New Zune vs. New iPod - This October

At the beginning of September, Apple introduced a new lineup of iPods. Well, Microsoft's own response was cooking for quite a while, but it looks like the baking time is over. The Redmond company has been extremely quiet over the direction it plans to take with the evolution of the Zune digital media player, but it did by no means deny at any point the fact that it was developing the next version of the device. Zune 2.0 now even has a release date in mid October. Microsoft has yet to confirm this information, however, apparently the company is targeting October 16 as the official release date for Zune 2.0.

Zune hit the shelves in November 2006. At this point in time, it looks like the Redmond company will make Zune version 2.0 available on the market just in time to celebrate the one year anniversary of the device. According to ZuneScene, a Microsoft source close to the development of Zune 2.0 confirmed that the new devices will be released as early as next month. The Redmond company is getting ready to deliver three new versions of its digital media player, each with its own amount of memory. The new Zune devices will offer 4GB, 8GB and 80 GB versions.

All the Zune 2.0 devices are finalized at this time. The development process is well done and over with, and the devices are in product validation stage. Following the release of the new iPods, Microsoft commented that Apple's move affected in no way its own plans for Zune 2.0. In this context, Microsoft admitted that it was so advanced with the building of Zune 2.0, that nothing its direct rival on the digital media player market was doing could impact the evolution of Zune. On September 5, Apple announced new iPod Classic, Touch and Nano devices. It will be interesting to see how Microsoft will respond in October.