SanDisk Introduces Sneakernet Extender and Download Service

SanDisk has unveiled TakeTV — a new line of USB accessories (4GB @ $99, 8GB @ $149) which, when docked, allow standard definition DivX, Xvid, and MPEG4 television playback. I don’t imagine the sneakernet media extender market is very large. In fact, Iomega tried something similar (using a hard drive, as opposed to flash) last year at a slightly higher price point ($220) which didn’t seem to gain any traction.

In conjunction with today’s hardware announcement, SanDisk is also taking the wraps off Fanfare, a video download service (in beta) offering both free and paid content – from partners such as CBS and Showtime. The DRM-protected video can currently be played back on PCs via TakeTV and, in the future, directly on select Sansa portable devices.

3 thoughts on “SanDisk Introduces Sneakernet Extender and Download Service”

  1. Engadget got a hands on… says the video quality isn’t great and the interface is somewhat unpolished. They also cover file format and DRM:

    Downloaded DRMed videos are, surprisingly enough, in XviD. But they’re wrapped SanDisk’s proprietary TrustedFlash rights protection. Files are .smbt.

  2. I was quite impressed with the quality of a few of the Fanfare videos. The quality of some torrent files left a little to be desired but that is due to the quality of the original file.

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