Types of Zunes

• If you're a die-hard Microsoft fan and you're looking for an MP3 player that rivals Apple's iPod, the Zune player may be the right choice for you. Since late 2006, the Microsoft Zune has been fighting to maintain its place among the top personal music players in the consumer electronics market. As of 2010, its market share was less than 10 percent. Zune has steadily improved with successive generations.

First Generation Zune

• The first generation Zune, also known as the "Zune 30," is being phased-out since the release of newer models. It has a 30 GB capacity and can store up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures or 100 hours of video. The control interface on the first Zune includes a round control pad with a selection button in the middle, as well as a "Back" button and a "Play" button. The screen is a 3-inch LCD with 320x240 resolution and a 4:3 aspect ratio. Serving as an audio player, picture viewer and video player, the device supports audio formats such as WMA, MP3 and AAC and WMV video formats. It also includes an FM radio tuner, wireless Zune-to-Zune audio and photo sharing, wireless sync (using Wi-Fi), and a battery life of 14 hours for music, four hours for video or four hours of picture viewing. It has a USB 2.0 port for syncing media, which also serves as a TV-out port. It comes in five colors: white, black, pink, brown and red. It weighs approximately 5.6 ounces and measures 4.4 x 2.4 inches with a depth of .6 inch. Due to the hefty dimensions, some people refer to the first Zune as a "brick." The Zune 30 had an original price tag of $149, but its price in 2010 dropped below $100.

Second Generation Zune

• The second generation Zune, also known as the "Zune 80," is a more hip, slimmed-down version of the first Zune model. It has 80 GB of storage, which translates to about 20,000 songs, 25,000 pictures or 250 hours of video. The control interface is a "Zune Pad" touch-sensitive control pad accompanied by a play/pause button and a back button. The 4:3 LCD screen is slightly larger than its predecessor, measuring 3.2 inches with a resolution of 320x240. It supports the same audio formats as the previous Zune (WMA, MP3, AAC) but supports more video formats, including WMV, H.264 and MPEG-4. It also includes an FM radio tuner and wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing of audio and pictures. The dimensions are 4.26 x 2.41 inches with a depth of .51 inches, and it weighs 4.5 ounces, which is more than an ounce less than the original Zune. The TV-out feature was also upgraded, now producing a DVD-quality resolution of 720x480. Battery life was increased to 30 hours of music while the video battery life remained the same (4 hours). It's only offered in two colors, black and red, and had a price tag of $249 when it was first released. In 2010, the price range of new second-generation Zunes ranges from $199 to over $300 due to limited availability.

Third Generation Zune

• The third generation Zune, or "Zune HD" was released in September 2009. Offered with storage capacities of 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB, the Zune HD offers a better selection of options to suit your needs. Some highlights of the Zune HD include the 3.3-inch OLED touchscreen, the built-in HD radio tuner as well as HD video-out, Wi-Fi Internet connection, and smaller dimensions (2.07x4.02x.35 inches). The unit also weighs significantly less than the previous models, weighing in at 2.6 ounces. With customizable features and apps, the Zune HD is by far the best model that Microsoft had released as of 2010, according to expert reviews. The 2010 price tags range from $149 to $325.