iPod, Sansa, Zune

Of all the portable media players I have used (and that's lots), none compares very favorably to the iPod.

But as of late, the gap between them is closing:

Thursday, long time Apple (AAPL) buff David Pogue gave a pretty nice review to the Zune. And I've spoken to many Sansa users who are very happy with that as their musical gadget of choice.

It's funny to me that Apple spent so many years as the oddball, anti-establishment PC. Now, Steve Jobs has become THE MAN, and other mainstream companies like SanDisk (SNDK) and Microsoft (MSFT) have become the plucky contrarian device makers.

It's somewhat amusing.

Thursday's NYT had two articles about burgeoning iPod competitors: The new SanDisk Sansa View, and the revised Microsoft 2nd Generation Zune. The Times noted the new SanDisk Sansa View compares favorably to the iPod Nano from Apple, at least on paper:

The View comes in 8-gigabyte ($150) and 16-gigabyte ($200) versions, while the Nano has 4 gigabytes ($150) or 8 gigabytes ($200). The View has a 2.4-inch screen as opposed to a 2-inch screen on the Nano. SanDisk claims 35 hours of audio and 7 hours of video playback on a single charge; the Nano claims 24 and 5. The View has a built-in FM radio; the Nano requires a $25 accessory for radio play.

And there's more. The Nano's storage capacity can't be expanded, while the View can add as many as 8 gigabytes using a MicroSD card. The View is bigger than the Nano, about the size of an open slider phone, weighing in at 2.9 ounces compared with the Nano's 1.74 ounces. In this case, bigger may actually be better.

And then Pogue's review of the Zune was not too bad either:

You can navigate the Zune's bright, clear, animated software by clicking the dial at any of its four compass points; select something by clicking the center; and - here's the twist - scroll through lists by rubbing the pad's face. Music-player companies have struggled for years to come up with a controller as good as the iPod's click wheel; Microsoft, in Zune 2.0, has finally done it. The sound quality is very good, especially if you use the 80-gig Zune's included earbuds. They're not hard disks like the iPod's and those of the smaller Zunes; they're soft rubber bulbs that snuggle securely into your ear canals, sealing out the outside world. . . The 80-gig Zune is still thicker and chunkier than its iPod rival, too.

Me? I'm still an iPod guy:

Here are some of the iPod features that the Zune lacks: Games, alarm clock, stopwatch, world clock, password-protected volume limiter, graphic equalizer, notepad, auto-synched copy of your computer's calendar and address book, and Disk Mode, which lets an iPod serve as an external drive for carrying around computer files. Above all, you may miss that thriving virtual bazaar of iPod accessories: more than 3,000 stereo docks, cases, car adapters, and so on, compared with only a handful for the Zune. Here are some of the iTunes software features missing in the Zune's software: Smart Playlists, which assemble groups of songs based on criteria that you specify ("80's up-tempo songs I haven't heard in three months"), choice of visualizers (screen-saver effects that dance to the music), closed captioning for videos and TV, Cover Flow view, and a graphic equalizer. The Zune store is missing a lot of iPod features, too: TV shows, movies, audio books, monthly allowances and comprehensible pricing.

Sources:
A Portable Multimedia Player Takes on the Apple Nano
STEPHEN C. MILLER
NYT, November 29, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/technology/personaltech/29view.html

Microsoft Challenges the iPod (Again)
DAVID POGUE
NYT, November 29, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/technology/personaltech/29pogue.html

Comments

[Tom B]

As an investor, I might also point out that Apple makes money on the iPod. It is said MSFT has to sell below cost.

[samij]

what is funny to me is that apple spent so many years claiming that ipod was good because it did one thing (being digital music player), but it did that one thing very well and now ipod is considered better because of feature list that has very little to do with that one thing :)

[Tom B]

"what is funny to me is that apple spent so many years claiming that ipod was good because it did one thing"

They lied. The original model 1.0 iPod succeeded because it COMBINED at least three things that hadn't been combined in one unit before: fast syncing (Firewire bus); big capacity (hard drive); and nice package. They've REMAINED on top by constant innovation. Offering a Windows version of the iPod, iTunes software, weak (instead of nasty) DRM, DRM-free tracks, podcasts, video podcasts, iPod "touch". The iPhone.

It's better to be a moving target than to stay in on place, like so many products.

[wagonjumper]

I just received my iPod touch, the guy next door ordered one hundred and the FeDex guy said he had "a million" of them in his truck ...

[Si]

Not sure .. but wasn't the brightness and resolution of the Nano one of its strong points also in comparison to the others? Having seen these products in person I still feel the others just feel like a version or two behind.

[User 126637]

thats a lot of features that the zune doesnt have! very informative.

Zune is playing catchup to iPod... what do you think will happen when a greater variety of accessories become available for the zune and there are more firmware updates that bring the zune's features up to speed? I think iPod has the time to worry about these things, but not much, and the Zune has nowhere to go but up.

[Tom B]

And how do you anticipate that MSFT will solve the problem they have of losing money on every Zune sold? By subsidizing them at shareholder expense, like they always do with their failed projects?

[brewer]

What you left out in your comparison of Mac and PC and iPod and Zune is that Apple invented both of these product categories, and did a far better job of both. Microsoft on both counts copied what Apple did, but did a much more pedestrian job of it. That worked well for Windows as most people don't want to understand or use their computers much. Those who really want a great comptuer have always gotten the Mac though. With the iPod, they not only have the best product, but they rule the market as well. There is clearly no advantage whatsoever in buying a Zune. The only people who are buying them are Apple/Mac haters who are sick of seeing Apple come back after they have for years told everyone that Apple would go out of business.

[new user]

I recently bought 3 Zunes (last year's brown version) for my kids and wife. Never used one or an IPOD either for that matter so I can't compare head to head but I will mention that getting these 30 Gig Zunes for $99 each is something that Apple or any other maker can't touch right now and the music & video play just as well as any other brand. I can't imagine anyone spending $250-$300 for this type of device, $99 seemed fair any more is a rip off.