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Zune vs. Ipod Nano

June 10, 2008

My honey, just recently got himself a Microsoft Zune player. Honey’s the kind of person who can’t work when he’s not hearing any sounds playing.

It was a tough choice between that and an iPod Nano. Of course, we actually had to take into consideration his budget for the thing.

We were actually checking out two items: the Zune that was posted in TPC and the iPod Nano 3^rd Gen posted on eBay. Both are brand-new and in sealed packages. Both are 4GB in size. The iPod Nano’s available only in grey though. Unfortunately, the Microsoft Zune’s warranty is not in the Philippines, he’d actually have to spend $20-$30 for shipping to get an RMA for the unit. Unlike the iPod Nano’s, which you can actually go to any iStore and have them refer you to a place that does their warranty work for them. Now, comes the clincher, the price. The Zune was being sold for Php6,000 while the iPod Nano was being sold for Php5,500. A 500-peso difference.

And of course, like any other technical person, we check out the specs.

	Microsoft Zune	iPod Nano
BATTERY	Music, up to 24 hours (wireless off); video, up to 4 hours Charge Time: 3 hours; 2 hours to 90 percent	Music playback time: Up to 24 hours when fully charged Video playback time: Up to 5 hours when fully charged
SCREEN	Size: 1.8-inch color display Type: Scratch-resistant glass Orientation: Vertical (music) and horizontal (pictures and videos) Resolution: 320 pixels x 240 pixels	2-inch (diagonal) liquid crystal display with blue-white LED backlight 320-by-240-pixel resolution at 204 pixels per inch
AUDIO SUPPORT	Windows Media® Audio Standard[3] (WMA) (.wma): Up to 320 Kbps; constant bit rate (CBR) and variable bit rate (VBR) up to 48-kHz sample rate. WMA Pro 2-channel up to 384 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48-kHz WMA Lossless Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) (.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov) - .m4a and .m4b files without FairPlay DRM up to 320 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48-kHz MP3 (.mp3) Up to 320 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48-kHz	Skip-free playback Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV User-configurable maximum volume limit
PICTURE SUPPORT	JPEG (.jpg)	Photo capacity is based on iPod-viewable photos transferred from iTunes.
VIDEO SUPPORT	Windows Media Video (WMV) (.wmv) Main and Simple Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 3.0 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD WMV files at device sync MPEG-4 (MP4/M4V) (.mp4) Part 2 video. Simple Profile up to 2.5 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD MPEG-4 files at device sync H.264 video. Baseline Profile up to 2.5 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD H.264 files at device sync DVR-MS[5] Zune software will transcode at time of sync	H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
WIRELESS	Connectivity: 802.11b/g compatible Range: Up to 30 feet In range, see other Zune users, see their “now playing” status (when enabled on a given Zune), and send and receive songs and pictures	N/A
WIRELESS SYNC	Yes Connectivity: 802.11b/g compatible Authentication modes: Open, WEP, WPA, and WPA2 Encryption modes: WEP 64- and 128-bit, TKIP, and AES	N/A
FM RADIO	Built-in	N/A

He got himself a Microsoft Zune 4GB in black. He’s happy.

Posted by beingmytechieself at 4:48 pm | permalink

Previous Comments

Ohh awesome! I have a 2nd gen nano, and I’m pretty happy with it. But I do have to consider the Zune when replacement time comes!

Posted by Ade at June 11, 2008, 3:13 pm

@Ade, the Zune looks a bit like the iPod Nano 2nd Gen but Honey actually wanted to get something that a few people only had.. Marami na kasing napepekeng iPod eh..