Microsoft are not taking the launch of the new iPods lightly.  Bill Gates glossed about the new Zune 2 and the launch date of November 2007 in a widespread video interview recently.  If you’re not in the know, Zune 2 will be avabilabe 80Gig hard-drive, 8Gig and 4Gig flash editions.

According to reports from a “source” inside Microsoft, a new batch of Zunes are due out in both flash memory- and hard drive-based forms. The new, smaller, flash Zune (the Draco) will be hitting shelves in pink, red, black, or army green colors, will have a 4GB or 8GB capacity, and will feature a “squircle” (the source’s term, not ours) for navigation, which won’t have a center button but can be pushed, “From any side.” The hard drive-based player (the Scorpio) will be available in 80GB, sports the soon-to-be infamous “squircle,” and touts a screen which the source claims is “awesome” for video.