Well, just one day after Apple announced a huge load of announcements related the iPod and its iTunes service, Microsoft made a splash of it’s own by releasing pictures and information relating to the new Zune.

As rumoured Zune will be available for the winter of 2006 and will be released in a 30 GB capacity. The media player will be able to play music, display pictures and play video (it was rumored that Microsoft might not include video capability, but this is not the case).

Microsoft will also release the Zune Marketplace which is Microsoft’s music service and community that will basically compete with iTunes. Zune features a large 3-inch display, wireless connectivity, and an integrated FM Tuner.

One pretty cool feature is the Zune-to-Zune sharing feature. This feature basically allows you to share music, videos. It doesn’t allow you to send the full file however, but if you like a song you can flag it and then purchase it from the Zune Marketplace.

The Zune will come in 3 colors: black, white, and brown. Yes brown. I’m not sure if it will work. It doesn’t look that bad, but it may be some time before we know if the color brown really takes off with people.