Unlike the release of the xBox, which saw Microsoft shouting about their new product from every rooftop, and taking out more advertising than was perhaps decent in a bid to catch up with the market leader Sony, the release of the Zune digital music player has been comparatively low key.

Despite that low key launch, or possibly because of it, the Zune has been quietly building up a fairly impressive share of the market, and more and more people are being convinced into switching from iPod and the myriad other music players in order to get their hands on the Zune.

All of this interest has meant that the Zune has come from nowhere to quickly become one of the most popular gadgets around. Of course, its market share is nowhere near that of the iPod, and the chances are, that with the increasing function creep of cell phones that sees them turning into masters of all trades, the release of the Zune may be too little too late, although it amy well provide the basis for a new generation of music players in a similar way to the way that Windows CE has become the main operating system in smart phones.

The huge advantage of Zune over iPod was that it had a wireless functionality that made it easy to share music between devices. Most cellular phones already have a Bluetooth connection built in, and with the ever increasing amount of storage space that they carry, the idea of being able to wirelessly share you music with hundreds of people is a very appealing idea.

By integrating the software that powers Zune into the next generation of Windows Media Player, it could be that Microsoft wins the long term battle against Apple and the iPod without actually even breaking a sweat. Apple’s software may be nicer and the iPod a more attractive device, but it is so closed off from the world that it is very unlikely that more experiments like the Motorola Rokr phone, which included iTunes will be sanctioned by Apple management for fear that they take too many sales from iPhone.