Price set for ZuneHD: $249

The Zune HD is on the way, we know that much. But other than that there isn’t a whole lot known about the new Zune, other than Microsoft has big plans for it. A Microsoft insider has spilled some beans to the blogs about what we can expect with the new Zune HD. The insider claims that the new Zune HD will sell for about $249 to $280 for the base 16GB model, they didn’t give any specific price points for the larger Zune HD models however. They did indicate that Microsoft is considering a 64GB model and a 32GB model as well down the line after the product is released. Also rumored is that the new Zune HD will fully support for 720p movies and will even feature HDMI out. There is no official word as to when the Zune HD will be released by Microsoft, but rumors are that it will launch sometime in early September.

http://www.zuneagent.com/zune-hd/zune-hd-to-sell-for-249/

The Zune HD to start at $249?

When it ships later this year, the Zune HD could cost as much or more than the iPod touch by the time both updates are released this year, an additional leak said Thursday. An interview with a previous source on Neowin cautions that prices aren't "set in stone" but has the base 16GB model costing between $249 and $279, or at least as much as the Zune 120 does today. A current 16GB clickpad Zune costs $179.

The insider also supports notions of a 32GB version and adds that a 64GB model is possible later in the Zune HD's life cycle, though he doesn't say what the larger-capacity model might cost.

Such a price could potentially hurt the Zune HD, as Apple is widely assumed to be lowering the price on its 16GB iPod touch from its current $299 for its next revision. The Microsoft player is likely to cost more through its use of a multi-touch OLED screen, which should produce more accurate colors than Apple's LCD, as well as the NVIDIA Tegra chip that supports decoding 720p video.

Read more here:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/06/26/zune.hd.price.leak/