"Along with Wi-Fi, Microsoft is said to be considering a satellite radio receiver option for the device along with hard-tying it to the new Urge music service."

Amid iPod buzz, separating fact from fiction [Via Orbicast]

Microsoft's concentrating on features the iPod doesn't have, instead of trying to beat Apple at their own game. The tipmeister reiterates that ad-hoc networking feature will be there, as well as a possible buffered internet radio streaming feature. If you're within range of a WiFi signal and you're listening to a station, the device will snatch as much of the feed as it can so when you wander out of WiFi signal, it'll keep playing the stream as if you were in range. This might not make its way into the final product, so don't get your hopes up too high.

More on games, Xbox integration, and possible other devices after the jump.

Image courtesy our hombres at Engadget

The Zune is going to have some gaming, but it's not going to be nearly as powerful as an "Xbox portable" would be. Crecente over at Kotaku ponders the idea of having a device that can actually play all the Xbox Live Arcade games in full detail, and not some dumbed down version. This may be possible in the Xbox portable, but not in the Zune.

There probably is going to be Xbox 360 integration though, as your "music subscription authorization" is held on the device itself. This means if you take your Zune to your friend's place, plug it into his 360, the console will automatically have access to your Zune music. The iPod does this already, but not with iTunes downloaded music.

There's also going to be a next generation PlaysForSure starting with this player, with a better name than "PlaysForSure 2". Oh, and that rumor about being able to import all your iTunes tracks automatically? That's probably not true. The tipster speculates that you may be able to convert your iTunes songs into DRM WMA files, but that opens up a whole new can of worms with Apple and the record labels. We'll wait and see on that one.

Lastly, there's going to be an iPod Nano competitor called, tentatively and possibly, the Pixas. The tipster's only around 20% sure about the name, but 100% sure of the player's existence. Oh, and it will support video.

As always, we'll post more stuff as it comes in. Thanks to all our tipsters! – Jason Chen

Our inboxes are on fire with brand new information about the new Microsoft MP3 player. We thought the player was code-named "Argo", but we now got word that the final product name that's been flying around is the "Zune"!

The pic on the right seems to be the final design, which makes the player very clean—a definite departure from Microsoft's other endeavors. You all remember the video Microsoft's own people made to illustrate their packaging shortcomings? Well, it seems like they haven't learned much, as our tipster tells us the packaging itself is pretty ugly.

More info after the jump!

Our mole also says there's no game menu to be seen on the device, putting those rumors of portable gaming from Xbox branding in possible jeopardy. More game options possibly coming in the 2nd iteration.

There's also mention of a black version of the Zune, being shown on a music video for the band CSS, and the brown version on the cover for "Band of Horses". You can display Album covers for the song you're listening to on the screen, which is "big enough" and looks "pretty good". Paul Oakenfold also has a tie-in deal.

From the looks of things, the Zune will definitely be ready for a Xmas release.

We'll have more information plus possibly the logo and/or UI Shots tomorrow. Stay tuned! – Jason Chen

Thanks Tipster!