The Apple Remote offers an FM tuner. It provides exactly the type of screens you're describing. For those wanting FM radio and/or a remote it's not bad at $49.

I don't get the whole FM tuner thing.

I bought my iPods because I got sick of the radio. I just have iTunes download news and music every morning. I then plug in to my car or watch/listen on the bus... What does a FM tuner costs? $10 to $30 bucks?

The rest of the world must have better FM radio than the Kansas City area.

The iPhone does away with the need of a twist interface. Im presuming this will filter down to the full screen video iPods when they eventually arrive. The 4 icons above the home button on the iPhone when in iPod mode are "Artist", "Playlists" "Video" and "More" (which shows up Genre, Songs etc)

But the point of the iPod is that you don't need to listen to annoying FM radio any more...

I'd rather have HD radio than FM.

No stinkin' radio please. And btw. the iPod nano 2G ist totally scratch resistant and much much smaller than a hard disk player.

There are a few things about the Zune that I can think would be good on an iPod but it wasn't really those that you listed. Full-screen album art when playing tracks is very nice to look at and, on the Zune, looks more impressive than the iPod. Secondly, the addition of a well thought out wireless implementation would be good. The Zune fails in that area for obvious reasons and the iPod would benefit from the addition of wireless syncing and the ability to broadcast to other devices so that others can listen to what you are listening to. The wireless transmission of pictures and video files, however, does seem to be done quite well and the iPod could also benefit from that.

Like everyone else I can't understand why you've mentioned FM radio when, by your own admission, you've not listened to it in years. Surely there is a reason for this...? I rather think that not that many people care about FM radio these days so, for those that do, let them get the adaptor and everyone else can buy an iPod with one less feature that they didn't need anyway.

I don't agree with the others about the FM tuner. It's a nice free option that is available if you ever want it. We have a few decent stations that play local music, Blues, etc. You may never use it but it's nice to know if you want to listen to the radio you can listen from your zune.
Zune is the best you can buy, but like all electronics something better is always in the works.

I agree with #2 - that would be really nice because I use a universal dock with the remote sensor and being able to navigate the menus on my TV screen with the remote instead of having to get up and walk over to it and navigate with the scrollwheel would be super.

Numbers 1, 5, and 6? Well, those would be nice too, but I don't think that they are truely necessary for all buyers (in fact, I think that the bigger screen of the Zune makes it look like a PDA - not exactly a device people associate with fun). Most people buy cases for their iPod, not everyone wants FM radio, and the primary function of an iPod is still playing music.

Now... the big one - the interface - three things to remember about interfaces which influence their design:

1.) Speed of navigation
2.) Intuitive nature of navigation
3.) Effectiveness of communication

While the changes you suggest would definitely improve #1, I actually believe that it would be at the expense of the intuitive nature of the navigation and the effectiveness of communication. These last two are aspects that Microsoft has NEVER gotten right, and they are the keys to Apple's interface design.

Technically, it might take more clicks to get to, view, and adjust a setting/selection with an iPod. However, the path to reach it is almost always clear and easy to find. This is possible because the iPod doesn't clutter your interface with too much information and too many options. Your choices are clear and obvious - navigation is always one of two options (select a visible option or go back to the previous menu). More info/options might seem like an improvement, but it actually can be a liability for users who just want to reach their desination without having to puzzle out how to get there.

I'm not saying that the Zune's interface is bad - it isn't. I just see Microsoft doing what they have a tendency to do with interfaces - overkill. At least this one is an improvement from the usual Microsoft interface - UGLY overkill.

I would rather see the iPod's interface remain as it is - a simple road to getting the music started - not a video-game, stylized HUD that keeps you guessing about what to do next.

I totally agree. Say what you will about the Zune but it will force Apple to add features rather then further tightening their player.

In order or presentation:

1.) I don't think it will ever happen because it just wouldn't look as good coming out of the box. Never mind what it looks like in 6 months. The back of my 6 month old ipod is a far cry from the bright shiny, surface. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't take much effort to buff out the scratches and return it to its former glory.

2.) This would be a really good idea, but I doubt it will ever happen not that AppleTV has arrived and is basically an iPod for the TV.

3.) That would probably make it a bit faster than the current method, maybe. My cable-supplied DVR had an interface similar to the Zune and you had a tendency to hit left or right and get pushed out of the menu you really wanted.

4.) I don't fully understand this one. You never actually hit okay to change volume, play position, etc. but I assume you're referring to the action of hitting the center button to switch to each of these funtions. Maybe they could have you hit the center button to activate the overlay mode, you use the scroll wheel to pick your option.

Maybe someone could help me out on this, is there a way to turn on shuffle while playing without going back to the main menu and settings to turn it on?

5) An FM radio tuner for free would be nice (as opposed to another $49 for the option), but as some have said it sort of defeats the purpose of the iPod. Now if they could make and HD radio tuner for $49, that would be a deal.

6.) I'm all for a bigger screen, but disagree with the pixel comment. I think it should be upped to 640x480, to match cotent from the iTunes Store which sort of seems like common sense to me. But how big can you really get a screen and still maintain a small form factor? The screen is only about a 1/4 inch away from the edge of the device now. Not much room for expansion without expanding the dimensions.

I completely agree about #1. The Zune's outer casing is far more comfortable to hold and it's pretty much immune from all the marks that age an iPod so quickly. Take a look at an iPod that's a few months old and you'll instantly see that's true. The FM radio is nice but not a deal-breaker. The bigger screen is a big plus as it's so much easier to view, and the front of the video iPod has a lot of wasted space, anyway. Just as MS learned from the iPod, Apple can learn from the Zune.

The whole point of the iPod is to sell music, video, and other media from iTunes, so an FM transmitter would be counter to Apple's business plan. Anyways, you can buy one for less than $30. My iPod has never made me sweat. I think you got #6 right they need a bigger screen. I am fine with the interface no need for context menus. I agree with the fingerprint issue, but that is really for the older iPods, the newer ones are better and my shuffle never had that problem because of the materials the case was made of. Anyways, Apple has gotten it mostly right. I would rather have the iPod than a Zune.

You gotta be kidding every other manufacterer has an FM radio and they all suck I have owned creative stuff and it is always too sensitive and who wants another menu.

I hadn't thought of this before, but I just realized a nice use of the FM tuner. Everybody brings their iPod to the gym, right? Most gyms have TV's near the treadmills where you can tune your FM radio to hear that TV. Wouldn't it be great to just flip from your iTunes music over to that FM frequency so you can catch that episode of 24 while sweating on the eliptical - without having to bring 2 devices to the gym!

I agree with the FM tuner. I totally miss my college radio station when listening to my iPod.

(Sometimes, simply because I am bored with my personal music collection.)

Why no one mentions this zune features:

Zune will cycle over after it has reached the end of list A - Z --> A.

In iPod, you have to scroll all the way up to get back to A when you are listening to Z.

This is really a big features and well-thought out.

Also, since I have a 3G iPod, I press the buttons accidently. With Zune, hold button is pretty much useless, as it doesn't have touch sensitive controls.

But of course the Apple designers could improve on the twist interface... Right... the apple designers won't improve on it for the same reason that they didn't create it: they have this boneheaded idea that everything needs to be oversimplified. At least Apple was smart enough to make a music player that doesn't skip. I'll give them that. Try loading gigs of zune pass music on a zune device and you'll regret the day you did it.

You better l-l-l-ose you-r-r-r self in the music, the mo-o-o-o-oment you ... rent it. Sorry Zune team, I had to get that one in. Fix the skipping or I'm ditching.

Quote Kelmon -
"The Zune fails in that area [wireless] for obvious reasons and the iPod would benefit from the addition of wireless syncing and the ability to broadcast to other devices so that others can listen to what you are listening to."

The DJ feature, broadcasting music to other players, was removed when it launched...
They're promising to put it back in the next update...
But, yeah, it should've been in there in the first place