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Why carry a smartphone & an MP3 player?

Posted by Julie on July 8, 2009 – 8:11 pm  Share
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Yesterday this post by adamzea on Twitter got me thinking because most of the time I’m one of those silly people that carry a Smartphone and an MP3 player (specifically, a  Zune).  I used to wonder the same thing as Adam, but that changed last Fall when I was gifted with a Zune.  So the question then is, “Why carry both?”

My answer to Adam’s question is “I know my Smartphone can play music too, but I carry a Smartphone AND a Zune for the following reasons (in order of priority)”:

1.  Battery Life:  The battery life on the Zune is phenomenal compared to the battery life of my Smartphone.  If I’m going to be on the move during the day, I like to reserve the battery life of my Smartphone to primary functions (phone calls, checking email, light surfing, GPS navigation, maybe picture taking).  The Zune only needs to be charged every couple of days, but even if I wind up depleting the Zune during the day, I can manage a day without music.

2.  Syncing tunes to the Zune is probably 3 or 4 times faster than syncing tunes through ActiveSync to the Smartphone, so the Zune is usually ready to go most of the time and the Smartphone is not.  I don’t listen to DRM encrypted tunes, so I know I could use a USB card reader and just copy tunes directly to the memory card I use with my Smartphone, but the SD slot on the Smartphone I’ve been carrying lately is inside the casing.  So I have to remove the casing first to get to the SD card (call me lazy if you like).

3.  Media Management: The Zune handles podcasts and books much better than the mobile version of Windows Media Player.  If I turn off a podcast or book before finishing it, the Zune remembers my place, but Windows Media Player does not.  There is third party media software, like Pocket Player,  that provides the functionality that WMP lacks (like bookmarks), but lately, I’ve been trading out devices frequently, so I’m taking a more moderate approach to installing software to my winmo device and prefer to use the existing software.

So those are my reasons for carrying both a Smartphone and an MP3 player.  If you carry both, what are your reasons?

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Julie (15 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Julie is a moderator on MobilitySite. She is a Microsoft MVP Mobile Devices and also moderates on Microsoft's Windows Mobile forum and is frequent contributor on HP's IPAQ forum. Julie's windows mobile blog is http://pocketprimer.com); and you can follow her on twitter (@ProfJulie)


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  • puttputt
    battery
    mp3 usability
    multi-tasking (phone is for data/email/websurfing/texting/lastly, calls)
    storage
    battery
  • jtrpop
    While I really like my Windows Mobile phone, its media player is unusable. I carry my Zune around for all of the above reasons you mentioned and more. Here's hoping Microsoft brings the Zune experience to their Windows Mobile platform.
  • tboom
    I agree with all 3 points plus one more. I bought a flash memory type Zune specifically for working out, doing yard work, etc. It can take a beating plus the form factor is sweet for for these type of tasks.
  • b-house
    you left out memory. ipod classic (120gb) vs. a phone (max around 40gb).
  • AKrebs
    Very good points. I've got an iPhone and a zune 80 and both serve their purposes well. But honestly, the iPhone is pretty bad as a media player, and the media experience seems to come after the need for a multi-featured phone. Plus iTunes is an absolutely terrible piece of software.
  • Sam Hobson
    I agree with you, even though phones have the capability, they aren't as dedicated as the iPod or Zune. I do put music on my phone since the battery can handle it, but I only use the phone when my Zune is dead. It's a backup.
  • rahul
    I must also say that most phones (though not all) sound awful. even cheap mp3 players have much better sound quality than most phones. the only thing i listen through my phone is podcasts.
  • webbahboy
    Julie -- You are so right -- on all counts!
    If I frequently downloaded new music, I would encounter the problems you describe. And Windows Media Player is simply not that robust.

    For podcasts, the player I have found pretty helpful is Audiobay Podcast Player v. 4.1 . It is a bit clunky, and is limited a bit in that it is a shell for WMP, but it is easy to download, manage and listen to podcasts with it. I can get by with my Fuze as an MP3 player because I am not constantly getting new music. Otherwise I would be forced to pony up for a Zune or another player.
  • I guess I'm really old fashioned. I carry a digital camera, a PDA, an MP3 player, and a cell phone.

    I guess I'm cheap (the cell phone is free from my service, sentimental (I won't give up my Axim until either it or I die) and a picture snob (I haven't seen a smartphone camera yet that can compare with my digital camera).

    I've never liked convergence devices. You pay a lot of money for a product that is almost but not quite as good as the medium-quality single purpose devices. I've spent more overall, but I get better quality all around.
  • Joe
    I have to go with the battery thing. My smartphone battery life is dicey enough some days (not often but sometimes) that I don't need to add to the drain. Like you said, I can live a day without music. Plus with proprietary plugs or having to use A2DP bluetooth, there are just too many extra steps to get the smartphone cranking out the tunes.
  • Interesting post - I carry both too. A couple more thoughts on why:

    1. My MP3 player has surface-mounted controls, so I can skip, pause, stop without looking at the device

    2. My MP3 player has better storage capacity than my phone

    3. My phone is a blackbery 8830 that has a stupidly-small headphone jack, so the only headphones I can use are horrible to listen to.
  • What Adam forgets is that most media players don't play just music. While I seriously doubt many people need even 8 GB of music, if you watch video on your devices, the storage numbers change dramatically.

    Regarding battery life, I take a different tack. I carry my Omnia and a Redfly (when I carry my gadget bag). The Redfly allows me to have a better computing experience and can charge the phone if I connect with USB.

    Steve

    P.S. Why isn't Disqus allowing me to log in here?
  • I also carry a Zune and a Smartphone, for all of those reasons (mainly battery life). Very well done overview.

    In addition I prefer to have more music with me then I could fit on a MicroSDHC card since I like a very ecclectic shuffle. Plus, I just love the Zune interface and since I use the desktop software as my main music player in the office, it makes for one-stop syncing. Drop a new album into my Zune directory, it can be played easily at my desk and is automatically synced to my Zune. Simplicity itself.
  • whydidnt
    When I primarily used a WM phone I carried an iPod as well. At the time, I couldn't carry more than 8GB on a single memory card and my music collection is much larger. I also found the media sync experience with WM to be awful, with random disconnects, etc. It was too frustrating to try and take my music on the WM device. Now that I have a 32GB iPhone there's no need for a separate MP3 player, and I happily carry one device.
  • stevenshytle
    You nailed it. All three points.
  • Agreed on the battery life point. While I could listen to music on my iPod all day, if I tried to do the same with my smartphone in addition to play any videos, use data, and make phone calls, my phone's battery life would be gone by noon if not sooner.
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