SanDisk announces new Sansa m200 series: inexpensive and Janus enabled

This morning, SanDisk announced the Sansa m200 series, the third family of WMA-friendly MP3 players from the goliath flash-memory manufacturer. Like the Sansa e100 series, as well as the Digital Audio Player, the m200 has value and budget written all over it, with the entry-level price of $79.95 for the 512MB M230. Other capacities include 1GB, 2GB, and even 4GB models, so it's no mistake that the iPod Nano opened the 4GB floodgates. And by the way, the 4GB model costs only $200 (2GB players cost that much earlier this year).

Now here's the real kicker: The m200 series is compatible with Rhapsody To Go, Napster To Go, and Yahoo Music Unlimited, and the portable-music service is offering an $80 rebate on all Sansa m200 players if you join for six months. If you're interested in the to-go services--they are getting better, and for some, they are the answer--nothing's better than getting a free or highly discounted compatible player. We've seen MP3 player subsidization coming for a while (Audible already does this), but it looks like the subscription services are really gearing up for the holiday season. The m200 series also includes an FM tuner, a voice recorder, and Audible support, and it has a rated life of 19 hours on a single AAA battery--not bad at all.