Dell DJ, RIP.

As Apple's iPod juggernaut continues to gobble up MP3-player market share, one of its most prominent competitors is scaling down its focus on the space significantly.

Dell confirmed today that it has discontinued its three hard-drive Digital Jukebox (DJ) players that sell for $200 to $300, but will continue selling its $99, flash-based DJ Ditty player. The disconinued models are the 5GB Pocket DJ, 20GB Dell DJ20, and 30GB Dell DJ30.

The 512MB Ditty, which holds up to 220 songs, is Dell's competitor to Apple's Shuffle player and the pencil-thin 2GB and 4GB iPod nano that it unveiled late last year.

Dell, the world's largest personal computer maker, first introduced the music players in 2003 as part of its strategy to expand sales beyond desktop PCs.

Apple claims at least 80 percent market share among portable digital music players. NPD Group reported that the iPod line of players accounted for 69 percent of all music players sold in the US from January through November, with SanDisk, Creative, and Samsung Electronics all trailing behind with single-digit market share.

"We saw an opportunity to streamline and consolidate our portfolio," Dell spokesman Liem Nguyen said in a statement. "We made a decision to transition from the hard-drive products to flash players at the beginning of this year."

Dell will continue selling music players from other device makers, including Creative, through its Web site, Nguyen said.