Apple’s all-powerful iPod has another competitor: Microsoft’s Zune Media Player. You should have seen this coming: Bill wasn’t about to let his old friend Steve monopolize a market. That was supposed to be a Microsoft thing. Sure, the iPod is at the pinnacle of its dominance now with many die-hard fans, but this won’t be the first time Microsoft has made a belated challenge – the PlayStation was also at its peak when the Xbox stepped in and now the 360 ​​has the upper hand over Sony’s PS3. The point is, Microsoft is not a company to be overlooked, and its media player offering is worth a look.

As a direct competitor to the 30GB video iPod, it plays music, videos and displays photos. On the surface, my Zune is smooth to the touch and well packaged and much sturdier, harder to scratch and smudge. However, it’s a bit taller and quite a bit wider (justified in part by a 3″ LCD screen, 4:3 compared to the 2.5″ iPod – the bigger screen is a bit of an advantage), but much heavier. , even more than the 80GB iPod.

As for battery life, my Zune can play music for 12 hours and videos for about 3.5 hours each on a single charge. It takes 2-3 hours to fully recharge and like iPods they don’t come with chargers, you have to do it via USB.

The Zune doesn’t come with a manual – it’s all pretty common sense. Turning it on revealed a energetically animated and colorful selection menu, swiping your thumb left or right on the touchpad toggled between artists, playlists, tracks, and albums, and navigation was quick and smooth.

One important thing to note is that the Zune software requires Windows XP, excluding those of you with MAC OS, Win98 or Linux.

Supported files include .mp3, .mp4, .mov, .wmv, and .jpeg, but because it uses a newer version of WMA-DRM, it doesn’t work with tracks from stores like Napster – it uses their own software and store. , the Marketplace where you can subscribe for a fixed monthly amount of $15 for any number of downloads. Syncing tracks burned from CDs, checked out files, and even iTunes playlists worked fine, but not direct Apple ones.

Video and sound quality is expectably good, certainly iPod-comparable, and it slithered through my 15GB of songs with no problem; there weren’t any of the annoying little pauses that the iPod suffers from.

Its most distinctive feature is undoubtedly WiFi, so users can share media with other Zune users nearby, and shared tracks are conveniently stored in a separate folder so they don’t get mixed up. It’s fine for now, but it’s still pretty limited: songs only last 3 days or 3 plays, whichever comes first, and it only works with other Zunes. On the plus side, though, shared images never expire, and the Zune can be paired with the Xbox 360 to play your own tunes, replacing in-game tracks that sometimes seem repetitive and boring.

So should you buy the Zune? It’s a bit bulkier, and the Marketplace lacks video for that big Zune screen, roughly 2,000 tracks compared to Apple’s 3.5,000. But on the plus side, it’s sturdier and fits nicely in the hand, it has excellent sound and video quality, its media upload/download software and Marketplace are easy to use, and that bigger screen is just gorgeous. I’d say it’s an 8 out of 10 in my book, and worth considering for anyone who isn’t an iPod fan.