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Look who’s playing catch up with Apple’s iTunes?  Microsoft has confirmed the rumors that it will start selling TV shows in its Zune Marketplace, possibly to compete with the recently announced iTunes movie download offerings. For starters, Microsoft has sealed a deal with NBC, which incidentally is coming off the recent break-up with Apple’s iTunes.

Although Microsoft’s move maybe a little bit late, lagging behind Apple’s iTunes which started selling TV shows two years ago, Microsoft is confident that its Zune Marketplace will be able to make some headway over the iTunes especially now that one of iTunes biggest content providers has decided to move over to the Zune Marketplace. NBC and Apple had previously disagreed over pricing which caused NBC to stop offering their content in iTunes. 

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Microsoft has announced a new valentine selection for the Zune. A newly colored Zune 80 will be available in red along with a collection of 20 new Zune Originals. The Red Zune 80 along with the new Zune Originals will be available for just a short time, they will be sold only until February 14th so better not wait to long to get that special Valentines Day gift for that geek in your life.

In addition to the new color and artwork the Zune Marketplace will also be offering a special collection of Valentines Day music for those looking for that perfect soundtrack for the day.

Product [Zune Originals] Read [PR Newswire]

This past weekend at a conference in Seattle, J Allard and Christina Calio from Microsoft’s Zune team both confrimed the company’s plans to reward customers for sharing music with eachother.  If you’re unfamiliar with all of the buzz surrounding the over-hyped digital audio player, it includes the ability to share music wirelessly with your neighboring compadres.  The rewards will be payed out in Microsoft Marketplace Points ($1 = 80pts) which can be spent on both the Zune Marketplace and the Xbox 360 Marketplace.  No word yet on how much they will reward social customers, but lets just hope they make it worth our while.

Read [Gizmodo]

The problem with many of the big online music stores like Apple’s iTunes is that once you lose a downloaded file, you’re screwed.  Backing up all of your songs can be a pain when you download (legally) as much as some people.  That’s why Microsoft is taking on this issue by allowing customers of the Zune Marketplace to have up to 5 downloads of the same song.  And just like with a Windows product key, you can call up tech support and complain when you’ve gone over your allotted amount.  All I can say is hooray for Microsoft for giving us this option.  Obviously backing up is still the way to go since Microsoft can exercise their right to discontinue this feature at any time.

Read [Gizmodo]

If you’re as stoked as we are about the new goodies that Microsoft is packing into the Xbox 360 Marketplace, then you’ll be happy to see that an interview with a Microsoft employee at their showcase event has been caught on video.  The new marketplace, as we discussed in the latest Gadgetell Podcast, will now have HD movie downloads (to complement their recent 1080p announcement) as well as TV show downloads.

Read [TechEBlog]