sound quality on this device is much better than the iPod touch
What is the sound quality?
Zune HD or iPod touch? Many people may start comparing this product to the iPod touch, but there are many aspects of PMP (portable media player), including the price (you get 16GB for one-hundred-sixty dollars, where for an iPod, you get 8GB for two-hundred-twenty dollars), that make the Zune HD a better choice and a strong competitor with today's leading PMP's.||>>APPEARANCEWhen I first opened up my Zune box and took it out, I was amazed. The Zune is extremely light and durable. The brushed metal back to the Zune gives it an industrial, yet sleek look. And since the screen is OLED, you can barely see where the screen boundaries are on the device. Overall, this probably one of the best looking devices I've ever seen (and I've seen tons of PMP's).||>>EASE OF USEThe user interface is amazing. It's definitely the best UI I've seen in a while. On the whole screen, there are options for music, pictures, videos, podcasts, internet, marketplace, social, and settings. Each sub-menu after that is pretty much the same. For music, you can view the music by artists, albums, genres, or songs (just a list of the 500 songs or whatever). You can switch between these different viewing options by swiping it to the left or right. The Zune performs these actions flawlessly.||>>INTERNET BROWSERAlong with all the other features packed into this device, the Zune sports a great browser. According to some sources, the browser is a slightly modified version of Internet Explorer 6. It seems pretty outdated, but many of the websites I go to have a mobile version that works just as well. Overall, loading pages is sometimes fast, and sometimes slow. It really depends on wi-fi network you're on. I'm pretty impressed with the quality of the web browser in terms of scrolling, and typing in text (the on-screen keyboard is great). The only thing I wish the Zune had was YouTube support, but with all of the music I have, I can manage not going on YouTube.||>>PORTABILITYThis devices is extremely light. It weighs around 70 grams, while the iPhone 3GS weighs about 150 grams. The devices is about 2 inches wide and 4 inches tall, with a screen that's 3.25 inches diagonally. The perfect dimension make the Zune extremely easy to carry around with me wherever I go, and also perfect for holding in my hand. I recommend buying a case (Incipio Feather Case for Zune HD (Black)) for this device.||>>SOUND QUALITYThe sound quality on this device is much better than the iPod touch. All my friends have iPods or iPhones, and even they say that my Zune sound quality blows theirs away. There are many different EQ settings for the music; acoustic, classical, electronic, hip hop, jazz, pop, and rock. I would probably say acoustic and pop are the most well-balanced options on the device, but different people have different ears. You might like different EQ settings, not to mention different headphones have different sound quality too.||>>BATTERY LIFEThe battery life on this device is a little bit better than the average PMP. With the brightness on low, wireless off, and the volume at 15 out of 30, I could probably get about 15 hours of battery life. The battery life also, depends on the bitrate of the movies or songs that you're listening to, as higher bitrates mean lower battery life. Most of my songs are 320 kbps, which is fairly high, so my battery life approximations may or may not be accurate.||>>SCREEN QUALITYThe OLED screen on this device is AMAZING. The resolution is 480x272, which isn't true HD resolution, but you can output HD video with the dock, which is sold separately. The colors on the screen are extremely bright and vivid, and the blacks are extremely dark. And the thing about OLED screens is that when they're displaying black pixels, the screen simply isn't being lit up at those pixels. So, having a lot of black really saves a lot of battery life, not to mention the whites look much, much better on OLED screens then any other screen. HOWEVER, if you're displaying a lot of white, the battery life drains a little faster than usual, which doesn't really matter that much because most of the menus are black anyway. If I was stuck on an island with nothing but my Zune HD and a couply of movies, I would be happy. :)||>>HEADPHONE QUALITYThe headphones that come with the device are pretty good. The only problem that I have with them is the bass response, so if you're an audiophile like myself, then you'll probably want to get new, better headphones. The headphones themselves are built extremely well and last a long time (longer than the generic Apple headphones). Also, the ear buds have little magnets on the ends of them which is kind of cool.||>>VERSATILITYThis device can play music, pictures, videos, podcasts (for free from the Zune Marketplace), browse the internet, download songs (and albums), and run some apps. So overall, this device has a pretty good range of things it can do. However, there isn't any integrated speaker, so you won't be able to watch videos or listen to music without headphones or separate speakers.||>>APPSThe apps selection is pretty limited. At the time of this review, there are probably only about 40-50 apps, most of which are simple 2D games. But they have a Facebook app, email app, and a twitter app, which I find quite useful at times.||>>SOFTWAREI've used iTunes before and I have to say, the Zune software totally blows iTunes out of the water. The interface is just so much faster. It looks nicer, instead of those bland Excel spreadsheets. When you're playing a song, the background automatically changes into a collage of different albums but that band, similar artists, artists photos, and some other stuff. Overall, the software is excellent, and really adds to the Zune experience.||>>MUSIC SUBSCRIPTIONS OPTIONSFor one-hundred-forty dollars a year, you can buy a Zune PASS. The Zune Pass is a subscription services that allows you to download an UNLIMITED amount of music for the time you're subscribed, along with 10 additional songs per month that you can keep forever. So, if you buy a 1-year subscription to the Zune Pass, you can download unlimited songs for a year, keep them on you computer, Zune, or Windows phone, and then listen to them whenever you want. Then, at the end of the subscription, you can download 120 of those songs to keep forever, even when you aren't subscribed. And if you stay subscribed, you can just continue like nothing ever happened, and then at the end of the 2 years, you can download 240 songs from the collection. Having the freedom to download as many songs as I want until my Zune gets full is really fun, and I would really recommend a Zune Pass to anyone who's thinking of getting a Zune.||>>VERDICTThe Zune HD is an excellent devices for anyone who wants a rich and filling digital media experience. The Zune might have some flaws, like not very many apps, and no YouTube support, but for the most part, the Zune shines. I would recommend this PMP over an iPod anyday. If you want tons of apps, and YouTube, you should probably consider getting an iPod, but if you want an amazing multimedia experience, be sure to consider getting a Zune.--Bob 