By Tim Gray TechNewsWorld Part of the ECT News Network
04/09/07 11:24 AM PT
SanDisk on Monday said it was releasing Sansa Connect, a flash memory-based, WIFi-enabled portable MP3 player that works with Yahoo's free and subscription-based music download services. Although the WiFi feature is considered its unique selling point, Sansa Connect is not the first MP3 player to support wireless capabilities.
Is Your Website Killing Customer Confidence? Your Website's privacy policy can be a key factor in a customer's decision to do business with you, and it is vital to ensuring you don't run afoul of your online legal and regulatory responsibilities. Need more reasons? Read on.
Flash memory maker Sandisk has partnered with Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) to help provide music services for its Sansa Connect digital audio player.
Unlike other players in an increasingly crowded music player market, Sansa Connect is a WiFi-enabled portable MP3 player that allows users to listen to LAUNCHcast Internet radio, download music, share music with friends over Yahoo Messenger and view photos from Flickr.
LAUNCHcast and Flickr are both part of the Yahoo network.
Users can refresh content wirelessly at Yahoo Music Unlimited To Go without first linking to a personal computer.
Wireless Music
The device was designed to untether consumers from their computers, and to let users get new music and share recommendations via an open, wireless Internet network, Daniel Schreiber, general manager for SanDisk's Audio Video Business Unit, told TechNewsWorld.
Terms of the agreement between SanDisk and Yahoo were not disclosed.
The new MP3 player, which won this year's Best of CES award in the MP3 player category, can now connect with open WiFi networks and share songs regardless of range, according to SanDisk.
The device comes with a 2.2-inch LCD screen and weighs 15.2 ounces, meaning it is heavier and has a smaller screen than the highest-capacity (80 GB) iPod.
The Sansa Connect also comes with an 8 GB flash hard drive that can be expanded via a microSD memory card.
No. 2 on the Charts
Hoping to differentiate its product from the iPod, SanDisk has garnered a niche market with its Sansa line of digital players, the company said, adding that even though its MP3 players are No. 2 sellers in the U.S., it lags behind Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) ubiquitous iPod line in popularity.
Apple has sold 100 million iPods since the product's introduction in October 2001, and the devices now claim more than a 70 percent share of the U.S. MP3 player market.
SanDisk has risen to rank second with about a 10 percent slice of the market, according to market researcher NPD Group.
The Competition
Although the WiFi feature is considered its unique selling point, Sansa Connect is not the first MP3 player to support wireless capabilities.
Last year, Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Zune video console launched with built-in WiFi; however, the Zune uses the wireless capability only for sharing songs with other users nearby. Unlike Sansa Connect, the Zune is not capable of downloading music wirelessly from the Internet.
Sansa Connect is now available in the U.S. for US$250. It will be released in Canada later this year.
Yahoo Blows Roof Off E-Mail Storage March 28, 2007
Yahoo announced Tuesday it will offer unlimited storage capacity to users of its e-mail service, surpassing competitors such as Google and Microsoft. Also, the company plans to implement measures against abuse from pranksters and hackers. Yahoo will roll out the unlimited storage feature in May in a structured release over several months.
Yahoo Escalates Mobile Turf War With Ad Service March 27, 2007
Yahoo is launching Yahoo Mobile Publisher Services, which will include a mobile search advertising network to help content publishers reach more mobile phone users. Yahoo Mobile Publisher Services also consists of the Mobile Content Engine, which enables publishers to distribute their content already listed on the Web to mobile phones.
Yahoo Ups the Ante in Mobile Web War March 20, 2007
Yahoo Tuesday made its oneSearch service accessible on mobile phones. Yahoo oneSearch, which was first launched on Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0, now delivers locally relevant answers to cell phone users' search questions, company officials said. Yahoo will release versions of oneSearch targeted at additional countries and languages over the coming months, officials added.
Related News Alerts
More by Tim Gray
Blockbuster Lowers Subscriptions Rates June 13, 2007
Blockbuster will now offer a new plan allowing customers to place online orders to rent three movies at a time for $16.99, a dollar less than its previous top-tiered offering, called Total Access. The movies are mailed to the customer. Blockbuster is losing money on the online business but says it will be profitable next year as orders rise.
Toshiba Slashes HD DVD Sales Targets June 12, 2007
Toshiba now expects to sell 44 percent fewer HD DVD players than forecast this year. The slump comes at a critical time for the company, as the market still has not shown which high definition disc player format will dominate. Blu-ray Disc technology, rival of the HD DVD format, already has a foothold in 170 major companies.
Jobs: We Also Make Computers June 12, 2007
Apple provided at its annual developer conference a peek at some of the 300 new features of "Leopard," the company's latest operating system, which is slated for October release. The computer maker will also make its Safari Web browser available for users of Microsoft's Windows operating system.
Headline Feeds
Talkback: 
