Now, SanDisk is following Slacker's line of thinking, albeit with a much more basic premise that involves simplicity and a low-cost device, rather than fancy wireless technology and the ability to tailor music to your liking. Instead, SanDisk's new MP3 player, dubbed slotRadio, uses preloaded MicroSD cards filled with 1,000 handpicked songs arranged into playlists.
The device is clearly not for everyone, but for mainstream listeners who balk at the idea of spending their time tailoring playlists, it could be just the ticket. And considering the relatively low cost of the songs overall, the slotRadio could make a great secondary player for many users.
So what exactly is the cost? It breaks down to about four cents per song. Each slotRadio card includes 1,000 songs and carries an expected MSRP of $39.99. The device itself comes with a Billboard top tracks card that offers seven playlists--Alternative, Contemporary, Country, R&B/Hip Hop, Rock, Workout, and Chillout--and will sell for $99.99. Of course, the catch of getting the songs so cheap is that you don't get to pick them yourself, and they're also locked to the MicroSD card, so you can't transfer them to your computer or any other device (although the cards are expected to be compatible with with the Sansa Fuze).
You also can't toy with the order of the tracks, though of course you can skip the ones you don't like. In my two weeks of using the slotRadio player, which included a preproduction card that had a mishmash of decade- and genre-based stations, I found that the selections were pretty solid mainstream hits ranging from the 60's to today. Going forward, SanDisk will offer cards geared towards specific genres--all Rock subgenres, for example--as well as themed versions, such as decades and moods.
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