SanDisk's musical splash with 8 GB MP3 Player

[infoseeker]

Flash memory maker SanDisk has released a new MP3 player in its Sansa line and has reduced prices for its players across the board to compete with Apple Computer's flash-based iPod Nano.

SanDisk on Monday released the Sansa e280, an 8GB digital music device that can be expanded to store 10GB of data with a SanDisk 2GB MicroSD card. The device is being offered for $249.

That marks a significant difference in price-to-storage ratio when compared with Apple's 4GB iPod Nano. That iPod model retails for $249, according to Apple's online store. (There is currently no 8GB or 10GB iPod. Apple's player with the next-highest capacity, the 30GB iPod, runs on a hard drive rather than flash and sells for $299.)

The Sansa players enable people to increase storage capacity and change which songs are kept on the device by inserting different MicroSD cards. SanDisk is a leading manufacturer of flash memory. Its expansion cards currently hold about 500 songs, but greater-capacity cards are planned, according to SanDisk.

While the Sansa line supports Microsoft PlaysForSure and Rhapsody To Go, the device has a nonproprietary digital rights management system and allows any songs in the MP3 and WMA formats to be uploaded to the device.

Other features on SanDisk's MP3 players include a digital FM tuner from which people can record and a built-in microphone that enables the device to act as a voice recorder.

The Sansa's potential success, however, lies not in a feature matchup with the iPod but in SanDisk's strength as a company, according to Ted Schadler, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research.

"(SanDisk) gets memory cheaper than anybody, and they have tremendous distribution reach because they have their SD cards everywhere. Because they have a tremendous retail presence already with their memory cards, they can bring these products to those same retailers and get shelf space. And that's a huge advantage," Schadler said. "Three things make a difference: price, quality of the product--which is steadily getting better--and their reach. SanDisk has all those coming together now."

http://news.com.com/SanDisks+musical...?tag=nefd.lede

:icon_thum >>infoseeker / jhempelayo<< :icon_thum

[charlesmelissa]

I shyed away from Apple also and bought a 20 gig CreAtive Zen Sleek Photo from Circuit City for $187.00 plus tax, etc. But the flash type player is more rugged. You wouldn't want to go jogging with a hard drive based player.

[cjules13]

That's a nice price for all that solid-state memory.

[infoseeker]

That's a nice price for all that solid-state memory.

REALLY NICE, here in my place 20gig MP3 (branded) it till cost double:@:

>>infoseeker / jhempelayo<<