Microsoft Corp. confirmed Friday that Toshiba Corp. will manufacture its upcoming "Zune" portable media player, in an attempt to compete with market-leading Apple's iPod.

Microsoft has vowed to release a "Zune" MP3 player and matching online music and video store in time for the yearend holiday shopping season.

Kyrsa Dixon, a spokeswoman for one of Microsoft's public relations firms, confirmed Friday that Toshiba will make the device.

The Microsoft MP3 player will let people transfer video, pictures and music files between personal computers and handheld devices, and it would also be able to link wirelessly, according to an instruction manual.

One feature will allow a person to act as a DJ, sending music to up to four other devices.

"Once your DJ setting is on, you don't need to do anything else in order for others to listen to your stream," the manual explained. "If someone tunes in, you will see an onscreen notification that you have a listener."

The gadget, the size of a notepad and with a track-wheel control akin to the iPod look, would have a hard drive with 30 gigabytes of memory, specifications indicated.

Microsoft said in July that it planned to launch a series of music and entertainment products that are expected to compete with Apple's iPod player and iTunes music service, with the first expected to be available this year.

Source:Xinhua/Agencies