Details on Microsoft's Zune Revealed

Sept. 14, 2006 — -- In a week that's already seen Apple and Nintendo make big product announcements, Microsoft has released details about the company's much anticipated answer to Apple's iPod digital music players and iTunes download store.

Microsoft is using the name Zune to brand the products and software associated with its music and entertainment offerings. According to Microsoft, Zune will include a 30 gigabyte digital media player, the Zune Marketplace, which the company describes as a "music service and a foundation for an online community that will enable music fans to discover new music."

The player can display both still images and moving video, and will include wireless technology, an FM tuner and a 3-inch screen.

In a marketplace crowded with competition and dominated by Apple's iPod, Microsoft hopes to distinguish its Zune device by allowing owners to share music, playlists and pictures through the device's wireless connection.

"We see Zune as the next step in digital entertainment," said Matt Jubelirer, a Zune product manager. "The real core feature that's going to differentiate Zune is Zune-to-Zune wireless sharing."

The ability to wirelessly share content from device to device may entice holiday shoppers, but Apple now offers feature-length films through iTunes and a refreshed line of iPods to better play those films. Apple is also previewing a device to get movies from the player or the computer to a TV. Some may see Microsoft's Zune as too little too late.

"We certainly see movies and video as something that's important to customers, and from a portable persepctive [they] will become more important over time," said Jubelirer. "Video and movies are part of the long-term road map."

Jubelirer said that in Microsoft's experience, most of the videos people watch over the Internet are viral videos, like those from YouTube and Google Video, and that Zune will allow playback of those types of clips.

He added that Zune will focus on music, which the company believes is the core reason people use such handheld devices.