Engadget has managed to uncover what it called a "draft" artist's conception of the purportedly forthcoming Microsoft Zune portable media player (PMP), a device which the leaked artwork labels as Zune HD.

The images that Engadget hit upon appear to be a promotional campaign for the new device that will apparently take a stab at Apple's iPod Touch. The first touchscreen Zune, the HD quite like the iPod Touch, would feature a single button on the front panel, beneath the touchscreen.

The Zune HD - the pictures of which coincidentally sprang up within weeks of rumors about Microsoft's proposed launch of a new Zune model this year - will likely be launched this fall. Going by the images, the device will feature a large widescreen display packaged in a somewhat bushed aluminum case and glass.

The new Zune's HD suffix either implies that the device facilitates high-resolution videos, possibly with Nvidia chipsets; or it could merely be a marketing exhortation, like the HTC Touch HD and Samsung OmniaHD mobile phones.

According to Technologizer - which corroborated the legitimacy of the images saying that most such earlier sources have been rather "accurate" - though the size of Zune HD could be smaller than iPod Touch, the new device will have similar storage capabilities of 8GB, 16GB and 32GB.