• Zune getting a lot of ink. Said to be a better deal and cool.
  • 793 articles on Google versus Bing.
  • July video game sales down sharply.
  • Entourage is killed.
  • Twitter still getting slammed.
  • Research sez: 40-percent of tweets is pointless babble.
  • IBM looking good and bad.
  • Dell phone looks sucky.
  • Show brought to you by AVIS at www.avis.com/tech5 where a discount is waiting.

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  1. chris says:

    iPods are way overpriced, so zune ought to be a better deal.

    I have a dirt cheap ssd drive/mp3 player. It is small, has good capacity, and plays most common formats.

    Can either the ipod or zune do better than that?

  2. CDRaff says:

    I am a total Zune convert. After my 2nd 16gig touch died, and Apple for the 2nd time denied a replacement, I picked up a small Zune to fill the void. The software is amazing, the Zune pass is awesome, and the device itself sounds better than an iPod. Overall I am very happy. Now I am saving the money to get a 32gig ZuneHD, and by the way it is cheaper than the 16gig ipod touch.

  3. Zybch says:

    I’ve got several iPods from the classic to a nano but since I bought a zune they’ve literally never been turned on. Its just a much better player with far better software and no damn stupid click wheel that makes you ALWAYS overshoot the menu option or song you were actually aiming for.
    I read a magazine review of one of the G2 zunes a while back and it got a dreadful score, mostly because it wasn’t an iPod – its so great when reviewers are impartial eh?
    Sure, if you have a lot of DRM-encumbered music from iTunes then you’re kinda screwed no matter which player you replace your iPod with, leaving that aside the zune is quite possibly the best player out there.
    Still sucks you can’t just drag’n’drop files to it though. You can thank the music industry for that.

  4. deowll says:

    I got a sanso that does what I want including hooking into FM. I like to be able to hook into the local news especially when and if the power is off.

    I’ve been through two major ice storms and those things can take down the power lines for while.

  5. Improbus says:

    Still sucks you can’t just drag’n’drop files to it though. You can thank the music industry for that.

    Why can’t we blame Microsoft for that? I have an mp3/video player that is not an iPod or Zune and I can drag and drop to it all day long.

    BTW, CDRaff & Zybch, you sound like you are astroturfing. You should tone it down a bit.

  6. Poppa Boner says:

    I had to laugh at “Dell phone looks sucky.” Can they do anything right. Well, on the bright side, they don’t have Baldmer.

  7. Zybch says:

    #5 listen to Windows Weekly number 114 where Leo and Paul have a chat with the lead zune guy, Rob Greenlee, from MS.
    Basically with the zune, and iPod too, it boils down to the fact that the music industry (the 4 big guys who have also formed the RIAA) will refuse to participate with any kind of on-line music store unless its heavily locked down either with stifling DRM on the music, limited functionality on the MP3 players, or both.

    Being forced to use sync software does stink, but it also gives you far greater control over your music/video library than basic tagging allows for, and the zune software is really good.
    Download it free and just see how much nicer it is than iTunes and their buggy 1990-style pile of crap.

    I guess we do sound like astroturfers, but its just coz the zune is so much better than most people are realize or are willing to admit, mainly as they think it would make Steve Jobs sad, and never really gave it a chance. Remember all the dismissive reviews of it before those reviewers had even used one… cough-daniel eran-cough

  8. Rick Cain says:

    They still sell that thing?

  9. Improbus says:

    @Zybch

    Why can I drop and drop to my player? I don’t need to use any stupid sync software. As an added bonus NONE of my music or videos have DRM so I can play them ANYWHERE and I don’t have to worry about someone discontinuing their music service and shutting down their DRM servers. DRM is theft.

  10. TheWhip says:

    I love my zunes. I have the 30 Gb Brown and a Blue 120 GB.

  11. zybch says:

    #9 Simply because NONE of the other players have music stores where you can legally buy music and stuff. It really is as simple as that.
    They haven’t had to make any deals with the devil, and just look at their wonderful sales.
    Apple have the monster share, and the zune is #2, where are the rest? A very distant third and beyond, and part of that is that the ‘average’ person doesn’t know how to drag and drop or even that you can, and don’t even try explaining how important it is to adequately tag your media for easy lookup by an MP3 player, its just beyond most people.


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