Many people complain about Microsoft’s dominance in the desktop operating system market. There are only a few choices beyond Windows XP or Vista — namely, Mac from Apple (there is Linux for the uber-geek crowd, but tech mortals still mostly avoid it).

Well, the exact opposite situation exists in the music player world — there’s iPod from Apple, and everyone else. That includes Microsoft, which makes the Zune MP3 player. Zune is Microsoft’s “iPod” killer. Fat chance of that, of course, but Microsoft is putting a lot of effort into the Zune, to make it at least a viable alternative.

And it is that. The latest update is 3.0, and includes a bunch of new features. There are new capacity players, including 16GB and 120GB devices. But two of my favorite improvements are to Zune Pass and the FM player.

Zune Pass costs $14.95 per month. For that flat fee, you get to download unlimited songs and use them on up to three computers and three players. Until now, however, you didn’t get to keep them; merely use them — if you let your subscription lapse, you lost your songs. Under the new plan, you get to keep up to 10 songs per month for good. That means Zune Pass effectively costs $4.95 per month. It’s a heckuva deal.

The other neat new feature has to do with the FM tuner. Let’s say you’re listening to the radio, and hear a song you like. You can select the song in Zune, and the next time you sync with your computer, it will be ready for you to buy. If you have wi-fi access, you can buy it immediately and download it to Zune. Pretty nifty.

Overall, the Zune is a worthy MP3 player. It may not have the “cool” factor of the iPod, but it’s worth considering, and has some features lacking in Apple’s player.