At today’s Digital Entertainment Anywhere launch event, Microsoft and several of its partners announced a slew of new portable music players aimed squarely at Apple’s iPod and iPod mini. The partner companies include: Creative, Gateway, iRiver, Rio, Roc Digital, Samsung, and Virgin. Each of the new devices, which will be available before the holidays, support the Windows Media Player 10 Media Transfer Protocol (MTP), which offers easier driverless setup, and Auto Sync for easier transfer of music and other content from a Windows PC.