SanDisk Corporation introduced the world’s highest-capacity flash-memory MP3 player on Monday and priced it to take a bigger bite of the market dominated by Apple’s iPods.
The Sansa e280 features eight gigabytes of flash-based memory, expandable to 10 gigabytes, which translates into the potential to store as many as 2 500 songs.
SanDisk said its latest addition to the Sansa e200 line of MP3 players will be in United States stores by September 8 and rolled out worldwide shortly thereafter.
The Milpitas, California, company priced its new player at $249,99 (about R1 770), putting it in a price bracket with iPod nanos offering about half the music-storing capacity.
Flash memory comprises tiny hardware that enables MP3 players such as the nano and the e280 to be made sleek, small, and light.
Apple’s larger iPod MP3 players use hard drives to offer as much as 60 gigabytes of storage and come with price tags of up to $399 (about R2 830).
Along with unveiling the e280, SanDisk announced cuts of $40 to $60 in the prices of Sansa flash-based MP3 models introduced this spring.
The new price for the two-gigabyte Sansa e250 model is $139,99 (about R990); the four-gigabyte e260 is $179,99 (about R1 270); and the six-gigabyte e270 is $219,99 (about R1 560).
“SanDisk is once again making it incredibly affordable for consumers to purchase the most feature-rich, high-capacity players on the market at the best possible price,” said Eric Bone, director of audio and video product marketing at SanDisk.
“The most costly ingredient in a flash-based MP3 player is the flash memory. Since we make the flash memory, we essentially remove the middleman and pass that savings directly to the consumer.”
The e280 players were built to accommodate removable memory cards that could increase storage capacity to 10 gigabytes. The cards can be switched into music-capable cellphones or other devices, taking chosen songs with them.
The players also feature the ability to download digitised entertainment from an array of sources, including Microsoft PlaysForSure and Rhapsody to Go, according to the company.
Apple links its iPod models exclusively to the Cupertino, California, company’s iTunes online store.
Sansa e280 also has an FM radio tuner and can be used as a voice or radio recorder, the company said.
SanDisk describes itself as the inventor of flash storage cards and the world’s largest supplier of flash data-storage card products.
The company was iPod’s top US rival and the Sansa line of MP3 players had 9,7% of the market in the second fiscal quarter of 2006, according to the NPD Group research firm. Apple commanded 75,6% of the MP3-player market, while Creative Labs and Samsung respectively held 4,3% and 2,5%, NPD reported.
Flash memory was invented by Toshiba scientist Fujio Masuoka in 1984. According to Toshiba, the name “flash” was suggested by a colleague of Masuoka’s, who said the erasure process of the memory contents reminded him of the flash of a camera. — AFP