. I also tend to like things that look good, meaning that the interface and how everything is presented is very appealing to me.

Using itunes is not too big of a deal for me, just that i am not used to it yet. The music that i do listen to, i just torrent or download them, so paying for songs is not a problem (probably like most of us do if i can make this assumption)

I will definatley consider an ipod touch, but just dont really see it happening. On a side note, the wifi for the ipod touch is free, right? better not have a subscription or something..

Yeh, there's no sub fee to enable wifi on your touch. It will connect just like a laptop to any wireless network. (so, like Bike mentioned, Starbucks will be a couple bucks / hr., Panera bread would be free, etc., your house (had better be) free...

And then of course if 32 GB just isn't enough, the iPod Classic will do the job. (It's the new name for the one everyone has but with amazing big HD.)

What the shit? What connection? I assume USB 2.0.... what was the filesize / bitrate? That's fuckin INSANE.