Milpitas, Calif., - SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), a leading seller of MP3 players and flash memory cards, has unveiled the Sansa slotMusic™ Player, the easiest MP3 player for loading and listening to music on the go.

The plug & play, portable music player was specially designed for use with the new slotMusic cards available today in the United States. In addition to the Sansa-branded player, SanDisk has created personalized, branded slotMusic players for popular artists such as Robin Thicke and ABBA. Both types of slotMusic Players are shipping to U.S. stores today - including Best Buy and Wal-Mart.

The Sansa slotMusic Player (MSRP $19.99) was made to play slotMusic card albums or a self-loaded microSD™ card full of music. The effortless player doesn't require a PC, Internet or any time spent managing music. Consumers simply choose their slotMusic or music-filled microSD card, pop it into the device and will be enjoying their favorite tunes in seconds.

The unique, artist-branded slotMusic Player is a stylish, all-in-one package, which includes both the slotMusic card and a trendy player bearing their favorite artist's name and image. The branded player comes pre-loaded with an album on a 1GB slotMusic card. (Additional content on the card may include liner notes, album art and other one-of-a-kind content personally chosen by the artist.) Artist-branded slotMusic players will retail for a MSRP of $34.99.

Announced last month, slotMusic is a new format of high-fidelity, DRM-free MP3 music on a microSD card, which gives consumers the ability to easily listen to—and quickly swap—their favorite songs among a mobile phone, personal computer, and any MP3 player with a microSD slot. slotMusic cards available this month will feature nearly 40 of the biggest names in music from all four major music labels: EMI Music, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group. Artists on slotMusic cards include Robin Thicke, Katy Perry and Coldplay. (Media note: see associated press release.)

"With no need for computers or cords, the Sansa slotMusic Player gives consumers more time to play, and less time to worry about managing or downloading their music," said Daniel Schreiber, senior vice president and general manager for SanDisk. "SanDisk is all about building products that are easy for consumers to enjoy."

Just insert your favorite artist's slotMusic card into the Sansa slotMusic player and press play."

Perfect for those on the go, the small device can easily be tucked in a pocket or purse, with a weight of a little over two ounces and dimensions of 2.75" W x 1.4375" H x 1.4375" D.

SanDisk has also developed a special line of Sansa slotMusic Player accessories, including a Sansa Card Wallet, an armband, and additional slotMusic player "shells" for customizing a player to one's own tastes.

In addition to slotMusic cards, this convenient MP3 player can play songs from any microSD card with music encoded as MP3 and WMA (DRM-free only) files. The industry leader in flash memory cards, SanDisk is currently selling microSD cards in a range of capacity with up to an astounding 16GB of capacity. 16GB can hold up to 4,000 MP3 songs.

The Sansa-branded players ship with a customizable black shell, earphones and battery. The new Sansa slotMusic Player, both Sansa-branded (without cards) and artist-branded (including cards), is expected to be available from retailers in Europe and other regions of the world in 2009.

The Sansa slotMusic Player brings yet another dimension to SanDisk's Sansa audio/video product family, which includes the popular Sansa® Fuze™ and video-centric Sansa® View, both of which accept with slotMusic cards. The Sansa line offers consumers unprecedented choice for enjoying their favorite media on the go through affordable, easy to use, fun & fashionable music players.

For the latest news and for more information, please visit:

Sansa Official Website

Watch The White Stripes video for Icky Thump

Last Friday (June 1st) I watched The White Stripes perform as a replacement for The Who on Later with Jools Holland. They played Icky Thump, Effect and Cause, My Doorbell featuring Jools Holland on piano (love that song) and a short interview with Jools Holland and a somewhat nervous Jack White talking about the concept of Icky Thump, the recording process for the album and producing records. Click on the links to go to the video for each performance that night.

The White Stripes' upcoming tour dates include locations in Europe, the UK, USA and Canada.

For tour dates and more information go to:

The White Stripes on Myspace
The White Stripes Official Website

Buy Icky Thump by The White Stripes on Amazon.com.

By: Jenny May