In his article at Shoutwire, Leander Kahney discusses his personal experiences from owning a Zune player. Here’s a summary of the reasons he came up with on why the Zune is as good as, if not better than the iPod…

1. It has built-in Wi-Fi for peer-to-peer song sharing
2. The Zune’s interface impressed him the most: It’s much slicker and easier to use than the iPod
3. The Zune’s UI makes great use of 3-D effects and animation
4. The Zune’s navigation scheme is better-designed and easier to use
5. The Zune is much more intuitive
6. You can move sideways through the menu hierarchy
7. The Zune’s case is attractive and well-made
8. The screen is absolutely gorgeous. It’s just half an inch bigger than the iPod’s, but it makes all the difference. Video looks great. Photos too.
9. For $15-a-month, you get an all-you-can-eat subscription service. The marketplace is easy to navigate and has a good choice of songs.

Does this make you want to change your order with Santa this year?

It’s yet to be seen whether or not the Zune Player will take a serious chunk out of the iPod’s MP4 market dominance.

However, what’s more apparent is that many people aren’t choosing between an iPod and a Zune player - they’re choosing between an iPod and a non-branded MP4 player.

Global Sources list hundreds of different MP4 manufacturers based in China. eBay are currently listing over 20,000 MP4 Players for sale. Many of these are sent directly from China.

So what are often the benefits of buying an MP4 player manufactured in China instead of an iPod?

• It’s much cheaper
• It probably has an FM radio
• It probably has a voice recorder
• Did I mention that it’s much cheaper???

This MP4 Player has lots of great features including an FM Radio and a Voice Recorder. Here’s the full spec:

• 2 Gb Flash Memory
• 4.6 cm TFT LCD Full Colour Display
• FM Radio Tuner
• Digital Picture Viewer
• Voice Recorder
• Rechargeable Battery via USB
• Plays formats: MP3/WMA/DRM10 Supported
• Plays Movies: WMV/AVi
• High Speed USB 2.0 Connection
• Manufacturers 1 Year Warranty

Although the 2GB Memory is pretty meagre (it’ll only hold around 4 movies), it’s price is fantastic. At around £55 ($100) it’s a steal.

Purchase link: Duck.co.uk

Microsoft have pulled off an impressive publicity this Christmas by ‘hiding’ 100 numbered pink Zune players in packaging that doesn’t make their contents obvious.

This story is racing round the net. But why PINK Microsoft???!!!

For those wanting one there are two pink Zune players on offer on eBay:
http://search.ebay.com/pink-zune

· Up to 20 hours(1) of battery life

· 80GB storage

· Improved video playback time, iPod keeps you entertained for up to 6.5 hours

· You can even view photo slideshows complete with music on iPod or on a TV via the optional iPod AV Cable

· A brand-new, built-in search function lets you use the Click Wheel to type out the name of the song, artist, album, audiobook, or podcast you’re looking for, and your iPod returns results instantly as you select letters

The iPod had to choose a new direction to continue to outpace the evolvement of mobile phone technology. With Sony Ericcson bringing out a phone (the W950i) with a 4GB hard drive – capable of holding up to 4000 songs – the portable media player marketplace is hotting up.

The following 10 Things Wrong With The Zune Player is taken from Zune: So You Want To Be An iPod Killer.

1) Hardware issues. It’s is a little too bulky and heavy

2) It’s fake click wheel is really just a cheap plastic rocker switch

3) Wi-Fi is nice, but you can’t connect to anything but another Zune

4) It only works with Windows XP

5) It is incompatible with common media formats such as DivX

6) It plays movies, but you can’t buy them from the Zune Marketplace

7) It isn’t ready for podcasting

8) The software installation process needs a lot of work

9) Some features are too hard to find and not well designed

10) It stops playing current music during Wi-Fi, peer-to-peer music transfer

Can anyone add to the list?!?

Intex Aura 401 MP4 player

As an all-in-one entertainment package, the features include AMV Video File Format, 1.8-inch screen, 250K color TFT, built-in FM tuner with 20 channel presets, voice recorder, and a USB drive. This MP4 player enables viewing videos while on the move.

It’s a very interesting new addition to the range of MP4 players available because it also includes a built in FM radio, voice recorder and USB drive at a budget price. I get the feeling that someone’s done their market research very well.

The chances are though that it’ll still be a children’s product. An extremely portable MP4 Player without a phone could fill a gap in the market. But maybe not. We’ll see.

He’s been using the roming Zune function that lets you search for other Zune Player owners and then swap tracks with each other. One problem. He couldn’t find one other Zune owner!

Better luck in the future, Jason!

• Up to VGA 30 fps AV recording (MPEG 4 compatible file format) through AV In with timer record feature
• 3.6″ Color TFT LCD; Adjustable LCD brightness
• Up to 40GB HDD storage capacity allows users to back up files from memory cards
• Multi-language user interface
• Stand design allows users to enjoy the multimedia comfortably
• TV playback through AV Out
• High speed USB 2.0 supported