New York Times technology columnist David Pogue got his hands on the WiFi Sansa Connect from SanDisk. Sansa Connect is potential the most interesting player in the market today with its ability to synchronize with Yahoo! Music via WiFi.

“When you’re in a Wi-Fi hot spot with the Sansa, though, you can tune into any of Yahoo’s 200 Internet radio stations. And if you’ve signed up for Yahoo’s music-rental plan ($144 a year, or $15 a month), you can download all the music you like, straight to the player. No computer necessary.” Pogue calls the direct-to-player download a “delicious twist.”

Flickr service also comes with the package. “It’s magically simple, and it beats the old accordion-fold wallet photos,” writes Pogue.

And of course, don’t forget the usual MP3 player functionality: storing music from your CD or through Yahoo or Rhapsody. The miniSD is “ingenious” and the audio is not bad either. But…

There’s no Search function! How do you access the millions of songs from Yahoo!  Even a simple music index is absent from the Sansa Connect… “no direct access at all.”

What do you get? A few samplers every day: Yahoo!’s 200 Internet radios (downloading available for subscribers), Yahoo! Most Popular and then Yahoo!’s own recommendations based on your preferences (you will have to studiously rate the music that you hear, which you can do conveniently with your Sansa player).

In other words, it is a well-regulated Yahoo! Music Sansa Connect users will be enjoying. WiFi connectivity is limited as well as you cannot use hotspots with a log-in requirement through the Web or a credit card. The player is also pre-programmed to cut its WiFi connection when the battery drops a certain level: 60%! It’s not over yet. To read more, go to Pogue’s NYT page.

[via gizmodo]