Sing a new zune

Microsoft has worked on Zune software to take on Apple8217;s new, better looking range of iPods

Microsoft has worked on Zune software to take on Apple8217;s new, better looking range of iPods
THIS might sound weird, but here it is: the iPod and the Zune aren8217;t rivals anymore. And not just because the iPod outsells the Zune about a gazillion to one, either. No, it8217;s because the iPod and the Zune no longer serve the same audience. That8217;s a surprising development, for when the Zune had its debut in 2006, it couldn8217;t have been more iPoddy if you ran it through a Xerox machine. Same layout, capacities, prices and product line.
But in the last few days, Apple and Microsoft both unveiled new music-player lineups. And Microsoft, it turns out, has added something truly new to the Zune: differentiation. The Zune has become a music-discovery machine.

Over all, the players themselves haven8217;t changed much except for colours, capacities and prices. The huge exception is the iPod Nano, which has undergone its fourth redesign in four years. It is now a truly gorgeous, incredibly thin aluminum stick, in your choice of nine vivid colours. It maintains Apple8217;s design theme for 2008: tapered edges. The front and back are gracefully curved, including the glass screen. But even at its thickest point the 1.3-ounce Nano is the thinnest iPod ever.

Apple also rotated the screen 90 degrees, so menus and song lists fit better. And thanks to a tilt sensor like the iPhone8217;s, the Nano8217;s screen image rotates when you turn the player. This also permits a bit of whimsy: when you shake the Nano hard, it skips to a random song. The Nano can now speak its menus, song names and messages.

In short, this Nano is yet another a home run. The iPod Touch gains a metal back, tapered like the iPhone8217;s, and a small, feeble speaker and volume keys on the left edge. The tiny, screenless iPod Shuffle comes in brighter colours, and iPod Classic goes from 80 gb to 120. The 160-gb version has been discontinued.

The new Zunes haven8217;t changed at all except in colour: blue, pink, red or black for the Nano-like model and black for the 120-gb model. But next to the sleek, shiny iPods, Zunes still look like dark, Soviet-made bricks.

Clearly, what Microsoft spent the year working on was software. Generously enough, it8217;s giving a free upgrade to owners of earlier Zune models. Once the time-consuming upgrade is over, the player8217;s new software offers better looks also, at last, a clock and a couple of games, and the new Zune jukebox software for Windows is clean and focused.

Microsoft hasn8217;t made much effort to match the iPod8217;s universe of functions. The Zune store still lacks movies, downloadable programs, gift certificates, monthly allowances or any way to rate podcasts to guide fellow visitors. Yet for hardcore music lovers, it is a gem. The Zune blows the iPod off the map in music discovery and downloading.

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Now, Microsoft8217;s shift in direction isn8217;t totally altruistic. Many of the Zune8217;s new talents don8217;t make sense unless you subscribe to ZunePass, Microsoft8217;s 15-a-month music-download service. I8217;ve always hated subscription music services. Sure, they let you download all the music you want for a flat fee8212;but the day you stop paying, it all vanishes.

But if anything can make subscriptions look enticing, it8217;s the new Zune software. For example, every Zune has a built-in FM radio. When you hear a good song, you can click the centre button to capture it, provided it is a station that broadcasts song-title data. In a Wi-Fi hot spot, the Zune downloads the song from the Zune Store immediately. When you get home, the downloaded song gets copied back to your PC. Even wirelessly, if you like, because it can sync over Wi-Fi. It8217;s addictive, awesome and completely natural.

The software also offers more than 100 channels. And when you8217;re in a wireless hot spot, you can listen to these channels streaming endlessly, exactly like satellite radio.

Even better, these playlists can also auto-download to your player. You gain two things satellite radio lacks: the freedom to listen anywhere, even underground or indoors, and a skip button.

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Microsoft has also beefed up the Zune social network. Here, you can make friends and listen to their playlists. The Zune software offers myriad ways to suggest new music that you might like, based upon what you8217;re listening to, or what people with your tastes have in their own libraries.

A similar feature, called Genius playlists, appears in the iPod8217;s new iTunes 8. It automatically builds a playlist of songs either ones you already own, or suggested store offerings that Apple says 8220;sound great together8221;, whatever that means.

In short, the Zune has become almost a cross between a music player and satellite radio. Wireless streaming, capturing from the radio, channel subscriptions, recommendations8212;if you8217;re a heavy music consumer willing to pay 15 a month forever, it8217;s just the best.

But what if you8217;re not?
In that case, the iPod still wins. The Zune8217;s features offer musical depth, but not breadth. The Zune software looks cleaner than the increasingly cluttered iTunes, but it8217;s just as confusing. And the Zune store offers less than half as many songs as iTunes, one-15th as many TV episodes and no movies at all.

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Finally, buying an iPod means that you join an immense ecosystem of accessories, cases and websites. Those 150 million existing iPod owners won8217;t look at you as if you8217;re some kind of weirdo.
Funny, isn8217;t it? In the music world, Apple and Microsoft have now completely switched roles. You buy Apple if you want to play it safe8212;and you buy Microsoft if you think different.