Customizable gift options and themed playlists from Zune Marketplace help consumers share the love this Valentine’s Day.

REDMOND, Wash. — Jan. 15, 2008 — Responding to consumer excitement for the Zune 80GB, Microsoft Corp. is making the popular wireless digital media player available in red with Zune Originals, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Inspired by the themes of love and sharing, an exclusive collection of 20 new laser-engraved designs will be available to consumers for a limited time at http://www.zuneoriginals.net; in addition, Zune Marketplace will feature Valentine’s Day playlists that can be shared with friends or loved ones Zune to Zune or via the Zune Social online music community.

“Zune gives consumers a dynamic canvas that is brought to life by the music, pictures, videos and podcasts they fill it with,” said Scott Erickson, senior director of product management for Zune at Microsoft. “Zune Originals makes it easy to design a customized player, while wireless sharing and the Zune Social online music community give people new ways to connect.”

Zune Originals gives customers more options to personalize their player with 20 new designs celebrating love and sharing that can be laser-engraved on the back of their Zune. The new Valentine’s Day series features artwork from four new artist collectives — Colorblok, Friends With You, PSYOP and Studio Play Pretend — and is available exclusively at http://www.zuneoriginals.net through Feb. 14. Each new graphic can be paired with up to three lines of text, letting consumers add a personal message; if no graphic is chosen, up to five lines of text are available. For a limited time, Zune Originals also offers a gift-wrap option and shipping at no additional charge.* With the addition of the Valentine’s Day series, customers can now choose from more than 65 designs, to create a custom wireless player in the size and color they want.

The Zune Marketplace online store makes it easy to load the Zune player with favorite love songs that can be shared wirelessly Zune to Zune or with friends via Zune Social. To find their perfect Valentine’s Day soundtrack, consumers can browse playlists such as “Hip Hop Valentine,” “80s Love,” “Broken Love,” and “Talk to Me, Barry,” love jams from the legendary Barry White featuring spoken introductions. Zune software also makes it easy for people to create their own playlists in seconds by simply dragging and dropping songs to the playlist icon.

With a bright 3.2-inch screen and premium in-ear noise-isolating headphones, the red Zune 80GB is the latest addition to the new line of Zune wireless players, which also includes the slim, ultra-portable Zune 4GB and Zune 8GB, available in pink, green, black and red. All three models offer wireless sync and sharing, a built-in FM tuner, and the new Zune Pad, a touch-sensitive navigation button that lets people fly through menus or lists with the flick of the thumb, or click to easily change songs or adjust the volume. The Zune 80GB (estimated retail price $249), Zune 8GB (ERP $199) and Zune 4GB (ERP $149) are available at retailers nationwide and at http://www.zuneoriginals.net.

More information on great Zune Valentine’s Day offers from Zune Originals and retailers nationwide is available at http://www.zune.net/valentines.