iTunes vs. Zune in Music
Minimally stocked is the Zune store compared to the iTunes store but Zune offers, for about $15 a month, a subscription service where you can download everything you want. For now, the store has no videos, TV shows or movies, but you can upload your own video files. Much the same way that iPod supports unprotected WMA (Microsoft-proprietary) music files, Zune does support unprotected AAC files. A more streamlined system for file navigation was one major plus to the Zune player noted by more than one reviewer. To be able to get the file you want, it takes less button presses and less screen changes but Zune doesn’t have Apple’s Click wheel, although it looks similar, it is just buttons. More than just a few users have been won over by the iPod’s click wheel alone. The iPod is sleeker, lighter, smaller and slimmer than the Zune and iPos supports Windows, where Zune doesn’t support Mac OS X. The iTunes Store is a great benefit for the iPod and not only offers exceptionally wide range of media, its payment method is easier than the Zune store. With Zune, chunks of points need to be purchased and these points do not seem to match up with the dollar amounts. For example, 79 points are equal to 99 cents, the cost of a song in both stores. Zune’s software for downloading purchased songs is somewhat poor compared to iPod’s software performance.
