Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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523 of 534 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Solid alternative to Ipod Nano, April 22, 2006
This player is really well thought out. I would highly recommend it to anyone thinking about an Ipod nano. The included software is complete and works flawlessly. Best of all, it will play WMA music files, has an included FM radio, has an expansion slot, and plays home videos. Here's what I've learned so far:
1. MUSIC- You can drag and drop from windows explorer or you can use Windows Media Player 10. Your choice. Either way works great. Note: The installation CD does not include WMP 10 but no big deal.
2. PHOTOS- The included media app on the install CD is a wonder to behold. It couldn't be easier to use and is rock solid stable. Photos shot horizontally are cropped (like widescreen) but photos that are vertical are shown full screen. I am going to experiment on this but haven't had time just yet since I just bought the Sansa.
3. VIDEO- Probably the best feature. The same media app that you use for photos also doubles for videos. Again, unlike some other players that have problems with converting video, this is heaven sent. Just pick out a video and press convert. It converts and then transfers in one step. It works perfectly.
Unlike past Sansa's you have to spend extra for a decent carrying case. Still, if you like felt pouches and lanyards (I Don't), they come included. One minor drawback is that you can only charge using the USB attached to the computer. An AC adapter would have been nice.
One final note. I tried to convert 2 DVD movies that were already on my hard drive. They were in the 550-700mb range. Each time, the video utility started to convert them no problem. However, in each case the utility timed out after 13 minutes 39 seconds. It cancelled the whole thing so not to worry about having 1/2 a movie on your sansa. I am going to fool around with this and see if I can shrink the file size of those 2 movies to around 200-300mb and try again. If I can work around this and am sucessful I'll let you know. Even though trying to watch a feature length movie on a 1.8 inch screen might be a bit much, the screen itself is really crystal clear (better than nano) and TFT not STN. I would highly recommend this player to anyone. Finally, a company that got everything right and it all comes right out of the box.
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169 of 171 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some notes about the e200 series, June 9, 2006
The other reviews have already commented on the features and performance, so I'll try to comment on those aspects that haven't gotten much attention.
This is a great player, but I will concentrate on some annoying aspects:
1. When you charge via USB, the display on the device is always on. It doesn't fall asleep or go dim. The device is also nonresponsive in this mode, ie the buttons won't work and you won't be able to play or do anything.
2. If you have a USB wall charger, the display will dim and the buttons will work while charging. But the device must be on, it won't charge via AC if the device is turned off.
3. Playlists can be made on the fly, but you have to play each song you want to add to the playlist in order to bring up the option.
4. Video conversion software only installs on windows XP. It also breaks up larger files into smaller ones, and it's not very intuitive to copy whole DVD's. The quicktime format it uses is proprietary. Also, video files are only recognized in the root folder, so the device won't see files located in subfolders. Videos run at 15 fps.
5. Has the option of choosing MSC or MTP mode. MSC loads the player like a flash drive so you manually drag and drop files. MTP works with wmp 10, and some other third party software to manage your syncing. I prefer MSC, but I switched to MTP because when you unplug the USB cable in MSC mode, the device reboots itself. It does not do this is MSC mode.
This is a great player, but you'll need to spend some time configuring everything to your preferences. The Sandisk firmware has good basic functionality, but if you're used to lots of features for customization, be prepared to work for it with this device. I miss features like "play most recently synchronized" that my old player had. The good news is that these firmware drawbacks may soon be addressed when Rockbox firmware is released. The hardware and build quality of this device is truly excellent, and it will be the best flash player on the market once Rockbox firmware is released for the e200 series.
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123 of 125 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cheaper (and better) option to the Nano, November 27, 2006
I've owned a 3rd generation iPod for quite a few years now and decided it was time to upgrade to something newer. The iPod Nano was one of my top choices, but then I found this item and decided to give it a try. It offered much more features (FM radio, voice recording, video, photos) for a lower price. The negative reviews and stories of it breaking soon after purchase made me wary, but I hoped they were just rare occurrences and got one anyways.
1)Music
One of the great features of the Sansa is that it allows you to drag and drop music files right into the drive in MSC mode and it'll find and play it after a restart. No need for iTunes or any other complicated jukebox program. If you would rather use a music program, it can be set to sync with a Windows Media Player library in MTP mode. I did notice that the only way to put user made playlists on the Sansa is to use Media Player and select a pre-made playlist in the sync options.
When browsing through music, the typical options of searching through albums, artists, genre, or songs are available. One problem I found was that browsing through songs in a playlist slightly lags compared to browsing through other options. I like organizing my music in playlists so this bothered me.
While listening, the repeat, shuffle, and equalizer options are only a few clicks away. One problem, however, is that you can't scroll to any place in the song. The available options are pause, skip, fast forward, and rewind. Similarly to the iPod, the scroll wheel becomes the volume control. The difference is that the Sansa resets the volume to 50 every time you turn off the player. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be like that, but hopefully it'll be fixed in a future firmware update.
As for music quality, I was quite impressed with the sound. My music sounded as good if not better than my 3G iPod. For the record, all of my music is in mp3 format of 192 to 320kbps. The included earbuds are okay, I'm not a big fan of earbuds.
2)Radio
The FM radio is a nice feature to have when you're tired with your music and want to hear something fresh. Reception from the Sansa isn't the best, but some stations still sound good if they have a strong signal. The player allows you to create your own presets or it can browse and make some for you. The ability to record radio is a nice addition for those times you want to remember a song you don't know the name to.
3)Video
Watching video on a 1.8" screen might seem pointless, but I very surprised by the quality of video the Sansa produced. I first tried converting a seven minute, DivX encoded music video using the Sansa Media Converter, but the program crashed when loading the file. To remedy this, I first converted the file to MOV using a free encoder then used the Sansa program on the MOV file. The result was a 416x304 DivX file (131mb) to a 160x208 QuickTime movie (118mb). The final file is quite large considering it's about half in resolution and frames per second (29.97 to 15fps) as the original. Nonetheless, the video looked and sounded perfect compared to the original (just quite small). Being able to carry videos with you to watch whenever you want is certainly a cool factor. As with music, one grievance is the inability to scroll to any point in the video. The only controls available during playback are fast forward, rewind, pause, skip, and volume control.
4)Photos
The Media Converter can handle most picture formats and convert them to something friendly with the Sansa. I haven't tried adding photos of my own, but the sample photos look nice.
5)Voice Recording
I tested the voice recording feature during lecture in one of my classes. I sat in the 9th row and the professor was using a mic. However, her voice still sounded muffled in the recording. The recorder does seem to be able to record voices at a close distance fairly well. Another drawback is that the output file is in 16bit wave format. Voice recording is a nice feature, but you shouldn't expect too much from it.
6)Style
The Sansa looks great, even better than the black iPod Nano in my opinion. The mechanical scroll wheel does feel a bit cheap, but I guess I'm just used to using the electrostatic touchpad of an iPod. The buttons are small if you have large hands and they are somewhat hard to press. I have to sometimes use the tip of my nails to press down. It would have been nice if the buttons were raised slightly higher, but it might ruin the Sansa's sleek look. The included pouch looks nice with the player and is certainly better than getting nothing. There is also an included lanyard that can be attached to the player. Finally, the screen is very bright and its colors vivid, even on the lowest brightness settings. Videos and photos look quite good on it despite the screen size.
7)Other Notes
I was able to get about 15 hours of use from my initial charge. It's less than the advertised amount, but came fairly close. Charging the battery does seem to be a bit of a hassle since it must be connected to a computer via USB. It would have been nice if they just included an adapter to let you charge with a wall outlet. Finally, more memory can be added with microSD cards, which is a cheaper alternative to upgrading to a model with more capacity.
Overall, the Sansa is a great audio player with some nice features. There may be some bugs, but hopefully some of them can be fixed in future firmware updates. It may not have the fame of an iPod, but sells itself through its looks and functionality.
PRO:
Price (cheaper than iPod Nano for same amount of storage)
Extras (FM radio, video, photo, voice recording)
Drag and drop to add files
Looks great
More memory can be added
CONS:
Hard to press buttons
Lag when browsing playlist
No included wall charger
Volume resets to 50 every time it's turned off
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