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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
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
Hands on with SanDisk's new Zune-bestin' Sansa Connect
SanDisk was quite a bit more accepting of our touching urges when it came to the Sansa Connect, so we got to spend a little bit of quality time with the unit. The screen was plenty bright, sharp and sizeable considering the form factor, and while the design imparts a bit of a pudgy look to the player, there's really not a lot of bulk here. We're fans of the simplistic interface, but since not a lot of the functionality was in "live" mode, it's hard to tell how effective the unit will actually be at managing all of its wireless sharing and syncing functionality. Pr0n galore after the break.
Hands on with the Sansa View
You've already got the lowdown on specs, but here's the new Sansa View up close and personal. Shiny, thin and well-screened? Check, check and check. They wouldn't let us touch 'em, though, which was lame. Whatever, SanDisk, you're not invited to our birthday party -- so there! Keep reading for some more shots.UPDATE: Alright, birthday plans are back on. We finally got a hold of the View for some actual "hands on" pics, and it really is a looker -- though with all the slim going on here, we're still not sure we could squeeze this thing into a jeans pocket. Also, the software is way early on this thing, so don't figure these funky screen shots will have much to do with how the final interface will look like. With that said, check out our new pics after the break.
SanDisk Sansa Connect WiFi portable audio player
Finally, another entrant in the WiFi portable audio player space! These are still very early on in implementation, but ever since the MusicGremlin debuted, we've been hungry for more -- and no, the Zune didn't sate that. The new Sansa Connect features streaming internet radio (freaking FINALLY), microSD slot, and a 2.2-inch color display -- but the centerpiece feature here is, of course, the WiFi content acquisition. SanDisk claims the Connect supports "WMA in both unprotected and protected files" and specifically names PlaysForSure (and Vista) support, but also "utilizes an open (non-proprietary) digital rights management system that will allow users to purchase songs or access subscription download services from specific premium internet sites." (Which sites / services those are, we don't yet know, but apparently it's based on ZING.) No word about transferring subscription media to your pals with Connects, but they do make mention of a "community connection" to other players, which sounds a lot like it, and at very least download and purchase content on the player. The 4GB 2.05 x 3.58 x 0.63-inch player will go for $250 when it hits the streets in late March.
SanDisk Express, 1GB expandable MP3 player in Shuffley form factor
SanDisk unveiled this tiny Shuffle-like MP3 player, dubbed the SanDisk Express. While it might look like an older iPod Shuffle -- weighing up at .99 inches wide x 3.09 inches long x .64 inches high -- this is no Shuffle clone. Sporting a 1.1" OLED screen, you'll actually be able to pick the song you want. And, thanks to its microSD slot, you'll be able to cram an additional 2GB in there, making that screen all the more worthwhile. Not content with just that, SanDisk has also added a built-in FM tuner, built-in voice recording, and a $60 MSRP when it launches this March.
Europeans now have optional FM tuner on Sansas
We're not sure how this one slipped under the radar, but earlier this month, Sansa announced that its e200 and c200 (pictured) MP3 player series would be coming to Europe with and without FM tuners. Apparently, all players that ship with an FM tuner are subject to an additional tax by the European Union, and Sansa was originally afraid that people wouldn't buy the player with a slightly raised price. Well, Sansa has come to its senses and realized that people probably would be willing to pay just 10 percent more to have the pleasure of gettin' that good ol' fashioned radio right on the same device. The new versions, with and without radio, should be on European shelves already, just in time for Chrismahanukwanzakah.[Via Trusted Reviews]
NVIDIA snapping up PortalPlayer for $357 mil.
All the big-time chip kiddies are all about diversity, and now that NVIDIA seems bent on doing things for serious in the GPU, chipset and (most recently) CPU spaces, its next step was pretty natural: go small. That's why it's forking over a cool $357 million for PortalPlayer, the system-on-chip wunderkind behind most some of the biggest music players in the biz -- most recently including the 5G iPod with video and SanDisk Sansa e200 series. However, NVIDIA has its sights set on much more than DAPs, and plans to combine the miniature know-how and processing power of PortalPlayer with NVIDIA's own graphics expertise in a bid to "drive the next digital revolution, where the mobile device becomes our most personal computer." Sounds like a good time for all, especially PortalPlayer stockholders, to which the purchase price represents a 19 percent bump on their stock value as it compares to the 20-day average as of Friday. The boards of both companies have approved the acquisition, and now the only hurdle is regulatory before these two chip fiends start busting out their "digital revolution."
Zune stacks up in size: iPods, Zen, Sansa
And here we have the brown Zune stacked agains the Zen Vision:M, iPods 5G and nano, and the Sansa E200 series. Just because it's taller than the rest doesn't mean it's larger than the rest though; we actually found the Zune to be deceptively small, and still quite pocketable. But hey, that's just us, we're the peeps prepped and ready to rock a Universal in tight jeans.P.S. -In case you're wondering, the screens only "lit" on the Zune because it's a non-functional retail display unit.[Thanks, Steven]
Integrated Mobile Electronics launches universal iMe Dock for your car
If you're genuinely frustrated with fuzzy (and "dangerous") FM transmitter results, and aren't exactly keen on wiring up a separate connection for each DAP you own, Integrated Mobile Electronics has your solution. In a presumed attempt to alleviate the frustration of priopritary DAP-to-automobile liaisons (and grab the entire market's attention), the startup has unveiled the iMe in-car docking station. The device, like most other hardwired options, will require a good bit of DIY handiwork (and Excedrin Migraine pills), but will apparently channel audio to your sound system and even video to your LCD-equipped whip. The package will reportedly support the Apple iPod / nano, Microsoft Zune (including the unannounced "80GB" version), Creative Zen Vision:M, SanDisk Sansa, and iRiver Clix right out-of-the-box, and even touts the ability to charge your device while docked. While it's being marketed as an end-all solution to your in-car docking station needs, these all-in-one contraptions should certainly be approached with caution -- and while there's no info on pricing or availability, you can see its potential for yourself at the SEMA expo this month.
Nexx NF-810 PMP looks vaguely familiar
Yeah, we're sure you get tired of us comparing every other music player that comes down the pipe to the iPod nano, but a fresh design now and then could sure help us kick the habit. To its credit, the Nexx NF-810 bears almost as much resemblance to the Sansa as it does to Apple's eponymous player, unfortunately, it seems the NF-810's "scroll wheel" is all for show -- thus aping the Zune and completing the picture of unoriginality. Luckily, the Nexx player is pretty dang diminutive, at a mere 7mm thick, and with 10 hours of playback time and a max a capacity of 2GB, there's plenty to love here. The unit also comes in 512MB and 1GB flavors, and supports MP3, WMA and ADPCM audio codecs, along with SMV for video, with an included converter for prepping MPEG, WMV and AVI files. No word on price or availability[Via MobileWhack]
Sansa e280R Rhapsody unboxing
We got us one of those new Rhapsody editions of the Sansa e280, and ritual unboxing has commenced. The Sansa e280R "Rhapsody" hardly earns its namesake -- with the main noticeable improvement being a new menu item for Rhapsody Channels -- but the player is just as solid as ever, so we suppose we have little cause to complain.
Best Buy Digital Music Store is latest to take on iTunes
Have you heard the big news? Best Buy, RealNetworks and SanDisk have teamed up to launch a new digital music store, powered by Real's Rhapsody 4.0 - doing their part to save digital music everywhere from extinction. To help kick things off, Puff Daddy Sean Combs Sean Puffy Combs Fuzzy Wuzzy P. Diddy Diddy will be releasing an exclusive track from his new album for the launch, which is slated for October 15, 2006. Since you can't launch a digital music store without your own digital music player to play those freshly downloaded tracks on, the SanDisk Sansa e200R Rhapsody MP3 player (boy, that just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?) is optimized to work "seamlessly" with the Best Buy Digital Music Store.Before you go thinking all this glorious music is free, let me fill you in on the pricing. You get a free 2-month subscription to the music store when you buy a SanDisk Sansa, which will set you back $139 for the 2gig model and $249 for the 8gig model. The subscription is for unlimited tunes. The catch? If you don't sign up for a not-free subscription after 2 months, you won't be able to listen to those songs anymore. The basic subscription service will normally be priced at $14.99/month but you can also just "buy" individual tracks for 99 cents each, just like iTunes. I don't know about you, but I prefer my digital music services and devices to have names I can pronounce and easy acronyms for when I'm feeling particularly lazy, so BBDMS + Rhapsody 4.0 + SDSe200RRMP3(p) = headache, whereas Apple + iTS + iPod = the true Best Buy.
Rhapsody hits the big 4.0
Along with all that SanDisk and Best Buy fraternizing that Real announced this morning, they've released the new 4.0 version of their Rhapsody music service. Perhaps the biggest change is under the hood: they're basing the player on the new "Rhapsody DNA," which is a technology platform that combines Real's Helix DRM, custom firmware for players (like the Sansa), and a web service API that allows for Sonos integration and other capabilities. What this means for the consumer is that Rhapsody 4.0 operates with the Sansa player in a much more integrated fashion than your average PlaysForSure syncing scheme. The new Rhapsody allows you to subscribe to genre or artist "Channels" which are automatically refreshed on your Sansa; drag and drop tracks into your library or onto the player; and create dynamic playlists that are, again, synced to your player automatically. There are other minor enhancements, mostly based around music recommendations, along with a decent facelift and a library import feature that can pull in stored music files, including files from "other services" -- which we're guessing refers to PlaysForSure files only. Prices are the same as ever: $9.99 for "Unlimited," and $14.99 for "Rhapsody To Go." Real is also promising week-early access to certain "hot new albums," and while all Rhapsody features will be available in the Best Buy Digital Music Store, there's going to be some exclusive content there as well. Real also announced today that they'll be pre-loading 30 hours of Rhapsody music onto all Sansa Rhapsody players sold.
Best Buy, SanDisk and Real team-up for music service
Now that Microsoft has semi-abandoned PlaysForSure for their new closed Zune system in a bid to dethrone the iPod, all those puny device manufacturers, music store operators, and retail chains are starting to look rather silly for their commitment to "open standards" and "interoperability." So now SanDisk and Real are teaming up to integrate a special Sansa e200R Rhapsody-edition lineup of the #2 DAP manufacturer's popular Sansa line with the new version 4.0 of the Rhapsody music store, one of the more popular subscription-based services. The respective market shares of both companies pales in comparison to the complete dominance of Apple's iPod/iTunes combo, but the team-up might be necessary to survive in the current market climate. Having Best Buy's weight behind the partnership shouldn't hurt either. They'll be offering their own "Best Buy Digital Music Store," which will be powered by Rhapsody, and will be offering a free two-month unlimited subscription to purchasers of a SanDisk Sansa player, after which users can continue with the service for the same $14.99 Rhapsody To Go price currently charged. The service and players are available now (Best Buy's official launch date is October 15th), and the new Sansa versions will be priced as they are now: $180 for 6GB, $250 for 8GB.Read - BestBuy to launch music serviceRead - Sansa Rhapsody
SanDisk partnering with Real on Sansa Rhapsody line
Apple has certainly struck gold with its finely tuned iPod+iTunes system, and Microsoft is seemingly ditching that whole PlaysForSure effort in exchange for the upcoming Zune Marketplace, so RealNetworks has joined the bandwagon by narrowing its focus (and hopefully the scope of incompatibility issues) by teaming with SanDisk to produce the Sansa Rhapsody. While the company already nailed down a partnership with Slim Devices, it's now venturing into the saturated DAP market by co-engineering an e200 with specialized Rhapsody software -- dubbed Rhapsody DNA -- to ensure the device consistently plays nice with Real's services. SanDisk is looking to release 2, 4, and 6GB editions of the Rhapsody-friendly Sansas, as well as offering its expandable 8GB e280 model for those toting the heftiest of subscription playlists. Aside from the (supposedly) guaranteed compatibility, these special units will apparently come stocked with 32 hours of tunes from a plethora of record labels that goes MIA if not synced with a Rhapsody account within 30 days. While there's no hard deets on pricing nor availability, we don't envision SanDisk charging anything extra just for keeping it Real.[Via GigaOM]
Altec Lansing to launch inMotion iM510 speaker dock for SanDisk Sansa
If you've settled on picking up a SanDisk Sansa e200 or c200 but feel a bit left in the cold in terms of specialized accessories, Altec Lansing is rushing in to heat things up. In what appears to be a spinoff of the "Made for iPod" agenda, Altec Lansing has partnered with SanDisk to create a lineup of accessories geared specifically towards the Sansa music players. The flagship device -- dubbed the inMotion iM510 -- is a black docking speaker station that doesn't veer too far from the company's iPod-friendly versions, save for its Sansa compatibility, of course. While details thus far are a bit slim, we do know the portable system will dock, sync, and charge the e200 and c200 series DAPs, and will play nice with the (optional) BB2001 subwoofer. Although no word on pricing nor availability has been given, the coinage should be a tad lower (we'd guess, um, 10 percent or so) than the iPod-conforming units when it hits the street. [Via MobileWhack]
SanDisk MP3 seizure at IFA overturned
Just a few days back, Sansa-manufacturer SanDisk was shot down by Sisvel and forced to take down its displays at Berlin's IFA expo, but it seems that some fast-acting (and talking) lawyers have somehow reversed the decision just in time for SanDisk to show their products on the final day of the show. Tangled in lawsuits concerning MP3 patent violations, the company still insists its playback technology isn't infringing on any patents, but Sisvel maintains its insistence that SanDisk should be included in the nearly 600 companies that pay royalties to the licensing firm. Apparently SanDisk wasn't the only company forced to put its show on hiatus, as 19 other outfits had products unexpectedly seized for "similar violations." Sisvel isn't going down without a fight, however, as it has already filed an appeal to have the reversed order un-reversed -- while it may seem a bit redundant (to say the least), it's certainly not out of character for the sue-happy Sisvel, who proudly joins the growing list of "you've got to be kidding me" lawsuits.
