iPods play: 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

You can choose to use AAC if you want to. It's not compulsory.

Okay, no matter what format, as soon as you put any music on a zoom it gets "infected" with DRM using viral DRM.... even if it's MP3, it gets wrapped in the Zoom DRM....

If you share a file with someone via it, they can play it either 3 times (I think that’s the right amount) or for 3 days, which ever comes first, after this time the track will either stop working, or if still on your Zune, simply disappear. So no point with the WLAN feature really.... there is no way (yet) around this....

I think anyone who buys an MP3 player if they have a mobile phone already, these days is crazy, to buy an MP3 player that infects music with DRM though.... I just don't get it....

There really is no point buying one if you want it because it will be the next fashionable wannabe thing... it won't, as much as it pains me to say this, there is no chance it will take down the iPod, the only real competition is Creative (who are slowly eating away at apples dominance)

Viral DRM sounds appalling. All the Zune is is a Gigabit repackaged.

The point is not to give your friend the song but to let them hear it and then if they want it, they can go and get it. Like when you say I've heard this cool new song and instead of you sharing the earphones or buying a double earphone adaptor you just send it to them. It is a taster rather than a permanent gift of the music.

E.g. on youtube how often do you go and watch the same video, you might watch it several times but then you will get bored and watch something else.

Music Tracks and YouTube videos are different, otherwise no music would ever be sold, people would hear the song 3 times on the radio and never listen to it again.

All DRM sucks, if I take a cd to a mates house and try and play it in his cd player I don't get asked for a password or told I've only got 2 plays left.

True but at that point you've paid for it, i.e. you have bought the music.
What Zune does is just to give you a taster, an analogy could be the headphones playing music in music stores. If you think about it in the legal sense, Microsoft couldn't have allowed the sharing as music purchase would decrease and there would be no practical way to square it with the record companies, the Zune would have become an offline peer to peer network.

True, but i've paid for my cd's too and i can do what i want with them.

Yes you have paid for your CDs but you haven't paid for music that you've transferred off of someone else's ipod.

In terms of the DRM that affects all bought or subscribed mp3 music, that is an affliction that affects the entire industry and so cannot be a benefit/disadvantage over another player since they all suffer from it.

The latest thing I've heard about the Zune is that you'll have to pre-pay to buy points that can be exchanged for music in the microsoft zune shop.

With Zune it is only a music player, despite having a larger screen than the ipod video, it doesn't have the capability to play video, although if it did, it'd look worse/same as ipod video as the screen resolution is exactly the same on both players.

With Zune you'll only be able to purchase music from the Zune shop, it is not compatible with microsofts own 'plays for sure' DRMed format, that and you can buy DRM free mp3's from many British independant labels, however these files will need to become infected with DRM to be able to play on the Zune, I'd be very careful to back up DRM free music before you let it loose on the Zune.

Misinformed mikeydb, the Zune does play videos - it plays mpeg1, mpeg2 and wmv but MS are focusing on the music side of things e.g. in terms of their marketplace.

Yes like Ipod it is locked into its won music store which has option of purchasing music and of a subscription based unlimited downloads, but that's not necessarily a bad thing if you haven't purchased music from elsewhere already. It has a larger screen that is QVGA resolution. You don't have to pre-pay points but there will be the option to purchase pre-paid points e.g. as a gift just like they do on xbox live marketplace.

The Zune only DRMs music on the Zune itself, it doesn't affect files on your PC.

So not like the iPod at all.

Having owned an Ipod and looked heavily into the Zune, I chose creative's vision m. Its so easy to put avi movies onto!

I don't think zune is very attractive if looking at it by itself, the Ipod is the best closed model and creative/toshiba have reasonable cornering of the open model market. The zune becomes more interesting when looking at its interaction/integration with other microsoft hardware and services.

look nothing can own the iPod market i hate to admit it because no1 buy it because of the functions because its an iPod if zune was iPod everyone would be w00t it has wifi etc etc so its fat its wicked features pfffffffffff
Last edited by H4X0R : 11-10-2006 at 21:30

I have been hearing very good things about the Rhapsody 4 service, its RAX files use Helix so its music files work with playsforsure devices and with Ipod. Also it has teamed up with Sandisk and made special mp3 players just for rhapsody - close integration like zune with marketplace and ipod with itunes.

Seems like the best of both worlds to me and it offers subscription and purchase-able music. So we have three closed models and several open models I think things are improving slowly. Unfortunately those who don't research or look into their purchases are going to take the "safe" option and go Ipod without looking at alternatives, that's not to say ipod isn't the best but always worth having a look e.g. Archos Gmini 400 was much better for my needs, gotten a lot more use out of it than i would have done with just mp3 player and I have had video capability for about 18 months before Ipod did.

Can anyone advise my on a good high storage capacity player that plays mp3, AAC (but not apples DRMed files) and is capable of 320x240 video or better and accepts MPG1 video or better.

If you don't have Itunes music why do you want AAC file playback? Do you use Audible or something?

You're not allowed to copy them and give them to your mates. With Digital files it's infinitely easier to copy stuff and distribute it to other people. This is what the content providers are afraid of. For all we know there could well still be a viable market for open music and maybe people would still pay for stuff that they could easily get away with for free, but it's a huge leap of faith for companies to take - probably too big, and sadly those people who would abuse the situation ruin it for everyone else. You don't see shop owners just opening their doors in the morning, going off and trusting people to leave money for their goods do you? I don't like DRM but I can understand the motivation for it, although they are perhaps over zealous with it.

I understand that, but I can lend my mate a cd and it won't stop playing after 5 attempts will it..he can play it as many times before as he wants before he gives it back.

Yes there you are lending your cd to your mate so only one of you can play it at a time. You could just as easily lend your mate your Zune, that would be the correct analogy.

Allowing him unlimited free plays via zune's wireless transfer would be tantamount to a record company offering a free album to anyone who has a mate who paid for said album.

You must get your analogies correct or your arguments will be flawed. Either way the DRM is here to stay for now at least and is something that afflicts ALL mp3 players so not very useful when comparing different music players.

Lending your mate your Zune is like lending him your CD player with a pile of CD's, when you only want to lend him one CD.

the point was that only one of you had access to the music track in question at one time. What you are essentially saying should be allowed to happen (i.e. no play limit) is tantamount to making your friend a free copy of the CD.

This is just a TASTER then he can go and buy the CD himself. Legally speaking making audio cd copies for your mates is breach of copyright (for copyrighted audio CDs) in the same way he can' t be given a music file for free or the zune would essentially be an offline version of the old napster.

There will be no zune until 2008 for the UK!!!! That is shocking. Oh well I will probably still import one as I like the look of them. If the price is too high I will get a zen. Or if a widescreen, touchscreen ipod comes out with loads of battery life I will get that.
Wow is that a flying pig?

The iPod screen is qvga, although it's slightly smaller physically this means that the number of Pixels per inch is actually higher.

The Zune is actually 240x320 whilct the iPod is 320x240. I find it interesting that the iPod could actually fit a bigger screen on it if displayed portrait and the wheel shifted down, yet it is still smaller than the zune.