Microsoft's Zune revs up

Microsoft has announced its Zune digital media player will cost $249.99 when it goes on sale in the US on 14 November.

The Zune represents Microsoft's first foray into the portable media player market and is set to compete with Apple, the market's dominant player.

Microsoft hopes the Zune's ability to share music files via wi-fi will have customers beating a path to its door.

Music and video will be available from the Zune Marketplace website with individual tracks costing 99 cents or 79 pre-paid 'Microsoft Points' (which also cost 99 cents) - a system that enables users to purchase points and use them to pay for tunes instead of paying every time they download music, speeding up the buying process.

In addition, the Zune Pass monthly subscription service will offer several million tracks to subscribers for $14.99 per month.

Compatibility with a variety of media formats is promised.

UK prices and release date are yet to be announced.