Microsoft's new Zunes, which have been long-announced, will hit stores tomorrow. The new gadgets come in a broad range of colors and bedecked with tattoos, custom engravings, and other artwork. Called "Zune Originals," the new Zune range will feature a selection of artwork by 18 artists and design studios.

They are: Colletivo Studios, Catalina Estrada, Laurent Fetis, Sam Flores, Klaus Haapaniemi, Pierre Marie, Kenzo Minami, Parskid, Mike Perry, Phunk Studios, Chisato Shinya, Skwak, Iosefatu Sua, Tado, Nobumasa Takahashi, Ramiro Torres, Darvin Vida, and Steve Wilson, with 27 total designs to be offered.

The new Zunes are going to be available in models of 4GB ($149.99), 8GB ($199.99), and 80GB ($249.99). Of course, the last model features a hard drive instead of flash memory. For the same $250 price as the 80GB iPod classic, the new Zune 2.0 80GB offers a much larger screen, a FM radio, wireless player-to-player sharing, Wi-Fi syncing with your PC, and a rear panel that can be customized with some cool artwork. This makes the Zune a much better deal for those who aren't necessarily Apple fans.

The new model is also slimmer, features a rounded touch-sensitive control. Overall, the gadget is a vast improvement over the previous model and is clearly the best competitor for the iPod. The Zune supports MP3, WMA, WMA lossless, PlaysForSure, and its own proprietary format for Zune Pass subscriptions.

There were rumors about a new Zune since July when ZuneInsider.com reported that a new Flash-based Zune is being crafted at Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division under the code-name Draco. ZuneInsider said that there will be a 4GB model and an 8 GB model. They also said that Microsoft is considering a hard drive version, with a 80 GB HDD.

The old Zune, which went on sale last year in November, has a a 30GB hard drive, 3-inch QVGA LCD screen (320 x 240), Wi-Fi ‘Zune-to-Zune’ connectivity, FM radio, and access to Zune Marketplace. Despite its limited success, in June this year Microsoft announced it has sold over 1 million Zunes. Also last month, Microsoft has slashed the price of its Zune 1.0 MP3 player from $249 to $199. The Redmond company also upgraded the firmware on its older gadget recently.