Sandisk's Sansa Connect: Parting Thoughts (At Least For Now)

Wrapping up (at least until the next major firmware upgrade) my coverage on Sandisk's Sansa Connect Wi-Fi-inclusive portable audio player which began in mid-April and continued one week later, I've got a few more observations to share with y'all:

• The DLO Action Jacket case that I mentioned last time has arrived, and I've got mixed feelings about it. It's somewhat ill-fitting at the moment, although over time it may stretch and therefore better conform to the Sansa Connect's contours. It also clips to a separate armband (something that the picture on Circuit City's website, which seems to be the only retailer offering the case for sale at the moment, doesn't make clear), versus being more integrated as with other armband cases I've used in the past. DLO's modular approach feels somewhat flimsy, but on the other hand it also makes for a more flexible end result, because you can also direct-clip the case-minus-armband to your clothing.
• Speaking of firmware updates, the player got one the other day, per a post I saw on the Sansa Connect Yahoo Group, when I connected to Yahoo Music from the player. Interestingly, the updates are coming from Yahoo, not Sandisk, as is the revision history documentation, blurring the distinction of just whose player this ultimately is. On that note, I anticipate that Sandisk will also offer versions of the Sansa Connect in partnership with RealNetworks (other Sansa variants already come in Rhapsody-specific 'R' flavours) and other subscription music providers. Last fall, in response to Microsoft's defocusing of its PlaysForSure partnerships (or, if you prefer, broadening beyond its PlaysForSure partnerships) in favour of the tightly coupled Zune Marketplace, coupled with Apple's iPod-plus-iTunes bundling success, I suspected that Sandisk was poised to acquire then-struggling Napster. However, the company seems to be content for now to act as a jack-of-all-trades hardware supplier to the PlaysForSure ecosystem, along with supporting RealNetworks' evolution away from PlaysForSure and towards a proprietary DRM scheme.
• And speaking of future firmware updates, a posting on the Yahoo Music Blog gives me hope that the ability to direct-access Yahoo's entire 2+ million track inventory from the player will eventually arrive.

I'm still unimpressed with the Sansa Connect's lack of support for removeable (therefore replaceable) batteries, and I hope that as with iPods, third-party battery-replacement vendors will step up to fill the gap….although as you'll see from a recent teardown (summarized by Engadget), the unit's not terribly easy to disassemble (and more importantly, to reassemble in fully functional form!). And I'm still waiting for a firmware upgrade that'll enable the Sansa Connect to handle Wi-Fi access points configured with no-broadcast SSIDs. But all in all, this is one slick unit. I look forward to seeing what Microsoft's Zune response is….and whether it'll come in the form of a firmware update for existing players, or will require a second-generation device.

Followup: In response to a posting I made to the Sansa Connect discussion group, Yahoo's Liz Juenger emailed me the following good news:

"ZING is actively working on enhancing the network support in our platform. This includes improvements for various network configurations (e.g. Items like hidden SSID's) as well as support for other network providers similar to what we currently offer with FON. While ZING can't pre-announce any new features for partner devices, we will offer enhancements to partner devices through software updates when they become available."