Sansa News

Economic meltdown and financial crisis are not phrases you want to hear as you ponder your holiday shopping. But it is possible to find tech-related gifts on a recession-minded budget, be they handy, entertaining or irreverent. ...

Sansa Slotmusic player ($20, cards are $15)

This itty-bitty music player won't show you playlists or hook up to your computer. Nor will it shuffle your songs. It runs on one AAA battery and plays music from fingernail-sized albums called microSD cards. In some ways it's a throwback to my Walkman years — simpler times when I was content playing just one album from beginning to end and that was that. The player feels sturdy and fits comfortably in the palm of my hand or in my pocket. The cards are so tiny, though, that I worry about losing them or dropping them on the filthy subway floor. While the device doesn't connect to a PC, the microSD cards can, using a special case that plugs in a computer's USB port. For the price, it's a good gift for your technophobe uncle who still swears by his Discman and doesn't see the point of having to use his computer to play "Dark Side of the Moon." [News Source]

Free MP3 microSD card [News Source]

Even a sour economy doesn't mean you have to scratch technology gifts off your shopping list. You can still get a lot of neat gadgets for less than $100. And if you can afford to splurge, your money can go further these days.

MP3 players: You can get a simple, off-brand digital music player for under $10. For about $20, you can get a SanDisk SlotMusic player, which plays digital music stored on microSD flash memory cards. SanDisk's Sansa Clip player starts at about $30 for the 1-gigabyte model, which includes an FM tuner, a small display and a Advertisement voice recorder. [News Source]

Michael Barkoviak gives his picks for hot tech items this holiday season ... SanDisk Sansa Clip 4GB MP3 player

I've never been a big fan of the Apple iPod craze, and rather than have to deal with Apple iTunes, I would rather have the SanDisk Sansa Clip 4GB MP3 player. The Sansa Clip line from SanDisk are flash-based MP3 players that are small and portable, which make them perfect for people who want to take their MP3 player running or to the gym. SanDisk remains a leader in the flash memory market, and I trust its flash MP3 players more than several other competitors. [News Source]