Comparison of mp3 players

Ok, who knows how long ago, my mom (or dad, or both, don't really know) got 2 msn/microsoft/unmarked "mp3 players" at a meeting for work. At another, she got a video iPod. Just to set the record straight, and because I am leaking boredom, I will compare the two, except I'm gonna use my video iPod.

First, a look at the two side to side. The iPod is on the left.


Obviously, the msn thing is a lot smaller.
More size comparisons:




Onto tech specs!

iPod msn player
space: 80GB 128 MB
connector: USB 2.0 USB (2.0?)
screen size: 5.0 x 3.8 2.2 x 1.9 (cm)
video? Yes No
Radio? 3rd-party Yes
# of buttons 3* 7
mic? 3rd party Yes
Equalizer? 23 settings 6 settings
software? iTunes None

*Scroll wheel counted as one button. Could be counted as 4, but it's all connected.

Ease of use:

the iPod is famed for its ease of use. the msn thing?

not so much. When you start it up, you see "starting..." and then six options, three at a time:

music, record, voice, FM, setting, exit. choosing exit takes you to whatever music you had loaded.

music takes you to your tracks, no playlists allowed.

record allows you to record up to 42 or 8 hours of anything, depending on the mode. (from the back of the box)

voice told me "no files!" and then took me back to the main menu.

FM mode takes you to fm mode, where you have to go to menu and tell it that you want it to let you search (by tenths) for a radio frequency. Tough luck if you're at 104.9 and want 94.9.

there is no way to change the time, so it thinks that it is the year 2004.

basically, these things are horrendous. one last comparison:

file types:
iPod: FLAC, mp3, mp4, m4a, aac, wmv (iTunes will convert it for you)
msn junk: mp3, wmv.

anyone want one?

tomorrow: I take one apart!