Coming Zune to a Best Buy near you...

As Chrismahanukwanzakah draws near, the holiday shopping rush is in full swing and Americans prepare to shop till they drop.

With digital technology topping the best-selling lists this season, many students will wake up on Christmas morning this year to find a shiny new pastel-colored iPod Nano ... or perhaps a Zune?

Released on Nov. 30, the Zune is a 30-gigabyte multimedia player, much like the iPod in appearance, with the capacity to hold 7,500 songs, 25,000 photos and around 100 hours of video and to play FM radio [HTML_REMOVED] available in shades of white, brown and black.

It does, however, have a larger screen (at 3 inches) with unique interface and customization features, including the ability to use photos as a background. Zune offers an "all you can eat" music service for $15. This feature is not yet offered by Apple.

Its defining feature, however [HTML_REMOVED] which Microsoft is banking upon for Zune to distinguish itself from the iPod [HTML_REMOVED] is the ability to "beam" content to other Zune users.

"To us that's the biggest differentiator," said Terry Farrell, Microsoft's senior product manager for Zune. "We want to turn other people on to new bands. We tried to make it social, which is the theme of our marketing campaign. You can share it with your friends and develop new musical tastes along the way."

Missed that chem lecture? No problem. Your kind-hearted friends can beam you the recorded version. Really want to watch that episode of Grey's but don't have TiVo? No problem, Zune's got it covered. You can even beam entire playlists at a time.

However, there is a catch: The content will only play on your Zune for three days or three plays, and then it will disappear. This is for copyright issues, explained Katy Asher, a chief PR spokesperson for Zune.

"I know there has been criticism for the 'three-days, three-plays' limitation, but keep in mind that this is a brand-new feature that the music labels aren't used to," Asher said. "When they think sharing they think of Limewire, Kazaa and other such illegal downloading programs, so naturally they are a little wary. 'Three days, three plays' is the jumping off point [HTML_REMOVED] clearly there are a lot of ways we can expand this down the road, and the music labels are very excited to see where this could go. This is just step one among many."

While the Zune has been on the market for just over a week, the iPod has been around since 2001, and five generations later it captures 90 percent of the market [HTML_REMOVED] success that has been mainly attributed to the phenomenal reception of its marketing campaign. The Zune is like the new kid on the block, whereas the iPod is the classroom bully.

It may take a while until the Zune becomes a common sight around the UW campus, since many students are skeptical of the product's capability to measure up to the iPod.

"From everything I've heard, it seems kind of so-so," said senior Grant Bookman. "In the future they might be able to make it competitive. Right now, though, it's a lot heavier and bulkier than the iPod, which they need to fix. The music-sharing thing is kind of cool, but it's not quite special enough to be the defining factor that makes it cool. It needs some work."

Microsoft's current concern is figuring out how to market the Zune to the college crowd.

"College-aged kids are the core market we're focusing on," Farrell said. "It's not supposed to be a mainstream glossy advertising campaign that people seem to expect, but instead we've taken a much more organic and grassroots approach, which surprises many college students. We're sponsoring independent artist tours, and trying to get a credible culture out there [HTML_REMOVED] we're not just running around trying to be hipsters."

Farrell acknowledged the fact that the success of Zune is a goal that will mostly likely be accomplished in the long-term [HTML_REMOVED] not right after its initial launch.

"We've been very realistic about the fact that we're only just entering the market," Farrell said. "What we wanted to do was enter the market right now with a good first offering, have a good holiday season [HTML_REMOVED] and hopefully people wake up on Christmas morning with Zunes under the tree. This definitely isn't just a one-year effort, but right now we're totally on track. We've gotten out there and have a good buzz."

Reporter Katie Stapleton-Paff: katiesp@thedaily.washington.edu