There have been quite a few rumors going around regarding zune’s battery life. But this one is from a reliable source: zuneinsider.com.

After conducting the test they claim to have a battery life of up to 13 hrs, when listening to music, with the wireless turned off and up to 4 hrs of video or pictures. And up to 14 hrs when the wireless is turned off.

Somewhat surprising, now lets see under what circumstances the test was conducted. 128 kbps ripped WMA songs, played on repeat, backlight timer set to 1 sec, equalizer set to none, default volume setting and no other activities performed during the test not even browsing pictures.

Below are the list of file formats currently supported by zune.

Audio:

• Mp3
• AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)
• WMA (Windows Media Audio)
• Zune Marketplace

Video:

• WMV (Windows Media Video)
• MPEG4
• H.264 codec

Photos:

• JPEG

I would also like to see zune supporting other popular audio file formats like WAV, AIFF, .aa (audible) in the near future. These are currently supported by rival iPod.

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Guys! as you might know Microsoft will be launching Zune on the 14th of November for $249.99 USD. Now the big question is where to buy. Below are the list of retailers where you can purchase and also pre-order one.

• Wal-mart
• Circuit City
• Toys R Us
• Best Buy
• Target
• Amazon
• Office Depot
• K-Mart
• Costco
• GameStop
• Sears
• Staples
• Transworld
• Fry’s
• Virgin Megastore
• Meijer
• EB Games
• J&R Computer World
• Brookstone

That’s it guys! Check back later as more retailers are added over time.

The Zune is Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s long running dominance in the MP3 player market. It will debut to the world on November 14, 2006, and is expected to make quite a stir in the world of digital music.

Currently, although it’s available in black, white or brown, Microsoft is only offering a 30GB model. This model will be able to hold 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures or 100 hours of video.

The Zune also features a built-in FM tuner, a feature which Apple has neglected to include in any of their iPods. It will retail for $249.99, which is the exact price of Apple’s 30GB iPod.