According to word on the street, Dell is going to take a second crack at the MP3 player market space, which has been dominated by Apple with the iPod product line.

At first, we could not believe that Dell would take another shot at this market space, as they had previously tried to break into this niche with their Dell DJ offering in 2003. It was later kicked to the curb in 2006 primarily because Dell’s offerings could not compete with the momentum of the iPod. (In a strange twist of irony, Dell even sold the iPod for a brief period of time.)

So, according to reports Dell has been working on their new offering for some time and they could be ready to launch it as soon as September in time for the back to school selling season. Journalists will get a sneak preview from Dell of what is being described as a new family of devices on August 12th.

We really don’t know much about these new MP3 players, but it is safe to assume that it will be about or near the $100 price point and feature WiFi abilities, as well connection to a Dell branded music service. Speculation is that the player was developed in-house with technology acquired from the Zing Systems acquisition back in 2007.

Our take on this is likely to mirror most others... Dell is going to find it difficult to break the stranglehold that Apple has in this arena with the iPod. Companies such as Microsoft with the Zune, Creative with the Zen, and Sandisk with the Sansa have tried and have had very limited success. It is going to take a device that offers something that is far different from what Apple can offer to break into this space, and it is going to cost Dell a lot of money to be competitive, as well.