Big Capacity Music Players Launched By SanDisk

At its annual CES press conference SanDisk has taken advantage of its memory manufacturing capability by rolling out new high capacity MP3 players.

The SanDisk Sansa Clip, a shiny mirrored little number weighing a mere 0.9 ounces, looks like something Lindsay Lohan would carry around as a portable cocaine surface.  The latest version packs 4GB of memory into its tiny chassis, yet costs only $79 — the same price as a 1GB iPod Shuffle (before MacWorld, at least).  And unlike the Shuffle, the Sansa Clip has an OLED screen for browsing music and navigating menus (not to mention voice recording and FM radio).  It’s slated to hit store shelves in February in Australia.

Those looking for more capacity and features might consider the SanDisk Sansa View (2.9 ounces) which now holds 32GB of flash memory.  For those of us who remember when MP3 players contained 32 megabytes of memory, this is a landmark development.  Some of that capacity can be used for video; the Sansa View has a 2.4-inch TFT, 320×240 color display for playing back MPEG4, WMV and H.264 video, in addition to music files. 

Bonus: you can add an 8GB microSD card to bring the total capacity up to 40GB (or 44GB, once Sandisk’s 12GB microSD card becomes available later this year).

Both players support MP3, WMA, WAV, and Audible files, work with subscription services  such as Rhapsody and Napster, and include a built-in microphone and FM radio.