Responding to Apple's announcement of new iPods as well as a Wi-Fi-enabled, touchscreen iPod, Microsoft has announced a US$50 price reduction for its Zune digital media player.

According to Macworld News, a Zune Insider blog entry cited the price drop as planned weeks in advance and not a reaction to Apple's announcements.

;It’s part of the normal product lifecycle, something we’ve had on the books for months," stated the blog post. "We just got some research back and customer satisfaction with the 30GB device is really high (around 94 percent) and we expect even more consumers will now want to discover the Zune experience at the new lower price."

Microsoft has made efforts to compete more aggressively with Apple and is said to be planning to introduce new Zune devices with additional features and form factors, but have yet to cite specific details. The company has dropped hints that an iPhone rival is in the works, but has stated that the Zune is a long-term investment and expects that it will be some time before the unit proves to be a head-on competitor with the iPod, which had a development cycle on it prior to Microsoft's Zune release.

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