Can you use a zune on an iPod dock?

Though the new Zune HD portable media player from Microsoft is garnering mostly positive reviews, critics say it's likely too little, too late against Apple's dominant iPod touch. Seen as a response to Apple's iPod touch, the new touchscreen Zune HD is viewed as a major improvement over the previous hardware from Microsoft. It sports an OLED multi-touch screen, can tune into HD radio stations, offers playback of high-definition movies and TV shows, and has access to the $15/month unlimited download Zune Pass.

The hardware is available with a 16GB capacity for $220 and 32GB for $290. Currently, it is only compatible with Windows machines. But for all its promoted advantages the Zune HD has over its competitors, the new hardware also offers many things the iPod touch introduced years ago, including a full-fledged Web browser and games and applications.

On the former, it's simply playing catchup, and on the latter, it will likely never compete with Apple's 75,000 program deep App Store. The Zune HD is a truly beautiful piece of hardware and software from Microsoft, but it's hard not to feel sorry for the software giant, who, despite releasing a good product, only has 1.1 percent of the music player market. "If this thing came out in a parallel universe where the iPod didn?

T exist, it would be hailed as a god." "The Zune HD player isn? T perfect, but it? S every bit as joyful, polished and satisfying as its rival.

HD radio is a plus, but not a "killer app." The Zune music store can't compete with iTunes: only six million songs, 10,000 TV shows and 500 movies. Only nine apps currently available.

Zune Pass is appealing, Application store will grow, and all available software will be free. Music player is attractive and is full of "clever features." Microsoft's style is like a reckless gun-toting Tony Montana, spraying bullets until something works; Apple is like patient sniper that takes one shot and makes it count.

This year, Apple gave the iPhone and the new Classic, Touch, and Nano models improved TV out features while harmonizing the AV cables used by its entire product line. Here's a look at what's changed, a review of Apple's recently released AV Cable kits, why the invented controversy about Apple's new cables is simply misinformed, and how using an iPod for video output compares against Apple TV. Apple formerly sold the headphone-jack iPod AV Cable as a standalone $20 cable or as part of the $99 iPod AV Kit that also included a Dock, power adapter, and remote.

Alternatively, third party cables could extract composite video either from the headphone jack or the Dock Connector. The new cables are longer, and rather than providing three short leads that split off for stereo audio and video like the old iPod AV Cable (below, right side), the new cables split in three directions: USB, video, and stereo audio jacks (below, left side). This is an improvement in that it allows the cable to be used in applications where the video jack isn't right next to the audio jacks, such as would be the case if you wanted to plug the video directly into the TV but route the audio into a stereo receiver more than a few inches away.

This design also results in a longer and more complex cable. The component version of the new cable kit is identical apart from having three video plugs rather than just the one on the composite cable pictured below.