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SanDisk first to market with 8GB flash player

Looking to chip away at Apple's dominate share of the digital music player market, SanDisk on Monday unveiled a new player with twice the storage capacity of the largest iPod nano.

SanDisk said its new 8GB, 2000-song Sansa e280 is the world's largest capacity flash-based player, offering twice the storage of Apple's largest iPod nano at relatively the same cost.

The $249.99 Sansa e280 also includes a microSD expansion slot allowing expansion to 10GB of music — or 2,500 songs — with an optional SanDisk 2GB microSD card.

Alongside the introduction of the e280, SanDisk reduced the price of its 6, 4 and 2GB players to $219.99, $179.99, and $139.99, respectively.

The new product line could pose as indicator of the price points and capacities Apple is likely to match or exceed with its much anticipated iPod nano update due this fall.

Although SanDisk has traditionally been recognized as a flash-memory card maker, the company has emerged as a distant second to Apple in the race for share of the digital music player market with a 9.7 percent share, according to recent NPD data.

SanDisk's ongoing assault on the iPod has at times stretched the bounds of conventional product marketing. The company in May resorted to a comedic broadside with its iDon't campaign, which stood solely to equated iPod users to sheep and monkeys, rather hype a competitive product.

Apple's iPod has so far brushed off the offensive from potential competitors, maintaining a 75.6 percent share in the US market, according to NPD.