The Zune 80 is Hard to Find This Holiday Due to Low Supplies

Recently, Microsoft unveiled their high-capacity digital music player, the Zune 80. It's in direct competition with the larger iPods, and is actually attracting a lot of attention. After its first week at top retailers, however, the Zune 80 is either sold out or in very limited supplies, leaving many would-be purchasers frustrated.

The Zune 80 contains an 80-gigabyte hard drive, hence the name, and is capable of holding 20,000 songs. It has a big screen, FM radio, wireless networking capabilities, and a music subscription service. As the Zune 80 has now become such a hot commodity, they are selling for around $320 on eBay, a full $70 more than its retail sticker price of $250.

Having low supplies on one of the holiday's biggest shopping days, dubbed "Black Friday", certainly won't help Microsoft in the battle against the iPod. Some frustrated shoppers who may have wanted to purchase a Zune might instead go right to the competition and buy the iPod because the Zune is no where to be found.

And just as shoppers are frustrated, retailers seem to be a swell. A spokesman for Best Buy, Brian Lucas, said, "We've seen a constrained supply. It does seem to have an appeal as an iPod alternative."

And an Amazon spokeswoman, Anya Waring, said "It came out of the gate as a really popular item."

So the appeal factor is not a problem here, its the supply issue that may end up hurting Microsoft. Part of the problem with the supplies seems to stem from Microsoft's decision to focus on producing the lower-capacity Zune 4 and Zune 8. They thought that those would sell more because of their small size and lower price, but demand for the Zune 80 has apparently been "slightly higher" than expected.

Microsoft hasn't yet revealed any sales figures, and claim that the shortage should end in a week or so when supplies are replenished. But how long will those stay in stock as well?