Microsoft's Zune delivers connected music and entertainment experience

Marking the next big milestone for its Connected Entertainment vision,
Microsoft Corp unveiled details of the first products to be released under its
'Zune' brand. Designed on the principles of sharing, discovery and
community, Zune will create new ways for consumers to connect and share
entertainment experiences. The Zune Experience Centers will connect user's
with their library, friends, community and also to other devices.

“The digital music entertainment revolution is just beginning,” said J
Allard, VP-Design and Development, Microsoft. Allard is leading the charge for
building the family of Zune products. “With Zune, we are not simply delivering
a portable device, we are introducing a new platform that helps bring artists
closer to their audiences and helps people find new music and develop new social
connections.”

Available this holiday season in the United States, Zune includes a 30GB
digital media player, the Zune Marketplace music service and a foundation for an
online community that will enable music fans to discover new music. Zune
features wireless technology, a built-in FM tuner and a bright, 3-inch screen
that allows users to not only show off music, pictures and video, but also to
customize the experience with personal pictures or themes to truly make the
device their own. Zune comes in three colors: black, brown and white.

Every Zune device creates an opportunity for connection. 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.

Zune makes it easy to find music you love-whether it is a song in your
existing library or new music from the Zune Marketplace. Easily import your
existing music, pictures and videos in many popular formats and browse millions
of songs on Zune Marketplace, where you can choose to pur­chase tracks
individually or to buy a Zune Pass subscription to download as many songs as you
want for a flat fee.

To get started with great music and videos out of the box, every Zune device
is preloaded with content from record labels such as DTS, EMI Music's
Astralwerks Records and Virgin Records, Ninja Tune, Playlouderecordings, Quango
Music Group, Sub Pop Records, and V2/Artemis Records.