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September 14, 2006

rivals

Microsoft whistling a happy Zune?

Posted Sep. 14, ’06, 11:25 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Apple » Rivals

Zune in blackMan, it’s been quite a week. First, Apple’s special Showtime event. Then over at Gadgetbox this morning, we had the official price and release date of Nintendo’s forthcoming Wii console, and now Microsoft has taken the stage, spilling some ink on their much ballyhooed Zune music/video player (ah, but does it play games?).

No launch date or price were announced, but I’d suspect it’ll be competitive with the iPod, and if they’re releasing this many details now, they must be aiming for a holiday launch window. As though, the Zune will feature a 30GB hard drive, a 3” 320x240 pixel screen, and Wi-Fi. Colorwise, it’ll be available in black, white, and brown (brown? really?) and support not only WMA but also unprotected AAC, MP3, JPEG, H.264, MPEG-4, and WMV.

The Wi-Fi is the feature most likely to elicit envy from iPod owners (well, and the widescreen viewing capability it’s 4:3 with the “4” end vertical, duh), but the sharing features seem limited. Here’s what MS had to say:

Wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing lets consumers spontaneously share full-length sample tracks of select songs, homemade recordings, playlists or pictures with friends between Zune devices. Listen to the full track of any song you receive up to three times over three days. If you like a song you hear and want to buy it, you can flag it right on your device and easily purchase it from the Zune Marketplace.
I don’t know what a full-length sample track is, but it doesn’t sound exciting. The Zune Marketplace, meanwhile, is Microsoft’s challenger to the iTunes Store (I’m getting better about remembering to leave “Music” out of it).

[via Ars Technica]


3 Comments

James said:

Isn't 320x240 pixels 4:3? So does this mean that the Zune has a stretched display?

September 15, 2006 12:25 AM
Clark Thomas said:

First, Apple invented iTunes (note the "une"). Later, Redmond comes out with Zune ("une" again). Come to the Dark Side! You cannot resist the force of the Dark Side!...

September 15, 2006 7:51 AM
James Kerick said:

The Zune is NOT widescreen. It's all an optical illusion! It has a 4:3 aspect ratio, just like the iPod!

September 16, 2006 9:37 AM

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