Dell's DJ Ditty is dead

Dell has decided to ditch the last of its line of own-brand MP3 players, the short-lived DJ Ditty.

The flash-based Ditty was launched in September last year and received so-so reviews. Dell had pitched it as an alternative to the iPod shuffle, launching the Ditty at a similar price and with similar memory to the shuffle - although Dell boasted that due to its use of the WMA format, it could cram on twice as many songs.

It's thought the MP3 player line was dropped for failing to pull significant market share from behemoth Apple. Dell is not the first to have bowed out of the music player market as a result of the iPod's dominance - D&M Holdings announced a year ago it would close its MP3 player division Rio.

Dell continues to sell MP3 players through its network of sites, although the devices are from third parties such as Creative and SanDisk.

Dell did not respond to requests for comment.