According to reports, the device Dell is currently testing sounds pretty basic, and is rumoured to sell for around $100 should it become available (some say as early as September). It would use WiFi, and have the ability to connect to a number of different music download services, which are somehow accessed and organized through a Dell software program.
I'm tempted to "yawn" at this announcement. Why? 1) nothing has really been confirmed yet, and 2) many have tried, and none have succeeded in surpassing the iPod in user interface, design, and, most important, consumer demand.
Keep in mind that I'm not an iPod fan nor owner, despite what it might sound like. But you'd have to have been living under a rock for the past few years not to realize that it'll take a heck of a player and software suite to turn people's attention away from their precious i-devices. A few suggestions that might help sway the decision: make music transfer and acquisition easy, find a way to rid the device and the tunes that are loaded onto it completely of DRM, make it accept all music file types, and add an SD or microSD card slot for expandable storage.
Aside from that, it's too bad that Dell just announced it would be getting rid of its standalone kiosk locations in Canada (it has already done so in the U.S.) They could have served as great music downloading stations!
