If you are having problems with the USB and wireless sync connection with the Microsoft (News - Alert) Zune, here is some help: Microsoft has released a Zune diagnostic tool that gathers data to help decipher USB and wireless sync connection problems with the portable media player.

If you want to use this tool, you should first open the device's software on the PC and run the ZuneDevices.exe tool. After that, you should connect the device and wait for the tool to display problems, if any. If you are looking for USB connections, the Zune will appear in the device manager under portable devices. For wireless connections, after one or two minutes after displaying “connecting to PC,” you will see the Zune displaying the problem on settings-wireless-sync now on the device.

In a market that is dominated by Apple’s (News - Alert) iPod, Microsoft’s Zune, which appeared in the market last year, has been struggling to find foothold. The criticism received from the critics didn’t help the matter as some of them called the portable media player as “plastic brick.” But Microsoft is not new to competitions. The company has made several developments to earlier product. The company introduced 4-Gbyte, 8-Gbyte, and 80-Gbyte models that were slimmer, sleeker and more attractive than the original Zune for the holiday season.

With the new diagnostic tool, people can click on the report tab of the tool, then click "save as" and save a copy of the report text. After that, you can send the file to Microsoft's Product Support Services for analysis.

But the biggest complaint from those who buy either iPod or Zune is that the companies willfully make it difficult for the users to play the content they have bought on any other format other than their intended media players. The companies may like to believe that this is marketing strategy; but for the consumers, this is pure harassment.

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Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page