Microsoft's own MP3 player

…is coming this year. "The world's largest software maker has been briefing record companies on the proposed device, which would play digital music and video files and carry wireless technology enabling users to download music without linking to a computer," the Associated Press reports. Parents in particular may be interested in that 2nd feature with which Microsoft wants to one-up the iPod. If this music player can be used to download music directly from the Web, it'll quite possibly have a Web browser. That would mean a lot of other stuff could be downloaded, which begs the question: Will it also have parental controls? A lot of the coverage so far is speculative, because Microsoft has not made a public announcement about these plans. Stay tuned. (Here's USATODAY's coverage.)