David Flynn15 September 2006, 12:48 AM
Microsoft has officially launched its Zune music/movie player in a surprise presentation this morning. With a 3in colour screen and inbuilt WiFi, the improved 5th gen iPod just released is soon to be overtaken -- on specifications, at least.
At 9am on this wet Seattle morning, after we'd been ushered into a theatrette in the RedWest (Redmond West) compound belonging to Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices division, Microsoft officially pressed the Play button on its already perilously overhyped Zune project.
The player itself is no miracle of technology -- but then, neither was the first iPod. Manufactured by Toshiba and carrying the Microsoft Zune brand, the device uses a 30GB hard disk to store video, music and photographs which are displayed on a 3in colour screen that works in both portrait and landscape modes.
Content can an be shared with up to four other Zune users over an ad hoc 802.11g Wi-Fi network, although copy-protected songs sent to a user can be played for only three timesover a three day period before they must be purchased from the online Zune Marketplace.
Microsoft didn't specify how much each track will cost, but says that users will also have the option of paying a single monthly fee entitling them to unlimited downloads.
In fact, Microsoft refused to be drawn on several crucial pieces of information such as the price or a firm release date, with the later pegged only as "available this holiday season".
Zune is believed to use Windows CE and will sync to PCs through Windows Media Player 11. The device also has an FM tuner. This first player in an expected family of devices will ship in white, black and brown. Yes, that last colour made us do a double-take, but we are reliably informed by local fashionistas (ie, the guys at Gap) that brown is the new black.
David Flynn is at the Zune launch while attending Microsoft's 2006 Hardware Launch in Seattle as a guest of Microsoft.