Microsoft's iPod rival, due for US customers this Christmas, has had a scathing reception from one industry wonk. American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu calls Zune 'underwhelming' and 'essentially a repackaged Toshiba Gigabeat'.

His comprehensive panning also includes the prediction that Zune's wireless capability - a unique feature over iPod - will 'dramatically' drain the player's power. He tells Red Herring: ”While we find Wi-Fi a nice feature, we believe that Wi-Fi power requirements are still quite steep, and so we are skeptical that battery life will be strong on Zune. In fact, our analysis indicates three to six hours of battery life vs. 10 to 14 hours on a typical iPod.'