Zen or Zune?

So I ended up buying both a 30GB Zune and a 30GB Zen Vision:M both of which I haven't received yet. I was wondering which one you would pick and why. I will probably test both out when I get them but til then I would like to hear your thoughts on either one. Now I didnt include the Ipod or Archos or any other player cuz it is a choice between these two for me right now. So vote away!

 

I had a Creative Zen before, very reliable and solid. I'd go for the Zen.

People are selling the Zune on Craigslist & Ebay like hotcakes for cheap. So my guess is the Zune sucks. I also played with the Zune at a store and didn't like it at all.

 

Go for the Zen. Creative have been in this market longer than Microsoft and their products are reliable. My sister is a major league fan of Creative with speakers and mp3 players and she has never once had any problems with her purchases.

 

Yeah well initially i was going for a zen but then I had a small problem with google checkout and ended up with an archos

now a few months later i find the zune for a good price but suddenly after that i find the zen for a good price too. so yeah one shall stay and one shall go.

I played with the zune today (though it was turned off) and it just didnt feel as nice as an ipod (which they turned on). the thing I liked the most about the ipod was the scroll wheel easily scans the track back and forth, wonder how the zen works.

it looks like it'll be another week before i get the zune and then later on the zen. the sad thing about the zen is that it is said to be a discontinued model and some ppl are saying they are quitting that form altogether in favor of flash players only

 

definately go for the zune. my friend has the zen and i have a zune and WOW! the zune just beats it in all areas..better UI, better screen, better controls, etc. (all IMO btw)

 

zune..
definitely zune

 

I think the zune would have a better longevity, but... honestly, both are good choices though.

 

well if color was important,

i got the white zune

and the blue zen vision:M

 

Zen has a more natural feel to it IMO. Zune looks like it would have that same feel but doesn't. BTW ...I'm speaking on the feel of the controls.

 

I don't know if this matters to you, but...
Microsoft will have new Zunes out in a couple months.
And Creative has their new Zen, which I don't know if it's a replacement for the ZVM or if they're going to keep both around.

 

I prefer the Zune's controls... I found it much easier to get the hang of. After 20 minutes of playing with the ZVM I still couldn't really get it. Versus about 15 seconds to get the hang of the Zune's controls.

 

yeah I heard a new Zune will be out but no word on the Zens

im guessing they will discontinue the 30GB model and keep the 60GB at least, but in the US it seems there is no official word of the slim model. We have the slim ones here in Dubai by the way as well as nearly everywhere in the world. probably the first time the US gets it last LOL

 

By the way, this comparison page might be helpful:

http://dapreview.net/zune_vs_ipod_vs_zvm.html

 

thanks! yeah ive seen that and both of them are quite comparable while the ipod seems less due to its proprietary formats. does anyone have pics of all three side by side and in angles too?

 

In my opinion, the iPod isn't any more crippled by proprietary formats than the Zune or the Zen, especially the Zune. The Zune doesn't play wav files, for whatever reason. The only truly proprietary format that the iPod plays is Apple Lossless. AAC is not an Apple codec. Only AAC files with DRM are limited to the iPod / iTunes, in the same way that mp3s with DRM are limited to various players (aka, will not play on iPod).

Also, if you're feeling adventurous, you could give Rockbox a shot. It never worked very well on my old 4th gen 20GB B&W, but it is reported to work rather well on many other models of iPods. Rockbox handles a wide variety of formats, not the least of which are ogg and flac.

Between the Zen and the Zune that you have, I'd probably go for the Zune. Bigger screen, but it is the same resolution. It's a little more compact, and neither one has gapless playback. Personally though, I'm waiting for the new Zunes to make my decision on a HDD based mp3 player.

 

what i actually meant was the problem that you had to run itunes to transfer files. my sister has an ipod and their PC is quite screwy (PC illiterates who end up installing trojans and spyware that eventually ends up in me formatting it for them). i know with the Zen V which I have you can drag and drop stuff and with the Zune there is a customized hack that lets you use the drive as storage

 

Oh, ok. There are alternatives to iTunes, but nothing quite like a drag and drop solution for the iPod. You can just use it as an external HDD though. A Rockbox'd iPod has drag and drop capability but there is no iTunes-esque managing program that I know of. You could always just set up file syncing software using the same methods you'd use to backup files. Anyways, the iPod is kind of irrelevant to this discussion.

 

ahh i didnt know they'd managed that for the ipod

still no use in ever getting one til the new models

and i have two mp3 players of that calibre already

 

the zune is big and blocky, very awkward to hold. looks kinda ugly....

creative zen visions, those things ROCK

 

You know, now that I think about it a little more, if I take your post a little more literally, then I agree with you. I find the Zune's controls much easier to use and the Zen Vision M's relatively complicated and confusing, but the Zen's do have a nicer feel. I think the Zune's controls, while simple to use, do have a slightly cheap feel to them.

 

I'd go for the Zen I've had mine for aegis now never had a problem with the player it self but had a problem with installing drivers on Vista but that was my own fault for not downloading the new version off Creative's site and Creative Technical Support cleared that up for me within 3 minutes of calling them up.

I did have a Zune before I bought my Zen but that ended up dieing on me for some reason one day I went to go turn it on but it would just stop at a blank screen then turn off in a few seconds after, called up MS about it they said that because my warranty was over it would cost me $55.00 [AU] for postage and $200.00 [AU] for repairs. But considering I paid $120.00 when I purchased it stuff paying that to get it repaired.

Just my experiences though its completely your decision..

 

i did find the controls of the Zune a bit cheap when i pressed them almost like it had been taken apart, put back together but something was missing so it felt weird

yeah fact is that with these players, once it breaks it aint worth repairing cuz the costs usually outweigh the worth

 

I would get the Zen. I pre-ordered a Zen Vision M before it came out so I've had mine a while and its still rock solid. Sound quality is great, it supports almost any format, it has a built in mic for taking notes in class, it has a FM radio that you can use to record what your listening to. Also just to let you know I've accidentally left mine in the car for hours on end. When I cut it on afterwards it said it was overheated and shut itself down to protect the hardrive. I think the extreme heat it faced (6-8 hrs above 100 F outside) would have ruined my laptop but after I held it in front of the AC it worked perfectly. My only complaints are that the screen is small so its hard to watch a movie on and the software Creative gave me was subpar (just d/l MediaMonkey for free).

 

well ill be gettin the zune on sunday or monday and the zen on tuesday or wednesday, so maybe ill decide before then or after i have both with me

 

I'm personally a Zen Vision M person.

I own a 30GB Creative Zen Vision: M, and it hsa never shown ANY hitches at all. Everything is absolutely perfect, especially the screen. I'd like to note that despite the larger screen, the Zuen (and the iPod for that matter) only show 65k colors as opposed to the 262k on the Zen.

 

Does it? ive looked around and actually cant find any specs on the color screen

do you have a link to whatever mentions the number of colors on the zune

i knwo the zen has 262k and the ipod has 65k but never heard anythign about the zune's colors

 

www.anythingbutipod.com In the forums, there is a thread called Zen vs. Zune vs. iPod which I believe contains that information.

 

Definitely the Zen!

 

I personally would go with the Zen. I've actually had a couple of them(they all ended up breaking on me). To be honest, I haven't really messed with the Zune that much, I mean, I've held it, listened to it, and looked at the features of it, but I've never had one for more than a day. But, over all I liked the ZVM a lot, even though they all broke on me. If I was to buy one though, I'd go to Best Buy or where ever and get their warranty, so if it did break then I could just go and turn it back in within the two years.

 

ahh actually i read their review and it does mention the zune having only 65k! Ive read that review many times and didnt notice that....

problem with best buy is their ZVM price is over-inflated

i got my zen vision for only 150, it has been opened but not used or used for a short while and not liked. when i get it i will see

 

I've gone through two Zen's. Both had problems freezing once in a while, requiring manual restarts. The Zen *does* have more colours but it's oversaturated and the black colours while watching videos have artifacts. People these days enjoy oversaturation and some can't notice the artifacting though, so these issues may not concern you.

Both work with Windows Media Player, so there's no need to download some obscure (okay not obscure, per se, I've used them, but it's rather outclassed) media managers on top of something that works perfectly already.

To the demon guy complaining about Zune's repair cost: Break your Zen outside of warranty coverage, and they will charge you twice the Zune repair cost. It's naive and uninformative to compare downloading the wrong firmware/drivers to the player dying. Believe me, Creative will screw you on repair costs just as much as MS will, if not more.

While I do love the features of my Zen:M (aside from its technical flaws), the Zune has great tactile feedback in its controls. I prefer it to the pure touch controls in the Zen and iPod. Once again, your mileage may vary. Unless you have a specific need that only one player can satisfy, both players will do well given reasonable chance.

 

yeah that is true ichigo, when repairing a broken player, expect to pay through the roof! parts are not so readily available as you would see with cell phones so you need to be careful and hope it doesnt break out of warranty

personally id rather use one with a drag and drop feature than those annoying MTPs. i know its my XP that is giving me my Zen V and sansa connection problems but its just annoying when it goes wrong cuz there is nothing you can do to fix a MTP driver problem except reinstalling.

 

First off I'm not complaining about the costs i'm just giving some insight into how much it costs to fix these if you do break them and yes if you break the Zen it would probably cost around the same amount but its also naive to post that creative will make you pay twice the cost of the Zune to get my Zen repaired because this is also informative.

I'm also not comparing a mistake I made when I was installing drivers for my Zen to my Zune dieing, I was just stating that my Zen has not had any problems since I bought it apart from my mistake with vista drivers.

To end off the problems with artifacts in video playback have been fixed in the latest firmware.

 

hmmm well I got both players and from the poll it looks like more ppl like the zen over the zune. the zen i bought was used so i got to open that up but the zune was brand new which i have yet to open. im gonna see how much i can get for the zune if i were to stick with the zen.

 

I'd go with the Zune, I've had mine since March and I use it all the time, I've only tried the Zen for a couple minutes but never liked it. If you have an Xbox 360 the Zune works better with the 360 than any other portable media device. I have the Brown with the Green double shot and I love the look of it, I would definitely go with the Zune.

 

whats a green double shot?

 

Here is the best pic of the double shot i can find online

 

ahh so its just a strip on the side eh

how do you get that done? cuz i dont think it appears to be standard

 

The "doubleshot" comes standard on the Zunes -- at least the brown and black Zunes... not sure about the white one.

Oh and by the way... new Zunes are expected on or around Oct. 16.

 

It's less than a month away and microsoft haven't announced anything about any new Zunes. From the leaked pics I don't like the look of the flash Zunes.

 

Woot! The Zune is $130 at Woot today.

 

I'd definitely go with the Zune!

 

If both were $130, I would've gone with the Zen because the Zune is a Toshiba and I hate HATE HATE Toshiba.

 

hehehe echilon nice avatar, cant remember the name of the show but it was quite funny

still undecided so i put both up for sale and will see which goes first

 

i don't know why anyone would pick the zune over the creative zen vision m (unless the zune is MUCH CHEAPER like it was earlier). Creative wins, hands down. Close Thread.

 

ive seen the zune in action and while the controls maybe nothing special, the 3" screen really makes a huge difference despite it being only 65k

 

yo, swipe, how much u want for zune?

 

lol dude i live in Dubai, i think the shipping costs will cost 1/3 the price of a zune

 

I love my green Vision:M. I got it back in May for 180 bucks. Spent the extra money on some CX300B

 

nice price!

side by side the zen and zune have the same thickness but the zune is longer due to its bigger screen

if the zen had a 3" 262k screen it would be great....