SanDisk debuts Sansa slotMusic Player

SanDisk on Wednesday unveiled the Sansa slotMusic Player, its new MP3 player for listening to music on the go. According to the company, the plug & play, portable music player was specially designed for use with the new slotMusic cards available today in the United States. The company rolled out both a Sansa-branded player and new personalized, branded slotMusic players for popular artists such as Robin Thicke and ABBA -- both of which are shipping to U.S. stores today, including Best Buy and Wal-Mart and are expected to be available from retailers in Europe and other regions of the world in 2009.

The Sansa slotMusic Player ($20) was made to play slotMusic card albums or a self-loaded microSD card full of music (and doesn’t require a PC, internet or any time spent managing music). In addition to slotMusic cards, the MP3 player can play songs from any microSD card with music encoded as MP3 and WMA (DRM-free only) files.

The artist-branded slotMusic Player is a stylish, all-in-one player, which includes both the slotMusic card and a trendy player bearing an artist’s name and image. It weighs just over two ounces and measures 2.75” W x 1.4375” H x 1.4375” D. The player comes pre-loaded with an album on a 1GB slotMusic card and customizable black shell, earphones and battery; it will retail for $35.

Announced last month, slotMusic is a new format of high-fidelity, DRM-free MP3 music on a microSD card, which gives consumers the ability to easily listen to—and quickly swap—their favorite songs among a mobile phone, personal computer, and any MP3 player with a microSD slot. slotMusic cards available this month will feature nearly 40 of the biggest names in music from all four major music labels (EMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music, and Warner Music Group) and artists such as Robin Thicke, Katy Perry and Coldplay.

“With no need for computers or cords, the Sansa slotMusic Player gives consumers more time to play, and less time to worry about managing or downloading their music,” said Daniel Schreiber, senior vice president and general manager for SanDisk. “SanDisk is all about building products that are easy for consumers to enjoy. Just insert your favorite artist’s slotMusic card into the Sansa slotMusic player and press play.”

SanDisk said it has also developed a special line of Sansa slotMusic Player accessories, including a Sansa Card Wallet, an armband, and additional slotMusic player “shells” for customizing a player to user’s own tastes.

Filed under: gadgets
Other story tags: SanDisk, media players