Microsoft plays catch-up with new Zunes

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 03 October 2007 09:56

Your IT - Entertainment

Microsoft has made the restrictions on music sharing less onerous. While you can still play a 'preview' track just three times, it can be passed on via several Zunes.

DRM-free music is coming to the Zune Marketplace, starting with one million unprotected tracks. At this stage it is unknown whether any of the major music labels are taking part, but EMI is an obvious candidate as earlier this year it announced it was open to selling DRM-free tracks through multiple online retailers. Universal Music is also selling unprotected music downloads through Amazon and Wal-Mart.

The Zune Marketplace online store has been revamped to make it easier to find material of interest, while the $US14.99 Zune Pass 'all you can eat' subscription remains available.

A new web site, Zune Social, aids to tap the social networking trend. Members can see what their peers have been and are currently listening to, play samples of those songs, send song links and messages to each other.

"By tapping into customers' passion for music with Zune Social, we're starting to change the game," Microsoft corporate vice president J Allard said. "This lets us start building a new, more valuable kind of relationship with consumers that, combined with other Zune innovations, will start to drive the entire music industry forward."

The new products are expected to go on sale in the US in mid-November.