Microsoft takes the 'Apple tax' fight to the iPod

Microsoft claims that a Zune is much cheaper to run that an iPod

Microsoft has extended its attack on Apple over pricing with a new TV advert which claims that it would cost $30,000 (£19,000) to fill the latest 120GB iPod using iTunes purchases.

The new advert pushes the music rental model used by the Zune media player, stating that ownership of music is the most expensive option. The Zune comes with a $14.99 (£9.80) per month music rental service, compared to Apple's technique of selling music directly.

"People worry about the capacity of their iPod," the advert states. "What about the capacity of their bank account? At a buck a song they'll run out of money way before they run out of space."

The campaign is part of Microsoft's continuing efforts to promote the idea of an Apple Tax, suggesting that Apple is expensive to buy and to run.

Microsoft had focused on the desktop market, but is now aiming at Apple's phenomenally successful media players, which hold over two thirds of the market. The Zune has yet to generate anything like the same popularity.

However, Microsoft's figures have been attacked as misleading. A top-of-the-range iPod would certainly take a lot of money to fill, but the advert assumes that owners would have no music on CD to add to the iPod, and banks on them buying a track at a time rather than whole albums.