The Zune subscription is better than the iTunes equivalent for one main reason: 192kbps audio.

iTunes had 128kbps for most songs when I owned my iPod. The Zune subscription gives me access to almost all music there, plus the fact that I can keep 10 of them is a very nice plus. The “friends” feature lets you link others recently played songs and their favorites so that you can possibly add their songs to your library.

Sound quality is soooo much better than the Classics. With the Zune, I can use WMA Pro 10 24-bit 48kbps 2-channel audio. iPod is basically limited to 16-bit audio. Zune outputs the menus on your TV screen so if you have an A/V dock and a remote, you can control playback from across the room if you play music or videos. Try doing that on any iPod.

Like others have said, iTunes has the Genius feature but you can’t use that on the 5G. If Zune added such a feature, the first generation Zunes would still have that capability. If the feature being added were hardware related like a touch sensitive pad or MP4 hardware playback that can’t be done on the 1st gen, that would be the only feature that didn’t work. They can buy from the FM radio or buy from a wifi hotspot. They don’t even have to buy the song if you have Zune Pass.

Thank you for clarifying the 10 track thing. If anything is gimmicky I would say offering 10 tracks is without offering 1 album as well. Just further decline of the necessity of albums I guess. At this point I don’t even understand why musicians still release their music in the album format.

MS will probably continue to get their asses kicked but only a fool would buy the new 120GB Classic over the Zune 120, or a Nano over the Zune 16. The products aren’t even in the same league, Apple is relying on sheep that will buy anything with their logo.

I will say that I was pretty shocked by the overall tone of this article and immediately checked who the author was after reading it. I haven’t had to do that on this site and it’s definitely not the tone that I like to read. It came across as spiteful, not to mention the fact that even though I don’t own a Zune I knew some of the things Ed said in the article were just plain incorrect.

In Ed’s defense I have found it quite appalling myself how many “tech experts” have been slobbering all over the new zune pass. I just got done listening to the Engadget Podcast and a good 20 minutes of the podcast was pretty much a commercial for just how awesome the Zune was and how everyone is stupid for not owning one.

I just have one question, that maybe someone can help me out with. Is the new Zune pass 10 tracks OR 1 album? I may be in the minority here but I buy ALBUMS not tracks, and I don’t see the benefit of being able to KEEP 10 tracks if that means I only get 10 songs out of an album that has 13. Most albums, no matter how many tracks they have, are sold for 9.99 on itunes is this not the same way through the Zune marketplace? I haven’t read the official announcement so if I’m wrong that you can’t get a whole album at the end of the month please let me know.

Technically there was no reason my iPhoto couldn’t play games or videos… but no update for me… If i wanted games or videos, I had to give Apple another $400 for a new device.

The Zune has leaped ahead with changes, some that the iPod already had – and some not… but I didn’t have to buy ANYTHING new.

2. FM Radio, with song tagging. Sure I don’t use it much – but my 4 kids each use it all the time. Hear a song on the radio, tag it – and it automatically downloads (using the WiFi) from the store.

3. Mixview… Not exactly Pandora… but the next closest thing. I suspect in the next software update, it will be a lot closer to Pandora – especially considering that like-song technology MS is working on.

The reality is that it’s MOST important that you own your music. That does not require any specific brand device. The 2nd thing is finding new music… That might be Pandora, Mixview, or watching MTV. Zune has made HUGE strides in that area – and I think in the the next year you’ll see the leap…

… and thankfully, my Zunes (all 6) have been able to firmware update for the last 3 years – so we’re not left out. Try that with a 3 year old shuffle or mini.

Zune’s Mixview is far superior to Apples Genius, and your reference to using wifi to share media between Zunes shows that you have not used a Zune since launch.