Paul Thurrrott has a series reviews for Zune 2.0, including this review for Zune 80 on Nov 27, 2007 in which he claims that the Zune 80 is a winner and highly recommended. Paul took quite long space in this review in where he did a comparison of Zune 80 and iPod Classic and concluded that the Zune 80 blows the iPod classic out of the water. Nice to hear, which almost made me to buy as my new portable media player.
But in his recent Can Microsoft Save the Zune? he listed a long list of things that Microsoft needs to do to save the Zune in the market, and made the final thoughts as:
Will implementing these suggestions be enough to save the Zune? You know, I'm not honestly sure. I basically switched to the Zune for two months straight but found myself missing more and more features that I just took for granted on the iPod/iTunes side. Yes, Apple's platform has its own issues, believe me--performance being perhaps the most obvious--but at least on the Apple side the pros outweigh the cons. Right now, that's not the case with the Zune.
When it comes to digital media consumption, nothing is written in stone. My music library is largely comprised of DRM-free MP3 tracks. My photo collection consists solely of standard JPEG files. Movies are, sadly, the most complex: I've got a weird mishmash of H.264, WMV, and AVI/DivX/Xvid files, and for now at least, no single device or software solution plays them all. Things can and will change in the future. But unless Microsoft is serious about improving Zune dramatically--and quickly--through 2008, this game is already over. Many consumers--myself included--will simply continue looking elsewhere.
Meantime, Bill Evjen posted his review to the Zune and claimed that Zune 2.0 - the best player on the market!
Ok, seriously, which one should I go with then? Staying with iPod might still be the safe move but I would take my chance to give Zune a try, because simply I like bigger screen to enjoy the movies and the Wi-Fi to enjoy the seamless quiet sync.