The absolute maximum amount of playtime achieved with a Zune has been released, and it’s 14 hours. This was achieved by using the following settings:

“We got to 14 hours (wireless off) based on the following conditions: a single length average album of 128 kbps ripped WMA songs, played on repeat; with the EQ (equalizer) setting set to “none”; the default volume setting (i.e. not turning volume up or down); the backlight timer set to 1 second; and with no other activity (like viewing pictures, navigating, etc.) going on.”

Even though the number is a bit far off from the iPod’s battery life, if the Zune is able to give 10 hours or so of music I don’t really think it’s that bad, but since it’s “cool” to blog against the Zune I’m just going to say something like: “oh crud! the iPod is much better than that!”.