SanDisk Goes for Apple's Neck...Sort Of

Apple's iTunes service represents probably the best-known method of music distribution, next to the CD and DVD, of course. However, it would seem that the people over at SanDisk are seriously considering a whole new approach to this concept, as they've announced that the company will promote DRM-free music from more than 50 new and emerging artists on a microSD card. This U.S.-based program is the first of its kind to use microSD cards, and helps launch the new 8GB Sansa Fuze MP3 player.

According to the company's statement, the "Sansa Sessions" microSD card is comprised of a collection of rock, pop, and hip hop songs, music videos, and photos from more than 30 labels, featuring artists like All Time Low, Ladytron, Magnet, Nada Surf, Of Montreal and The Coup.

"The Sansa Sessions microSD card is an innovative medium for music distribution, and great exposure for our artists," said Matt Lunsford, co-president, Polyvinyl Record Co., which represents Of Montreal and other artists featured on the card. "This promotion benefits all involved, aligning the interests of the musician, label and consumer. We look forward to doing more together."

"We're excited to be working with labels and artists to create a new ecosystem for music," said Daniel Schreiber, general manager and senior vice president for SanDisk's Sansa audio/video product line. "The Sansa Sessions music card gives customers a simple way to enjoy, manage, and discover new music. This is just the beginning of our efforts to bring consumers a simplified and highly enjoyable music experience."

As mentioned earlier, this new offering is directly related to the launch of SanDisk's Fuze media player, as US customers will have the opportunity to redeem a promotional offer inside their box to receive the exclusive Sansa Sessions music sampler on a pre-loaded microSD card.

Of course, it's rather difficult to expect that this particular approach to music distribution will actually affect in any way iTunes' business model. However, it might represent a challenge for CDs and DVDs, especially since the manufacturing prices for microSD cards have seriously dropped over the past few years.

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