Sales figures and statistics are one thing, but if you ask us, the real proof that the iPod is the King of the Portable Music Hill is the simple fact that whenever someone spews a new player onto the market, the press immediately starts evaluating whether or not it's an "iPod-killer." At last check, that magical phrase returns about 4,250 results in a Google search, which strikes us as pretty high for such a specific sort of phrase. In contrast, for example, "nasal floss" returns only a modest 22 results, while even a term as seemingly commonplace as "rhino-milker" is absent completely.

Well, to its credit, CNET manages to avoid the whole "iPod-killer" cliché, but still reports on Sony's attempt to steal back the Portable Music crown that it lost to Apple a couple of years back: the company announced that it "would launch a rival to Apple Computer's iPod digital music player next year priced at as little as $60." This, of course, has raised a few eyebrows, since the implication is that any "rival" of the iPod is going to have to be pocket-sized and boast at least a 5 GB storage capacity; while it may be technically possible to pull that off in a $60 device without unnaturally consorting with the Forces of Darkness (much), Sony is not the company to do it-- not because they don't regularly harness the power of the Black Arts, but because they'd never price an iPod-class product that low.

See, there's been a lot of confusion surrounding Sony's announcement, but while it did announce portable music players that should surface next year and it did state that prices might start as low as $60, what Sony actually said was that "versions" of the player might be that cheap. Given Sony's usual pricing policies, expect the $60 model to be a solid-state unit with maybe 64 MB of flash RAM available from other companies by then for, say, $40. And you can rest assured that the iPod-class player will sport an iPod-class price-- maybe cheaper than Apple's player, but certainly not by over 80% as people seem to be thinking.

And besides, at this point we seriously doubt that any mere music player really stands much of a chance of eclipsing the iPod; why, to do something like that, you'd need a device that plays music, video, and cutting-edge games, complete with support for wireless networking and even mobile phone capabilities. And even Sony isn't going to come up with something like that.

...They did?

Oh.

Well, okay, fine-- so it's not the music players but the PlayStation Portable that Sony sees as the real iPod-killer, and the company flat-out says so: "We are taking on iPod with our new device... we are coming at him (Steve Jobs) on that front." Remember when everyone started calling the iPod the Walkman of the new millennium? (Somebody did. We're sure of it.) Well, according to Ken Kutaragi, Sony's executive deputy president, "PSP will be the Walkman of the future." And if the shipping product is anywhere near as cool as the concept design pictured at The Register, then, okay, the iPod may well be in a teensy bit of trouble.

But the fact that all Sony has to show at this point is a concept device and a list of expected features means that the PlayStation Portable won't be here for a while, yet-- and when it arrives, you can be darn sure that it's gonna cost more than sixty bucks. Still, this is actually the very first time that a supposed "iPod-killer" has ever made us nervous about the iPod's market supremacy. It's also the first time that one has ever made us drool uncontrollably. We may be devout iPod owners, but if wanting a PlayStation Portable is wrong, then we don't want to be right. Memo to Apple: if you've got a trump card up your sleeve, it's almost time to show it.