At CES 2007, SanDisk announced that it had partnered with Yahoo and software-provider Zing to produce the Sansa Connect, a Wi-Fi-enabled digital audio player that sought to out-Zune the Zune.

Sansa Connect users can listen to about 40 free Yahoo LAUNCHcast radio stations (subscribers get upwards of 120), which can be purchased over-the-air and downloaded to the player, kind of like the Music Gremlin or iPod Touch. We like that listeners can also send recommendations (but not full tracks) to one another via Wi-Fi without the rather lame three days, three plays limitation of Microsoft’s original Zune offering. Plus, it has a simple, but intuitive control scheme that makes navigation a breeze.

How Did the SanDisk Sansa Connect Fare?

Despite being a slick piece of technology, Sansa’s player isn’t as sleek as the second iteration of Zune, and does less with it’s Wi-Fi connection than the Haier ibiza Rhapsody. A recent firmware upgrade added MPEG-4 video playback (320 x 240, 30 frames per second), and artist search capabilities, which makes the player a bit more enticing.