At least a dozen portable music players are angling to steal sales away from Apple Computer Inc.'s wildly popular line of iPods this holiday season. In the past month alone, five companies have unveiled their iPod challengers - pocket-sized players with hard disks that can store anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 songs. There's Dell Inc.'s new Pocket DJ, Virgin Electronics' Player, Creative Labs Inc.'s Zen Micro, iRiver America Inc.'s H300, and Archos Inc.'s Gmini XS200. "Everyone is trying to get a bite out of Apple's piece of the pie," said Susan Kevorkian, analyst at market research firm IDC. But Apple always has more tricks up its sleeves.
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