As someone who has an embarrassing number of MP3 and media players (multiple Zunes among them, which should tell you how embarrassing), I just don't see the need for media players any more.
Why? Because our old decommissioned phones serve that purpose. Unless you damage your phones early in their life cycles, or use your phones until they die. But even in those cases, you've got options:
1. Friends and relatives with old de-commissioned phones wasting away, who would be happy to give them to you.
2. Cheap new phones (I bought a new Nokia 520 for $40 and a new ZTE Awe for $28, both with 4.0" screens, micro SD card slots, and removable batteries).
3. Cheap used two-year-old phones on eBay and Craigslist.
New media players are just not price competitive with the above options. Yeah, they might include a few options that we don't get on phones, like maybe an FM radio. But most are just phones without cell radios. Do we really think anyone in charge of an electronic company's product portfolio would ever foresee media players selling well?
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