Well, Microsoft has announced Zune, it's answer to Apple's venerable iPod franchise. Let's see what it has to offer.

The "killer feature" of Zune is the Zune Marketplace that supports Zune-to- Zune sharing of "full-length sample tracks" of songs, pictures, or playlists. According to the press release, you'll be able to listen to the songs three times over the three days immediately following the sharing event before the tracks expire and during that time you can mark it on your device for purchase later.

Zune also offers the "Zune Pass" which allows you to get "all you can eat" access to the Zune Marketplace for a limited period of time. During that period, you can hear anything you like. However, when your subscription goes away, you don't have anything to show for it.

Let the games begin!

Specification	Zune	iPod (Video)	iPod (Nano)
Size	Unannounced Looks like 4" x 2.3"	4.1" x 2.4" x 0.55" 4.1" x 2.4" x 0.41"	3.5" x 1.6" x .26"
Screen Size	3" 3:4	2.5" 4:3	1.5" 4:3
Resolution	240x320	320x240	176x132
Storage	30GB	80GB 30GB	8GB
Availability	"This Holiday Season"	Now	Now
Price
Wireless	WiFi
Colors	Black White Brown	Black White	Black Silver Green Blue Pink
Sources (A)	MP3 AAC WMA MP3 AAC Zune Store	MP3 AAC AAC Apple Lossless iTunes (AAC-P)	MP3 AAC AAC Apple Lossless iTunes (AAC-P)
Sources (V)	H.264	H.264 MPEG 4
Sources (FM)	built-in Tuner	$50 option	$50 option
Store	Zune Marketplace	iTMS	iTMS
Sources (Photo)	JPEG	JPEG GIF BMP TIFF PNG PSD (Mac Only)	JPEG GIF BMP TIFF PNG PSD (Mac Only)
OS Requirements	Win XP	Win XP Win 2000 OS X 10.3.9	Win XP Win 2000 OS X 10.3.9