Would you buy a Sandisk SlotRadio?

Would you buy a Sandisk SlotRadio?

This article was written by ajgiampa

August 19th, 2009

Like so many other “firsts” in my life, I can remember my first mp3…downloaded at 56kbps from a dial up BBS about 15 years ago. It was Adam Sandler’s _______, and I remember immediately realizing that this new format was going to put an end to the reign of the mighty compact disk. Before mp3s, I recall recording (on cassette tapes) hours of radio to get my favorite songs, or spending way too much of the little cash I had on CDs filled with 15 songs – 14 of which I didn’t want. I’d then spend hours compiling my playlist (a.k.a. mixtape) – recording each of the individual songs I wanted to hear from my various sources to a cassette tape.

With the emergence of mp3′s and, more importantly, solid state mp3 players, the mix tape became a thing of the past. Sorting songs into electronic playlists was about as simple as anyone could ever want. As the size of flash memory increased, the amount of music you could carry with you followed suit, and soon, I could hold my entire music collection, hundreds of hours, in the palm of my hand. It really couldn’t get any better than this.

For this reason, I was suprised to read that Sandisk, maker of the Sansa line of mp3 players, released a product called the SlotRadio which plays mp3s from a memory card purchased from Sandisk. A partnership with Billboard allows each these cards (which each represent a different music genre, such as rock, country, and oldies) to feature the top 1000 songs of that genre. Sandisk seems to be marketing the SlotRadio to those who don’t want to deal with the hassel of buying and loading their own music onto an mp3 player. In exchange for this convenience, the listener looses the ability to make their own playlists, transfer the songs to any other device, easily navigate between songs, and add their own songs to the device.

SlotRadio Like so many other “firsts” in my life, I can remember my first MP3…downloaded at 56kbps from a BBS about 15 years ago and played repeatedly using WinPlay on my 486DX4 . I remember immediately realizing that this new format, which was revolutionary, was going to put an end to the reign of the mighty compact disk. Before MP3s, I recall recording (on cassette tapes) hours of radio to capture my favorite songs, or spending way too many of my hard earned dollars on CDs filled with 15 songs – 14 of which I didn’t want. I’d then spend hours compiling my playlist (back then it was called a mix tape) by re-recording each individual song onto a fresh cassette tape.

With the emergence of MP3′s and, concurrently, solid state MP3 players, the mix tape morphed into the MP3 playlist. Sorting songs into electronic playlists was about as simple as anyone could ever want. As the size of flash memory increased, entire music collections spanning hundreds of hours could easily be carried in the palm of one’s hand. The MP3 format spawned an immense industry because people want control over what they listen too – a refreshing power grab by the populus after 70 years of listening to content choosen by others.

Because of of the MP3 and its accompanying era of al-la carte listening, I was suprised to read that Sandisk, maker of the Sansa line of MP3 players, released a product called the SlotRadio which plays predetermined MP3s on a memory card purchased from Sandisk. A partnership with Billboard allows each these cards (which each represent a different music genre, such as rock, country, and oldies) to feature the top 1000 songs of that genre. Sandisk seems to be marketing the SlotRadio to those who don’t want to deal with the hassel of buying and loading their own music onto an MP3 player – a throwback to the era of predetermined listening. In exchange for this convenience, the listener looses the ability to make their own playlists, transfer the songs to any other device, easily navigate between songs, and add their own songs to the device.

IMO, if you think this device suits your needs, buy a radio…it’s cheaper.