Microsoft has released details of its much-anticipated Zune media player. 

The device will offer 30GB of storage, access to online communities and music stores, and a wireless networking feature allowing users to share media. It will feature a 3in screen and come in black, brown or white.

Rumours about the Zune started surfacing earlier this summer. Although Microsoft had released titbits of information, today's announcement is considered the official unveiling of the portable media player.

Unconfirmed reports claim that the Zune will sell at $299, and will be launched in time for the holiday season. The device is said to be based on Toshiba's Gigabeat player.

The Zune will offer pre-loaded content from Virgin Records, Sub-Pop Records, and V2 Music/Artemis Records. 

The release comes just two days after Apple announced a revamped iPod line and chief executive Steve Jobs boasted of the company's dominance in the MP3 player and music download market.

"Everybody is kind of interested in the product right now, and certainly it facilitates the comparison between the two devices," said Stephen Baker, vice president of analysis at NPD Techworld. 

The Zune's ambitious list of features, as well as the time at which Microsoft has chosen to enter the market, is a common strategy for the company, Baker told vnunet.com. 

"It is a typical Microsoft thing. It is trying to do an awful lot of things to start from a position that took the rest of the market a while to reach. Microsoft is really trying to jump over what took Apple a long time to do," he said.