SanDisk cuts prices and boosts memory on music players

The Sansa e280 has more capacity than any other flash-based MP3 player in the market, the company said. Some products like Apple Computer Inc.'s 30G-byte and 60G-byte iPods have more, but they use hard disk drives, not solid state memory.

Since SanDisk, of Milipitas, California, makes its own memory components, it can control costs on the most expensive part of an MP3 player.

SanDisk's new device can play music, display photos or videos, record with a built-in microphone and play radio songs with a digital FM tuner. The standard device can hold 2,000 songs compressed with the MP3 format, or 2,500 songs if a user inserts an extra 2G-byte microSD memory card, also made by SanDisk.

The product is unlikely to roil markets since Apple has such commanding market share -- 70 percent -- but SanDisk hopes its new prices will boost holiday sales of lower-capacity Sansa models.

The company lowered prices on its 2G-byte e250 model from US$180 to $140, cut its 4G-byte e260 from $230 to $180 and reduced its 6G byte e270 from $280 to $220. It will sell the new Sansa e280 for $250.

After Apple, SanDisk is the second-largest vendor in the market, followed by Creative Technology Ltd., iriver Inc., Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., according to the analyst firm Creative Strategies.