In response to the new range of iPods and the price drop to only $249 in the US for the 30 GB iPod, Ars Technica are reporting that Microsoft will price the Zune at the same price for the US – $249.

They have also announced that songs will available for download from the Zune Marketplace download service at $0.99 each in the US, which incidentally, is the same price as music downloads from the iTunes (Music) Store. However, downloads will also be available in exchange for 79 ‘Microsoft Points’ (which you can buy and then use for Zune music, or Xbox Live Marketplace downloads etc).

Unfortunately there seems to be no word from Microsoft on UK pricing for either the player or the music downloads, although we may be able to guess at the cost of music judging by the UK exchange rate for ‘Microsoft Points’. They are 0.85p per point [source], which means in theory a song would cost 67.2p (slightly lower than iTunes’ 79p per song in the UK).

It seems unlikely there will be much difference in song pricing between the iTunes Store and the Zune Marketplace, as the article points out, as it wouldn’t be in the record labels’ interest.