Sansa keeps everyone Connected

CES 2007 – Sansa has outdone itself with the Sansa Connect MP3 player, offering a unique digital music experience that is different from the pay-per-song business model. This WiFi-enabled portable audio player requires a monthly subscription-based model (at a price between $10 to $15 according to the Sansa rep with a yet undisclosed service provider) that enables you to download and listen to any song available. The 4GB flash memory ought to be enough to keep you going, and you can always delete older tunes to make room for newer favorites. After all, if you want to return to an old song, you can always download it again.

I suppose the Sansa Connect is great for parents who don’t want their kids getting carried away by busting the credit card limit each month at the iTunes store, and it does expand one’s musical horizons with a library of over 2 million songs across 300 channels. Incidentally, the Sansa Connect picked up CNET’s Best of CES 2007 award for the MP3 player category.

In addition, you can also add Sansa Connect users in the same vicinity over WiFi to your buddy list and exchange song recommendations with one another. The song rating system is noteworthy as it helps you explore similar music within a genre, but we aren’t too sure just how well the prioritization algorithm works in real world tests. Just in case 4GB of flash memory isn’t enough, you can throw in a microSD card for an additional 2GB of storage space. The Sansa Connect will be available in the middle of March at the recommended retail price of $249. All in all, the Sansa Connect looks really good, but be prepared to wipe it constantly to remove fingerprints.