Microsoft Zune to sell for $249

Microsoft Corp.’s Zune music player looks a lot like an iPod, acts a lot like an iPod and will cost about the same as an iPod. The software giant said Thursday that it will charge $249.99 for the device, signaling that it isn’t planning to spark a major price war to gain market share.

“It’s not going to be price that really drives people to Zune,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Research.

Instead, the company is hoping to gain an edge by touting two features Apple Computer Inc. doesn’t offer on its iPod: a subscription music service, and the ability to share music with other Zune users through a wireless connection.

Microsoft plans to debut the portable music player and its companion online music service on Nov. 14 in the United States, just ahead of the holiday gift-buying rush.

The music service will let people buy songs individually for about 99 cents, the same price Apple charges for songs from its popular iTunes Music Store.

For Zune, Microsoft will use the same payment system as its Xbox Live online video game service, which lets people without credit cards buy prepaid cards at some retail stores.

•Billionaire investor Carl Icahn wants to oust half of ImClone Systems Inc’s board of directors, whose performance he described as “deplorable.”

In a phone interview with The Associated Press, Icahn, who owns almost 14 percent of ImClone, blasted the board for its failure to aggressively develop cancer drug Erbitux, losing a patent challenge over the medicine, and its inability to find a suitable CEO.

Icahn filed a proxy statement on Thursday that seeks shareholders’ consent to remove six of ImClone’s 12 board members and add one replacement, pediatric surgeon Dr. Peter S. Liebert. Icahn wants to remain on the board along with three other new members.

•The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued United Airlines on Thursday for alleged disability discrimination, accusing it of unjustly firing three employees who were physically unable to meet its new requirement for a minimum 30-hour work week.

The agency filed suit in U.S. District Court in Seattle on behalf of reservation staff in Honolulu and Seattle and a potential class of employees nationwide, saying the carrier’s policy on minimum working hours violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.