Sony Electronics has admitted its second dot-com disaster in two weeks.

One week ago, the company pulled its eVilla Internet device after just two troubled months on the market.

On Monday, users of its eMarker gadget were sent e-mails saying it was all over.

The eMarker was a key ring-sized gadget designed to help people track down music they had heard on the radio but couldn’t name.

Little more than a time-stamp machine, users would press the button when they heard a song they liked. The gadget sat in a cradle hooked up to a PC linked to the Internet. Data was uploaded to the eMarker Web site. Once the user had told it his three favorite radio stations, the name of the track appeared on screen, according to the record station’s playlist.

The eMarker was launched on Sept. 5, 2000.

Some 1,000 radio stations nationwide were covered by the eMarker.com service, which was free.

Sony spokesman Mack Araki said yesterday that only 40,000 units had been sold at $20 each.

Users will be able to mail them back to Sony and get a $25 refund check.

“We reviewed its performance and decided there was no reasonable expectation of a return on investment, given the economic conditions.”

The “multiple revenue business model” was to include money from advertising and commissions when customers bought music online.

The eMarker was the idea of Sony employee Woody Deguchi, who was made CEO of eMarker, a subsidiary of Sony.

“We encourage all our employees to be creative, and although this device no longer fits in with Sony’s broadband network strategy, it doesn’t mean we’ll stop listening to people’s ideas.”

Seventeen staff will be given 60 days to find new positions within the organization.