The Zune is a cheap and ugly iPod rip-off. Microsoft tried though, it just didn't do great.

I have an 80gb Zune and I love it, and someone I know decided to get a Zune after seeing mine.

Though there's little separating the MP3 players these days, they're all pretty much the same.

the Zune's major flaw is the software, it has gotten progressively more bloated and difficult to use. v1.0 was awesome, with easy drag'n'drop, etc...the latest is really slow, and kinda ugly IMO...I have an iPod Classic 80GB, but Im not an apple fan in general, they just have the best product for small portable players. Sure Archos may have more in terms of file type support and HDD space (i think) but they are also bulky and fragile...

ZUNE. MICROSOFT WILL RULE US ALL! PRAISE OUR LEADERS!!!

Far as I'm concerned, they're both expensive mp3 players. They both do shit other than playing mp3s, which I don't need, and they're both just a little bit too big to fit into my pocket.

So with me, they both lose -shrugs-

For the most part, the software makes the player choice for me.

Obviously there are hardware considerations, but if the software's crap, then it can have all the features in the world, it'll still be crap.

I've never used the Zune software, but it looks like bloatware with image taking priotity over actual functionality. iTunes is the same, but it works damned well on Macs (I'll never use it on Windows, after the last time).

My ideal player would be something with a touch screen, support for third party apps, wifi, bluetooth (For headphone pairing), drag and drop audio/video copying (As with the Shuffle and the rebuilddb that you can find on sourceforge) or some non-bloated software, and flash/java support for the browser that would inevitably make its way on there.

Nothing offers that entire list. Closest are the iPod Touch, but that has mediocre software, no bluetooth (At least, in the model I have, not checked the current models), no drag'n'drop support and no browser flash support. There is an Archos that's similar, but at the price it is for 16gb, it can go.. anywhere else, but not my pocket. iRiver offer something, but it shits itself if you try and use too many 'large' playlists, and its own playlist manager is awful.

As for the Zune? Doesn't mean any of my wants/needs for a player out of the box, though I've not checked the software/firmware modding community out for them. I don't see myself buying one, though.