Microsoft sets price for Zune_英文原版

 

microsoft says its new zune music player will be sold at a price matching apple computer's market-leading ipod and, as a result, lose money this holiday season.

microsoft's 30gb zune will retail for $us249.99 - us99 cents more than the ipod with the same amount of storage - when it goes on sale in the us on november 14.

songs available for download at the zune marketplace service will cost about us99 cents a song, on par with prices at apple's itunes, microsoft said.

the world's largest software maker faces an uphill climb in trying to topple the market-dominating ipod after conceding a five-year head start to apple's media player.

microsoft said it needed to put a comparable price on zune, even if it meant that the company will suffer a loss from the device's sales this holiday season.

"we had to look at what was in the market and offer a competitive price," said scott erickson, microsoft's senior director of product marketing for zune. "we're not going to be profitable this holiday but the zune project is a multi-year strategy."