New Microsoft Zune Players are official

Microsoft officially announced their next generation Zune digital music players.

Microsoft tries to dazzle us with the new Zune the Zune Pad navigation button, with its touch-sensitive surface.
You can flick your thumbs over the pad to fly through lists of songs or albums or to fast-forward through picture slide shows or videos.
The other big new feature is wireless sync. The feature allows Zune devices to automatically sync over your home wireless network when it is connected to an AC adaptor, in a dock or speaker dock accessory.
Existing Zune owners will automatically receive new software features, the redesigned PC and device software and access to the new Zune Marketplace when everything is released to the public in mid-November.

The new Zune players also support extended wireless sharing. Share select full-length songs, albums, playlists, pictures and even audio podcasts from device to device. You can now listen to any song received up to three times with no time restrictions, and they can now also pass along songs to other friends who have a Zune.

The black Zune 80GB hard-drive model, which has a 3.2-inch screen and comes with premium headphones has a list price of $249.99. The Zune 4GB sells for $149.99 and Zune 8GB has a price of $199.99. Both Flash Zune players are available in pink, green, black and glossy red.

The pricing of the 80GB Zune is the same as Apple charges for the new 80GB iPod Classic. Because you get WiFi and FM Tuner and the new Zune is not much bigger it is actually a reasonable alternative.

The pricing of the new Zune 4GB and 8GB flash players Microsoft missed a chance again to really turn up the heat on Apple and Sandisk. The pricing is the same as for the new iPod nano players. If Microsoft would price these at $99 (4GB) and $149 (8GB) the company would actually have a chance to gain a reasonable market share in the flash player segment with the offered feature set (Wifi) and style.

4GB and 8GB Zune Specificiations:
1.8 inch color screen with glass surface
WiFi connectivity for sharing and syncing
WMA, WMA-DRM, MP3 format support
FM Tuner

80GB Zune Player specifications:
3.2 inch color screen
WiFi connectivity for sharing and syncing
WMA, WMA-DRM, MP3 format support
FM Tuner