SanDisk Cruzer Micro Mp3 Companion

by SanDisk

Product Details

Product Manual [91kb PDF]

• Item Weight: 1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001F22R8
• Item model number: SDCZ4-000-A15
• Batteries: 1 AAA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)

Product Description

Manufacturer

Today, fans of MP3 players have a variety of options from which to choose. But if budget, size, and durability are a priority, flash memory-based players are the way to go. Substantially smaller and less expensive than the alternatives and utilizing shockproof flash memory rather than comparatively fragile hard drives or CD mechanisms, flash memory players deliver excellent bang for the buck. The tradeoff is capacity -- flash memory players simply can't store as many songs as some of the pricier units. Nevertheless, most can handle several hours of music, more than enough for most audio enthusiasts.

SanDisk has a very intriguing series of products that should be of great interest to anyone considering the flash memory MP3 option. Rather than producing a purpose-built MP3 player, the company has manufactured a variety of flash memory storage devices (the Cruzer series), designed for anyone who needs extremely compact, extremely portable data storage. It also manufacturers this product -- the SanDisk Cruzer Micro MP3 Companion. Designed to operate specifically with the tiny Cruzer Micro flash memory drive, the Cruzer Micro MP3 Companion features all the ingredients of an MP3 player, apart from the storage. By inserting the Cruzer Micro drive into the Cruzer Micro MP3 Companion, users have a full-fledged MP3 player, including such features as a backlit LCD screen to identify songs, a removable belt clip, and up to seven hours of music playback. This nifty concept also allows users to detach the Cruzer Micro MP3 Companion and use the Cruzer Micro in its standalone storage-only mode.

Product Description

SanDisk has a very intriguing series of products that should be of great interest to anyone considering the flash memory MP3 option. Rather than producing a purpose-built MP3 player, the company has manufactured a variety of flash memory storage devices (the Cruzer series), designed for anyone who needs extremely compact, extremely portable data storage. It also manufacturers this product -- the SanDisk Cruzer Micro MP3 Companion. Designed to operate specifically with the tiny Cruzer Micro flash memory drive, the Cruzer Micro MP3 Companion features all the ingredients of an MP3 player, apart from the storage. By inserting the Cruzer Micro drive into the Cruzer Micro MP3 Companion, users have a full-fledged MP3 player, including such features as a backlit LCD screen to identify songs, and up to seven hours of music playback. This nifty concept also allows users to detach the Cruzer Micro MP3 Companion and use the Cruzer Micro in its standalone storage-only mode.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's cool enough, but just barely, August 5, 2004

By 

Bill Fleet (Evansville Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SanDisk Cruzer Micro Mp3 Companion (Electronics)

It's a decent little piece of equipment, that expands the Cruzer Micro flash drive into an MP3 player. It's a fair value for the price, since (now, August 2004) other players with 256MB are going for much more. But it feels a bit cheap in construction and features.

What's good:

The sound is decent, and it interfaces well with my car stereo inputs.

It runs for more than 8 hours on a single AAA battery.

File download is relatively quick and easy. It plays MP3s and WMAs, and ignores other document types one might have on the drive.

What's not so good:

There are very few controls: An on/off/play/pause button on the front, a volume up/down rocker on the side, and a menu/function flick-up/down/in button for traversing all other functions next to it. One can do a fair amount with just these controls, but it takes a lot of care and attention, not good for the car.

There is no easy way to move between folders of music files. One must concentrate on the tiny display and flick in/up/up/in and then in/in... until one is at the folder one wants to play, then up/in to select it. Not great when driving, or even walking around.

Construction feels a little cheap, and bulky. If Sandisk has gone to the effort of designing a truly compact and elegant package for its flash drive, why make a player that's twice as deep and wide as it needs to be? Peering inside its cavities when changing batteries and drives reveals a great deal of empty space.

Despite the order of file names (I order them by track number first), the player will often decide a different order completely, and not allow re-ordering.

The unit has crashed several times. Hard. Frozen. No response to controls. Pulling the drive out will sometimes fix this, but I have also had to pop out the battery to clear it.

It is indeed a cool little idea, and a nice form factor, but all in all, I'd like a little more quality and function for a $50 piece of equipment.

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Works great for me, but it's plastic all the way...", December 26, 2004

By 

Jerry Parks "USAToday All-American Teacher; N... (Lexington, KY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SanDisk Cruzer Micro Mp3 Companion (Electronics)

I just plugged my half-gig Micro Cruzer into this unit, and despite many negative reviews, it works fine for me!

Let me preface that by saying that this is my first MP3 player, and all I wanted was mobility and inexpensive. These are apt descriptions of this little unit.

It runs forever on a good AAA rechargeable battery, and although it's pure plastic and seems a bit fragile, I dropped it on the concrete while jogging, and it came up working fine.

The instructions tell you very little, so be advised. On the other hand, there's not much to learn. Just plug in the thumb drive (SanDisk only) and play away. It even remembers where you stopped on the next insertion.

Don't expect to read the MP3 indicator text in low light, and the thing desperately needs a case (which I can't find). Nevertheless, for basic MP3 playing, it serves my purpose well. The two-year warranty doesn't hurt either.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Your search has ended., October 27, 2004

By 

Stefan Laube (Posemuckel, Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SanDisk Cruzer Micro Mp3 Companion (Electronics)

I like it. It's small, it's cheap and comes very handy in many ways. I experienced no problems so far. The sound quality is good and might be improved by using headphones of better quality. When I connected the Companion to a stereo results were just fine and the party was saved since the cd-player died. It has a build in equalizer with different settings such as bass boost, hall, classic, normal, rock... There are just a few things that bother me but I can live with them: 1.There's no option to browse through the songlists while the Companion is playing. Thus, you can only skip to the next file or back to the previous. (But you can fast forward (and rewind) within a playing track.) 2.There is no Sleep timer that would come in handy for using the player when hitting the hay.
I think Sandisk could solve these problems by adding fixes to a firm ware update.
You can easily create several folders containing the songs you like on the USB stick on your computer. I just copy the songs from my playlist in my itunes music software and paste them to the folder on the USB memory drive. They always appear in the right order on my Companion. I can only recommend this player when you are looking for a versatile low prized solution to make your USB memory drive sound.