Archive for SanDisk

SanDisk Bumps MicroSD to 16GB

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While there has been a discussion on our forum about this card popping up on a British site a few days ago, it’s now official; microSD cards have been bumped to 16GB along with Memory Stick Micro. The cards will follow the microSDHC standard and should be compatible with the players that support 4GB and 8GB cards.

This capacity boost will mean that the Sansa Fuze will now go up to 24GB and the Sansa View will go up to 48GB which isn’t bad especially in combination with the fact the Clip is coming in 8GB. Other devices and cellphones especially will also be able to use this new 16GB card. According to the press release the new card will be out in October at Best Buy Mobile stores and November at Verizon Wireless stores – the only two major retailers in the US that will be selling this card this year. Whether or not the card will be available online is unsure, but let’s hope so. The MSRP is $99.99 so unless you really need the extra storage in one card the $24 8GB cards on Amazon might be a better deal for now, but as we all know prices will drop.

[Press Release via jkOnTheRun]

8GB Sansa Clip Coming Soon?

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The Sansa Clip has sold beyond all expectations and SanDisk’s willingness to listen to users when it comes to adding features have made it a really good choice for an MP3 player. The one gripe people have had with it is lack of storage as even though it has a bigger brother (the Fuze) capable of both 8GB capacities and microSD expansion, the Clip itself has maxed out at 4GB…until now.

A French store selling all versions of the Clip has a posting of a 8GB clip available in both black and silver like the 4GB version. It’s currently listed as a pre-order with unknown release date for the black version and a September 30th release date for the silver version, which happens to be tomorrow. While it’s unlikely it will come out tomorrow it does appear to be legit; the price of about 90 Euro is far higher than that of the 65 Euro 4GB version and so it’s doubtful it’s a typo. If it turns out to be true this should make a lot of people happy, me included.

[Materiel.net] (thanks Benoit for the tip!)

SanDisk Introduces “New” Music Distribution Media

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SanDisk as the world’s leading manufacturer of flash memory cards is of course always out to sell more cards. This summer they have been running a campaign called “wake up your phone” to get people to invest in memory cards for their cellphones and now they’re at it again with a new idea involving microSD cards and music distribution.

The “new” physical music media is dubbed SlotMusic and is basically just MicroSD cards with MP3 files on them. Sony BMG, Universal, Warner and EMI are in on this deal and it’s an accomplishment in itself to get music companies to offer such content as MP3 files and not some DRM’ed atrocity. The idea is that people can buy a SlotMusic card, slide it into a player with a microSD slot and listen to the music without any more tinkering.

While this might seem like an inferior method of getting music for some people, it does address two aspects of MP3 players that a lot of people have issues with; having a physical copy, and ease of use. A lot of people, especially the older generation, don’t understand how to download music and get it onto their player. With this system they could buy their music like CDs and listen that way. Nothing is simpler than having a card which you put into a slot and it’s ready to play. Then you have the music collectors who like to have a physical copy of their music. Granted, MP3 files won’t satisfy everyone, but it does allow people to have a cover to look at (if they are going to include such a thing), a booklet and maybe the cards could even include extras like music videos and FLAC files. It’s certainly easier having a memory card that you can plug into a computer and transfer music off of than having to rip the music from a CD. The pricing isn’t official but is expected to be around $7-$10, which isn’t bad at all.

[CNET via ABi Forums | Press Release]

Samsung to Buy SanDisk?

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It’s a (half) well known fact that SanDisk owns a lot of patents concerning flash memory and that this has been the grounds for a lot of lawsuits, arguments and whatnot over the years. Samsung alone has to pay $351 million USD a year to SanDisk in royalties, Samsung being the biggest NAND flash maker in the world. According to a korean news source and half confirmed by a Samsung spokesperson, Samsung is considering buying SanDisk. The plan is in very early stages at best and nothing has been even remotely decided yet, but considering SanDisk’s poor results in the last months it might be someone to look out for.

The question is what this will mean for the Sansa players. If Samsung buys SanDisk, the Sansa line would most likely go with it and I don’t see Samsung continuing the line if SanDisk gets fully incorporated into Samsung. Samsung doesn’t make memory cards at the time being and so it’s likely they will keep the SanDisk brand for this, however MP3 players is a different story. At such an early stage of course everything is beyond pure speculation, but if such a merging is happening it might very well mean the end of the Sansa line as it’s unlikely that Samsung will compete with itself. It could of course also mean Samsung players with microSD slots, better sound quality and other Sansa features. Again, only hypothesis’ but both a scary and an interesting thought at the same time. What do you think the result of such a merge will be?

[The register|MarketWatch] (thanks advcomp2019)

Winner Announced: SanDisk Sansa Fuze + 4GB Mobile Ultra microSD Card

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Congratulations to Kim. It looks like her search is over and she will be a proud new owner of a Silver Fuze and a high speed microSD card. Thank you all for joining the fun and making one killer comment thread. I actually read though them all and many were quite amusing. Stay tuned for more giveaways and more of the best mp3 player reviews on the net. Accept no substitutes! ;)

Win a SanDisk Sansa Fuze + 4GB Mobile Ultra microSD Card
Sharing the same great sound quality as the Sansa Clip, the Sansa Fuze has one big advantage with an included microSD memory slot. This is a nice way to upgrade your to a higher capacity since the microSD card seamlessly integrates into the main memory.

MicroSD has become a standard in expandable memory for cell phones. Another nice use for the memory card would be to swap it between your player and you mobile phone. When I’m away from a computer one thing I do for instance is use my Nokia e71 to download podcasts and music, then swap the memory card to my Fuze. Sure I could use the phone to listen to but it needs a headphone adapter and sound terrible compared to the Fuze.

It’s also a cheap add on. Last I checked SanDisk’s microSD in 8GB was around $30 on Amzaon. Note that we are giving away the Mobile Ultra version which I tested to be about twice as fast as the regular version of SanDisk’s microSD. This works a bit better if you are going to use it in a phone.

Enough chit chat, how do I win this lovely pair?

Just comment once below (multiple entries will be disqualified) and we will pick a comment at random at the end of the day Wednesday. Good luck!

SanDisk Acquires MusicGremlin

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For those who remember, Music Gremlin was the first MP3 player to offer wi-fi connectivity. It was tied into a music service that allowed for the automatic download of content much like the Ibiza Rhapsody and SanDisk’s own Sansa Connect. While I don’t know about the acquisition terms and what their plans are for the integration of MG into SanDisk, but this is rather troubling to me and I question the good that will come out of this acquisition for a few reasons.

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SanDisk Mobile Ultra microSDHC- Double Your Player’s Capacity

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One of the great things about SanDisk’s line of Sansa MP3 players it the microSD card slot. All of them have this feature except for the Sansa Clip. This means you can double, sometimes triple the capacity of the player relatively cheap. The microSD slot is a great future proofing or rather life extending feature on an MP3 player.

While SanDisk Sansa players lead the industry in upgradable and removable storage there are a few others that contain that will be able to take advantage of this microSD card. These players include the Insignias, the Cowon D2, Creative Zen, and some of the newer irivers like the E100 and the Spinn.

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SanDisk Gives the Sansa Clip a Major Update

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Having used a Cowon D2 for over a year I must admit that I was losing hope in the manufacturers’ ability to make useful firmware updates that actually fix stuff and add useful features instead of breaking what’s already there and adding “scicntific” calculators. Luckily it’s not just Samsung that knows how to do firmware and the latest update to the Sansa Clip shows that there is still hope if a player doesn’t have everything you want at release. Read on to find out what’s new in 1.01.29

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Show Us Your Gear Contest Finalist and Winner

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About a month ago we started running a contest urging readers to send in pictures of themselves and their portable (and sometimes not so portable) setups. The contest was a lot of fun with around 100 participants showing off a few hundred photos. The winners of each category have been chosen and the winner of the random drawing is shown below.

Thank you all that participated, we had a lot of fun with this one and it really showed off the creativity of our forum members. There were so many great entries, so please be sure to check out all of them in the contest forum.

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Show Your Gear and Win a Silver Sansa Clip *Contest Closed*

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I got a brand new 4GB silver Sansa Clip just hanging out here at abi>>headquarters, so I thought it would be best to find it a happy home. It has been one of my favorite players for ultra portable on the go use since it pair so nice with my Shure SE530s- it’s crisp sound in a small package.

So here is your chance to add something shiny to your on-the-go audio ensemble, but first we would love to see what you are using now. There will be several judged categories including, so no matter what you are carrying around, even a stock setup, you have chance of winning. Head over to the contest forum to check out the categories, examples, and official rules. Here is a chance to show off you gear!

The contest is now closed, and new entries will not be accepted

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