Zune Isn't That Thick

[Michael Boutros]

All across the big wide interweb, people are moaning about how thick and big the Zune is. &quot;Like, omg, my iPod/Sansa/Zen is 100x thinner than that brick!&quot; And yes, that's true. However, anyone who has ever owned an iPod with video or similiar device knows that as soon as you buy your device, you better have a case for it because it will get scratched very quickly. It has even been reported that staring at the iPod hard enough will scratch it. By the time you've added on you're monstrous <a href="http://www.agent18.com/scripts/prodview2.asp?idproductpages=4" target="_blank">Agent 18 VideoShield</a>, your ultra-thin iPod isn't so thin after all.<br /><br />I personally have an iPod nano (soon to be a Zune), and I received three defective units before I got my fourth, and by then I learned my lesson and bought a top-notch case that was around 1/4 the price of the iPod itself. Now, when I put my iPod into the case it wasn't so thin anymore, but I don't really care about that kind of stuff.<br /><br />Just some food for thought.

[Damion Chaplin]

Well, to play devil's advocate here, I'd like to hear you say that after you own the Zune. Will you feel the need to put it in a case? If so, that makes it even thicker, and invalidates your argument...

Personally, I think thinness is a fad right now, and has been equated in the consumers' minds as 'new' and 'advanced'. I've got big hands, and for me thinner is definitely not necessarily better.

[Dyvim]

While I agree that the full-sized iPods and 1st generation nanos are so super scratch prone that they require a case, I don't believe that's the case with the 2nd generation nanos (or defunct iPod minis). The aluminum 2nd gen nano just needs maybe a screen protector and that's it- it's even a hair thinner than the original nano. I wish they'd put the aluminum enclosures on the full-sized iPods as well and then those wouldn't need a case either.

For me the black 8 GB nano is about as close to DAP perfection as you can find on the market today: thin, small, light, 8 GB of flash storage, and a good-looking durable enclosure. Now they just need to crank the storage up another notch as flash prices continue to drop.

[David Tucker]

I don't even bother with the direct size comparisons. The iPod is undeniably thinner and smaller. This doesn't exactly translate to superior in my book. Some people it does. My brother likes to harp that his 5.5g iPod is so much thinner that my Zune.

My take? So what. Yes, its thinner. Even with the nice case he has on it, its thinner. And when I hold my Zune, it feels nice and comfortable in my hand. His iPod didn't feel any better just because it was thinner. And I'm sorry but if the trade off for being so thin is a tiny screen, I'll pass. You can't even compare this to a Nano. The only valid comparisons are to the 30 & 80GB iPods. If size is the most important factor for an DAP for you, then an HDD player is always going to lose.

[jdmountford]

Cases or no, it still does not change the fact that the Zune is thick, but not all that much more so than the ipod video or Zen. You can throw numbers or measurements out there but lets look real world it really sin't a big difference. And it has a bigger screen than either. Worth the size increase?