Listen up Zune fans - PC Magazine has published their look at the second generation Zunes and guess what? They gave the 80GB Zune an Editor’s Choice award and had this to say:

While the iPod touch easily prevails as our favorite flash-based player (and the best player overall), there were no obvious champs in the hard disk–based portable media player space—until now. The iPod classic is a fine device, but its updates from the previous-generation iPod are mainly cosmetic. Of course, if you want double the capacity, it’s the player to get. But if 80GB is enough space, the Zune is simply more fun to use than the iPod, with more engaging software, better graphics, a larger screen, and wireless capabilities. Both devices—as well as their associated software—have some pesky shortcomings, but in a shrinking field of contenders, the Zune has finally realized its potential. The player’s extra features and overall fun-factor make it a better value than the iPod classic—and worthy of our Editors’ Choice award, provided Microsoft delivers on its firmware upgrade promise to facilitate fully wireless syncing.

Congrats to Microsoft for winning PC Magazine’s editor’s choice award for the 80GB Zune. Head to head, according to PC Magazine, the 80GB Zune is actually better than the 80GB iPod classic. NICE! Here’s the actual “Bottom Line” from PC Magazine:

The new Zune is trimmer, has a larger screen and increased capacity. Add its wireless abilities to the equation and you’ve got a player that (gasp!) trumps Apple’s iPod classic.

News isn’t as positive on the flash player front. You can read PC Magazine’s review of the Zune flash player here. This is what they had to say for the player:

The first flash-based Zune is a good-looking, easy-to-navigate device that can be synced with your PC wirelessly, but its small screen and jumpy interface are no match for Apple’s superior iPod nano.

Now what’s particularly interesting about all of this is not so much what PC Magazine had to say about the players themselves - it’s what the publication had to say about the newly redesigned Zune Marketplace. According to PC Magazine, the new Zune Marketplace is “a fun experience that makes iTunes feel a bit pedestrian.”  Wow..

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