The latest rumor to hit the blogosphere concerning Microsoft's new digital music player, the Zune, is that Microsoft may have plans to introduce a system that gives users points if they share a track and the other user subsequently buys the track.

The Zune's wifi capabilities is one of the devices biggest selling points and opens up a world in which digital music users can share tracks between individual Zunes without needing to use a computer - but also opens up the possibility of piracy problems. In order to get around this small technicality, Microsoft is going to restrict the ability of a track that has been shared between devices to be played. Once you've received a track from a friend, you'll only be able to play it three times on your Zune before the track listing comes up with a message asking you if you want to purchase the track. According to the rumor going around, if you share your music with another user and they subsequently buy the track Microsoft will give you points or credits that can be redeemed in the Zune online music shop.

If Microsoft end up getting a sizable portion of the digital music player market an innovation like this could result in a fundamentally new viral channel of distribution of digital music, freed from the restrictions posed by computers or mobile phone companies. However, first of all Microsoft need to get a critical mass of users who can share tracks between the devices, so it's going to need a pretty awesome marketing campaign. Let's just wait and see.