Dell faces the music

MAKER of computer bits and bobs, Dell has released a flash-memory digital music player it says will give Apple's iPod Shuffle a run for its money.

The DJ Ditty is the same price as the Shuffle and has 512MB of memory, but Dell is marketing its audio toy as storing 220 songs compared with the Shuffle's 120.

Dell claims that it has a more efficient compression technique, although it does not say what effect this technique has on the final sound quality. It says the 220 figure is based on 64kbps WMA encoding for each song so to an audiophile that is really pants.

The Ditty has some things going for it. It has a one inch LCD which can navigate music lists. It can also pick up FM radio, something Apple has said that its users don't want.

However it is also crippled by a terrible name and it looks like one of those corporate cigarette lighters we used to get at Christmas when IT PR companies had budgets. µ