Zune HD Player Announced

The next version of the Zune portable media player will feature a touch screen, a mobile version of Internet Explorer, high-definition video output, and a digital radio tuner, Microsoft has revealed. The company announced the forthcoming Zune HD well ahead of its anticipated fall 2009 release to respond to a wave of rumors in spring 2009, some of which anticipated a portable gaming device. While Microsoft isn’t discussing many details of the Zune HD, it did emphasize that music—rather than gaming or other applications—will remain the main focus of the device.

Catching Up to iPod Touch

The Zune HD will be the third major version of the portable device. The first Zune, released in fall 2006, was essentially a Microsoft-labeled revision of Toshiba’s Gigabeat MP3 player with a 30GB hard drive; the fall 2007 lineup was designed by Microsoft and included several cheaper models with flash-based memory. In fall 2008, the company made only minor revisions to the hardware, instead focusing on adding new features to the PC client software and online Zune Marketplace.