Dell MP3 Players Be Not Proud
Well, honesty really is the best policy, and although Dell might be a successful player in the PC market, Dell and MP3 players really haven't mixed. At the end of 2006, it was decided that Dell's hard-drive based MP3 players would be dropped from its line of electronic products.
The Best Of Intentions
Although Dell thought it could challenge the musical Goliath that is the Apple iPod line, Dell's line of MP3 players never really managed to put up much of a showing. The Dell Digital Jukeboxes - the DJ20 and Dell DJ30 MP3 players - have been dropped in favor of flash-drive based low capacity Dell MP3 players like the DJ Ditty.
The number in the description indicates storage capacity, so the DJ20 is a 20GB player, and the DJ30 is a 30GB player (just in case that wasn't obvious). You may still be able to find a bargain out there if you don't mind the fact that you probably won't get much in the way of future support.
Initially, these Dell MP3 players did not support the PlayForSure format, which means you might have issues if you get your music via a subscription service. You might want to check to see if there was a firmware update released to fix this problem first before purchasing one. However, it does have a high storage capacity, especially if you use the WMA format instead of MP3.
As far as pricing goes, one site listed a DJ20 for $129.99. It has a screen that's 1.9 inches and is pretty much a no-frills player. You can't view album art or photos, as it's you're basic black and white LCD display. There's also no FM tuner, but if you just want something simple it's...acceptable.
Now for the latest Dell offering: the DJ Ditty which was mentioned earlier. The DJ Ditty is a 512MB MP3 player that's light and functional with a small form factor. It retails for around $99, and it includes an FM tuner. The DJ Ditty also supports the PlayForSure format, so with this Dell MP3 player you don't have to worry if you use a subscription service for your music.
It does come with five equalizer presets, but you can't customize your own settings unfortunately. There are also a few issues with the inability to quickly navigate through titles and a less than stellar battery life, but if you're looking for something simple and relatively easy to use when you exercise, this might be a decent choice.
