I have just bought my father-in-laws old Vauxhall Asta, which has a radio/cassette player. I use this car all the time while my wife uses our Peugeot 406 which has a nice CD player. However what I really need is an adapter to play an iPod shuffle through my car stereo.  Looking at what is available this Christmas I am not sure that is going to happen just yet.

Retailers, MP3 player manufacturers and internet firms are starting to draw up the battle lines for a fierce Christmas trading period in which a raft of companies will try to grab a steal on Apple's dominant market share.Creative, SanDisk, Archos and Samsung are among the first companies to unveil new product targeting a fourth quarter market, which will take in the bulk of what the IFPI has predicted will be the sale this year of 60m music players worldwide, generating total revenues of £ 4.7bn. However, as US blogs and technology sites attest, the real battle this Christmas is poised to be the gritty fight between new Apple iPod product launches and Microsoft's eagerly-awaited Zune, which is expected to comprise a range of MP3 players and a download store.

HMV related products manager Ricky Gordon, whose store has recently added mobile phones to its range of MP3 players, suggests rivals to the market-leading iPod have raised their game this year."We have seen much better machines coming through from Apple competitors for the Christmas season," he says. "They just need to prise some of the market share away, but until then we believe that it will be the iPod that sells best. We're almost definite there will be a new launch from them before Christmas, but as always, we won't know until the day before."Blogs on sites such as zuneinsider.com, madisonpine.com and engadget.com tell a different story, suggesting that Zune will steal the show from Apple.

There is speculation that the Zune will be a wi-fi device, enabling users to connect to the internet and download music.The Microsoft store is expected to go live with video and predicted to offer sharing and recommendation features, much like P2P applications and websites such as Last.fm and Pandora. Meanwhile, Zuneinsider even goes as far to suggest that Microsoft will "buy users out of their Apple relationship" by offering to replace tracks bought from Apple's iTunes Music Store with a Zune-compatible equivalent.

Speculation suggests that Microsoft may launch a rival to the iPod Nano - a device called Pyxis, which will have a Flash-based memory. Meanwhile, other indications show that the Zune store will replicate Apple's approach to DRM - that is, you will only be able to buy digital tracks from Zune for the Zune player, excluding the likes of Napster, Virgin and HMV.According to Jupiter Research analyst Nate Elliot, the market will continue to be dominated by Apple and, regardless of a Microsoft launch, what really exists now is a battle for second place in the market."If Microsoft introduces its new Zune device in time for Christmas, it'll probably get a look in from consumers," he says. "But Microsoft's entry into this market is a bigger threat to iRiver, Sony, and the other iPod challengers than it is to Apple. Apple have the best brand name and make the best devices; this market really has turned into a race for second place.

"Among those fighting for that runner-up spot are the Creative Zen V Plus, SanDisk Sansa, Archos AV700 and the Samsung Z5, which have been named by Currys, HMV and Argos as potential big sellers for the season.

A Currys spokeswoman says that, while sales of the iPod Nano and similar MP3 players will remain strong, the Archos AV700 will sell particularly well. "The Archos does so much more than play music," she says. "It's a portable device that also allows you to download film, record directly from the TV and check your emails. Customers want so much more than a straightforward music player and, if it's at the right price, then you definitely have an Apple competitor on your hands."Meanwhile, Sony will launch a similar device to the Archos with its Mylo player, which although not solely focused on music, performs a multitude of different functions. Rhapsody, meanwhile, has teamed up with an unnamed manufacturer to launch a portable player this autumn, in what looks set to be a battle with Apple on one side and rival manufacturers fighting a close race for second place on the other.