Microsoft confirms Zune music player

We knew that "Argos" was the code name, we knew that J Allard was the project manager, but we didn't know what MS would say when they finally confirmed it. Well, now we do.

The umbrella name for the music players, software, and download service is "Zune." No, we don't know where they got it, either. Microsoft has been hush-hush about the details, and that has unfortunately continued with this confirmation, as little else was said about it.

The boys at Redmond did confirm that during the first year downloads would be available only through Zune's service, but that they are working on making a very open standard and hope to expand the scope starting the next year. It was also announced that there would likely be some compatibility issues with iTunes, mostly related to conflicting DRM standards.

The analyst opinions have been even more interesting than the news, and have ranged from MS going right to the jugular of Apple's iPod cash cow all the way to MS courting artists and labels for exclusive content to "flank" the iTunes service. Who's right? Only time will tell.

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