In July there were some strong rumours that Dell would be bringing out a Zing-based MP3 player that would be a "Zune killer": but now it looks like those plans have been canned. According to the Wall St Journal, Dell had been as close as this Autumn to making at least one Zing-device, but the prototypes are being "indefinitely" shelved. Instead Dell will turn its concentration to the software aspect of Zing, and busy itself incorporating that into its upcoming PCs as music and video management software. I'll leave it to you in the comments to work out if Dell's being sensible or not. [WSJ via Electronista]

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Patches from All Things D headlined his Dell MP3 player post in a way that tickled me elmo:

Think of It as More of a "Zune-Killer"

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Remember Dell's DJ Ditty MP3 player? Probably not, since Dell shut its PMP shop a while back. But over at the Wall St Journal, there's a rumour that Dell is planning on re-entering the PMP market with a new device that's been under development and testing. The device, name unknown, has a screen and simple navigation controls and would "connect to online music services via a Wi-Fi internet connection." This would tie in with a new online media service, allowing downloading of music and movies which could also be played on PC. Key in this is software developed by Zing (which Dell bought last year) which would come installed on PCs and PMPs, and manage the media movements. There's mention of a potential fall launch, and costs for the PMP of less than US$100. [WSJ. Subscription warning.]

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Whatever Dell's planning with the zingspot.com website, it's got something to do with being an "online consumer portal for digital entertainment content acquisition and distribution," which was the description for Zingspot in the recently filed trademark papers. It all stems from Dell's acquisition of Zing, the people that power Wi-Fi music players. What that above sentence actually means is anyone's guess, but our money's on it being some kind of "portal" for "digital entertainment content" where you can acquire or distribute said content. Call it a hunch. [Trademork]

Dell announced today that it's acquiring Zing in order "to continue improving the entertainment experiences it provides its customers." The short, vague announcement (check it post-jump) is a bit surprising because Zing's bread and butter is Wi-Fi music players (Sansa Connect, Sirius Stiletto, Pandora's Wi-Fi player), and Dell hasn't really had much luck with portable music devices. Does this mean Dell's getting back into the game? Not to stoke the fire too much, but it would be sort of a pointless acquisition if they weren't, wouldn't it?

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