The latter company, which was launched in early 2003, built media players called 'Gremlins' that could download music from a subscription service directly, using Wi-Fi, thus eliminating the need for a PC at all. Users could then share their songs with other Gremlin users.
The technology is still somewhat rare despite the fact that Microsoft has tried to use it in their Zune line and SanDisk has even used it in their Sansa Connect players. SanDisk's Sansa Senior VP Daniel Schreiber says the features brought by Gremlin will play a "key role" in future Sansa media players.
Schreiber added that MusicGremlin will be fully integrated in SanDisk and will no longer continue its own services. It appears that SanDisk was also somewhat forced to make this move as it tries to steal more market share from the dominant leader Apple. Its Sansa Connect players currently use Yahoo's unlimited music subscription service but the service has since closed.
Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Jun 2008 22:49
