Ipod Nano and Zune Flash KILLER

[michaels]

WOW if I didn't need more space I would be all over that http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/fla...nano-killer-297986.php

SanDisk killed off its original Sansa View, a flash-endowed PMP shown at CES, and today announced that it is giving the name to a super-slim 16GB video and music player that will cost $199. It's no coincidence that this is twice the memory of Apple's new 8GB nano?at the same price.
SanDisk Sansa View

* SansaViewRightHiRes.jpg
* SansaViewTriViewandPencilHiRes.jpg
* SansaViewTriplewEarbudsHiRes.jpg
* SansaViewProfilePencilHiRes.jpg

SanDisk's 8GB View will cost just $149, the price of Apple's 4GB nano.

Battery life has been confirmed at 35 hours for music, and 7 hours for video. (According to Apple, the nano can pull off 24 hours of music or 5 hours of video on a charge.)

SanDisk's two Sansa View models will both be compatible with MicroSD/SDHC for memory expansion. Since there's a tiny 8GB SDHC card on the way, you could technically jack this thing up to 24GB pretty easily, though that 8GB card will definitely set you back a few clams. (In case you were wondering, you will not be able to move files back and forth from onboard memory to MicroSD card.)

Like SanDisk's other players, the View will have an FM tuner (20 preset channels) and a voice recorder with built-in mic.

The new View is SanDisk's first serious attempt at a video-capable player, with native support for H.264, WMV and MPEG4 video. (Earlier Sansas could play video, but only if you messed with it enough to make it work.) When you are in video mode, everything automatically reorients to landscape, so you can turn the View on its side and better enjoy the 2.4" 320 x 240 LCD.

SanDisk's marketing folks say that this player is geared more towards short clips than full movies, but then at the same time admit that 16GB means the ability to store over 30 feature films. (And you could watch three of them without plugging in.)

The View is the slimmest Sansa yet introduced. At its thickest is around a third of an inch?its total dimensions are 4.29" x 1.95" x 0.35", and it'll weigh just 2.9 oz.

Interestingly enough, SanDisk isn't partnered with anyone on this go 'round. The Rhapsody friendship from the E200R days appears to have fizzled, and the Yahoo branding that appeared with the Sansa Connect is, as yet, just a one-off thing.

Speaking of the Connect, the View will not have Wi-Fi. Then again, I can hear SanDisk saying, neither does the nano. Look for it this October.

Press release:

SANDISK ANNOUNCES THE NEW SANSA VIEW: A SLEEK VIDEO MP3 PLAYER WITH REMARKABLE FEATURES AND CAPACITY AT AN UNBEATABLE PRICE

MILPITAS, Calif., September 10, 2007-SanDisk® Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), the second largest seller of MP3 players in the United States, today announced the new Sansa® View - a video MP3 player with a vast array of features and generous capacity, at an unbeatable price. The sleek-looking Sansa View marries the finest MP3 player attributes with full-motion video support (typically found in larger portable media players (PMPs)), a larger screen, long battery life and generous capacity--all in a thin, easy-to-carry package. Expected to be available in October, the Sansa View will carry a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $199.99 MSRP for a 16GB flash-based player and $149.99 for the 8GB, far surpassing the competition with respect to value and price.

A significant step-up from the company's award-winning Sansa e200 music player series, the slim Sansa View features music, photos, FM radio and audio books, plus easy video transferring capabilities and hefty memory capabilities of up to 24GB (by using an optional 8GB microSD/microSDHC card).

"The Sansa View is a new video MP3 player that combines all of the great characteristics of a MP3 player with the video capabilities of a PMP, and packs it into a pocketable device," said Eric Bone, vice president of marketing for SanDisk's Sansa audio/video product line. "What's more, we're once again showing that category-leading technology can still be very affordable."

SanDisk's Sansa View video player innovates beyond the typical video loading procedure, making it easy for consumers to transfer videos natively using widely available software. Most popular formats are supported via embedded player functionality (H.264, WMV and MPEG4), or via a one-time software download of the Sansa Media Converter which quickly transcodes numerous video files, including DivX.

Consumers can purchase and insert one of SanDisk's microSD/microSDHC cards to play up to 24GB of music, video and photos on their Sansa View. (Today, SanDisk microSD/microSDHC cards come with capacities of up to 8GB.) In addition, the microSD card allows users to easily move their content to a cell phone or other mobile device.

A MP3 player at its core, the Sansa View device comes equipped with all the soup-to-nuts features typically found in the Sansa audio line. The smooth, backlit scroll wheel and vibrant 2.4" widescreen display make it easy to navigate to: a music library; video collection; digital photos; digital FM radio with 20 pre-sets; an integrated microphone and voice recording, and Audible audiobooks.

The device supports many music download and subscription services, including Rhapsody To Go®, Napster, eMusic and others.

The Sansa View player will come in two capacities--8GB and 16GB--and is expected to be available from retailers in the U.S. in early fall with other regions to follow shortly thereafter.

The Sansa View was first announced last January at CES. In June, SanDisk decided to re-scope the product to develop a player with new features and functionality that best suit current consumer interests.

SanDisk is the original inventor of flash storage cards and is the world's largest supplier of flash data storage card products, using its patented, high-density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is headquartered in Milpitas, CA and has operations worldwide, with more than half its sales outside the U.S.

 

[homercles337]

This wont stop all the macophiles from snatching up overpriced crap like true label whores.

 

[HN]

one way to kill the chances of an 'ipod killer' killing ipod is to proclaim it an 'ipod killer' before it does any killing.

 

[destrekor]

and what I have always loved for SanDisk products, you can find them cheaper than MSRP at various B&M stores. Unlike Microsoft and Apple that lock prices, Microsoft less so since you can find sales for $20 off (well, back when it was $250 and had been around for awhile).

Even though I have a Zune, I still love my Sansa e260 and use it whenever I run or go to the gym. This new one is really nice looking, a lot better than the e200 series.
They make the best flash-based players, too bad the Apple machine continues to brainwash people into buying the Nano. Overpriced and the AQ is not as good. I know the Zune has better AQ than the iPod, and I'm pretty sure SanDisk's products have had better AQ than competing models.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

24gb of flash based mp3s + 35 hours of battery life for around $300? In for one.

 

[loup garou]

I like the idea of it (love my e270), but I have to hold one to see if I like the size...it seems to be really tall and wide...I don't know if I need my flash player to be so large, I mostly use mine for running and don't want anything bulky.

 

[bdude]

Bump for interesting product.

 

[daveymark]

i still heart my $290 8gb iphone on tmobile

 

[potato28]

1 product won't be able to kill the iPod. It looks nice, but I prefer the new Zune 80 gb with the dual wheel.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: potato28
1 product won't be able to kill the iPod. It looks nice, but I prefer the new Zune 80 gb with the dual wheel.

dual wheel? zunes have never had a wheel, just looked like one.

 

[buck]

It wont kill either, because of its name.

 

[michaels]

I know it won't kill it in sales, I am talking features and bang for buck.

 

[NFS4]

This news is nearly a month old...

But still a good product nonetheless

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: potato28
1 product won't be able to kill the iPod. It looks nice, but I prefer the new Zune 80 gb with the dual wheel.

dual wheel? zunes have never had a wheel, just looked like one.

Yeah I don't know what potato is talking about. We'll see if the Zune 2 is very good. I actually like the size of the Zune, but its a shame that they didn't make good use of it (battery life is bad, and no digital out also sucks). Supposedly the sound quality is pretty nice, but who knows if that will remain with the updated software or on the Zune 2.

The Sansa's have all been pretty interesting the last couple of years, offering great value for the money. This one looks much sleeker, and 16GB and 35 hours of music playback (I'd guess 25 for quality music playback), what appears to be a nice display, and then the option to expand the available memory all for $199 is pretty amazing. Let's just hope the most important aspect, the sound quality, is up to par with the rest of the player. Seems like it'd make a great player for a lot of people (small enough for working out, but full featured enough to actually use normally).

I'm not very impressed with the new Zunes, they don't offer better value for the money than iPods, and their only real draw, the wi-fi, is so limited that its just added cost and drain on the battery as much as anything else.

Right now, I think I'm going to hold off on a digital player. I like the iRiver H120/140 because they have an actual digital out, but they're kinda old (so chance of bad hard drives and batteries increases) and need Rockbox to really be good. I might consider the iPod since the 4G and 5/5.5G can be iModded, and the classic offers everything I'd want except for the digital out. If only the Zune had better battery life I might would even consider it, but I'd probably get all of 5 hours out of a charge with lossless music and their lineout is a hassle at the moment.

 

[michaels]

How in your opinion does the 80 gig Zune not a better value than the Ipod?

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: darkswordsman17

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: potato28
1 product won't be able to kill the iPod. It looks nice, but I prefer the new Zune 80 gb with the dual wheel.

dual wheel? zunes have never had a wheel, just looked like one.

Yeah I don't know what potato is talking about. We'll see if the Zune 2 is very good. I actually like the size of the Zune, but its a shame that they didn't make good use of it (battery life is bad, and no digital out also sucks). Supposedly the sound quality is pretty nice, but who knows if that will remain with the updated software or on the Zune 2.

The Sansa's have all been pretty interesting the last couple of years, offering great value for the money. This one looks much sleeker, and 16GB and 35 hours of music playback (I'd guess 25 for quality music playback), what appears to be a nice display, and then the option to expand the available memory all for $199 is pretty amazing. Let's just hope the most important aspect, the sound quality, is up to par with the rest of the player. Seems like it'd make a great player for a lot of people (small enough for working out, but full featured enough to actually use normally).

I'm not very impressed with the new Zunes, they don't offer better value for the money than iPods, and their only real draw, the wi-fi, is so limited that its just added cost and drain on the battery as much as anything else.

Right now, I think I'm going to hold off on a digital player. I like the iRiver H120/140 because they have an actual digital out, but they're kinda old (so chance of bad hard drives and batteries increases) and need Rockbox to really be good. I might consider the iPod since the 4G and 5/5.5G can be iModded, and the classic offers everything I'd want except for the digital out. If only the Zune had better battery life I might would even consider it, but I'd probably get all of 5 hours out of a charge with lossless music and their lineout is a hassle at the moment.

They don't need to offer a better value, for me it's the fact that it's not Apple and it has better AQ.
If the battery life is better on the Zune 80gb, I might just sell my 30gb and pick the 80gb up too. The slightly smaller size is also a nice bonus. But I'm holding out for battery life. If it's the same, I doubt I'll upgrade.

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: potato28
1 product won't be able to kill the iPod. It looks nice, but I prefer the new Zune 80 gb with the dual wheel.

dual wheel? zunes have never had a wheel, just looked like one.

Not dual wheels, a touch pad and a d-pad built into one pad. I really like the idea.

 

[Pabster]

iPod Killer? Yawn.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: destrekor
and what I have always loved for SanDisk products, you can find them cheaper than MSRP at various B&M stores. Unlike Microsoft and Apple that lock prices, Microsoft less so since you can find sales for $20 off (well, back when it was $250 and had been around for awhile).

Microsoft doesn't lock their prices, not that I can tell. A quick look at Amazon shows the Zune at differing amounts below MSRP, while all the iPod's are rock solid, with just a couple being literally $2 less than ASP (Apple's Set Price).

 

[michaels]

Zune 1.0 was on woot today for 99 bucks

 

[RossMAN]

I'll probably buy this after it's on sale + coupon for around $150 with 0% Oregon sales tax

 

[JackBurton]

This thing ain't killing sh!t. To kill the iPod, a product can't be just a little bit better, it needs to be revolutionary. And this ain't revolutionary.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: destrekor

They don't need to offer a better value, for me it's the fact that it's not Apple and it has better AQ.
If the battery life is better on the Zune 80gb, I might just sell my 30gb and pick the 80gb up too. The slightly smaller size is also a nice bonus. But I'm holding out for battery life. If it's the same, I doubt I'll upgrade.

That kind of thinking doesn't make any sense to me. So, you don't care that it suffers pretty much all the same flaws as the iPods, in some ways more, but since its not Apple you're happy with it? Also, I'm not sure how you say they don't need to offer better value. How else is Microsoft hoping to even start to crack Apple's massive market share if they don't offer something better? In fact, I'd say they're offering less value for the money, although selling a $150-175 30GB would go a ways toward remedying that. The only way I'd say they would be offering better on Zune 2.0 is if they match or exceed the battery life of the Classic, as the limited wi-fi and fm tuner aren't enough to negate the worse battery life and codec support that the Zune currently has.

 

[GTaudiophile]

If it had WiFi I would agree with you...