Oh gawd, Dell releasing Zing-based DJ Ditty in September?
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jul 30th 2008 2:00AM
posted Jul 30th 2008 2:00AM
Funny, this all sounds very 2006 to us as we struggle to see how Dell's player / service will compete in a market already shaking itself out -- right Sony, Yahoo, and Microsoft? In fact, the whole WSJ piece seems like an attempt for Dell to gauge public reaction without suffering the indignity of a failed product announcement. Michael Tatelman, Dell's VP of Consumer Sales, says he'll decide "in a few weeks" how to proceed with the player and may decide not to sell it at all. So go ahead folks, now's your chance to tell Dell how you feel with all the anonymous key slapping you can muster in the comments.
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My cousin and I each had a DJ Ditty. They both died within 2 months of purchasing them. What a shame... I liked that thing a lot. It was very compact and had good sound quality.
Please Dell, if you come out with a new Ditty, make it more reliable.
umm isnt that the Sansa Connect?
yeah, I think so too..
"that's a pre-Dell era Zing prototype pictured" although it bears a striking resemblance to a Sansa Connect.
The Sansa Connect's claim-to-fame was it's WiFi which could be used for Internet radio. Unfortunately, Sansa made some sort of deal which required you to use Yahoo as the portal. Dumb. Hopefully Dell will be smarter.
No, that's my PSP battery with an LCD and scroll wheel added to it.
Axe.
Ahahahaha.... I really hope its called the Zing. Now we have the Zune and Zing to choose from. Joyous celebration all around for this latest innovative move from DELL.
Don't forget the Zen.
Oh what kind of world is this? Zune, Zing, Zen, Twitter, Tweet, Bebo, THESE ARN'T REAL WORDS.
Unless you count zing, which I think is used fairly often.
After the fiasko of their first attempt, I really don't see the point. Besides - in 2 years cellphones will own the music player market.
I sure love my 80gb cellphone. But my friends 160gb one is even better.
yes, finally!
agree to all of the above.. but seriously Dell.. don't..
kthxbai
Its the failed Sansa Connect rebadge. lol
hahaha, true
oh, and I _need Tacos, otherwise I might s'plode.. Taco player anyone?
Here I am, but make it quick
You say taco player. NGAGE comes to mind....weird.
Fail. Dell can't write software.
..hmmmm.
for a fun double-take, go to
http://www.sandisk.com/products/catalog(1249)-sandisk_sansa_connect_mp3_player.aspx
I hope they don't lock it in to their own software, like Apple does with all of their media players.. That would mean the player should working out of the box with Banshee, Rhythmbox, and other media players. It would also be a great advantage for Dell to let it play widely used open formats, like FLAC & OGG Vorbis..
iPods are locked to Apple software? That's funny, because I've been using Songbird to manage my iPod. My unit must be defective...
You have got to be joking.. We all know iPods have been HACKED to allow other software to connect with it for storing or deleting songs. The men who work on Banshee talk about this hack work on iPods all the time, they say it's a pain in the A.
The fact is, out of the box the iPod is intentionally "locked" to only Apples software. My point still stands, and that is because it's a fact.
To be fair, you don't have to "hack" the iPod. It's just that the third party software has to be reverse engineered from iTunes. Once that compatible software is written, any iPod user can easily use it without doing anything special to their iPod.
Also, calling FLAC and OGG "widely used" is a bit of a stretch. I seriously doubt that any of the audiophile nerds supporting those formats would be interested in a $99 Dell branded player in the first place.
They already had a line of MP3 players, and they weren't locked to a specific software solution.
I had the 5 gig Pocket DJ or whatever, and it was a pretty nice DAP. Not as pretty as an iPod, but it was smaller than the Mini and had an extra gig of HDD space.
is there currently a player that can download podcasts over wifi? i.e. just connect to my router and do it - not via some crappy software on my PC.
Yup, it's called the iPod :) My iPod touch does just that.
People seem to forget that Sandisk has 11% of the market, is doing well with its Clip, but is unlikely to see any further growth at least in the US. This is because most mp3 buyers (around 70%) are kids who have the money to waste. They are not making a technology purchase but a fashion statement, and Apple understands that. If Dell wants to get into this business they can only hope to get a share of the non-fashion statement buys, just 30% of units sold, They will hurt Sandisk and themselves. Instead, given Sandisk's low stock price, Dell should just buy it and at least start with 11% of the market and use its hardware to create something like Apple's linking of its players and hardware. .
Cue the crickets. Fail!
I think Dell should go full steam ahead with this wonderful project. Why shouldn't they? Isn't Sandisk, Creative, and Microsoft making money hand over fist with their music players and services? Dell invested so much into their PDAs so successfully, doesn't every American own one? Televisions they made are in every home aren't they? (I hope you know I'm being sarcastic). It seems Dell is late to the game in so many areas these days. They're really struggling.
Will there be a "Zing Guy" with silly Zing tattoos?
Man, you could even get a zing tattoo that didn't look half bad.
kinda looks like a psp battery with a screen.
Ah man, that's I said. LOL
Wow, the iPod will be in serious trouble now! If I were Steve Jobs, I would just sell the company & give the money back to the shareholders.
I hate him, but isn't "DJ Ditty" part of a Dane Cook joke about one-night stands?
Ahh! It's hideous! Put it away! Put it away!
Honestly this thing looks terrible, sorry Dell.
Ah ... the memories this story brings back. My very first full fledged MP3 player was a 15GB Dell Digital Jukebox (DJ) --- ahh..... it was a pretty good device ... except there were a few times that it would freeze up and generally just drive me nuts. I think that was back in '03 or so.
Please Dell, stick to your computers, you're doing a much better job with those components than any sort of a musical device.
If Microsoft can't break into the market with the new Zunes, it's going to be very difficult to make it against Apple. Too bad MS would actually have a chance with their dang software was better.....
Dell should team up with the Amazon MP3 store. Forget doing their own music supermarket.
DJ Ditty? More like the DJ shitty.
I like that.LOL
I just wish they would support their older DJs on Vista by supplying drivers. Seems like Dell gets in and out of things too quick, so I would shy away from their stuff.
I like that..too
I bet that's what SHE said.
Wow, way to copy Sansa Connect, you tards...
Take 2 with Dell trying to take on Apple with a new music device? I really wish that the big vendors would just focus on what they are supposed to do well like build really good computers that are reliable. I will add my two cents here and just say, "dream on."
I am so tired of the 8gb and less flash players ... who in the world can get by with an 8gb capacity?
Dell isn't going to release something that looks as lame as the product pictured ... they are going for style these days.
unless they make it look incredibly sexy, and come at a great price point....dont even bother. I dont think dell can penetrate in the alread crowded mp3 player market.
MAYBE, if they throw in a free Zing was all PC purchases,..maybe.
Ick
Wow.... this looks like an unsophisticated and ancient GPS device. Wtf is Dell trying to pull? I used to live in Austin, and Dell has been a joke there for half of the last decade. The half decade before that, they made Austin proud. Then again, that was when their computers were rock solid. Now they're as soft as a cheap sea sponge.
Repeat: WTF Dell.....wtf?
This thing better be priced below 25 bucks to have any chance in hell of success. BUH-BYE...
And I'd like to mention that a lot of the kids who have lots of money to throw around--that's not entirely true. My half bro who is about 14 now has gone through 2-3 cheap MP3 players, all non-iPods, but he got them because of their cheap pricepoint. However, he got what he paid for--they've all broken down in less than 6 months each. Maybe Dell can make a cheap device that won't crap out quite so soon... doubt it based on the semi-recent hardware record.
Apple will take Dell to the cleaners once again!
Apple in the left corner, DELL in the right... Let the carnage begin.
Seriously though Dell, that's like literally burning money. Money that you could be pouring into the R&D department in the Laptop/Desktop segment. Dell's laptops are butt ugly lately (or here for a while now, except the m1330). Buy some designers instead of a new PMP segment.