The Microsoft Zune Marketplace

10:07 am PDT • September 14, 2006

is official. And the Zune software? Just as official. We thought it would be integrated into Windows Media Player 11, but instead it’s a Napster-like application that gives you access to the Marketplace, as well as viewing your playlists and playing back your downloaded and rented music.

The design is meant to look like the Zune itself, complete with the playback buttons on the bottom, and the black/grey bordered color scheme. The store itself looks like any other music store does – lots of pictures, artists, featured playlists. Nothing extraordinary about this, other than the fact that it doesn’t seem to have major label support. Their screenshot shows a bunch of medium-popularity bands, but no huge stars like on iTunes.

Zune Marketplace to keep your Zune player stocked [Engadget]