Microsoft Getting Under Apple's Skin

Updated from 4:41 PM EDT

Microsoft (MSFT Quote) is taking a page out of Apple Computer's (AAPL Quote) book with plans to launch an integrated digital media player and service by the end of the year.

Dubbed Zune, the offerings will include a Microsoft-branded, hard drive-based music and entertainment player and an online media store, representatives for the software giant said on Friday. The new player and service will be incompatible with Microsoft's PlaysForSure initiative, through which partners such as Creative (CREAF Quote) and Napster (NAPS Quote) offer devices and content centered on Microsoft's Windows Media encoding software.

"It's a similar model to [Apple's iTunes]," said company spokeswoman Katy Gentes. ...