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Apple's iPod so dominates the MP3 field that it has become a kind of black hole into which competitors fall. Manufacturers could make a better MP3 player and it wouldn't really matter — the iPod is so iconic that to want another brand demands an excuse at best, or expresses a betrayal at worst.

The three players under review here — Microsoft's Zune, the Sony Wireless Video Walkman and Sandisk's Sansa Fuze — are worthy iPod competitors in technical terms. They each have minor differences, with some features — such as the inclusion of an FM radio receiver, Bluetooth wireless headphones or larger storage capacity — that vary the overall cost.

But all share a common trait: They have tied almost all their fortunes to Microsoft, which has a library of three million songs, as opposed to the six million in the Apple iTunes store. And Microsoft doesn't carry as many podcasts and TV shows as Apple does. Like it or not, the size of the iTunes store has become as important a factor in buying a digital media player as any technical feature.

Microsoft's Zune player, released in the United States last year but only a couple of weeks ago in Canada (where it arrives in a newer version), is tied to the Zune Marketplace, software to buy and download music. You can also use another system of buying and downloading your music, then synchronizing it with your Zune. The Zune Marketplace offers half the number of songs on the iTunes catalogue; however, it does offer a whole social-networking community to join.

But Microsoft has not yet established the Zune Marketplace in Canada, promising to open one later this summer or fall, a delay likely attributable to the Byzantine web of distribution rights that the recording industry is loath to change. The same complications might keep TV shows and movies off the Zune Marketplace's shelves when it does open shop. All of which is rather odd, because Microsoft is asking customers to buy its product now and to wait until they can take full advantage of the Zune Marketplace.

The Zune is lighter and smaller than its immediate predecessor, and sports the ability to sync with your computer using Wi-Fi wireless, should you have it at home, and swap songs (with a limit of three plays) with other Zunes. It also has cleaned up the software and it has a new navigation system, called the Zune Pad, which combines buttons with a touchpad for scrolling. It has also improved battery life — it now runs 19 to 24 hours, Microsoft says, but also warns users to shut off the Wi-Fi feature when not synchronizing because it cuts down battery life dramatically.

Besides, the Wi-Fi pales by comparison to Apple's iPod, which allows you to surf the Web and buy music without hooking into a computer first.

The top Zune players are the 80GB Zune 80 ($249.99 Cdn.) and the 8GB Zune 8 ($189.99), which compare with Apple's 80GB iPod Classic ($259) and the 8GB iPod Nano ($209). A third Zune exists at the low end, a 4GB model ($139.99). The Zune 80 beats the iPod Classic with a larger screen (3.2 inches) and in-ear noise-cancelling headphones.

But if the screen is sharp and motion is smoothly rendered, the first video selection that comes bundled with the player is a song by Avril Lavigne called Make 5 Wishes; it's a great piece of music, but the video is a manga comic strip with speech balloons, with whole sentences crammed into balloons less than a half centimetre across — not a great way to sell the screen.

The FM tuner is also quite strong, with decent distortion-free music in the usual places where FM signals can reach, but someone at Microsoft wasn't quite awake when assigning identities to some of the stations — Toronto 97.3 (CJEZ, or EZ Rock) is identified at WJEZ (which is 98.9 FM, Lite Rock, in Pontiac, Ill.); 107.1 (CILQ, or Q107) is labelled as KBEY (1340 AM, Radio Hill Country, in Burnet, Texas), and 88.9 (CIRV, or Multicultural Supermix) comes out as KIRV (1050 AM, Christian radio in Fresno, Calif.).

The Wi-Fi sync function is easy to set up too: fire up the software with your Zune connected to the computer, select the proper network, offer your the password, and the Zune fills in the rest of the blanks. But it won't work at a public hotspot that demands a logon or payment.

For its part, the Sansa Fuze has a modest online store of its own, selling mostly albums, most of them in the stolidly soft-rock style (go back to the 1950s and you get a lot of Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis and Marty Robbins; the only Elvis records I found were from his later, croonier years). But like the Sony Wireless Video Walkman, it can play all the files sold through the Zune Marketplace.

Sansa Fuze comes in three sizes — 2GB ($79.99), 4GB ($99.99) and 8GB ($129.99) — and is included here because it shows just how many features one can get for a lot less money. It maker, Sandisk, is a flash-memory maker, and has included the ability to expand the Fuze's storage capacity with a 2GB, 4GB or 8GB microSD card, or by as many cards as one would care to buy. You can and even transport the songs to a cellphone or computer. That's a feature neither the Zune nor the SWVWDMP etc. can boast.

Another unique feature is its support for both Mac OSX and Linux operating systems. It also has an FM radio receiver and the ability to record your own voice.

It has a small screen (1.9 inches) with a modest resolution of 224 by 176 pixels. It also runs videos at 20 frames per second, which is visibly slow. Its battery is rated at 24 hours (audio) or five hours (video), and it has no Wi-Fi.

A little orphaned in the online-store sweepstakes, the Fuze offers access to subscription download services, among them Rhapsody To Go, Napster, eMusic, and supports MP3, WAV, Audible (for audio books) and Windows Media Audio (WMA) in both unprotected and protected files. It also supports MPEG-4 video and JPEG photos.

Would all this allow the Sansa Fuze to stand up to its bigger playmates? Yes, especially since it is almost infinitely expandable in memory, and you can work your way up to that point from a much cheaper starting point.

The Sony Walkman Wireless Digital Media Player NWZ-A826K is not only a mouthful but a model you won't find easily on the Net unless you can decode Sony's insanely complicated model-naming conventions. This is a 4GB model, which sells for $219.99, and comes with a pair of Bluetooth headphones, the behind-the-head variety; a different version, the NWZS716FB, is also a 4GB machine, but replaces the Bluetooth headset for noise-cancellation earphones and sells for a much more realistic $149.99.

Considering the price of the Bluetooth version — all of $30 less than the 80GB Zune, which has 20 times the storage capacity — it will be a wonder if Sony sells any of these. Buyers are bound to see that the price differential is due almost exclusively to the presence of the Bluetooth feature, and are sure to wonder whether it's worth it.

It's disappointing to see that Sony has not abandoned its long history of pricing its products higher than the competition; the Sony brand has suffered considerably since the rootkit scandal a few years ago, and the quality of the SWVWDMP etc. will not make up for it.

That said, the unit has marvellous sound, a bright screen that plays videos at 30 frames per second in either portrait or landscape mode on a 2.4-inch QVGA LCD screen. It includes a Sony-developed Digital Sound Enhancement Engine that drives to recreate higher frequencies that were lost in the file-compression process, emphasizes stereo separation and enhances bass notes as well. There is also a series of five equalizer presets and simulations of sound from studio, live, club, arena, matrix and karaoke recordings.

The SWVWDMP etc. supports MP3 and WMA files, including WMA protected by digital-rights management and AAC files that do not have DRM protection.

In terms of software, it has a much more flexible approach to its playlists: A "time machine shuffle" can randomly play songs from a selected year, and search is available by album, artist, genre, released year, folder and playlist. Its included CD ROM includes Windows Media Player 11 with MPO3 conversion tool.

It's just a pity it's so expensive for such a small capacity of player.