slotRadio

Sansa Clip+ could boost slotMusic and slotRadio

SanDisk's new Sansa Clip+ sounds like a solid choice for an inexpensive MP3 player, but I'm more interested in how it could boost SanDisk's slotMusic and slotRadio--two types of microSD cards preloaded with music.

When first announced last year, slotMusic seemed like a misfire: I couldn't imagine why consumers would pay almost the same price as a CD for a microSD card loaded with lower-quality files. The release of the $19.99 slotMusic player changed my opinion a little bit, but it still seemed too limiting: the only way to get music onto the device through … Read more

SlotRadio could thrive with more eclectic music

I'll readily admit that I'm not in the target audience for the new SlotRadio MP3 player from SanDisk, which became available last week.

The $99 device comes with a microSD card containing 1,000 songs, selected by Billboard editors from top-charting radio hits of the last 40 years or so, arranged in seven playlists--rock, country, hip-hop, and four others.

You can't edit or rearrange the playlists, you can't move the songs to your computer or any other device, and the only way to get new songs is by buying new 1,000-song cards for $39.99 … Read more

Four cents a song makes SlotRadio hard to ignore

SanDisk's SlotMusic strategy puzzled me at first. I didn't understand why anybody would pay almost the same price as a CD for an easily misplaced microSD card with lower-quality audio. The release of the $19.99 SlotMusic player, which is basically an MP3 player capable of playing these cards, changed my opinion a little bit. But I suggested that the real strength would come in curated cards containing, for example, a selection of songs from the Billboard charts. Given that a regular album cost $14.99 on this format, I figured that a curated card for the same … Read more

SanDisk Sansa slotRadio takes a page from Slacker's book

What can I say? I'm a big fan of gadgets that play into my inherent laziness. You may have figured this out while reading my various accounts of Slacker's Internet radio service and MP3 player. Now, SanDisk is following Slacker's line of thinking, albeit with a much more basic premise that involves simplicity and a low-cost device, rather than fancy wireless technology and the capability to tailor music to your liking. Instead, SanDisk's new MP3 player, dubbed slotRadio, uses preloaded microSD cards filled with 1,000 handpicked songs arranged into playlists. The device is clearly not … Read more