Staff Reporter -- Electronic News, 8/28/2006

Toshiba Corp. has gotten the green light to make Microsoft Corp.`s upcoming portable media player, the Zune, which is set for release by the end of the year.

News spread of Toshiba`s involvement in the product after the company filed details of an ``HDD Portable Audio Player`` with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The specs of the device are the same of those that have been publicized for Microsoft`s upcoming media player.

Microsoft`s Zune, referred to as “The iPod Killer” by the company, is set to rival Apple`s ubiquitous technology this holiday season, which will also face increased competition from SanDisk. SanDisk last week announced lower prices on its existing MP3 players and a new 8GByte device, the industry’s highest capacity flash-based MP3 player.

The FCC filing says the ``Toshiba 1089 PMP`` will have a 30-gig hard-disk drive, an 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi connection and an FM radio tuner. The filing refers to the product by the names ``Zune`` and ``Pyxis,`` and says the device will have a 3-inch TFT LCD display along with a USB 2.0 connection to synchronize with a PC. The wireless connection will permit users to exchange photos, songs and entire albums with up to four other devices.

The FCC approved the filing last week. Filings with the FCC like Toshiba`s are required before any wireless communications device can be sold in the United States.

Analysts have been estimating that Microsoft will go portable in several ways by late 2006/early 2007 . In addition to the roll out of the Zune, analysts say the company will soon leverage its Xbox success to jump into the portable game console (PGC) market. It is further predicted that the company will embed a portable multimedia player in a handheld gaming platform, similar in many respects to Sony`s PlayStation Portable device.