[Jason Dunn]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...cSubmit=Envoyer

That's a screen shot from B&H, an online photography and electronics store. If it's accurate, that means that the Zune 120 will be offering about 34% more storage for the same amount as the Zune 80. No matter how you slice it, that's great value. The question is, will the Zune 80 fade away, or be sold for $199? And what will the upcoming iPod announcement bring - will Apple really let Microsoft have a price advantage?

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...cSubmit=Envoyer

That's a screen shot from B&H, an online photography and electronics store. If it's accurate, that means that the Zune 120 will be offering about 34% more storage for the same amount as the Zune 80. No matter how you slice it, that's great value. The question is, will the Zune 80 fade away, or be sold for $199? And what will the upcoming iPod announcement bring - will Apple really let Microsoft have a price advantage?

[rjonasson]

Google for that part number, H3A-00001. Lots and lots of hits for the $250 range, including one (http://www.shopblt.com/cgi-bin/shop/...er_id=!ORDERID!) that says stock ETA is supposedly this week.

Buy.com also has it available for pre-order at $249
http://www.buy.com/prod/zune-gloss-b...209027277.html, but no ETA.

[Alber1690]

Wow...if so, that is quite a move.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Alber1690

Wow...if so, that is quite a move.

...unless Apple makes the $249 classic a 120 GB version as well. It will be really interesting to see how they react to this. Although since this news is public before their September announcement, we'll never know what they REALLY had planned.

[USArcher]

Say goodbye to Zune 80 & Zune 4 and say Hello to Zune 120 & Zune 16. Same price points...more storage. This is inline with my expectations that Microsoft would just tweak the existing lineup instead of a hardware overhaul. I do wish they put a bigger screen in the flash models though. So this fall will be all about Zune Software/Firmware/MarketPlace enhancements and just maybe some sort of Windows Mobile availability. And I think that sets them up very nicely for a big push in '09.

[tbird]

Originally Posted by USArcher

Say goodbye to Zune 80 & Zune 4 and say Hello to Zune 120 & Zune 16. Same price points...more storage. This is inline with my expectations that Microsoft would just tweak the existing lineup instead of a hardware overhaul. I do wish they put a bigger screen in the flash models though. So this fall will be all about Zune Software/Firmware/MarketPlace enhancements and just maybe some sort of Windows Mobile availability. And I think that sets them up very nicely for a big push in '09.

Agreed! Lets just hope they make more of the higher end units (120) than then did with the 80. Where I live I only saw an 80 on a demo stand once!

[MarxMarvelous]

It appears the Zune 8 will be priced at $149.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/02/1...-in-the-works/

Maybe that would put the Zune 16 at $199? That could also be pretty compelling if the new iPods come out at the same price points ($149 for 4GB and $199 for 8GB).

My guess is that Apple will do something similar and match the 8GB @ $149 price point.

[onlydarksets]

I have a feeling that Apple is influenced very little by Microsoft's Zune pricing, but that Apple independently had already decided to bump the Nano up to 16GB at the $199 price point.

[onlydarksets]

Originally Posted by onlydarksets

I have a feeling that Apple is influenced very little by Microsoft's Zune pricing, but that Apple independently had already decided to bump the Nano up to 16GB at the $199 price point.

Interesting report by AppleInsider - perhaps Microsoft exerts more influence in the MP3 player space than most are giving them credit for:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles..._headache.html

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by onlydarksets

Interesting report by AppleInsider - perhaps Microsoft exerts more influence in the MP3 player space than most are giving them credit for...

Wow, interesting stuff! I'll front-page it.