More blood on the clickwheel as Dell Inc. has stopped selling the top range of their MP3 players, after totally failing to take market share away from Apple's iPod.

The world's largest personal computer manufacturer has pulled back the three Digital Jukebox players which are priced between $200 and $300 in late December and early January. The move is a clear illustration of the hardships faced by the companies trying to gain ground in the market so dominated by Apple. The players had been introduced back in 2003, and were part of a strategy to extend sales beyond the traditional desktop PCs.

They will however continue to sell the $99 DJ Ditty. This player uses cheaper flash-memory, much like the Nano models of the iPod introduced last year.

"No vendor other than Apple has really stepped up to the combination of design, marketing and user experience that is required by this segment," said Rob Enderle, president of the Enderle Group, a research firm based in San Jose, Calif. And this, of course, is the main issue. Dell was trying to compete with Apple but they only offer one part of the whole. Music player are not PC and should not be treated as such.