SanDisk Sansa m240 1 GB MP3 Player (Silver) Reviews

• Best MP3 Player I've Used!

  
  By A3639Z6O5JBLIZ on 2005-11-08
  I hated my iPOD Mini so I tried a small flash player that was OK but hard to read & use. Then I found the Sansa M240 (1GB) for only $87 (Circuit City) and I'm thrilled with it.
  Sound quality is very good with the supplied earbuds and using the Custom EQ. Without the Custom EQ I might not be so happy. A neckstrap with the earbuds would be nice but can be added. There's a hole to add a lanyard.
  These 55 year old eyes found the Display easy to read even in the dark with a large, bold font and good contrast. The backlight is good but I'd prefer a lighter shade of blue for even better contrast. Very minor issue and really a matter of preference.
  The controls are outstanding and one of the best features! The LARGE buttons are very easy to use and provide good tactile response.
  Build quality is typical of similar products and seems well made with good fit and finish. Lightweight and handy size. Overall design is excellent in that they've put a large display and large buttons into a unit only slightly larger than a thumb drive!
  I haven't gone through a battery yet but I do like the fact that it runs on a single AAA battery and doesn't need to be recharged with a cable or charger. I always keep a few AAA's in my briefcase anyway for "in-flight" replacements.
  Connection to a PC is simple with the supplied standard mini-USB cable (same as for my phone and camera!). I like that there are no proprietary cables or connectors. I prepared my playlist with WMP and synched the M240. The M240 automatically sorts by artist, album and genre.
  Although I haven't used it yet, the subscription compatibility is something I will probably use.
  The FM Tuner receives even weaker stations and has 20 presets. With that many I can use different groups of presets for favorites in multiple cities. It would be nice to be able to record from FM as some units do but it's not a big deal.
  There is a voice recorder funtion that might be handy but I don't really need it.
  If you like simple & easy and eschew tiny, hard to use buttons and miniscule displays, you will like this a LOT - and it SOUNDS good.
  Bottom Line: YES, I would buy it again!
  
  

• Worth the price and holds a ton

  
  By A2JT6BO9PW4Q8O on 2006-01-03
  My brother did a little more research than I did and gave me this mp3 player for Christmas, and it turned out to be far better than the one I gave him (oops). I have spent a little time with this since then, and have been downloading large amounts of music to the player with no sign of it having major problems. The sound quality provided by the earbuds is a lot better than I expected, and the easy controls make this pretty simple to appreciate and use.
  
  Included with my package was an offer from two third party companies worth checking out. The first was from audible.com for audiobook downloads (be warned that a lot of them are larger unabridged offerings) that has a huge selection to choose from, and the other was for Rhapsody, offering an $80 rebate if you subscribed for 6 months to their service. I have had a problem getting the Rhapsody website to accept the UPC number from my player required for preregistration, so be aware you might have a problem.
  
  I am planning on taking this lightweight one-AAA battery player out on the ski slopes to have something tolisten to, and think that this will more than capably do the trick. I strongly recommend it if you have never gotten an mp3 player, because until I got this one, I hadn't had one, and using the USB connection and armband plan to get a lot of use out of this player.
  
  

• Durability problem. Think it as "disposable".

  
  By A3CZMO8NOY5H0S on 2006-02-24
  Big durability problem. It worked great for first 3 months. Then it's dead. The button doesn't respond. There are nine independent "push" bottons, Much easier to navigate than ipod. I hated ipod's "touch-sensitive" button. To transfer (non-copy-right-protected) MP3 files (but not MPEG4), you don't even need to launch MP3 application (MusicMatch, itune etc), which makes file-transfer much faster and easier. Very light, you can drop it thousands times, and it never breaks. It works like a removable USB drive (You need to go to Menu>Setting>USB> to change Auto to MSB. Manual doesn't explain this!) You can also use this as a USB thumb drive. You don't need to install driver either. The only caveat is a poor written manual.
  
  

• Buyer beware

  
  By AE0O1VWSOQTD1 on 2006-02-04
  This is a nice, lightweight little player but be careful - SanDisk is not truthful about what support is offered for various formats. I have had serious issues playing back audio files in wma format. I spent many hours with SanDisk tech support resolving possible causes. Initially they blamed the bit rate, but with some work I was able to transfer files with a sampling rate within their spec. Finally, I was told that wma would not play correctly at all (it will skip or not support fast forward or rewind) - it is a 'known issue.' They will not authorize a return or a credit for another model in spite of the fact that they advertise full support for wma. This company is not truthful in the product spec they present, so buy at your own risk!
  
  

• Fantastic mp3 player for gym rats!

  
  By A1BB98T1COOPDZ on 2006-06-08
  I bought the Sansa SanDisk M240 2 months ago and I've been very pleased with the purchase. Here are all the reasons I bought it and like it:
  
  -I needed an mp3 player to use during workouts (both at the gym and runs/walks outside). It comes with an adjustable elastic arm band and a plastic protective sheath for use with or without the armband. This unit is perfect for working out.
  -Reasonably priced (around $75)
  -Large-ish capacity (1GB) flash drive which also functions as a jump drive to store non music files on as long as you have your usb cord with you
  -Runs on 1 AAA battery (!!!) (they say 16 hours of play time and that's about right)
  -Features an FM radio
  -Hold switch to keep unit on or off
  -It's small, lightweight, and quite attractive.
  -The display is easy to read.
  -It has a microphone but I have never used it so I can't comment on that function.
  -Comes with headphones that are probably the best of the 3 pairs I own
  -Simple drag and drop file transfer to load/unload music (but not compatible with Windows 98)
  
  The only issue I had was on the first day that I got it, it wouldn't let me drop more than 125 songs on the player. When I called customer service they immediately suggested that I create a folder on the player and drop the files into the folder (instead of directly onto the drive). That solved my problem and I was able to load up almost a full 1GB of music onto it. I was impressed with how knowledgeable and helpful their customer service was.
  
  May I suggest that you buy a set of rechargeable AAA batteries and a charging unit (I like Rayovac) to help save our planet?
  
  I would buy this product again in a heartbeat.
  
  
• Great player--Here's how to organize folders easily
  By A2NZE2Z4Z9CN64 on 2006-05-14
  Wonderful--put me in the category of finding this player great. Basically a no-brainer and intuitive menus. Two minutes after opening the box it was operational. Anything more look at the full manual in your CD or amazon digital locker. I have a notebook with windows media player 10 and it works flawlessly with this. I'd expect the same with the other compatible music services.
  
  One thing I initially had a problem with was how to organize some of my files--for instance I have language CDs which are tagged inconsistently and wound up all over the place when I synched. Or you might simply want to rename or reorganize your files into groups. The other review with the how to didn't work for me so if you still need help and use Windows Media Player to synch here's all you do:
  
  1. Open your Media Player and go to Library.
  2. Create your list library as usual by placing music or files in middle column.
  3. When your list is complete select all files you wish to organize or rename and right click. Select "Advanced Tag Editor".
  4. Every track you selected will appear. Using a consistent organizing system go to "Artist Info" and name the Artist (1st Level), then go to "Track info" tab and name your Album (2nd level) with your title and track number. You can give it a Genre if you desire as well.
  5. When completed start your sync. Sansa will recognize your system and will play files in the sequence you numbered your tracks.
  
  Voila. You can batch tag some categories e.g., "Album" saving yourself some time if you have lots of files.
  
  This is a great bargain for the money.
  
  
  
  
• Between a Shuffle and a Sansa
  By A1PSVZBM894R5H on 2006-09-12
  I had a weeklong experince with the IPOD shuffle - and was horribly dissapointed with it. The Shuffle is like a Yugo - while the Sansa - I guess is like a Toyota - great value with smooth performance.
  
  Pros -
  1) You get a 5 band user adjustable graphic equalizer - and there are presets too.
  
  2) It can be set to connect as a mass storage device (in settings) and after that - simply use Windows Explorer to move songs in and out. It updates library automatically (within a second or two) after USB is disconnected and is then ready to play your tracks. What could be simpler?
  
  3)Clear and sharp display - with plenty of pixels to display needed information. The display is backlit but the backlight seems to be disabled automatically when battery is low. Works for me! I see no need for a power guzzling color display in a device like this.
  
  4) The headset was better than expected (surprise).
  
  5) Great Radio (better than the Creative Zen) - it is set to Mono in Settings - but you continue to get good reception even after changing it to Stereo. I am really surprised at the quality of the radio - and it has 20 presets to boot - all very easy to program in.
  
  6) Sandisk gives you a clear case and an armband - no need to buy one separately.
  
  7) For a small device - the buttons are relatively easy to press.
  
  8) Works as a flash storage device for moving files around.. no problem. And costs almost the same as one!
  
  
  So darn easy to use - have not had to read the manual yet.
  
  Sound quality is pretty good.
  
  Cons - minor really
  Battery cannot be charged inside the device (this would have been most convenient).
  The "Sandisk" "Sansa" names are written vertically - the device is supposed to be used horizontally. The industrial designers at Sandisk weren't thinking.
  I don't like its rounded profile at the back. I think a dinky box makes for a better looking and easier handling device.
  Cannot delete songs directly on the device - only possible using Windows Explorer.
  =========================================
  
  Between a Yugo and a Toyota - what would you choose?
  
  
  
• Don't sell "reconditioned" items as "new"
  By A1N7U5MH4J38MP on 2006-12-29
  I had a very frustrating experience with this purchase, and I'm not sure who's at fault, Amazon or Sandisk. But I'm writing this as a cautionary tale for everyone who buys an MP3 player online.
  
  First off, let me say that I think this is a neat little gadget -- a great design and a solid value. However, there were problems:
  
  I ordered this item "new" from Amazon. In retrospect, it seems I was shipped a Sansa that had already been returned as defective. As I realized later, my original package didn't include several items I should have received (and did receive after returning the original one and complaining it was defective.) The items I didn't receive in my original shipment: earbud cushions, carrying case, and the user's manual (very, very frustrating, as I had to search online for instructions).
  
  After using my Sansa for about 10 days, I discovered that my unit couldn't hold more than 10 MP3 files. Whenever I loaded more files, it locked up. I spent several hours reformatting the device, only to figure out on my own that it was defective. Again: very, very frustrating, and in retrospect it's obvious the device I purchased from Amazon as "new" had already been returned as defective, making all this all the more irritating. I can understand discovering that a used or reconditioned item I purchased turns out defective through an oversight. What I really object to is having to spend a lot of my time troubleshooting a device that, it turns out, has obviously been returned as defective by someone else.
  
  To Amazon's credit, they shipped me a replacement Sansa after I complained, and didn't wait for me to return the defective one. The replacement unit works fine. However, I don't appreciate having to spend several hours troubleshooting a defective item without any compensation, other than receiving the working item I had already paid for. By purchasing a "new" item, I had already indicated I wasn't willing to gamble on a used or reconditioned device.
  
  
• Handy and Cost-Effective.
  By A185P3TRER5MTX on 2006-07-01
  I've been using my Sansa for about a year now, and considering the current price, I'd say it's well worth picking one up if you're new to the mp3-player game. While it's far from perfect, nor is it iPod-pretty, it's cheap and functional... if you don't mind tweaking it a bit.
  
  Out of the box, the Sansa (not to mention every other Sandisk mp3 player I've used) has an ugly user interface, a lot of hard-to-find features, and one huge, truly infuriating flaw: it plays songs out of order. Even if you put mp3s in specific album folders, the Sansa will jumble up your personal playlists.
  
  I'll start with the interface. Compared to the Nano, which has a nice backlit, multi-line colour screen, the Sansa offers you four lines with scrolling titles and artists. And the scroll is SLOOOOOWWWW. Consequently, if you're trying to figure out the name of the song, you end up staring at the screen for 20 seconds just waiting - there's no way of manually scrolling. The Sansa assumes that everyone listens to mp3s the same way - with uniform id3 tags. It would be so simple to give the user the option to scroll the filename, but no. You have to deal with an excess of information and chances are you'll walk into a tree or something.
  
  If you want to do anything besides listen to mp3s - use the Sansa as a recorder, or listen to the radio - first you have to find those features. The interface is highly unintuitive and requires a lot of fiddling before you figure things out. That said, the tuner and recorder functions are nice to have on hand, though I use them rarely. One of the best things about the Sansa m200 series is the introduction of an effective equaliser, with a set of powerful presets - definitely appreciated.
  
  The Sansa is also a voracious battery drainer compared to other mp3 players on the market. It takes a single AAA, but if you listen to it for any longer than fifteen minutes a day, you're going to be replacing your battery once a week.
  
  As for the matter of mp3s playing out of order... There's a solution at hand. See, all Sandisk players (for some UNGODLY reason) store and sort files according to FILE DATE. Once you realise this, it's just a matter of downloading a freeware program like SetFileDate and modifying the timestamp on all the files you want to copy to your Sansa. Problem solved. It's a truly idiotic flaw - Sandisk should incorporate an automatic file-timestamp when files are copied onto its players, or simply adapt the device to play according to file structure - but in the meantime, manually changing the timestamp works just fine.
  
  Once you've whipped the Sansa into shape, the positive aspects become more obvious. The exterior casing is well-designed, and I prefer the rounded shape to the iPod's flat-card appearance; there are no enforced DRM or file-type limitations that I've found so far; the sound quality is reasonably clean; and once you figure out the various settings, you actually end up having a lot more control over the player than your standard iPod.
  
  One last criticism I will make... The headphone jack on Sandisk players wears out like clockwork after about a year. This is quite a common issue with a lot of smaller mp3 players on the market right now, but it seems to hit the Sansa with frustrating regularity. Try to avoid pulling your headphones out of the jack as much as possible and your player should live a lot longer.
  
  
• Sansa Super for Simple User
  By A1DXBZZKHSPVJZ on 2006-06-05
  Several years ago I bought my son an Archos player. Last Christmas I got him a Video iPod. I knew both were too big and bulky for my needs. A few months ago I got an iPod Shuffle and loved it but there were three problems. One, the lack of any display, two, the controls were a bit small for my fingers and three, it can only charge off a USB port. I'm headed to Odessa, Ukraine later this week and won't have access to a computer's USB port so I wanted something that runs off good old-fashioned batteries. So I bought the Sansa m240 from Amazon while they were running the $[...] rebate. [...]
  I've read the complaints of some of the reviewers and so let me say upfront that I don't need or ask much from a player. If I can load the songs that I want and then be able to listen to them, in sequence or shuffled, I'm happy. The Sansa lets me do exactly that. I spent last weekend loading my MP3 collection into Windows Media Player 10 on my XP SP2 Home machine and rating the songs to get 1 GB worth of music with 4 stars.
  
  Today I connected my newly arrived Sansa m240, copied my four-star listing to the sync playlist in Windows Media Player and downloaded the music to the Sansa without a hitch. It couldn't be simpler. I set the Sansa playback to shuffle and life is good.
  
  Someone commented on the lack of documentation but the user guide available on the mini-CD or from the Sandisk website seems more than adequate. I've also heard the arm band and case is a bit cheesy. Perhaps, but it does what I want it to do which is hold the Sansa on my arm (the iPod Shuffle lived at cord's length in my pants pocket).
  
  Finally, someone complained about the size. Well I'm not sure if there's anything smaller than the iPod Shuffle and I don't consider the Sansa much bigger. Given the display and the ability to swap out an AAA battery on the road, I'll take the Sansa over the Shuffle anyday.
  
  The Sansa m240 is perfect for my needs, which are to have my music on the road in a light package, be able to see what's playing to appease my occasional curiosity and be able to use easily replaceable batteries. That's why I give it 5 stars.
  
  
• Great Economical MP3 Player For Gym Use
  By A33N0WOSYLT5IM on 2006-11-28
  I bought this at a Black Friday sale to replace my aging Rio s35s. Overall I'm really impressed with it so far. The player doesn't move when I set it on the little shelf on the EFX machine and the buttons are big enough to be easily manipulated just by feel, without having to look at the player. The backlight is bright enough to easily read the screen in the dark cabin of the car. I can't comment too much on the battery life other than to say I've been using it for about 4 hours and the included alkaline battery still reads as having a full charge. The fact that the player only takes 1 AAA is also a great feature because there is nothing worse than a dead battery in the middle of a workout and with this player all you have to do is pitch the old one, put in a new one and you're ready to go, no re-charge downtime and no worries about a rechargeable battery eventually going bad as with an ipod. The volume is more than sufficient to drown out the background noise of the gym and keep me focused on my workout. The toggle "lock" switch on the side of the player is also very convenient. I had no problems syncing this player with my computer using Windows Media Player 11. The only cons I can come up with are that the player doesn't have a time/ date display and the case included with the player is basically a glorified Ziploc bag, but Sandisk does sell a silicone case w/ a belt clip for the m200 series which I also purchased for about $8 and highly suggest picking up if you get this player. I would highly suggest any of the m200 players to anyone who is looking for a small, economical mp3 player for the gym and wouldn't hesitate to purchase this one again.
  
  Sidenote on Storage Space: In order to fit more songs on the player, take the mp3 or wma file and convert them to a lower bit rate (i.e., 192 kbps to 96kbps). This is what I do and I really can't notice much decline in sound quality (at least not while I'm running). By doing this I have been able to fit 231 songs on the player and it is only about 60% full. [...]
  
  
• Wanted a reason to buy an iPod
  By A2X00MR1CXANFS on 2006-07-15
  I really thought I wanted an iPod or one of those Creative Zen Vision players, but when I took an honest look at what I wanted a player for, I just couldn't justify the cost or the necessity of a large hard drive player. My first choice for a flash player was the Creative MuVo.....but I couldn't find one in any local stores. Circuit City had the M240 on sale for $69, so that sealed the deal for me.
  
  When I first opened the packaging, I tried to plug the unit in to the USB port on my PC......no go. Finally figured out that I had to change the USB setting on the unit to MSC to have windows recognize it and show up just like any removable hard drive.
  
  Second issue came about when I tried to upload over 400MB worth of MP3's on it. I kept getting an error saying that it couldn't write the file. Well, I ended up pulling the unit up on My Computer, and when I pulled up properties, I saw that it only had 400MB of the 1GB formatted. Don't know why a 1GB player would only have 400MB available from the factory. So, after formatting the thing, it finally had 1GB available, and then was able to reload all my files.
  
  Other than those two minor inconviniences, the player has performed great. The headphones sound o.k. Not great. The backlight goes off kind of quick, but again, I finally figured out how to change that setting, so it's fine now.
  
  The FM radio picks up all my local stations fine, and seems to hold the channels well while traveling too.
  
  I haven't messed with the recorder yet. A brief look in the manual makes it appear to be a little confusing to set up, but we'll see.
  
  In summary, I think this is a great value to anyone just looking to play MP3's, or audio books. It's small, light weight, and the buttons feel solid on it. Perhaps a new set of headphones are in order for people who are more audiophiles.
  
  
• Don't buy it.
  By A13YJSEFEZ17PO on 2005-11-29
  Edited reivew:
  
  I returned two of them to the store. One wouldn't turn on after a couple of months. The other one use to freeze in the middle of playing a song. Bought a Sony NW-E507 and is working flawlesy for 6 months now, not to mention it has a sick OLED fluorescent display.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A great bargain
  By A1O1W7RDOTQRGZ on 2006-12-13
  When my iPod died several months ago I was distressed since I listen to music on campus to pass the time more easily in between classes. I also used it extensively for extra stimulation in outdoor journeys and in transits. The warranty had run up and Apple wanted over $250 to get it 'repaired.' After my attempts at fixing it failed, the time was finally called, and the deceased discarded.
  
  In the interim period between my iPod and the SanDisk Sansa M240 I used an old, scratched up, taped together, barely functional CD player with no sufficient shock protection that had been collecting dust in the bottom of my closet for a few years. The CD player was not a sufficient substitute: it was bulky, only held about 80 minutes of audio, would skip frequently, had poor audio fidelity and was increasingly becoming unusable due to structural damage.
  
  Clearly I needed an MP3 player to fulfill my needs. I picked up the SanDisk Sansa M240 and must say I am quite pleased with the result. The only other contender was the 1 gigabyte iPod nano. I have no experience with the nano but I do know is that it costs about 30 dollars more, doesn't have an FM tuner or onboard mic and also must interface (like the regular iPods) exclusively with the extraordinarily frustrating program iTunes.
  
  The first thing you will notice about the M240 is that it is only a few inches long and only weighs a few ounces. I almost fear that I will break it in my hands simply by applying too much pressure to it's face. In the end this becomes a highly desirable design feature because it is extremely mobile and even comes with a carrying case and armband for exercise or other intense activities (although I haven't had any experience using those items). Luckily the buttons are big enough for even the thickest of fingers to navigate easily.
  
  Although the M240 is physically tiny it has identical capacity to the iPod nano and also more features. It has a built-in FM tuner that has surprisingly good audio quality and reception (it has no antenna by default, you can attach a USB cable for extra reception but won't need it if you are above ground and in a suburban or urban area) and a onboard mic that is useful for taking notes. I was amazed to find that inside my kitchen I was getting perfect radio reception without the USB attachment and could walk around with no audio distortion. The M240 also has some other minor applications like an alarm clock feature that may come in handy.
  
  Installation of the 240 is incredibly simple, all you do is connect it to your computer using the USB cable that comes with it and it will be added to My Computer. From there, all you have to do is drag files from your computer into the MP3 player's "data" directory (which comes up like a USB pen drive would once inserted). I find that this method of adding and deleting files from the MP3 player is much more dynamic, natural and speedy than using the cumbersome, restrictive and poorly designed iTunes. If I want to add "Tentacles of Whorror" by Leviathan to the player and its full, all I have to do is go to My Computer, double click on the player icon, go to the data folder, delete a album or two that is already on there and then simply drag the Leviathan over (or copy and paste). Performing the same operation in iTunes would take at least twice as long and be frustrating to boot. You can supposedly synchronize the M240 applications on your computer to transfer songs to the player, but I prefer to do it myself through Windows.
  
  The most important aspect of any audio device is of course how it sounds. The M240 has surprisingly high audio fidelity and comes with a versatile suite of tools to customize the sound to your liking such as a fully programmable software equalizer. I found that once I had tweaked the equalizer and sound settings that the audio output from the M240 was phenomenal, sounding comparable to my home audio setup in terms of fidelity. I was also surprised at how loud I could make the volume (With no audio distortion). The ear bud phones that come with the player are also of surprising quality. As is the case with all ear buds, there is little bass, however this particular set has more bass than the stock iPod buds. The buds also fit comfortably in my ear and cause no irritation, a problem I have had with most ear bud phones. I would recommend getting a cheap pair of Sennheiser HD-212s or HD-220s for a proper listening experience: hearing the piece how the artist intended for it to be heard. As I have said before and will say now, if you aren't listening to music with a good pair of headphones you are not listening to music.
  
  The software of the M240 is very easy to manipulate to have it do whatever you want. A problem with the cumbersome iPod software was adding multiple albums to the current playlist, but this is easy with the M240. The buttons are easy to use and very responsive to your actions.
  
  Some other random things of note. The M240 has great battery life, requiring only one AAA battery for about 15-20 hours of continuous usage. The LCD fully reads ID3 information including properly formated album and title names.
  
  Overall, the SanDisk Sansa M240 is a great value for the money, being superior to the iPod nano and cheaper as well. I couldn't think of any better alternative for a low capacity MP3 player, it has no obvious cons.
  
  
• *Was* Valid Complaint, But Now Firmware Fixed Problem
  By A340ECSASO3LQV on 2005-12-21
  "I primarily listen to spoken work programs - audio books and radio shows. If you do this as well, DO NOT BUY THIS PLAYER. It does not have any resume feature, whatsoever. If you turn it off, you must manually fast forward or rewind to your stopping point. To make it worse, those rewind/fast forward speeds are horribly slow without any menu options to change those speeds. I had the eariler Sandisk 1mb player and it was a much better product."
  
  One of the reviewers mentioned this problem. This was a problem with just about all the MP3 players. I took one of the files from NetLibrary that did *not* resume properly with earlier SanDisk products, but it works fine with this one.
  
  
  
• Great for the price, but a couple of quirks you should know about...
  By A335UPUWVD6PW5 on 2006-05-21
  I listen to podcasts and bought this for a trip, so I could have lots to listen to while on the long flights. The unit was great; SMALL, LIGHT and HELD MANY HOURS OF PODCASTS, AUDIOBOOKS.
  
  But podcasts are, by their nature, short-lived; you listen and then delete, then load the next day's or week's episode. This player DOES NOT have a DELETE function when you're listening to it in stand-alone mode.
  
  The other quirk: the FAST-FORWARD IS NOT VERY FAST. On many models, if you keep pressing fast-forward, the unit picks up speed after a few seconds. This one does not do that, so fast forwarding through an hour of material takes too long. This becomes a problem if you accidentally touch the fast-fwd or reverse buttons too quickly and they simply skip to the end or beginning of a recording. (You have to press and *hold* to engage fast-fwd or rewind).
  
  One more minor issue.. the PLASTIC COVER that becomes a belt clip and that also connects to the arm strap is VERY LIGHTWEIGHT & CHEESY
  
  In summary, USABILITY IS MEDIOCRE BUT Otherwise I love it for what it's best at: HIGH VOLUME STORAGE AT A GREAT PRICE
  
  
• Worthless for non-music files
  By A1M0EYWYGQMW8N on 2005-11-22
  I primarily listen to spoken work programs - audio books and radio shows. If you do this as well, DO NOT BUY THIS PLAYER. It does not have any resume feature, whatsoever. If you turn it off, you must manually fast forward or rewind to your stopping point. To make it worse, those rewind/fast forward speeds are horribly slow without any menu options to change those speeds. I had the eariler Sandisk 1mb player and it was a much better product.
  
  
• work ok but with some bugs
  By A32NZ5IK2AZPSV on 2006-11-22
  I got this player from Wal-Mart for about $72 after tax. I like the long battery live, I didn't have to change the battery after 3 or 4 days of usage.
  
  The only bug I hate is when I transfer audio tracks from my PC to the player, it changed some title and artist's name for few tracks (each transfer is on few different tracks). Since you can't make any changes when the sound tracks is on the player, nor can you set a "playlist" on the player, so when I transfer an audio book to the player, it is not playing in the order of the chapters for the book. Because of this bug, I have to double check the title name every time after a transfer and write down the tracks that the name has been changed and later on manually play the tracks in the order of the eAudio book.
  
  I assume people use this player for individual soundtrack doesn't care about this, but for me and people who use it for playing eAudio book will hate this player.
  
  
• Lightweight but Heavy in Features
  By A3G2YUICSF3EY on 2006-10-14
  After three weeks of heavy use, I can confidently say that the Sansa M240 is an excellent buy. Although small and light, it is reasonably durable in terms of short drops and the occasional bump. It has been in and out of my pockets for over forty days now, and I have yet to scratch the screen--don't get me wrong, the plastic facing isn't invulnerable, but it is definitely strong. The earbuds would satisfy any user but an audiophile; for the audiophiles, they'll hold you over long enough for your outrageously expensive substitutes to arrive in the mail.
  
  Cons: Aside from the "Favorites" list, the Sansa lacks any built in playlist feature whatsoever--however, there is a workaround (see below). Also, it has an odd power-saving feature that I wish the user could switch off at will: When the battery level reaches 50% or so, the backlight only comes on when the forward, reverse or menu buttons are pressed. At 25-30% remaining power, the backlight seems to shut off completely. This allows the Sansa to continue playing for much longer, but due to this undocumented feature, the backlight only works for around half of the power cycle.
  
  Tips:
  --If you're into FM radio, let it seek out and number stations for you; you can later go through and delete all but your favorites. This is much quicker than going through the FM band and selecting your choices by hand.
  
  --Playlist Workaround: Although playlists cannot be created by the Sansa, it will play m3u playlists (such as those generated by Winamp) with only minor modification of the list. After creating a playlist with your favored program, open it in a text editor and delete all absolute path entries (but NOT the actual filename!). For example, say you have an item in your playlist that looks like this:
  
  C:\My Documents\Music\MP3s\thissongrocks.mp3
  
  You would have to delete everything but the actual name of the file. The result would be:
  
  thissongrocks.mp3
  
  Once Saved on the Sansa, playlists can be accessed through the "Playlist" entry under "Play Music" menu. I've added twelve playlists so far, and haven't yet reached a cap, so I assume it can hold a fair number.
  
  --A pair of cheap AAA batteries and a recharger work wonders. While one battery is charging, the other is inside the Sansa; when the one in the Sansa gets low, switch! I prefer to switch them out once the backlight goes into powersaving mode.
  
  
• Great player at an awesome price
  By A17V0K6H0G3BD2 on 2005-12-21
  I was torn between joining the Apple Borg and getting an I-Pod Shuffle and exploring other brands of flash-drive players. I knew I neither needed nor wanted one of the huge 20GB hard-drive behemoths, as I needed to be able to take my player to the gym (which the hard-drive models make it difficult, if not impossible, to do) and there is no way I would ever need to sort through EVERY song in my entire CD collection. A flash drive player was the obvious choice for me.
  
  And so I bought Sansa m240 on the recommendation of reviewers on several different websites. Man, am I glad I did.
  
  This is a really great player with terrific sound even on 64kbps WMAs (which take up half the space of similar-quality 128k MP3s). I've got about 150 MP3s and another 100 WMAs stored in the 1 GB of memory, and I estimate I've got room for about another 100 WMAs. I have no idea what else I will put on this baby, but I'm good to go for now with about two workdays worth of music.
  
  Loading songs is tremendously easy--just drag and drop like you would any other file in Windows. The operation of the unit is also fairly intuitive, with noncomplicated menus and easy-to-use controls. I was up and running within five minutes.
  
  The FM tuner works great, although I haven't really used it all that much. It's a nice feature, though. The nicest feature of all, though (for a unit this size and price), is the four-band equalizer. That's something the similar-sized Shuffle does not have (Heck, it doesn't even have a DISPLAY). I haven't used the voice recorder because I have a PDA that does the same thing, nor have I explored its audio book and subscription music capabilities.
  
  I could go on and on about this unit. I've had it a week now and I really haven't found anything I DON'T like about it. It's HIGHLY recommended if you are in the market for a flash MP3 player to listen to tunes on.
  
  
• A very good product at a great price
  By A3OKP2Z0XRC5EL on 2006-03-10
  Basically, this is a great little MP3 player from a good name brand for a great price. Where else are you going to find a 1 GB MP3 player for under $100?
  
  The Sansa M240 sounds great. It comes with earbud-type headphones, and using these, the player sounds pretty good. It has a good volume range, and sounds just fine at all volume levels, from quiet enough to use in a library to loud enough to hear over a lawn mower.
  
  It is rated at 19 hours of battery life on a single AAA battery. I have not actually timed how long a battery lasts, but it seems about right. I have bought a few rechargeable AAA batteries, and this has proven much more convenient with MP3 players with a built-in rechargeable battery, because I can charge the dead batteries while still using the player, which is a definite plus in my book.
  
  Probably the only real complaint that I have it how the Sansa handles files. Transferring files to the Sansa is not perfectly straightforward. You have to build a playlist in a music player utility on your computer, such as Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, etc., and then synchronize that playlist with your Sansa. This basically means that it will compare the playlist with what is on the Sansa, and make sure that they are the exact same files. It will automatically make the two lists identical. While this is not a bad way to go, I would like to be able to easily add just a couple of songs directly to the Sansa, or take a few off, without going through Windows Media Player. It's a small complaint, but it's still a bit annoying. However, if you are computer-savvy enough to use Windows Media Player or some similar program, rip music from CDs, and make playlists, you will be able to put the songs on the Sansa without a problem.
  
  I have gotten into audible books since I bought this player, and it works great for those, too. It also allows you to use subscription services, where you download "rental" files and things like that, which is a nice feature if you want to use Napster or one of those types of services. A nice plus that you won't find in many of the more expensive players.
  
  The Sansa also comes with a plastic sleeve-type case for the player and an armband. The case is a little bit cheap-looking, but it does a fine job of protecting the player, and what else can you ask for at a rock-bottom price? It even comes with a AAA battery to get you started. Granted, a AAA battery only costs $.50, but it's still nice to get one in the package.
  
  The menu system built into the player is very straightforward and easy to navigate. The buttons are also built in a logical way, so that they are not so prone to accidentally hitting them, which is a common flaw to many MP3 players, like iPods. This might seem like a minor thing, but I have talked to several owners of iPods who complain constantly about accidentally skipping songs, etc., because of the poor design of their wheels.
  
  This player features a flash memory system, instead of a hard drive. While flash memory players generally can not hold as much as hard drive models, they are also much less prone to skipping and/or damage if they're shaken severely, dropped, etc. They should also be much more reliable long term, as the flash memory is a much more solid construction than hard drives. And this player is rated to hold 480 WMA music files, so how much more do you really need?
  
  I bought one of these players, and asked my wife if she wanted one, too. She said no. Then she used it one day, and we went out the next day and bought her one, too, she liked it so much. I heartily recommend it to anyone looking for an MP3 player with good sound quality, decent storage capacity, and a great price.
  
  
• If using for Audio Books read this
  By A2CDFHPDAIO0LU on 2006-06-27
  I bought this unit to use for listening to Audio Books. I read the reviews here and decided on this unit. There is one detail I didn't come across in any of the reviews that has a big impact on using this unit for books. The counter only counts to 18 hours. During the first 18 hours each time you turn the unit off it starts where you left off when you turn it back on. If your book exceeds 18 hours the counter starts over again at 0. When you turn the unit off and then turn it on again, you are in the first 18 hours of the book, not where you left off in the second 18 hours. You then have to fast forward 18 hours to the point you stopped. If your book exceeds 36 hours the counter starts over again at 0 and it becomes a real nightmare getting to your place again. I did contact the help desk and they said there was no solution to this problem.
  
  That being said, if your books are all under 18 hours this unit is great. It is very easy to use. Transferring files is easy even for someone who is not very computer savvy.
  
  
• great little device
  By A2901YDXL5PC35 on 2006-07-15
  I bought this mp3 player on amazon for only $60, and so far I'm completely satisfied. Originally, I wanted something with larger storage (5 gb or so), but then I decided, why pay $200 for something that holds slightly more when I can pay a quarter of that and not constantly worry about losing it or breaking it.
  
  Pros:
  -Super easy to install music, audiobooks, or whatever. Plug the player into your usb port and drag and drop through Windows Explorer. No annoying software.
  -Small unit, without being TOO small and thus easy to lose.
  -Intricate menus that allow precise control of your playback.
  -Easy to read display
  -Easy to use buttons
  -Seems pretty durable, but I've only had mine for a few weeks...so we'll see.
  
  Cons:
  -Player skips if you press buttons while listening to a song. This isn't a huge issue, but its annoying if I'm trying to queue up a new album while still listening to the last track on the previous album.
  -And on that note: poor playlist control. You have the option of listening to a single album at a time, all songs by an artist at a time, all songs in a style, etc. But you can't (as far as I can figure) queue up songs behind an album or group that you've already started playing. You've got to wipe the slate clean every time you want to switch. And you can't jump between different folders on the drive with a single push of a button, you've got to go through the menus. Again, this isn't a big deal. Particularly if you're the kind of person who just uses an mp3 player for workout music and wants random shuffle. But I like listening to albums in proper order and everything, and I found this slightly easier to do on my old mp3 cd player.
  -Files must be properly tagged if you want playback to work properly. The mp3 player plays songs in order according to their id3 tags. So if you want to listen to an album in its proper order, the tags must very specifically label each song with its track number. Otherwise it'll play in alphabetical order. Again, not a big deal. But I was confused about this for the first day or so.
  
  It might seem like I spent more time on cons than pros, but only to point out some issues that confused me when I first started using this player. Hopefully, this will help out someone reading and allow them to start listening with greater ease. On the whole though, I'm totally satisfied. And when my player eventually gets lost or breaks, I'll probably buy from this company again (and by that time, they'll probably have 2 or 3 gb players for the same price...woo!)
  
  
• Quality control?
  By A3QZ6BFXJK88RK on 2006-02-17
  I bought a Sansa recently, and I really liked the user interface, good storage capacity, form factor, etc. That said, the little device let me down.
  
  The first one lasted a week, then locked-up. Sandisk tech support told me that there is no reset function on the unit, so I had to return it to the store. No reset button, really?
  
  The second Sansa lasted two weeks before I experienced the same issue. I returned it and purchased a Samsung YP-F1, a player that still allows configuration as a Mass Storage Device. That way, you can treat it as a hard drive and simply drag-and-drop the files you want onto the unit.
  
  As an aside, let me register a complaint against the current copy-protection frenzy. "Plays for Sure" simply means that the user is going to be inconvenienced by software that is going to make sure that the user is authorized to listen to something before allowing a file transfer. I don't steal music, and I also don't buy music from any online source. All the music I put on my player comes from ripping my CD's in my collection. There are no licenses for this, but it is no less legal than copy-protected music.
  
  
• Great MP3 player for the $$
  By A4SXQ6ZOP92FY on 2006-11-24
  Relatively easy to navigate menu options. I love this durable MP3 player, no need to buy an overpriced idiotPod, this one is does the job. I commute on a bike everyday and this little fella makes it fun to ride. Here are some tips for those who are planning on buying this MP3 player/FM Tuner:
  1) The earphones included sucks for those who dislike the 'shove in ear' type, get another to your liking.
  2) When transfering MP3s from PC to this player, the default setting under: Main Menu > Settings > USB > Auto Detect mode didn't work for me. If you experience the same problem, change this setting to MSC and you should be good to go.
  3) Once in a blue moon, when you start playing, no matter what you do if you do not get any sound even though everything appeared OK. Simply power off the device, then power it on and it should be fine. I'm not sure what causes it; a software bug or me being a clumsy idiot and dropping it a few times from the table?
  
  
• Dan Stevens
  By AGN2COJE58PVQ on 2006-11-27
  I am very happy with this product it has features that the Ipod Nano doesn't have. Like an Fm radio, microphone that is built in to record anything [The Nano don't have a microphone at all]. I bought this because the price was about a 1/4 of the Nano and this has more features. I recommend going to Amazon's comparision section and compare with other MP3 players and Ipods [Thanks Amazon] and check other reviews like I did. I won't buy anything now without comparing it on Amazon. Dan
  
  
• Caveat Emptor (Let the buyer beware).
  By A6VS5K5RVY1DP on 2007-01-02
  If you're considering the purchase of this item you might want to consider some similar-priced alternatives. I can honestly say I loved this player for the two weeks that it worked, great price, great sound, easy to use, long battery life...nothing but accolades in fact and then..........one morning I got up to take it running with me and the standard Sansa screen comes up as always but freezes there, after trying all the basic troubleshooting steps I could think of I accessed the technical customer service phone number which was on their website and after 30minutes of exhaustive troubleshooting from one of their experts the gentleman ( a very patient and courteous fellow) told me it was a lost cause and it would have to be replaced, as I ordered this from Amazon I will say they were super , put in a free replacement order for me right away. I guess these things can happen to any product but given several reviews on this website with the same issue (and numerous other review sites with this same issue on this product) I am inclined to believe this item may need to be returned to the drawing board, also from all the websites I check any troubleshooting once the firmware freezes is pointless as there seems to be no instance (reported anyway) that this situation has even been resolved. I'm hoping for better luck with the replacement but I'm not overly optimistic.
  
  
  THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES!!! First thanks to Amazon for promptly replacing the first unit but guess what...same problem with the 2nd unit. I sent email to Amazon advising them I won't be returning the 2nd unit, I do not even want to see another SanDisk product EVER!!! I did also send an email to Amazon customer service suggesting they might look at the HUGE number of negative reviews on this item and the number of reviews where customers had more than one of these units go bad. SanDisk spells "JUNK" any way you slice it, if you have had this same issue at least let Amazon customer service know it may not make you feel better about the wasted money but maybe people will wake up and not patronize SanDisk...really shameful product of which SanDisk should be ashamed.
  
  
• Disappointing
  By AQ046ROFKUO88 on 2006-02-04
  I bought this product because I wanted to read books downloaded from the public library. Unfortunately the downloaded books played back erratically, skipping and without control to navigate within sections. These are legal downloads and the Sansa was on a list of devices that are supposed to be certified for use with Microsoft protected downloads. I called Sansa and they kept me occupied with various "fixes" until I exhausted the possibilities - and myself - at which time a supervisor told me that this was a known problem, and basically that its my tough luck. SanDisk has mislead me both in their advertising and in their after-purchase support. I would recommend to a prospective buyer that you move on to another manufacturer.
  
  
• works for me
  By A3LL0U6E3QK34A on 2006-09-06
  it has the FM tuner for the tv's at the gym. it has plenty of space for me to have enough tunes to get thru several workouts without repeating. mine came with the sport armband and for $57 with zero shipping, it was much more attractive than the iPod. there are features other mp3 players have that might be neat but not for an additional $200.
  
  my only "complaint" if you could call it that is the question of how to remove songs from the player once they're on there.. after reading thru some of the other reviews here, i think i've got some ideas on what to do.
  
  but i got what i paid for and am pleased with what i got. flash drive, 1GB, small mp3 player with FM tuner and sport armband for less than $60.
  
  
• Great little player!
  By A27W14J6VRQBZC on 2006-04-25
  I bought my Sansa as an upgrade from my dinky little 128MB. I couldn't be happier, I got 1G for under $100, and it's so easy to use. Just drag and drop your music folders into the Sansa window! The earbuds that came with it are adequate, if you're not an audiophile, but the cord seems very lightweight, I don't expect them to last long. Invest in an better set of headphones. The UBS cable is short, like 6", so you might also want to make sure you have a longer one. I did, so it's not a problem. The instruction booklet is useless, it lost a star there. I also recommend buying the $14 silicone case for it, the plastic thing that comes with is cheaper than cheap. The FM feature works well for me, but I live in a urban area, where the radio signals are really strong. I'll have to see how well it picks up the signal when I'm out in the country. I also like the AAA battery, I bought rechargeables designed for digital devices, when my battery runs out, I can just pop in a new one, I don't have to wait for it to recharge.
  
  Pros:
  PRICE - DIRT CHEAP!
  Features - FM radio and microphone recorder
  Display - backlight makes it easy to see
  navigation - I didn't have a problem, it seems like even large fingers wouldn't have a problem
  Battery life - I get about 8 hours on a fresh battery. It probably varies depending on what features you're using.
  Easy to use - Simply drag and drop. That's it. Foolproof. Or at least fool-resistant.
  
  Cons;
  Extras are cheap. - included case, earbuds and ubs cord are bottom of the line
  UGLY - It's designed for function, not form. You can get a couple of colored cases for it though.
  Doesn't fit well in a pocket. It's kind of uncomfortable to carry in a hip pocket, but with the case I bought, it has a belt clip.
  Useless instruction booklet. Seriously, it's completely useless. The instructions that came with the carrying case were just as long. As if you needed someone to tell you to put the player INSIDE the case.
  
  Basically, if you want a nice, cheap little mp3 player for music or audio books, this is for you. If you want a stylish, trendy thing, buy the Ipod already! I couldn't be happier with mine. 1G is plenty for me.I don't know what I'd do with the Ipod's 30!
  
  

• Koss "The Plug" Portable Headphones (colors vary)
• Sony MDR-V6 Monitor Series Headphones with CCAW Voice Coil
• Sennheiser RS-85 Wireless Headphones (Silver)
• Sennheiser HD 202 Headphones
• Sennheiser HD-212 Headphones (Silver)

• SanDisk Silicone Case for Sansa m200 (Blue)
• SanDisk Sansa m230 512 MB MP3 Player (Blue)
• SanDisk Sansa m250 2 GB MP3 Player (Black)
• SanDisk Silicone Case for Sansa m200 (Clear)
• SanDisk Silicone Case for Sansa m200 (Green)