I owned a third gen 20gb iPod. It has since been sold on eBay. Then I got a first gen iPod Shuffle with some store credit that I had for the Apple Store. I somehow lost that while mowing the lawn. I was in the market for a new MP3 player. I could just get an iPhone and kill two birds with one stone by having a cell phone and MP3 player, but I'm not rich enough for AT&T's plans. So it came down to the iPod Touch and the Zune HD. Two devices that can do a lot more than just play music. I went with the Zune HD.
It arrived to day with release day delivery from Amazon. First impression was it's thin. The OLED screen is nice, with three brightness settings. Looks great, but no better than LCD screens in bright sunlight. You have to sync it with your computer before doing anything. The 4.0 software is pretty much he same, but it now has a quickplay screen and something similar to Genius from iTunes. I tried out the browser and it worked fine. No flash support, but neither do the other similar devices out there. Played some music and liked the navigation. Checked out some video podcasts and they looked nice. Checked out the apps and there wasn't much available. Some lame games, calculator, and a weather app. Disappointed. I should just give it time, right? Surely, they'll release an SDK and let people have a hand at making apps. Then I read this Seattle Times article and lost all hope. Doesn't Microsoft want to win? Zune HD would be a better product than the iPod Touch if you they would let third parties make apps.
I got hyped by the Zune HD. They were really secretive on any info about apps before the launch and now I know why. If I read that article before, I would have canceled my preorder. I'm returning the Zune HD and getting the latest version of the 32gb iPod Touch. It won't have an OLED screen. It won't have HD radio. It won't have a subscription service that Microsoft is trying so hard to push. But it will have a ton support from app and game developers. I do know a good amount of those apps are crap, such as iFart. Anyway, Microsoft has let me down again.
