SanDisk Gadget Enters Race To Rival iPod
Photos, movies and videos were added along the way, but most folks have their earbuds connected to music as they troop through the day.
Several companies have tried to muscle into the No. 2 spot in the world of digital music players, with mixed results. Some are tied to mobile-phone providers like Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. Each have pay-as-you-go plans and offer direct downloads to your phone that doubles as a music player.
Others are chasing the iPod with little or no luck. Microsoft Corp.'s Zune may be the best example of how not to follow the leader, as their device evokes the opposite of Apple's coolness.
Enter a new player and strategy. SanDisk Corp., the company that has found success in the world of compact flash media storage, including SD (secure digital), mini-SD and now mico-SD cards has taken a lesson at the school of simplicity.
Their new Sansa slotRadio (www.slotradio.org) player is as easy as it gets. All the music. No computer required.
The player is less than 2 inches square, just more than a half- inch thick and weighs just 1.3 ounces. It holds a microSD card that contains 1,000 songs grouped by genre.
It costs $99 and comes with a mix card containing songs in seven playlists from artists from Billboard's top charts -- alternative, contemporary, country, rhythm and blues/hip-hop, rock, workout and chill out. Additional, genre-specific cards cost about $40, which works out to just 4 cents per song.
There's the catch, or the key to simplicity, as the case may be. You don't have a...No tag for this post.
