Digital Music Frontier

Okay, so I’ve been away for a while. Blogger was creating some real headaches for me so I went ahead and did the inevitable and switched to Wordpress. As you might imagine, the transition wasn’t easy for a blogging newbie like myself, but, I made it…Finally.

Anyway, it was a busy week, and one of the major stories this week involved a new competitor to the iPod, the Sansa Connect.

The Sansa Connect is a 4GB flash-based Mp3 player with wireless capability. With a decent WiFi connection, the Sansa Connect will allow users to connect (I’m seeing a theme developing here) to the Yahoo music service.

I’m not going to do a full analysis, partly because there are already some very good ones, here and here. What is really interesting, though, is how this could effect the nature of next-generation Mp3 players, like the next iPod and the iPhone.

Last week, there was a report that within six months Apple may add a subscription service to its digital music empire.

WiFi devices like the Sansa Connect will make these subscription services more attractive. With the ability to download songs and switch internet-radio style playlists on the go, WiFi Mp3 players give the music fan more ways to listen to and buy music. And as David Card from JupiterResearch Analyst Weblogs points out, this will only increase the chances of a “jukebox in the sky” music future.

In the short term, though, the Sansa Connect may not be the answer. As attractive as it is, it doesn’t have a keypad, so users won’t be able to do a whole lot with the WiFi connection.

There is a device coming out, however, that will have a keypad and an internet connection. The Apple iPhone. Assuming Apple allows users of the new phone to access the iTunes Music Store and make downloads on the go, this will make a big impact going forward. It is also rumored that the next-gen iPod will have WiFi connectivity. Giving consumers the choice to buy and listen to whatever they want, whenever and wherever, can only help the music industry.