Microsoft has announced that it will be dropping the prices of its Flash-based Zune players ahead of the holiday shopping season, increasing their competitiveness with Apple’s iPod nanos. The price cuts will see the company’s 4GB Zune drop to $99, the 8GB model cut from $149 to $139, and the 16GB model drop from $199 to $179. Despite the fact that these price cuts put the 8GB and 16GB models lower than their iPod nano counterparts, Zune…