Closing In on the iPod?

WE'RE STANDING IN FRONT of an array of MP3 players at our local electronics store, dazzled by the sheer number of small, colorful portable jukeboxes to choose from. As we home in on one model, another customer sidles over. "That one's no good," says Antonio Rivera, a New York-based hotel-merchandising manager, who tells us that the songs skip and the battery drains too quickly. He's got his own recommendation. After trying three different models, he's finally found one he loves. It's brown and sleek. It holds 7,500 songs. And it's got the newest hot feature: the ability to share songs wirelessly. Perfect, he tells us. Just one more thing: It's not an iPod. It's the Microsoft Zune.

In the world of MP3 players, of course, the iPod is the 800-pound gorilla. Some days it seems that every other person you pass on the street is sporting the signature white earbuds of what has become this decade's most popular tech accessory. Apple has sold more than 100 million of them since its introduction in 2001 and for the past three years has controlled 70% of the market by constantly innovating: making the device smaller and more colorful, amping up its storage capacity, adding a sexy new touch screen. There's also the coolness factor. After all, the company has spent millions marketing the idea that the iPod offers a handful of "hip" in anyone's pocket.

But if you're wondering if it's the only option for taking your tunes on the go, we have news, gadgeteers: There are currently no fewer than 460 MP3 devices on the market. Some play only music; others also let you view photos, watch video and surf the web. They range in storage capacity from 1 gigabyte (which holds 250 songs) up to 160 gigabytes (which holds 40,000). To fill all that space, you can upload songs from your CD collection or shop in online music stores, each of which has its own selection and prices; some even let you download songs wirelessly. With so many players varying so slightly in size, design and functionality, the real issue has become: How do you tell them apart?

So we decided to conduct the great iPod challenge — which, by the way, couldn't come at a better time. Even with the iPod's glittering success, the MP3-player market has begun to stall. After rocketing 135% in 2005, according to market-research firm NPD Group, 2006 sales growth slowed to 13%, totaling $4.5 billion. To reinvigorate the market everyone from Microsoft to Samsung is working overtime to create snazzier, more high-tech and — yes — cooler music-loading gadgets. In fact 2006 marked the first time one of Apple's competitors broke the 10% market-share barrier. To help us see which player might dethrone the mighty iPod, we enlisted Brane Zivkovic, an instructor of music at New York University and audio technologist extraordinaire. His office, which shares a hallway with two recording studios and a sound-editing room, displays platinum, gold and silver record awards from his glory days as a recording artist and film composer and is equipped with practically every music player but a gramophone. Today, however, he's turning up the volume on songs from the Ultimate Grammy Collection on our group of tiny 8-gigabyte MP3 players.

We start with Creative's latest version of the Zen ($200). The smallest and second-lightest of the group (2.1 ounces), it turns out to be the hardest one for our tester to find in his coat pocket; he really has to fish around before he gets his hand on it. We wait — and wait — for it to turn on, but once it does we like its large, bright screen that looks more like it belongs on a digital camera. With nine buttons to choose from next to the screen, it takes some time for Zivkovic to find the music; when he finally does, choosing Bill Withers's "Ain't No Sunshine," he pronounces the sound to be merely "acceptable." And when it comes time to power down the device, he keeps poking vainly at those nine buttons before finally noticing the lone power switch on the side. Intuitive it's not.

After dealing with the square, stubby buttons on the Zen, Zivkovic is drawn to the elegant, glossy touch screen of Samsung's P2 ($250). But his enthusiasm soon sours. He instinctively slides his finger across the smooth screen to search for music; as a result, the folder icons lurch forward but don't actually open. After poking the P2 with different fingers from different angles, he eventually perfects a tap-and-flick motion. But every time he tries to select a song, the one below it on the track list starts playing instead. The P2's ease of use, he surmises, becomes "a matter of how big your fingers are." Walking with it outside during rush hour traffic, Zivkovic draws funny looks from passersby for shouting, "This is the worst!" Apparently, the peppy Petula Clark tune "Downtown" sounds "flat" and "lacks richness."

That wasn't the problem with the Sansa View ($150) by SanDisk, a company best known for its thumb-size flash-memory devices and that today holds the second-largest MP3-player market share, behind Apple. Maybe that's because of battery life: Zivkovic calls this model the hands-down "best value" in terms of juice (35 hours) and storage capacity (2,000 songs). He has no problem finding and playing songs, and the sound quality passes muster too — even while he runs through a parking lot, intentionally jiggling the headphone cord in its socket. Songs sound noticeably "fuller and richer" than with our first two devices, even in a forgettable pop ditty like Toto's "Rosanna." Yet Zivkovic deducts originality points for the gadget's scroll wheel, which he calls a "copycat" of the iPod's, both in design and function.

Then comes Microsoft's Zune ($200), which debuted with much fanfare in 2006. Zivkovic is impressed with how comfortably the gadget rests on his fingers while his thumb slides up and down, then side to side, on the square control pad. Compared with the other models, he says, "this took me 15 seconds to make it play." He finds Sam & Dave's "Soul Man" in a flash, but the control pad seems hypersensitive; unless he slows down his finger motion, he tends to overshoot his desired choice. Once he starts listening, though, he's happy — the device produces the best and clearest spectrum of sounds that he's heard so far. It even has the ability to share songs wirelessly with other Zune owners; we wanted to try it, but we couldn't find one within the necessary 30-foot radius. Yet for all its quality and functionality, he says, it lacks a certain freshness and pizzazz — even in red.

That's when we turn to Apple's iPod Touch ($300), essentially a thinner, stripped-down version of its much-heralded iPhone. Like the Zune it also plays videos and displays photos, and it can download songs wirelessly. However, it's got a slightly lower battery life and song capacity and is the only one of the bunch without a built-in FM radio. Still, Zivkovic says that the iPod Touch's "sleek and sturdy" design surpasses that of any of its rivals. He finds the touch-screen technology responsive and "very intuitive" as he quickly slides his finger up the glass screen to find his song of choice. He selects Steve Winwood's "Higher Love," deeming the sound quality "crisp and clear," comparable to that of the Zune. Not content with the volume at halfway, he whips his finger across the screen and blasts it. And although the glass is now smudged with fingerprints, Zivkovic has clearly found our winner. "It's like being at the forefront of technology," he says of the design, tossing the gadget from hand to hand, then sliding it into his coat pocket with ease. "It's a rush." Did someone say higher love?