My little brother has one of the new(er) nano's and it works fine. I'm a proud owner of the touch and I'm more than impressed.

As far as zunes are concerned, its just another alternative. Both have at least one feature that outdoes the others, but its really up to you. Preferreably, apple products have never let me down, but then again, I've never bothered to give MS a try, but I would definitely advise an (any) apple product if given the choice.