After nearly six months of efforts to pursue a transaction with no meaningful progress, we are withdrawing our proposal to acquire SanDisk. I am disappointed that we have been unable to reach an agreement on our proposal. I continue to believe that a combination of our two companies would have created a superior global brand, an unparalleled technology platform and the scale and resources to drive convergence in the marketplace.

• SlotMusic cards will be SanDisk MicroSD cards preloaded with music, album art and other extras.
• Each card will be packaged with a USB sleeve, making plug-in to any computer theoretically no problem.
• The details in the announcement seem intentionally vague on whether the disk will be a one-on-one alternative to CD albums, or whether record labels will create bundles that take advantage of the cards' 1 GB capacity.
• MP3 will be the audio format, with rates as high as 320 kbps rather than the grainier 128 kbps most commonly used to share MP3s. (The 128 kbps rate was chosen as the target for MP3 audio quality back in the early '90s, when ISDN lines were the future.)
• No DRM! Seriously, none.
• The Big Four music labels — EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner — have signed up.
• So far, no details on the initial catalogue of music. "Check back soon for announcements" says the artists page at SlotMusic.org.
• It's gotta be annoying to the record execs involved that Slotmusic.com is owned by a defunct band called S.L.O.T.

Simple: It needs to bulk up to contend with the might of Apple, one of the largest buyers of flash memory.
Samsung has supplied the memory chips for Apple's iPhone since its launch last year. Before then, Samsung sold Apple memory for its iPod line, and continues to do so today. Apple is a huge customer for Samsung — so huge that it can command deep discounts, and tie up an enormous amount of Samsung's manufacturing capability. When Apple first launched its flash-memory iPod Nano, it locked up enough production to keep rivals off the market for months. (Even Samsung and SanDisk tried to launch me-too clones of the Nano, to no effect.)

Regulators may block Samsung's SanDisk bid. But they ought to keep an eye on Apple, too. Antitrust cops tend to spend all their time watching for monopolies — sellers who wield undue influence over a market. They should crack open their investment glossaries and look up "monopsony" — the condition that exists when a buyer dominates a market.

(Illustration via Apple Insider)

We've been focused too much on software and content, even though we know there's someone from SanDisk who just flipped their lid on the playa. Likewise, there must be some poor pacifist at PA Semi who, all too happy to get sold to Apple, learned they had to continue engineering chip fab designs for jets, subs and choppers. I mean, c'mon, AMD minions, can you come up with no good dirt on Intel executives? I yearn to hear the stories from the actual front lines of technology, and not from the front of the line at the British Bankers Club or 111 Minna. Do tell. (Photo by Marcin Wichary)

When you're in Wi-Fi range, your Yahoo ID will get you over-the-air LAUNCHcast radio, access to Flickr, and the ability to see the music played by Yahoo Messenger friends, if you have any. (You can't send IMs though.) If you subscribe to Yahoo's Music Unlimited To Go service, you can download straight to the device, and even pick up music that your friends are playing.

It's a pretty cozy setup, but it does raise the question: what happened to Rhapsody? Last fall, SanDisk and Rhapsody were friendly enough to co-brand a player . We asked, then, if the relationship really stood a chance. I guess this is our answer. –Wilson Rothman

SanDisk and Yahoo! Music Partner on Unique Music Experience [SanDisk]