Zune: Straight From The Horse's Mouth

We've heard the rumors, seen the pictures, and read all the blog chatter about the upcoming Microsoft Zune player, and Microsoft has finally revealed details of their upcoming Zune products "designed around the principles of sharing, discovery and community."  Sure it sounds better than the new video iPod, but will wireless capabilities, a three-inch screen, FM tuner, and 30GB hard drive, attract current iPod owners? Like the video iPod, the new Zune will also hit store shelves in plain black, white and even a  brown color. Although the design appears to be very minimal like the iPod's, I feel it lacks a certain something.

Even Zune accessories are being announced today like a Car Pack with an FM-tuner and car charger, A/V Home Pack that connects to your TV and stereo, a Travel Pack that includes headphones, AC adapter, remote control and cables, and others goodies are being worked on as we speak.

J. Allard, Microsoft's Corporate VP, revealed some insightful information in an Engadget interview about the role Zune will play as a social networking device, he says: "...the whole idea -- both for the music industry and for the consumer -- of finding and sharing music through your social network is a pretty new idea. Specifically at the device level it's a super new idea. So we're gonna start there and we're saying it's really about proximity -- we're saying if you're sitting in the room with somebody and you're having a physical social engagement with them in person, that's when you can exchange music recommendations ."

Interesting. Sounds like the Zune experience is much more than a just a music player with lots of accessories. I like the way they're thinking. He also mentions that Zune will play AAC natively, as well as MP3s and WMA files. Video resolution will be 320x240 QVGA, and will support H.264 playback as well as MPEG-4.

No mention of actual release date or price, but I'll continue to follow up on this, so stay tuned.

What do you think of the Zune player so far? Do you think this could be an iPod contender?