When you hold a Zune HD, the thing seems to be carved from the future itself. When you hold the PSPgo, it feels like a free-with-contract tween’s phone.

~ Mark Wilson, Gizmodo Editor

So there it sits pretty clear as dirt. I personally love my first generation PSP. Its a beautiful machine that is breaths technology, but ever since then every incarnation of the PSP series has been about fighting piracy and making the device feel cheaper and cheaper. Sony has all but admitted that the jacked up price was so that they could entice retailers to even carry the device. Personally I hope this acts as a wake up call to the PSP team.

[ Gizmodo PSP Go Review ]

So it finally has arrived, the long awaited next generation Zune. I am still waiting to get my grubby little fingers all over one of these devices, but overall I’m still awe struck by the work of Zune Originals. Since Apple plasters the back of their products with Apple logos, it really is a contrast to see such refined artwork laser etched into the back of a Microsoft product. I’ve said before, I’ve always felt a much stronger artistic / design vibe from the Zune team when compared to the iPods, it’s like comparing a sterile room with a museum.

As I figured news on the release is tepid. I’ve seen more news about the all holy camcorder slapped to an iPod and have found next to nothing in terms of reviews for the new Zune. I really wish some people would get their head pulled out of Apple’s collective ass and look at the rest of the world. The Mac OS X operating system and iPod line are not the only products in the world; they are just the most unchanged in the past decade.

I really would love to see the Zune do well as it looks like (shall see soon) another brilliant piece of hardware that in my opinion is extraordinarily underrated for nothing more that the stereotypical anti-Microsoft rhetoric.

[ Zune Originals ]

In typical Apple fanfare, the iPod will continue on another 6 – 8 months with a handful of upgrades and color choices. With such a  lack luster performance, one would think the public would tire of the same over blown announcements. The only two major pieces of news, the Nano gaining a camcorder (no camera capabilities) and iTunes 9 aren’t even really all that interesting as much as confusing.  A standard iPhone GS camera in the iPod Touch would have gone over better and made its upgrade more enticing. In place they claimed it was a gaming platform, stating people had no interest in a camera on the touch. One could debate the claim of the system as a gaming platform with the input limitations of the system, not to mention the cost comparison to a Nintendo DS. The iTunes 9 announcements were especially odd considering the lack of new features. With a few changes in how iPods and iPhones syncs with the software the other changes relate to the iTunes Store, in an attempt to clean up some of the mess that has plagued the web driven interface. Until Apple completely scraps the interface for a more natural and graphically pleasing one the store will always be one of the sore thumbs in iTune’s side.

In contrast Microsoft is in the process of a major upgrade to their Zune hardware and software. Considered by many as the competitor to the relative Monopoly the iPod line has on the mobile music industry, the Zune HD has the potential to regain some of the ground lost to the popular iPod Touch. It remains unclear as to how the platform will do beyond music; possessing limited gaming and internet connectivity does not quite put it on the same operating system level of the OS X Mobile. From a purely media standpoint, the Zune line has for the past few generations shined like a giant artistic beacon in the overly sterile design tones of Apple. With smooth interfaces and inventive media organizational skills the device has an ease of use and stability that puts the iPod to shame, especially in the syncing and moving of media between devices. Driven by an Adobe Flash interface, the software side of the Zune has had a silky and way about it, the release of version 4 should prove interesting considering the changes to the Zune HD interface.

Regardless of how well the Zune HD does later this week, nothing short of Apple going bankrupt will change the current iPod dominance in the market. I have always been a fan of the Zune software, especially in the time I’ve been forced to use iTunes with my iPhone. OS X Mobile might be a good mobile operating system, but both its media capacities and its sync software leave a lot to be desired. Considering Apple’s painful commitment to sameness I doubt that is going to change any time soon. If ever there is a proper marriage of the Zune line and the Windows Mobile OS maybe then we will see change in the markets.