Microsoft announced their plans to release a touch-screen version of the Zune portable media player on 26th May this year with the intention to compete with  Apple’s iPod Touch. And now is ready to launch, and the name….Zune HD.

According to a report on Cnet, Microsoft will launch Zune HD’s  sales campaign on 15th September at a price point of USD219 for 16GB and USD289 for 32G in 2 color options. of black and platinum.

Unique Features Not Found in IPod Touch

So what will be the competitive advantage Zune HD have over Apple’s IPod Touch? Zune HD will indeed offers several features that are not found on the iPod Touch, including an OLED display, HD radio, and high-definition video playback (using an optional dock accessory).

IE Web Browser

Other non-unique yet new features for the Zune HD will be an Internet Explorer Web browser to work hand in hand with other Wi-Fi features (song sharing, Channel streaming, and Zune Marketplace browsing). The Zune HD’s browser is optimized for the touch screen with an onscreen keyboard, but there’s no word on whether it will be capable of streaming Flash media (used by sites such as YouTube and Pandora), a capability that is currently lacking in the Safari browser for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

HD Radio Tuner Integration

Another interesting feature of the Zune HD will be it’s ability to integrate an HD radio tuner which can also transmit artist and song data, very useful for it’s exiisting FM radio song-tagging and download feature.

Other regular features like a photo viewer, games, podcast management, and Zune Pass music subscription integration, will remains

Longer Battery Life

One important improvement as compare to Zune’s previous model will be it’s battery life. Microsoft said that it can have 33 hours of music playback and 8.5 hours of video (with Wi-Fi deactivated). We do hope this figures are accurate as one of the main complain of Zune previous models are none other than their poor battery performance.

Video, Games and Movie Rental Downloads

On the “software” side, Microsoft also plans to dramatically beef up the video download selection of its Zune Marketplace online store, and use the improved storefront to power the movie and TV downloads available to the Xbox gaming console. The new storefront will support movie rentals that can be transferred to Zune hardware (similar to iTunes movie rentals) playable from either your computer or from the Zune HD.

Zune HD will be available at launch directly from Microsoft’s Zune Originals online storefront.

[via CNET]

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