Dell takes aim at Apple iPod yet again

An article recently published in The Wall Street Journal indicates Dell may possibly make a fool hearty attempt to launch a new digital music player aimed at competing with the Apple iPod, which owns more than 70 percent of the MP3 player market.

Dell's latest attempt at a digital music player is said to be less than $100 and will use WiFi to connect to Dell PCs and notebooks and use the Dell music subscription service.  It could be ready to ship as early as September, with the company likely to have a product available for the Christmas holiday shopping season.

The new music player will have a basic control buttons for scrolling through music play lists and an LCD navigation screen, but there are very few other details confirmed about Dell's latest offering.

Assuming something comes to fruition, Dell will be able to rely on strong partnerships with Rhapsody and Pandora, and would likely be able to offer additional services outside of the Dell subscription service.  It's also plausible Dell would ship new PCs with its music software pre-installed, but the company has not confirmed whether or not it would do that.

Dell initially hopped into the music player market in 2003 with the DJ Ditty, but quit just three years later after securing only three percent of the market.  The PC manufacturer also has launched attempts to create TVs and handheld computing products, but has found the most success staying in the PC and notebook consumer markets.

Apple is dominating the MP3 player market, with SanDisk and Creative also having success selling their products.