Microsoft unveils new details about Zune

Friday, September 15, 2006

After several weeks of silence yesterday Microsoft finally unveiled official details about their upcoming iPod rival, Zune. The announcement comes few hours after Apple disclosed upgrated versions of their players (iPod, iPod nano and iPod shuffle).

The Seattle company announced that the gadget will be launched in the US before Christmas but did not reveal the exact dates even if there were some rumors a month ago about a mid November release.

Microsoft also divulged the technical details of Zune. Apart from the 30-GB hard drive that leaked from the FCC documents this new gadget also a 3\" QVGA screen, a FM tuner that supports RDS and comes with wireless capabilities.

The latter is perhaps the most important feature of Zune because Microsoft (rightly) identified community building like the best way to rival Apple. Zune users will be able to transform in deejays to entertain their friends with their favorite music.

There is a limitation for the users that receive the music stream though: the songs will be available only for three days or three plays (which one comes first). To continue to listen to the song a purchase of it will be necessary and Microsoft streamlined the process as much as possible.

The user just has to flag the song and the next time the player accesses Zune Marketplace (Microsoft online music store) it will be automatically downloaded. Out of the box the gadget will come with preloaded music from several record companies.

Sharing is not limited to music because it will also be possible to beam the pictures (JPEG format) stored on the device, music playlists and homemade recordings. The supported audio formats are WMA, MP3 and AAC.

As for the video features Zune’s video decoder supports WMV, H.264 and MPEG4. Microsoft also added that their gadget will be compatible with video formatted for an iPod.

Lastly Zune will be available in three different colors: black, brown and white. Microsoft has yet to reveal the suggested price for the gadget.