SanDisk Displays New Color iPod Killer At CES.

Everyone is lining up to take a shot at Apple’s huge lead in portable music players.

This time it’s SanDisk with a new player that does everything except give you a bikini wax and a backrub. Worse, it looks lilke a great portable player, loaded for only $299.

Is Apple finally getting some competition? First, everyone took a shot and failed. iTunes ruled. iPod ruled. iTunes Music Store ruled and then launched videos.

Now Starz Network offers Vongo and it looks decent (Windows only, for now) and works well. The latest from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is an iPod killer from SanDisk.

SanDisk is the flash chip maker and owns about a 25-percent marketshare for the rapidly growing flash chip market. What’s special about their new music player is that there’s a six gigabyte version available ($299), vs. the iPod nano at 4 gigabytes.

iPod nano sure sounds better and cooler and more friendly and sexier than SanDisk Sansa e200 Series MP3 Player.

Maybe you’ve never heard of SanDisk’s portable music player. Me neither.

The competition keeps coming at Apple and the products get a little better each time.

The Sansa is better than anything I’ve seen so far. It handles photos, video playback, and music playback. The screen is crisp and clear and, at 1.8-inches is bigger than the iPod nano but smaller than the new iPod with video.

SanDisk says the Sansa has advanced navigational features (looks like an iPod click wheel) and a scratch resistent Liquidmetal backing (I don’t remember people complaining about the iPod scratches on the back plate).

Regardless, the SanDisk looks good and has a nice feel to it, though it’s a bit larger than the iPod nano, and smaller than the new iPod (has a hard drive built in).

Sansa comes in a 2 gigabyte model, a 4 gigabyte model, and the high end 6 gigabyte model for $299. For $299 you can get a new iPod with video and 30 gigs of storage space, but it’s huge in comparison. Not.

As usual, SanDisk follows Creative and Microsoft and Sony’s lead and distorts the music playback numbers. Window Media should get 2,880 songs in the 6 gigabyte model (according to SanDisk), though song quality is a lousy 64kbps.

Battery life looks great. Even the 2 gigabyte model is rated at 32 hours, while the 6 gigabyte model is rated at 96 hours. Don’t ask me how they figure that out.

The screen I saw at the CES booth was crisp, colorful, and navigation through the menus was straightforward, though the number of menu choices is bewildering.

As usual again, Sansa comes with a built-in FM radio which lets you record and save radio broadcasts.

For those of us who think the subscription music service model’s time has come, Sansa supports Microsoft’s “Plays For Sure”, dude. So most online music stores should work OK.

There’s even a microSD expansion slot so you can add more memory. Even better is the removeable, rechargeable Lithium Ion battery. You gotta like the removeable feature. Hello? Apple?

Apple’s “mail your iPod to me and I’ll replace it” feature doesn’t look so good in comparison.

You want one? It’s priced competitively for high end flash and feature comparisons. It doesn’t work with iTunes or the iTunes Music Store. It’s a Windows only, US only product for now.

The packaging, from what I could tell, comes with a case, a lanyard, earbuds, an accessory connector of some kind, and the battery.

At first glance, you’ll think the Sansa is an iPod nano that’s pregnant (it’s a bit wider; sorry Alex).

All things considered, this would be a nice product if it worked with iTunes and iTunes Music Store.

It also means that Apple is now getting some serious competition. There’s no SanDisk store, but the SanDisk flash chips are everywhere there’s electronics. They’re also the chipmaker, so getting a supply of 6 gigabyte chips should be simple.

Competition is good. Apple’s iPod nano is still priced competitively, but there’s no question that Apple’s foes are re-arming themselves for another run at the king.

Tera Patricks
Can you get some additional photos? Do they allow that out there? From a feature standpoint, you’re right. This looks good. Small. Cute. Does plenty.

Alexis Kayhill
It doesn’t look as cute as a nano. The click wheel isn’t really a wheel. It’s just a circle with buttons around it. Clever.

Jack D. Miller
I like the idea of the removeable battery and the inclusion of FM radio recording.