Digital Home Thoughts: Dell Puts Music Player Plans on Hold

"It may have been a bad idea to begin with and Dell finally seems to have realized it. The company says it has now abandoned plans to launch a digital media player tied to an online store. Dell had planned to launch a MP3 player this year that could potentially compete with Apple's iconic iPod line and Microsoft's struggling Zune player. But the company could have done well to learn from Microsoft's experience with the Zune before it started on its venture."

Oh un-named Dell music player...we hardly knew ye! I can't say I'm all that surprised at this - in order to compete with the iPod, a music player needs to have great hardware and great software...and when's the last time you saw Dell crank out any great software? Yeah, exactly. The Zune is a credible option to the iPod because it has quality hardware, and a solid desktop software experience. I can't see Dell doing anything in this market to compete with either the iPod, or even the Zune.