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SanDisk Sansa Shaker does MP3s for the kids
We've seen plenty of times where good toys go bad, but SanDisk's latest Sansa music player looks like a pretty solid bet. The forthcoming Sansa Shaker features a tubular design with blue and pink color schemes to appeal to the younger set, and aside from sporting 512MB of internal capacity, dual headphone outputs for BFF listening, an SD flash card slot for loading up additional tracks, an integrated speaker in case you've lent out your earbuds, and unique "band" playback controls on the top and bottom of the tube. Interestingly, the Amazon product page refers to a mysterious "interactive Shake feature" to be included as well, and while no hard release date nor price is currently listed, we imagine SanDisk will try to keep this one in the $50 range and get it here sometime before summer.[Via AnythingButiPod]
Engadget Podcast 106 - 04.13.2007
Finally, some answers! Yes, Sony is killing the 20GB PS3. Yes, Xbox 360 will get a QWERTY keyboard device. Yes, Leopard is actually delayed. Yes, Palm is developing its own mobile Linux OS. And yes, we're definitely still holding the 2006 Engadget Awards. All this and more on Engadget Podcast 106, enjoy! Get the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [RSS OGG] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in OGG) to your RSS aggregator. Hosts: Peter Rojas and Ryan Block Producer: Trent Wolbe Music: Solvent - Instructograph (Ghostly International) Program: 01:26 - 20GB PlayStation 3, RIP: 2006 - 2007 06:28 - Xbox 360 Spring 2007 Dashboard update 13:07 - How-To: play DivX and Xvid on your Apple TV 17:14 - Apple's Leopard delayed to October, iPhone blamed 24:16 - Apple sells 100 millionth iPod, deems experiment a success 27:45 - Palm prepping its own Linux-based OS 35:46 - Dell Axim, RIP: 2002 - 2007 40:12 - Hands-on with the SanDisk Sansa Connect 46:33 - The Engadget Mobile Interview: Sky Dayton, CEO of Helio 47:55 - The 2006 Engadget Awards - vote! LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast: 1-888-ENGADGET, Engadget (Gizmo Project) or podcast at engadget dawt com
The 2006 Engadget Awards: Vote for Portable Media Device of the Year
Now's your chance to cast your ballot for the 2006 Portable Media Device of the Year! Our Engadget Awards nominees are listed below, and you've got until 11.59PM EST on Sunday, April 15th to file your vote. You can only vote once, so make it count, and may the best tech win! The nominees: Apple iPod shuffle (2g), Archos 604, Creative Zen Vision:W, iRiver clix, Microsoft Zune, and SanDisk Sansa e200. %Poll-246%
Hands-on with the Sandisk Sansa Connect
At this point, WiFi-equipped DAPs aren't completely novel, but they're still novel enough to command a good deal of attention -- especially when they're coming from companies like Sandisk through collaborations with Zing. In fact, the $249 Sansa Connect bears a truly striking resemblance (both physically and in user experience) to the reference device Zing was showing off last year -- much more so than its distant cousin from the same Zing drafting board, Sirius' Stiletto. Though the Sansa Connect obiviously loses the Stiletto's satellite radio capabilites, it dominates the Stiletto (and the Zune, for that matter) in its effective use of 802.11 airwaves. Why most manufacturers have yet to pick up on the WiFi formula for this class of devices, we don't understand, but hey folks, it's easy: give us streaming, easy PC-free downloading, and firmware updates over the air. We're all awash in hotspots at this point, so let's take full advantage, yeah? The Connect is tied to Yahoo! Music Unlimited for its subscription download model and streaming radio, and we've gotta say, a WiFi DAP really brings the model into its own. It almost trivializes the need for serious storage in the device -- this one makes do with 4GB plus microSD expansion -- because you can get literally any music in Yahoo's catalog whenever you have a data connection handy. All of Yahoo's features carry over, too: ratings can be saved from the Connect, album art is downloaded in real time, and you've even got Messenger on here. All of LAUNCHcast's stations are available to stream, and of course, you can build your own station based on personal tastes. And for users of other services that employ secure WMA, rest easy: you'll be able to pull your songs into Yahoo Music Jukebox (or, if you subscribe to Unlimited, just grab the song again if you're so inclined). We tested this with URGE and it worked like a champ.%Gallery-2473%
SanDisk Sansa Connect sneaks into availability
You know, a portable WiFi audio player, complete with internet radio streaming and subscription service compatibility, is nothing to be ashamed of, but for some reason SanDisk isn't quite ready to trumpet its Sansa Connect player's availability, even though a few of 'em have already made it onto Circuit City shelves and that retailer's online store. SanDisk also lists the player on its own online store, but has a bogus description for it, along with a "Sold Out" sticker that seems to imply that either SanDisk hasn't stocked the players yet, or it did and we missed it -- we're guessing the former. We've still got a few unanswered questions about this player, but if SanDisk doesn't fess up before too long, we'll have one in hand to give you the skinny either way.Read - Sansa Connect at Circuit City's storeRead - Sansa Connect at SanDisk's store
SanDisk intros "Premier" high-speed microSD cards
It's about time high speed sub-SD storage cards came to the market, and SanDisk appears to be leading the way (for now). The ubiquitous memory card manufacturer has introduced the "Mobile Premier" line of mobile-oriented memory storage cards. The new line was announced at CeBIT as SanDisk showed off new 1 and 2 gigabyte microSD cards that can read / write at crazy fast speeds of up to 10 and 9 megabytes, respectively. Although there is no firm date set on when these fast and small beauties will start shipping, the MSRPs will clock in at $44.99 and $69.99. While these capacities are certainly not new in the microSD space, the speeds have us salivating on how fast we can load these MP3 phones with a day or two worth of MP3 playlists.
Fujitsu gives P1610 Tablet PC the SSD treatment
While a natural evolution of the ultra-portable, it's still noteworthy when a vendor gives in and offers an SSD option to their gear. Once again, it's Fujitsu doing the honors by bringing that Solid State Disk action from Samsung to their 8.9-inch, 2.2-pound P1610 convertible Tablet PC -- something they've been offering on their Q and B series of laptops since October. But come now Fujitsu, you can do better than $700 and $1,200 for the 16GB and 32GB SSD, respectively. Perhaps you should look for a cheaper supplier.[Via Laptop Magazine]Update: It looks like the P1610 isn't the only LifeBook getting an SSD transplant, with Fujitsu's B6210 also getting in on the action, available with the same 16GB or 32GB drives. CNET's also reporting that both tablets are, in fact, available now, though you'll need to get in touch with Fujitsu for a price quote, which usually isn't a good sign.
SanDisk intros 2.5-inch 32GB SSD hard drive
No, SanDisk's latest offering in the ever-populating SSD realm is far from the largest, but just a tick after releasing a 1.8-inch edition, now the firm is unveiling a laptop (and external enclosure) friendly 2.5-inch flavor. The SanDisk SSD SATA 5000 2.5-inch is touted as a "drop-in replacement for the hard disk drive," and also boasts the durability that purportedly comes with being a fifth-generation product. Additionally, the NAND-based drive features a sustained read rate of 67-megabytes per second, reportedly enabling it to boot Windows Vista Enterprise on a lappie in "as little as 30 seconds." Of course, SanDisk didn't mind flaunting the low power consumption on this one either, as it boldly proclaims the 0.9-watts used during "active operation" as being nearly half as conservative as typical drives. While we're not exactly sure just how much these things will run the average consumer just yet, they are supposedly shipping to computer manufacturers now at around $350 a pop.[Thanks, Vinit]
SanDisk announces 4GB and 8GB Class 6 SDHC cards
Sure we've seen 4GB and 8GB Class 6 SDHC cards before -- Lexar's got a pair, as does Transcend -- but when it's SanDisk that steps up to the plate with new Ultra II and Extreme III models, well, that's certainly worth a mention. As we're all well aware by now, Class 6 cards have a minimum sustained write speed of 6MBps, though both the 8GB Ultra II and 4GB Extreme III easily surpass that, clocking in at 9MBps and 20MBps, respectively. Available in June -- along with the new 4GB EIII Memory Stick PRO Duo card -- the 4GB EIII will retail for $180, the 8GB UII will fetch $240, and both models will toss in a "free" MicroMate USB 2.0 reader.Read - Extreme IIIRead - Ultra II
SanDisk secretly concocting read-only memory for archival use?
Getting wind of a flash memory successor is far from new, but a major player in the flash game now seems to have something a bit counterintuitive going on behind the scenes. After slashing jobs and prices in an attempt to "keep up with competitors," SanDisk is now reportedly delving into the "read-only memory" realm, as it seeks to create a product that acts as a "cheap archival device." Although the company is remaining tight lipped about the details, this self-proclaimed "3D memory" is said to last "up to 100 years" and become the "new digital film," but we're not exactly sure the digital disposable market is apt to boom anytime soon. Moreover, SanDisk seems to hope that this new creation will "remove the PC from the equation," allowing users to relive to excruciating annoyance that is developing film in-store while removing the ability to delete photos or overwrite bad snapshots once taken. Nevertheless, the memory is purportedly being tested in a retail pilot program, and Greg Rhine (head of SanDisk's consumer business) noted that Walgreens and Wal-Mart both raved over the invention, as it would theoretically force more customers to revert to ages ago when OTC development was an unfortunate mainstay.
Yahoo Music exec agreeing with Jobs' DRM-free sentiment?
It's not everyday that you see two rivals agreeing on a subject where they become the vast minority in a horde of DRM-enforcing media protectors, but it seems like this parallel universe isn't so far out after all. According to an interview by SiliconValleyWatcher, the head of Yahoo Music (Dave Goldberg) seemed to agree with Steve Jobs that ridding music of DRM was best for sales. The exec even stated that he had "long advocated removing DRM on music," and noted that an internal research study found that sales of DRM-free tunes were greater than those laced in protection. Interestingly, it seems that Mr. Goldberg was aiming his comments at questions regarding the general difficulty for the average consumer to get purchased music "off the PC" and into places like DAPs and vehicles, but insinuated that stripping digital tracks of DRM was at least a reasonable option to a challenge in which he "didn't know the best solution." C'mon Dave, do a bit of fast talking in order to throw DRM to the wind and set a new standard for others to follow, pretty please?[Via Macworld]
Sandisk intros 8GB iNAND embedded flash drive
It may not be 16GB, but Sandisk's new embeddable 8GB NAND flash drive is still pretty darn spacious as far as these things go, so much so that the company's deemed it necessary use an extra letter to fully express the drive's expansiveness. Dubbed the "iNAND," the drive is fully JEDEC-compliant (that's Joint Electron Device Engineering Council, for those that have better things to memorize) and SD bus-compatible, designed for use in just about anything that needs to cram a lot of storage into a small space, including cellphones, PDAs, MP3 players, and GPS devices. It looks like we'll still have to wait a while before we see one of these actually turn up in a device, however, with SanDisk only just now distributing engineering samples for testing and evaluation, with mass production slated to get underway sometime in the third quarter of this year.[Via Tech Digest]
Sandisk follows Kingmax; announces 4GB microSD card
Just like its buddies over at Kingmax, Sandisk has just announced a 4GB microSD card for use in that spiffy new multimedia-centric phone of yours. That's right -- no need to carry around that 4GB USB key if you've got 4GB residing in your phone -- right? Well, anyway, Sandisk's new SDHC (SD High Capacity) card -- announced at 3GSM just a little while ago -- has no official launch details at the moment outside of Sandisk's testing with OEMs to ensure phones don't freak out over such large memory cards being stuffed behind those batteries and in those side slots.
SanDisk does up its own "Open Letter," drops the ball
If we didn't know any better, we'd accuse SanDisk of a bit of anti-Apple-ism right here. Sure, it's hard for Eli Harari, CEO of SanDisk, to come out in agreement with a competitor of his whose market domination makes his 2nd place standing look completely inconsequential, but there was really no need for SanDisk to shoot themselves in the foot here. See, while Steve Jobs laid out quite clearly the ridiculous nature of DRM for digital distribution, even if sidestepping the issue on FairPlay interoperability at the same time, Eli seems to be perfectly fine with the way things are in DRM land. "SanDisk is looking at the big picture, by creating solutions rather than conflict. Building an infrastructure to give consumers fair access to digital content while protecting content creators is vital for the long-term health of the music industry, as well as to our business and to our competitors. SanDisk stands committed to making this happen." SanDisk's open letter highlights the numerous music stores its players interoperate with, and poo-poos proprietary systems which is all well and good, even commendable, but lines like "the decision on using digital rights management (DRM) should rest with the music industry, not with device makers." don't really win them a lot of points with consumers. This all especially rings false since Mr. Harari seemed plenty miffed by the music industry's stance on DRM at his recent CES press conference, stating that he hoped the industry was coming around. So what's it going to be, Eli?[Thanks, Matt]
Deal of the Day: 4GB card for only $70
I personally use a 4GB Memory Stick, and I find it's ridiculously huge. It's much more storage than I could possibly ever need ... and that's a good feeling. Sure, there's an 8GB stick coming down the line, but you certainly won't get such a sweet deal for quite some time. FRYS.com has a 4GB SanDisk card for only $70, after mail-in rebate. Yes, the website lists the card as $120, but once you add it to your cart, you will see the price magically change.[Thanks, Dane! Via slickdeals]
Toshiba-SanDisk claim title to highest-density 16Gb NAND flash
Take that Samsung! Toshiba and their partners in NAND, SanDisk, just announced what they are calling the highest available density of single-chip MLC NAND flash memory. The new 8Gb (1GB) NAND will be available in commercial shipments starting later in Q1 with 16Gb (2GB) NAND on the way in Q2. Presumably, this is the technology at the guts of SanDisk's new 32GB+ SSDs hitting OEMs this spring. Great, but Sammy maintains bragging rights to the fact that they were smart enough to bring 50-nanometer technology to market whereas Tosh tried and failed with a relatively less complex 52-nanometer technology -- Tosh's new single-chip NAND relies on 56-nanometer technology instead. Now, we're not going to pretend to be experts in NAND fabrication, but we fail to see how 56-nm technology produces a higher density than Sammy's 50-nm processes. So who's right? Who cares! Just as long as the trend towards cheaper, faster, and smaller flash memory continues. [Via AVING]
SanDisk kicks out M2 flash cards for Sony Ericsson handsets
We'll never understand Sony's perpetual obsession with proprietary formats, especially in regard to flash memory, but nonetheless, SanDisk is filling in the void for a large format Memory Stick Micro (M2) card by pumping out its GB1 / MB2 offerings. The MB2 comes in 512MB and 1GB sizes, while the GB1 ups the ante to 2GB of capacity. If you've discovered just how worthless those SD cards are to your new Sony Ericsson handset, we feel your pain, but if you need extra room for your K610, K800, K790, M600/608, V630, W300, W710, W712, Z530, Z550, Z710, or Z712, here's your answer. Additionally, owners of the D750, K750, P910, P990, V800, W700, W800/810, W850, W900, or Z800 will be able to utilize SanDisk's latest courtesy of the included Memory Stick Pro Duo adapter that comes bundled in. The trio of cards are slated to start shipping later this month, and while the big fellow will run you a steep $119.99, the 1GB flavor only demands $54.99, while you can snag 512MB for $44.99.[Via MobileTechReview]
Video: Sansa Connect hands-on
We, like everyone, had pretty high hopes for the Zune's "social" capabilities, but three plays in three days isn't really doing it for us. SanDisk's Sansa Connect isn't a Zune replacement, but more akin to the MusicGremlin, albeit with four gigs of flash memory instead of an eight gigabyte microdrive. At $250 plus PlaysForSure comaptible music service, you can get social a bit easier.[MP4] Download the video
SanDisk's CES booth tour
Flash-memory-maker turned portable-media-darkhorse SanDisk made a respectable showing at CES this week, and we not only have a booth tour for ya, here's a little roundup of all the news they made. SanDisk rolls out Cruzer Contour USB flash drives Hands on with SanDisk's USBTV Hands on with SanDisk's new Zune-bestin' Sansa Connect Hands on with the Sansa View SanDisk intros USBTV Live from SanDisk press conference SanDisk Sansa Connect WiFi portable audio player SanDisk Sansa View Hands on with SanDisk's 32GB SSD SanDisk booth tour gallery
SanDisk rolls out Cruzer Contour USB flash drives
It looks like SanDisk is trying to class up its ever-expanding line of Cruzer USB flash drives, unveiling its shiny new Cruzer Contour at CES. Slide open that glossy black exterior and you'll find an handily hidden USB connector, doing away with the need for a pesky and losable cap. Otherwise, the drive's pretty standard as far as flash drives go these days, with a promised write speed of 18MB/sec and a read speed of 25MB/sec, as well as full adherence to the U3 standard for running apps directly off the drive (Skype, Avast, and a handful of other programs come pre-loaded). The drive's upscaledness also extends to its storage capacity, with the lightest in the batch coming in at relatively hefty 2GB, and the others in the group doubling things up to 4GB and 8GB -- all should be available sometime in March for $90, $150 and $240, respectively.[Via Photography Blog]
