Tech blog scores Zune photos

Gadget blog Gizmodo claims to have scored an exclusive photograph of Microsoft's yet-to-be released digital music player, Zune.

The black-and-white photograph shows a device that looks remarkably like Apple's iPod.

The reason for the black-and-white photo, according to Gizmodo, is that Microsoft has assigned a unique color to each of the 150 prototype devices. Gizmodo says the thinking here is that if any pictures were leaked, the company would know who was responsible.

Also seen in the photo are the magnetic earphones, which stay together and are supposed to be easier to manage.

Microsoft has said it plans to release Zune, a hard-drive equipped music player designed to compete with the iPod, sometime before the end of the year.