Microsoft sees 'better iPod than Apple'

As Microsoft spreads its technological reach ever wider, it seems the men and women at Redmond fancy themselves as the next Steve Jobs. One exec revealed that Microsoft is planning on getting more involved with the digital music player market.

Not just any old digital music players, mind. Digital music players that will apparently retail for $50. And, according to Microsoft's corporate VP of MSN Yusef Medhi, they will "look and feel" as good as the iPod and work with Redmond's software.

Medhi sees a "multitude" of players arriving on the market in the near future to work with its software at a fraction of the cost of Apple's.

It seems that Gates and Ballmer could well be trying to emulate the success of arch-rival Apple. Apple's success in the online music market started with its online song-shop iTunes and led to the tsunami of iPod buying.

Microsoft has already announced its efforts in the song shop field, but according to Mehdi, a selection of music players that work with the Windows Media format will hit the shops around about the same time and offer consumers more choice than Apple.