RealNetworks on Monday revealed that its partnering with SanDisk to create a digital media player that would compete with iPod and Zune. This will include 32 hours of pre-loaded music from artists signed with EMI Recorded Music, SONYBMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group, as well as independent labels.

This Rhapsody-based Sansa e200 digital media player is expected to be out around holiday season. It is expected to have 8 GB of flash memory and the ability to add 2 GB more through memory slot. This will have microphone to record and FM tuner as well. You can even record songs from FM tuner. Battery life is expected to be around 20 hours.

While Microsoft Zune is still not out, Creative has come out with its Zen Vision W Player with 4.3 inch screen for better movies and TV shows and the software to link with the Unbox online digital movie sales and rental service.

Unbox has television shows and films from many networks like Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Fox and many others.

We designed the Creative Zen Vision W to work easily with major video download services

- Sim Wong Hoo, Creative CEO

Vision W comes with 30GB or 60GB or memory and its bettery can provide 4.5 hours of video playback or 14 hours of music playback. Player includes a built-in microphone, alarm clocks, an FM radio and calendars that synch to Microsoft Outlook.

Vision W was compatible with online music subscription services such as Yahoo Music Unlimited, Napster To Go, Urge and MSN Music

A chinese manufacturer (Oriphie) has unveiled a Zune clone, named MPF2110. It is available in 128MB to 2GB capacities featuring 1.8 inches display, FM tuner, preset equilizers, and USB connectivity. It supports MP3, WMA, WAV, AMW, MPEG, and AVI formats. Pricing and availability has not been announced.