As Microsoft launches Zune this week, the goal is not to manufacture another digital music player but to create a shared, social experience that will be shaped by the collective imagination of consumers and will inspire discovery of new music and artists.

The 20th century bore witness to a music revolution – from jazz to punk rock to hip hop. In a similar period of time, strides were made in the way that music was produced and shared, beginning in 1877 with Thomas Edison's invention of the "word phonograph." The ability to record sound made it possible for people to create and share music in rich new ways, certainly, but it also enabled them to communicate as never before. From it, a world of possibilities was born.

Zune – the new music and entertainment project from Microsoft that launches Tuesday in the U.S. – was created with that spirit of communication in mind. Zune, developed by the Microsoft group responsible for Xbox, relies on the same underlying principle as the successful video-game console – that entertainment should be based on a shared, connected experience. A social experience.

“This is what we call connected entertainment,” Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said today at a Zune preview event in Seattle, where emerging artist Secret Machines performed a concert to launch Zune festivities. “Zune is a big investment for us," said Gates, "and it’s a vision that will carry us forward for years.”

Wireless Technology = Spontaneous Sharing

Unlike other digital music players on the market today, Zune features wireless technology that enables friends to spontaneously share full-length sample tracks of select songs, homemade recordings, playlists or pictures among their Zune devices. The full tracks of these songs can be listened to up to three times over three days, and, if the recipient enjoys the song she hears and wishes to buy it, she can flag it on her device and easily purchase it from the Zune Marketplace, which features over 2 million songs. A consumer has the choice between downloading individual songs and "Zune Pass" subscription plans. This is especially attractive for the MySpace generation, who frequently use the power of community to share common interests and promote social networking.

Additionally, Zune comes with an FM radio tuner, enabling a consumer to tune in to programming while at a local health club, for example. And depending on whether a particular radio station is broadcasting a Radio Broadcast Data Standards (RBDS) signal, advanced tuning capabilities on the Zune enable a user to see the name of the song currently playing.

“Music comes from social places,” Matt Jubelirer, Zune product manager, explained at today's preview event. “But over the years, it started to become an isolated experience – people would listen with their headphones but not talk to the people around them. We wanted to add the social back into entertainment.”

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