Microsoft has announced Zune via an article that you're not allowed to read because it's behind a paywall in Billboard magazine. The blurb says:
In an exclusive first interview with Billboard, Chris Stephenson, Microsoft's new GM of marketing for MSN Entertainment Business, says the company will later this year launch Zune, an umbrella brand for what he says is "a family of hardware and software products" targeting various digital entertainment services.
The first implementation of this will be the portable music player and digital music service, in what is the company's strongest effort yet to rein in Apple Computer's iTunes/iPod juggernaut, currently responsible for about 70% of the digital music market and 75% of the portable digital music player market.
However, there are a couple of Zune blogs from Cesar Menendez and Richard Winn. Also, you can sign up for a newsletter (after listening to Us by Regina Spektor) at http://comingzune.com/
There's also a Reuters story.
Michael Gartenberg at Jupiter Research has also commented, and there's an article at BetaNews.
Other souces of info include Zune Info, Zune Nation and Wikipedia.
Comment: It looks as though there will probably be three product families in the range: a music player with Wi-Fi), a video player and, later, a portable games console. The use of Billboard suggests music will be the prime focus to start with. The team behind Zune is the team behind the Xbox so you can also expect live community features to be a major selling point.
