SanDisk Unveils the Long-Rumored Sansa Fuze MP3 Player

As you might remember from one of our previous articles, we've managed to have a very insightful conversation with one of SanDisk's reps at CeBIT, who, among other facts, also revealed that SanDisk was preparing to launch a hot new product, designed to fill in the void between the Clip and the View models. And although the time frame provided to us wasn't exactly accurate (the rep said something about two weeks), the company has finally decided to roll out the respective model, known under the name of Fuze.

First and foremost, it's quite interesting to note that the player is designed to fit the demands of a very wide array of users, coming in several colors (pink, red, blue, black and silver), storage capacities (2 through 8 GB) and packing several very attractive features. Thus, beside normal playback, the Fuze also incorporates a voice recorder as well as a 1.9-inch color display for navigating the menus or watching videos in landscape mode.

Another distinguishing feature of the Sansa Fuze player is its microSD card slot, which allows users to expand the built-in memory and transfer files a lot easier from their computers. Furthermore, the player has been equipped with an internal rechargeable battery capable of playing up to 24 hours of audio and five hours of video between charges.

Pretty much as expected, the Sansa Fuze MP3 player gives users access to subscription download services from numerous sources, including Rhapsody To Go, Napster, eMusic and others. The device is also very versatile, since it supports playback of a wide range of popular music formats such as MP3, WAV, Audible (for audio books) and Windows Media Audio (WMA) in both unprotected and protected files, as well as MPEG-4 video and JPEG photos.

According to the company's statement, the new player will arrive in the US in early April, while the rest of the world will probably have to wait a while longer. The price range won't be too high, either, as the entry-level model has a MSRP of 80 US dollars, with the 8 GB version slated to sell for around 130 US dollars.

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