Dell recently released its new DJ Ditty, a US$99 512MB flash player with a one-inch LCD screen and the ability to listen to FM radio. The company introduced the new product in a low-key manner, combining its introduction in a press release that also had other announcements, which prompted Jupiter Research analyst Mark Mulligan to tell Web site 24x7: "To go against Apple, Dell needs a viral campaign that reaches the youth market looking for a cheap device. You need that if you are edging into a market defined by Apple."

The 24x7 article rehashes Dell's hype, which touts the ability of the DJ Ditty to hold 240 songs versus the 512MB iPod shuffle's 120-song capacity. However, as Playlist editor Chris Breen points out, Dell uses 64kbps WMA encoding, with an average song length of four minutes, to arrive at 240 tunes.

"All Dell's done is work the numbers," Mr. Breen notes. "You could just as easily fit 220 songs on an iPod shuffle if you rejiggered iTunes' AAC encoder to rip files at 64kbps. Those files would sound just as wretched as 64kbps WMA files, of course, but it could be done."

With Apple dominating the MP3 player market, however, companies like Dell are doing whatever they can to gain an edge. It's an uphill battle, as Mr. Mulligan told 24x7: "Apple has been very successful at creating demand for its new iPod Nano in what is usually a quiet sales period. So they have defined the sector rather like Hoover defined vacuum cleaners."