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Sometimes the bottom line is the bottom line. Price of a 20GB iPod portable music player from Apple: $399. Price of Dell Computer's new Digital Jukebox player with 20GB: $329. No, wait, $299. Hold on, now it's $279. There is a niche open in the MP3 player market for a unit that will be seen as a Cambridge SoundWorks Radio counterpart to the iPod's status as the Bose Wave Radio of this category. Bose is the high-end clock radio status symbol, but Cambridge SoundWorks has a rep for offering what many think is better sound at a better price. [To go to the main page for Digital Music Revolution coverage, please click here.] I promised Dell's PR people that I wasn't going to belabor the DJ vs. iPod comparisons, so let's get this out of the way. The iPod is cooler, with a number of key features the DJ lacks. The coolest, of course, being the round touch wheel that the iPod uses to tame navigation. But, then, this is Apple's third generation product while Dell is just starting, and as noted, you do pay a premium for an iPod.
Let it be noted, also, that the Dell has cool features unique to it. For one thing, the casing is fingerprint-resistant matte silver, with a black, slip-resistant band and rubber feet. The controls include a "home" button so that when you have worked your way down several levels of the player's menu, you can get back to your starting point with one push. The display has a nice blue backlight. And voice recording is built into the DJ. Most important of all, the DJ claims a maximum battery life of 16 hours, which makes it the class leader and is ample to get you through long trips. Also, it is designed for the Windows environment and supports WMA (Windows Media) files along with MP3s. It syncs to your PC via USB 2.0. At 7.6 oz, the player heavier than some competitors, but I didn't find that in any way troublesome; the ergonomics of the design are sound and carrying it is comfortable. To me it had the kind of solid heft you would want in a device for which you paid three hundred dollars. Curiously, the drivers are set so it does not show up in Windows Explorer as a hard drive but rather as a special device. You only get access in Explorer to the portion of the DJ that is available for data storage. Music has to be shuttled in via a Dell-branded version of MusicMatch Jukebox and MusicMatch Downloads. At the end of the day, a high-capacity portable MP3 player is basically a portable hard drive. What distinguishes one from another is the ease, or lack of same, with which its interface lets you access your music. The Dell DJ gets generally good marks on this, but not perfect ones. It is based on a typical player menu structure where the top level gets you to settings menus (letting you choose whether to play tracks randomly or sequentially, for example, or determining how long the backlighting will stay on) and to your song categories. As you drill down into the music, you get to the basic divisions (playlists, albums, artists, genres, etc.), choices there get to those categories, and so on until you get to the songs you want. The Dell DJ's key navigation tool is a thumb wheel, which does its job well enough. But it would have been more effective if the firmware had allowed for accelerated movement as you use it to scroll through a long list of songs. Instead, the interface has a cumbersome method of alphabetic searching. There also are buttons in too many places. The wheel is on the front of the unit, flanked by the "home" and a "back" button; below it are the play/pause, skip forward, and skip back buttons. However, the power button, volume controls, and voice recording button are on the left side, while a lock button (so you don't inadvertently start running it when it is stored away) is on the top.
One major shortcoming of the play options: no ability to randomize by albums (only by songs). A major plus: the DJ "remembers" what you were playing when you turned it off and takes you back there when you turn it back on. Dell spokespeople say that they will enhance the DJ as they get customer feedback. The company has a proven track record on this. They entered the PDA market with a product that outdistanced the competition on price/value, then followed it up with a new unit that had more features. Because the DJ is a Dell product, it is being taken very seriously in the marketplace. Dell's direct marketing clout is substantial, and the unit also is being sold by the discount giant, Costco. All of which usually add up to serious sales figures. As a result, Belkin, Digital Lifestyle Outfitters and other accessory makers are coming out with Dell DJ offerings. High-end MP3 players are a luxury purchase. But by pushing the price-point down substantially, Dell is opening up the product category to a wider range of buyers. If money is no object, yeah, go buy the most expensive iPod. But if you are like most of us, you may find the Dell Disk Jockey to be an affordable alternative. (c) 2004 Al Gordon. In addition to his computer interests, Al Gordon is a principal in the Boston-area strategic consulting firm, Mary Fifield Associates, www.maryfifieldassociates.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can reach Al Gordon at:  Return to Top
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This is supplemental information to the article:
You can buy a 15GB Dell DJ for as little as $224, but the $279
deal on the 20GB is a better value, as it includes a carrying case and a
remote control that aren't bundled with the 15GB.