Here Comes Dell To Compete With The iPod, Again

Dell is looking to sell a commodity as cheaply as possible, they would use for instance a molded plastic case that would no-doubt crack if you look at it not to mention the way it feels in your hand while you adjust it . I ran my car over my shuffle and it is fine except for a minor scratch, Dell does not get user experience on that level, the very reason the i-pod was a lifestyle changing success! crappy interface and cheap components will not even get my attention long enough to consider buying one.

Good luck (rhymes with Hell)

The really, really funny thing about this extraordinary announcement was that the infamous Rob Enderle is the official advisor to Dell.

Rob Enderle has a fabulous history of predicting the failure of every Apple product and service made. He is literally a laughing stock. How Dell hadn't spotted this is beyond me.

Does this mean they'll once again support my 20gb Dell jukebox that's gathered dust for the last three years?

This will be a failure. The reason as to why is not at all the components that Dell will use. The reason is in the fundamentals, consumer demand for music players. Yes, the demand has increased in recent years, however, please note that many cell phones include music players. With the iPhone, or Sony cell phones, both of which include music players, this single function (music only) device will not stand a chance with multi-function devices which play music, take pictures/vidoes, store data, and make phone calls. Think about it. Who is behind Dell's marketing division????

Ipod business is going downhill only. I believe that for some reason the ipod share is falsely pumped up to upwards of 70% since last few years . A gym or a coffee shop I go to , i can notice only 2 or 3 ipods for every 10 portable players. I have no idea where these research guys get the idea of 70%. With all the B-stock ipod and iphone variants being dumped by surplus dealers, the market share of 70% seems a big scam. I think it is the best time for Dell to enter the music market. They already control a big chunk of the PC market. They are coming out with some new cool PC designs. Hardware designs are getting similar each second...it will be a matter of time, Apple's perceived software coolness will vanish. My own choice of MP3 player is no less than the Ferrari of MP3's COWON D2 and A3. I charge the D2 like once in a month. I think is time folks come out of feeding Apples' wallet for overpriced toys and see what they have been missing. ...Dell make sure to have some movie stars wear your mp3's on screen and off screen. it will go a long way. Also make sure to write 'Designed in New York’. Last but not the least, put a picture of a fruit on your mp3 as well.

If it plays .ogg files I would be interested.

Hey DELL or Michael.

DON'T FOLLOW! LEAD!

you have got to be kidding me... why don't they just give up untill they have a substantial competitor. That piece of S%&$ looking device.

From my experience Dell products are just fine in quality. I'm going to assume that most users don't run over their players and if anyone ever made something as flimsy as you have described I'm sure we would hear about it. Thank you for your well informed opinion on Dell!

In addition to my previous post:
Tao, "crappy interface" last time I checked a ipod shuffle has no interface, it's hard for me to understand why anyone would buy an audio player with no screen. It's great that you can use itunes to make a nifty play-list to load on the device but I would much rather plug it in and drag and drop the music onto a mounted drive. Cheers!

I agree with Taojones. Dell cannot make an Experience Product -- it's not in their company's DNA regardless of which exec they hire.

More importantly, their crappy little acquisition is day-old, dollar short technology. As the author indicates iTouch or iPhone with Pandora is an absolutely killer application -- I honestly wish I had some VC money in Pandora b/c it's a matter of seconds before XM, Sirius, Apple, or maybe Moto or Nokia pick them up.

But I'm sure the gray cubicle drones in Round Rock already conducted this analysis, but Ron or MSD probably had their heart set on Zing. Too bad. Again.

@taojones
Please buy new iPhone 3G (wich has now crappy cheap plastic case ) and retry you're car test to see what happens. If possible also provide video sequence of the device and your face before and after running over with your car.
Thanks.

I own three itouches and one iphone. I buy one every three months or so (as soon as I sense the battery start to go a little) and I am satisfied with apple products. I wounldn't buy any other brand. I don't think anyone should buy Dell products. Anyone who buys an mp3 player and/or phone that isn't apple is a fool and just not cool.

A shuffle is a flash based device, not hard drive based. I accidentally left my SanDisk in my jeans and put it to wash a few times and it still works. If you do the same with an iPod that is hard drive based, it wouldn't work.

Don't come to conclusions comparing apples to oranges.

Why is anyone who makes an MP3 player assumed to be taking on the iPod? Is everyone making a cell phone taking on the iPhone? Is everyone making a computer taking on the iMac.

Articles should be substantive. Don't waste my time.

Is that a monochromatic screen? Wow, way to go all 1997 on us, Dell. It also looks ugly. While Apple gives us touch MP3 players, this looks like the anti-technology brick.

I don't believe you ran over your shuffle with your car and its OK.

If this player streams Sirius XM radio on their, I will buy it. Thats the reasion I haven't bought ab iphone or ipod touch yet.

Is that an actual photo? It looks soooo 1997. Buttons and bulk. Sad.

My Sansa does music, fm, voice record, and with the RiverPast CrazyVideo software, I watch full-blown DVD rips on coast to coast flights on it's OLED screen and with it's eight-hour battery life in video mode.

C'mon, Dell, you gotta do better than that.

You're an idiot. Anyone who runs over their $300+ equipment that never should have been in your driveway deserves to keep paying exorbitant prices to a company who's sole purpose is to cater to idiots.

People do want an alternative to the dominating and overbearing iPod; however, no company has yet come up with anything that comes close to rivaling it.

The iPhone, with Sirius, would get me to buy one. This, with Sirius, would probably get me to buy one as well. I'd rather listen to Howard/Bubba and Faction with three or four hundred random songs being played than have to pay $1000+ to download those songs with iTunes.

Who the hell buys MP3 players anymore? If you want a music player, just buy a cell phone that includes an MP3 player, which are not that more expensive than music players. (Take the Nokia "express music," which I find does a better job than an i-pod, because it allows you to manage playlists from the phone, and costs $200 without a plan, and $50 with a plan. Also, it includes an FM radio.)
Most importantly, you do not have to remeber to charge and carry around two seperate players.

Just make an "Ipod" with 4-8 normal SD card slots for memory expansion (SDHC maxes @ 32GB a pop) Thad sell like hot cakes. Cant find one that exists.

taojones, that was a prejudiced opinion about dell products. I have both mac and dell products and I have to say that they both make good products. Im my personal opinion, my mac support has been more of a headache than Dell (Might be an isolated issue and I live away from any genius bars and Dell is everywhere)! I think macs are getting a little overhyped and are all over the place. I think this is a good time for Dell to take a crack at the market, but I wonder if they can!

Uno: Some people are saying there's an Apple product that fits your description......

It would be nice if they did start supporting the old Jukeboxes again, but I don't expect it.

I just hope they solve their battery issues. It's just a simple MP3 player with no bells or whistles, which was fine for me. But after using the previous Jukebox for about six months, the battery life only lasts about 45 minutes!

Sheesh folks. That's a picture of Dell's OLD mp3 player. Not the new one. Do you people need to be spoon fed everything?

To the posting that the pic is "so 1997"--that's because it's a picture of the Dell Jukebox, produced years ago. Idiot.

Dell Responds: From Andrew Bowins at Dell: Folks, I just wanted to jump in and add a few points to consider. First of all, Dell did not announce anything. The WSJ broke the story (based on an unnamed inside source) on an entertainment and content strategy we are considering. It was good investigative journalism and we decided to work with the reporter when he called.

We provided the context that the story is not an MP3 player strategy but instead a software and content sharing strategy that might cover a complete range of products including small devices.

The picture above shows a discontinued product from several years back not a new product.

As noted in the article, Dell is looking at what is the best way to offer access to entertainment content and services. We believe it’s a discussion worth having. Your comments above reinforce this belief.

If Dell proceeds with this strategy, the entertainment experience we provide is intended to be accessible across multiple devices. Again, it is not an MP3 strategy.

It’s good to see this level of debate and value the input. We look forward to more dialogue.

Dell should just ask Apple if they can sell the Ipod instead trying their own that will end up taken off the market again.

You cant be serious thinking that image is the new mp3. My God people that is the DJ30 propably from about 2002 or so. You know folks like that deserve Apple, only someone on Apple's koolade could make that assumption

to all the people asking if that is the photo, no you idiots that is the dell dj from years back. Learn before you comment!

to all here: that is the picture of the 2004 Dell Digital Jukebox. I have one. it is the most durable electronic item i own. i have dropped it, kicked it, and plenty of other punishment that the ipod classic cant even touch. and chaz, dont give me any bullcrap that because its a PC product, your not cool. i think you are the biggest mac snob/fanboy i have ever seen in my life

Apple Sucks, My i-pod probably was the worst failure. infact with every product has problems, but the way I was treated by apple customer care, I would never buy another apple product. If dell comes out with a good player, why not try it. Their value to cost ratio is excellent.

I find it hilarious that so many who commented to this post are such apple fanboys that they have never seen the Dell DJ before and actually assume that the player pictured, which was released in 2005 or so, is the player in question. Amazing. I had one of those players for a solid three years (until I upgraded to another brand of player this year) and sometimes I still miss the simplicity of dragging and dropping songs.

I've only ever played with ipods and I've never seen why they were so different from other products on the market...oh that's right the power of marketing and creating a "cool" niche. I may be young but I've never gotten it.

I was saddened when Dell decided to bow out but I hope that they have a well-developed product in mind and not just an ipod pretender, even though I'm perfectly happy with what I have now.

Why even bother... you can't compete with apple ipods especially when dells new mp3 player looks like that. Id rather have the shuffle ha. Get into 2008 and make something that looks and has a the new era feel.

A Dell ja perdeu... a Aple tem um design que fala muito mais alto!