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SanDisk Launches the e280 -- the World's Largest Capacity Flash Memory MP3 Player TMCnet Contributing Editor The world’s largest capacity, flash-based MP3 player has been unveiled today by SanDisk Corporation. The 8-gigabyte (GB) Sansa e280 that boasts award-winning audio, photo viewing and video clip playback capabilities has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $249.99.
 The latest evolution of SanDisk’s flagship e200 series, the e280 sports a microSD expansion slot allowing expansion to 10GB of music, or 2,500 songs, with an optional SanDisk 2GB microSD card, making it the largest capacity flash-based MP3 player on the market.SanDisk has lowered its prices on the entire Sansa e200 line of products, including the existing 2, 4 and 6GB models in preparation for the holiday season and in conjunction with the rollout of the e280.
Current pricing on the Sansa e200 product line includes is summarized in the table below.
Eric Bone, director of audio/video product marketing at SanDisk, noted that the company 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.
The most expensive ingredient in a flash-based MP3 player is the flash memory. Since this flash memory is made by SanDisk, the middleman is essentially removed and the savings are passed directly to the consumer.
Along with holding literally thousands of songs, the Sansa e200 includes features such as:
Consumers can download and pay for songs through access to Microsoft (News - Alert) PaysForSure. Downloads can be done individually or in an unlimited amount for a flat monthly fee from music stores such as Rhapsody To Go and others.
The player is designed to work seamlessly with a wide range of popular music formats such as MP3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA) in both unprotected and protected files (such as those WMA files purchased from music stores). SanDisk has done well to respond to the demand of consumers to offer affordable and portable devices that provide all the functionality that competing products offer. The main question will be is whether or not SanDisk can put a dent in iPod’s share of the market. Many other giants have tried and failed, yet the opportunity still exists. The trick will be to find that weak point and capitalize on it. Whether or not SanDisk has captured that element lacking in other products, we’ll have to wait and see. Sales can be a good indicator, but also customer response to the functionality and ease of use as well as ‘word of mouth’. The market still has great demand and opportunity, only time will tell if SanDisk is able to grab onto a good share of it.
(1) Approximation based on 4 minute songs at 128 kbps MP3 (3,932,160 bytes/songs) (2) 1 megabyte (MB) equals 1 million bytes; 1 gigabyte (GB) equals 1 billion bytes.
(3) FM tuner and FM recording not available in Europe. (4) Based on continuous playback at 128 kbps MP3; rechargeable batteries may eventually need to be replaced as they have limited charge cycles (which vary with use and settings). SanDisk sells an end user battery pack replacement (SKU product) for a MSRP of $19.99. --------
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page. |
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