Microsoft has announced today that they will be releasing a 64GB model of the Zune HD media device, double the largest capacity of currently available units.
The device will be available in Platinum, Black, Blue, Red, Green, Purple and Magenta when it goes on sale on April 12th.
As an added bonus, the company is slashing the price of the 32GB and 16GB models, dropping the MSRP to $270 and $200, a $20 cut.
The Zune HD was recently in the headlines when Microsoft announced that the much-anticipated v4.5 firmware was “coming soon,” bringing with it SmartDJ and native Xvid support.
Result for: added bonus
The large British retailer Tesco has announced that it will be launching Tesco Downloads, a digital and video store.
The service will be similar to that of Amazon and Wal-Mart which offer a “web-based interface”. The service will offer 3.3 million songs initially with about half being unprotected MP3 versions that will work with all media devices including iPods. The other 1.6 million tracks that have DRM will be available as MP3s by the end of the year, added the company.
Pricing structure is the same as it is in the UK, with £0.79 per track and £8 per full album. As an added bonus however, Tesco will “tie the online store to its physical presence and will offer clubcard points for each download that translate to discounts either on other products or content at retail shops.”
The store is accessible immediately but the store will formally launch in May with the full music catalog. Movies and TV episodes will be available later in the year, promises the company.
Result for: added bonus
Sony has announced the launch of its BWU-300S internal desktop Blu-ray drive which will begin Sony’s third generation of internal Blu-ray drives.
The company says the drive will burn single and dual layer BD-R or BD-RE at fast 8x speeds, allowing users to fill up each layer (25GB) in 15 minutes. As an added bonus, the drive will ship with a free BD copy of Men In Black.
DVDs can be burnt at the standard 16x speed and CDs can be burnt at 48x speeds.
The drive has a SATA interface and will be the standard 5.25-inch form. For the drive to work you will need a system running Windows XP or Vista.
Also included with the drive is CyberLink suite which will allow users to author BD as well as capture, edit and view the content.
Sony says the drive will begin shipping in October and will have a MSRP of $400.
