Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/24/dell_stops_making_mp3_players/
Dell stopped selling hard drive-based digital music players in February and now it's dropped its own-brand Flash offerings too. Instead, the PC giant will sell players from SanDisk (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/21/sandisk_to_launch_8gb_mp3/) and Creative (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/24/apple_settles_with_creative/).
"Dell offers only name brand MP3 players," the company's website says, among the reasons it offers why consumers should buy a digital music player from Dell. Clearly, then, 'Dell' is not a name brand in the MP3 market.
Dell's last own-brand player was the DJ Ditty, a $99 512MB device witha 1in, 96 x 32 LCD; a built-in 300mAh rechargeable battery capable of delivering up to 14 hours' continuous music playback; and an on-board FM tuner.
In place of the Ditty, Dell is offering US consumers the Sandisk Sansa m240, Sandisk's e 2x0 series and Creative's Zen Vision:M. In the UK, it's offering almost the full line-up of Creative Flash and HDD-based players. ®
Cambridge Soundworks readies iPod-friendly speakers (12 December 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12/12/cs_ships_playdock_speaker_set/
Creative pitches MP3-enhancing sound dongle (4 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/04/creative_pitches_xmod/
SanDisk readies Rhapsody-branded music player (18 September 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/18/sandisk_rhapsody_tie-in/
SanDisk to ship low-end colour-screen MP3 player in October (1 September 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/01/sandisk_launches_c200_mp3s/
Apple pays $100m to settle iPod patent clash lawsuits (24 August 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/24/apple_settles_with_creative/
Sandisk unveils 8GB Flash MP3 player (21 August 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/21/sandisk_to_launch_8gb_mp3/
Apple relieves Chinese iPod slave laborers (19 August 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/19/mother_jones_goes_to_china/
Creative draws bead on iPod Nano with second-gen Neeon (4 August 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/04/creative_unveils_neeon_2/
Dell drops out of HDD MP3 player biz (6 February 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/02/06/dell_drops_hdd_mp3_players/