The race to catch the iPod.(Music player)

Apple's portable iPod music player has revolutionised the way in which music is delivered to consumers. However, as Apple launches its iPod mini worldwide, the brand is under attack on two fronts: from copycat products from the likes of Sony, and from subscription services, which will soon be helped by software from Microsoft

WHEN it was first launched three years ago, Apple's iPod digital music player was met with derision. Priced at a hefty $400, consumers jibed that its initials stood for "Idiots price our devices". After all, consumers could already carry their music around in portable compact-disc players like Sony's Walkman. And for those who did not want to lug CDs around, there were already dozens of small digital music players. But these used memory cards that could store only a couple of dozen songs at a time. The attraction of the iPod was that it used a hard disk, allowing it to hold thousands of songs. Oh, and it looked good too, with its sleek design and cool white casing. Since then, it…