We mentioned the impending decline of the iPod previously and, to be honest, haven’t found much yet that could really hold up as the mythical “iPod Killer”. Toshiba’s P-series Gigabeat flash-based players P10K and P20K come in 1GB and 2GB versions respectively, and do what Apple doesn’t by allowing faceplate changes for more customization.
We won’t go into detail on the specs because (besides voice/FM recording) they don’t vary much from everything else out there. Nice color screen, line-in, simple design, etc. We’ve been thinking alot about where the iPod is going in relation to Japanese offerings, and the fact remains that there simply isn’t an ‘iPod Killer” out there. We may eat crow on this, but we say it won’t happen as suddenly as the tag “killer” implies. Instead it will be a slow death, brought on mostly by Japanese and other Asian products that will slowly dwindle the iPod market share until people buy DAPs the same way they buy cell phones (If that isn’t already the case).
The new Gigabeat P10K and P20K offer much in the way of functionality and customization. They aren’t going to slam the Nano into the ground, but they’ll take away some of it, piece by piece.
Via +D IT Media
Michael is CEO and Co-Founder of the 
