BIOS: Technology Means Business

SanDisk, the second largest seller of digital audio players in the United States, has announced the Sansa Connect, a Wi-Fi enabled player that lets you enjoy and recommend music from almost anywhere.

What’s so neat about the player is that it un-tethers you from your PC, allowing you to connect to music and online photos through any open wireless hotspot.

Available on retail shelves in the U.S. in late March (Europe to follow), the new Sansa Connect will boast innovative Internet capabilities designed to keep music aficionados connected to a wide range of new music via subscription services and streaming Internet radio1 with no PC required. Designed to work with premium Internet services, the flash-based MP3 player will also contain community features for recommending music and photos with the simple click of a button and a ‘live’ Wi-Fi connection.

In keeping with SanDisk’s mantra of offering the consumer choice, the Sansa Connect 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. The player utilises an open (non-proprietary) digital rights management system that will allow your to purchase songs or access subscription download services from specific premium Internet sites. It will support Microsoft PlaysForSure subscription music and is designed to work with Microsoft Vista when it ships.

“The Sansa Connect is a new music experience focused on convenience, instant gratification and social connections,” said Eric Bone, product marketing director for SanDisk’s audio and video line. “It’s about accessing music of your choice wherever you are. If you’re listening to new songs from a music service and find ones you want to keep, you can bring them into your library and don’t have to wait until you get back to your PC. If you want to tell your friends about your discoveries, the Sansa Connect will also allow you to share music suggestions over the Web - anytime, anywhere - over an open wireless Internet network.”

SanDisk teamed with ZING, a new mobile entertainment technology and services company, to develop the product. ZING’s Mobile Entertainment Engine provides technology, software and services for building next generation digital media players and experiences. Portable music players based on ZING technology are distinguished by their ability to connect, download, manage and exchange entertainment content directly from the player through Wi-Fi or other wireless protocols, without requiring a PC for functionality. The ZING platform also supports mobile wireless player implementations of leading music and entertainment services, live digital broadcasts, Internet radio, and Internet community applications.

The Sansa Connect promises superior sound playback (equivalent to SanDisk’s Sansa e200 line) and will come equipped with a microSD card slot. The expansion slot adds additional storage capacity as well as portability of music to other devices. The 4GB Sansa Connect will have a suggested retail price of $249.

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