As Virgin Electronics is set to unveil a 5GB digital music player that it hopes will compete with the iPod mini, the business group’s CEO confidently told reporters that “Apple is dominating, yes, but the market share that it has today is not going to last.” Forbes indicates that the new player, coming at the end of the month, will retail for US$249 — 25 percent more storage at the same price as Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod mini.
What’s more, Virgin’s device — which is slightly larger but lighter than the iPod mini — supports Windows Media Audio (WMA) Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, so it can play songs sold through Virgin Digital and other Windows-friendly music download services, though it can’t play songs sold through the itunes Music Store. It can also play MP3 files and has a built-in FM tuner, a feature the Apple iPod mini lacks.