The Zune, Widgetised

According to the New York Times, Microsoft

"is creating a social-networking site, Zune Social, to encourage the sharing of samples of songs online, even for fans who do not own a Zune player. Members of the network will also be able to use a small application on their computers to display which songs they have been listening to, and that information can be posted on certain Web sites outside the network or sent by e-mail to friends."

A bit like any number of existing web-based music applications, then.