IPod kills Dell's digital music player, the Ditty

-The Ditty is dead.

The last remaining product in Dell Inc.'s line of digital music players has been discontinued after unsuccessfully challenging the dominance of the iPod for three years.

The iPod has withstood the assault of many a challenger, keeping a tight grip on the market, especially in the United States. Apple Computer Inc.'s fashion sense and marketing savvy have helped.

And Apple recognized one thing that Dell and others didn't: Consumers didn't want a lot of choices.

Dell's Ditty was part of a group of music players and software programs that worked on a common platform designed by Microsoft Corp.

The iPod, meanwhile, is a "closed loop" device, as technologists call it. The gadget only works with Apple's iTunes software, and downloads from the iTunes online store won't play on any other portable player.

Dell and other music player makers had to label their devices so consumers would understand that they would play music from a set of Microsoft-approved online stores. Ipod buyers had only one choice for an online store and didn't have to think about shopping around.

In short, the iPod was easier to use.

Dell and Microsoft thought that the digital music player business would be like the PC business, where software developers and gadget makers all create products around a common platform, Microsoft Windows. But it hasn't worked out that way.

"They're two different things, as customers plainly recognize," author Nick Carr wrote last month on his blog, Rough Type.

PCs have to do lots of different things. Music players simply have to play music well.

Microsoft has recognized this, unveiling plans this year for a media player called Zune that would be linked to its own download service.

Dell, meanwhile, has decided to concentrate on markets where it believes it can make more of a difference.

"We want to put more emphasis in our more core areas of TVs, printers and PCs," said spokesman Venancio Figueroa. "Those focus areas are places where we can deliver value and a great experience to customers."

Dell will still sell other manufacturers' digital music players through its site, and it will continue to offer technical support for its own players.

Dell shares fell 8 cents to $21.64 Wednesday. Its digital music player sales represented a tiny fraction of its overall revenue.