by KYW's tech reporter Bob Bicknell
Zune owners may be singing a happier tune. Microsoft is now selling down-loadable TV shows for its Zune portable media players.
After first taking on the iPod with its Zune media player, Microsoft is now going after the iTunes store by offering TV shows for sale on its Zune Marketplace.
Down-loadable TV shows are nothing new; Apple’s iTunes has offered them for years. But Microsoft has an advantage for fans of NBC programs.
The network, which pulled its programs from iTunes last year, will provide them to the Zune Marketplace for $1.99 apiece.
Still, the Zune is no threat to the iPod in the general marketplace. Microsoft has sold a little more than two million devices in 18 months.
Apple sold 10.6 million iPods in just the first three months of 2008 alone. Zune owners can now download the software patch enabling the new features.
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