iPod Competitors 2012

They were put to shame. Bruised. Battered. Beaten to death. All gadgets that attempted to outrank the iPod were ambushed and annihilated. Unless you hold a personal grudge against Mr. Steve Jobs, or have had some downers with Apple in the past, I don't see you switch to a media player not belonging to the Apple clan. Well, it's not my place to wonder what brings you here today - whether it is the curiosity to check out the fads on the media players' block, or whether it is a hope to see the iPod guys fizzle and hit the skids sometime in the future. Whatever it be, the truth is, even this year, the iPod touch had all its competitors fall by the wayside. Yet, its rivals eye upon the very shortcomings the iPod has, and as a result, put forth their gadgets which seem to take the world by storm; steadily, but they're getting there. On that note, how about hashing over those closest to the iPod touch, even though they're far from touching the king of multimedia players? Are they kewl enough to make you sell off your iPod touch and pounce over them? The answer lies somewhere within the words that follow below.

iPod Competitors for 2012

Microsoft Zune HD

For once, may be you could consider it as the 'iPod Killer', though the world hasn't witnessed anything of that sort yet. However, when enlisting the potential rivals of the iPod competitors this year, Zune sits right there on top. It does everything that the iPod does; you can buy, stream, and play music and videos in HD. However, there's one thing that makes Zune score some Brownie points - the availability of an FM receiver, which isn't available in the iPod (except for iPod Nano). To better things, it comes with NVIDIA's powerful Tegra processor, Sony's X Series Walkman, and Wi-Fi. As for the costs, its pretty much similar to the iPod with the 16 GB model of Zune available in $179, the 32 GB in $249, and the 64 GB model priced at $349.99. All in all, a cool alternative for iPod touch.

Sony Xperia X10

Yeah, you might say this is like comparing apples with oranges, for the iPod touch is a multimedia player, while Sony Xperia X10 is a phone. But let me tell you one thing, the Sony Xperia X10 is, by far, the strongest device to have been launched by the Sony Ericsson. The 8 megapixel camera stands high against the poor camera of the iPod touch, and well, it's a little less complicated. You can extend its memory up to 32 GB, and can stream and play songs and videos via Wi-Fi. Now available in Android 2.3.3 Android Gingerbread OS, this cool device proves to be a tough competition to the mighty iPod touch, with price somewhere around $330, Xperia X10 will be everything but a disappointment if you're up for decency, and want no hullabaloo in your device. Plus, you can make calls on it too!

Samsung Galaxy Player 50

Everything that has had Galaxy on Samsung products became a big hit, and we definitely do not doubt the performance of the much-awaited Galaxy player 50 which comes with an Android OS 2.1 Froyo, dual cameras, and access to both Android Market as well as the Samsung apps. With a built-in GPS chip, lesser weight (it weighs 84g, whereas, iPod touch weighs 101g), and FM radio, it does have some pluses over the iPod. The price of Samsung Galaxy Player 50 for the 8 GB model is set somewhere around $230, while for the 16 GB model, the price is approximately $278.

... and there do not really seem to be any other jukeboxes talented enough to stand a chance against the iPod touch. While reviewing these mp3 players, it just struck me, even though they have a price set lesser than the iPod touch, do they also have the right combo of style, performance, and user-friendliness that could distract you from the iPod? Well, having a hold on more than 70 percent of market share ain't no child's play, or is it? In the end, does experience win hands down, or does innovativeness triumph? Can low prices outperform years and years of music lovers' satisfaction? Can the alternatives to iPod really outshine the world of multimedia the Apple iPod freaks have been basking in all the while? We'll see as 2012 draws to close.