Tesco-incompatible iPod to be sold at Tesco

The UK's biggest retailer, Tesco, is to sell iPods and other MP3 players in its supermarkets.

As well as stocking the iPod shuffle, Tesco will sell music players from Creative and Inovix, with prices starting at £24.97 for a 128MB player.

Tesco expects to see the products in 69 of its stores, while an expanded range of digital cameras - from the likes of Canon, Kodak and Olympus - will be available in over 130 stores starting from this week.

Despite the decision to sell Apple music players, Tesco won't be making any money at its download music store from any new Apple converts - the downloaded songs are only available in Windows Media Audio format, which is not compatible with the iPod.

Nevertheless, Tesco is already making its presence felt in the download market, racking up some 10 per cent market share in the UK since its launch in November last year. It still has some way to go to catch Apple's iTunes, currently mopping up more than 70 per cent of music downloads.

Tesco - which now accounts for one in every eight pounds spent on the UK's high street - is keen to boost its revenue from non-food items by moving into the electronics space.

The retailer announced last week it was adding Cisco routing kit to its shelves.