SanDisk Sansa e260 4 GB MP3 Player with SD Expansion Slot (Black) Reviews

• A Solid alternative to Ipod Nano

  
  By A36XRGX51WTMWS on 2006-04-22
  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.
  
  

• Some notes about the e200 series

  
  By AYUOQCCV2F8LU on 2006-06-09
  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.
  
  

• Cheaper (and better) option to the Nano

  
  By A2LHCQOP2B7ZNT on 2006-11-27
  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
  
  

• Tried it, love it!!!

  
  By A22YLSO32ELPCZ on 2006-08-18
  Some of the reviews I read left me wondering if this was the right player for me. I found a consumer review on-line where they ran through the features and actually demonstrated how the thing works. That did it for me. After that, I knew that I had to have it.
  
  I haven't had to be concerned with the technical issues, as it has done everything except convert video clips that I have taken with my camera. I found some other software that will convert it and allow me to load it onto the player.
  
  Here's why I gave it a five:
  
  1. Voice recording - I use the voice recording to record meetings at work. The sound is crystal clear, better than any tape recorder I have used in the past. Also, using the lanyard and dropping it down the front of my shirt, nobody else realizes that the meetings are being recorded. It's a great opportunity for black mail!
  
  2. I was looking for something that would allow me to record radio broadcasts - I've tried it with music and it sounds every bit as good as the station did the first time. I mostly use it for talk radio and it works great. Radio reception is awesome. I record the radio at work in an office setting. Reception is even passable in the elevator!
  
  3. MP3s - I am very pleased here. I was worried that play-lists would be a problem and that having the player randomly select music would also be a problem. That was based on other reviews that I saw here. I am sorry, but those people must be idiots. You can upload the music using Windows Media Player, dragging and dropping play-lists. The player keeps the play-list and automatically groups your music. You can select the play-list and it will shuffle just that play-list (if you activate the shuffle function). You can also play music by song, album, artist, and genre. Or you can play them all. It's all very simple and works well.
  
  4. Pictures - I am a photo-nut. I love to take pictures of my kids, landscapes, and sunsets. The photos are pretty small, but the detail that the screen allows makes the images very sharp. You can definitely fit more pictures in here than you ever could in your wallet. The photos are all converted to *.bmp files using the software that came with the player, but it is very easy to add photos. You have to rotate all of your photos so they are taller rather than wider to maximize the size of the image on the screen, but it is not difficult at all.
  
  5. Memory - I have uploaded 100s of songs, a handful of short video clips and commercials I found online, 147 photos, and a handful of recordings. I have used just over half of the memory on this thing.
  
  Here are things that I wish you could do with it:
  
  1. Switch out the battery - sure you can, but you need to buy another special battery and I have not seen an external charger. This is a relatively minor thing. It will last a full day (from sunrise past sunset) and recharges in about an hour. It has not been a big drawback for me.
  
  2. Delete songs directly off the player without hooking up to your computer - I ended up with a number of albums of my daughter's intermingled with my music and had to keep fast-forwarding over those songs. They were mixed in with my work music, so I had to tolerate it for a full day. Again, not a huge issue.
  
  3. Despite the fact that I have been very careful with the player, it does have some small scratches on its front, one of them on the display. I can't imagine that this isn't a problem with other players too. Again, it's not the end of the world.
  
  Things that I was surprised by:
  
  1. There's a record button on the side. That makes it easy to record radio programs when you are taken away from listening unexpectedly.
  
  2. Play-lists are easy to create.
  
  3. It is easy to set the player to shuffle and/or repeat
  
  4. The size is really much smaller than it appears in photos
  
  5. The sound quality when recording (voice and radio)
  
  6. You can reset the player by merely holding down the power button for about a minute. I did have it lock up on me when I was getting ready to record a meeting, but figured that out just in time.
  
  All and all, I would say this is a wonderful player and would (and have) highly recommended it to my friends. I hope this helps sway you to make the purchase. I was having second thoughts when I read some of these reviews, but those must have been posted by idiots. Sorry, but it's true.
  
  
  

• DO NOT buy an Ipod, this is much better!!

  
  By A2R0XUHP17SV0 on 2006-12-05
  First let me get my Ipod bashing out of the way. The 4GB Ipod Nano that The Sansa e260 competes with costs $230. That should be enough of a reason to buy this amazing player for nearly half that amount (I paid $130).
  
  My second biggest gripe with the Ipod is the batteries. They are not user-servicable, and in a couple of years when they die (as they all do) you will have to ship your Nano to Apple and pay them to replace it. The Sansa has a user replaceable battery kit for around $13.
  
  Also, the Nano doesn't play video. The Sansa e200 series will convert and play many different kinds of video files. I just loaded 2 full length features and a full season of my favorite TV show and still had enough room fo about 15 CDs. That should be enough to keep me distracted on a long road trip i have planned.
  
  Lastly, if you have an Ipod, you have to use iTunes to load your music. Personally, i hate to be forced into using proprietary software in order to use a device. The Sansa lets you drag and drop files directly onto the device in Windows explorer. You have the option to use Windows Media Player if you want to set up Playlists, etc.
  
  Other features that the Sansa has that the Ipod doesn't even offer are the radio tuner with 25 presets and autoscan (which works perfectly), a voice and radio recorder (great for important meetings or just a grocery list).
  
  There are a couple of small cons with the Sansa e200 players. The wheel is mechanical and isn't sealed well, and I can see it eventually getting lint, dust, etc. in it if you don't buy a separate case. I have not had this problem, I just see this as a possible future problem.
  
  Also, you can't use the device while it is plugged in to your computer. You can, however, use the device while it is plugged into an AC or car adaptor, so you can simply buy a cheap multi-adapter (with both a car and AC plug) and problem solved.
  
  Even if you purchase the most expensive case and plug adapter on the market, you will still end up spending much less than you would have spent on a Nano.
  
  In conclusion, if you like to throw money away on expensive players with virtually no features, by all means, get the Nano. If you are a conscientious shopper who would rather have a player loaded with features and $100 in your pocket, go with the Sansa.
  
  
• Great player especially with a subscription service
  By AAPD8AW5GBP9F on 2006-09-03
  I purchased the 4G device, and was so pleased that a week later I purchased a second 6G player for my wife. I read of lot of the reviews here on Amazon, which helped me make the decision to go with the Sansa. I think most features have been covered, I just thought I would add a few tips for people considering this mp3 player.
  
  When I got the player it came with a flyer offering a 1 month free trial for Rhapsody To Go. I had been thinking I would go with Yahoo subscription service, because for years I have not been a fan of Real whose marketing tactics I have deplored. In any event the offer got me to do some reasearch about the various subscription services, and the consensus seemed to be that Rhapsody offered the most features, although it was a bit higher priced.
  
  So I did sign up with Rhapsody for the To Go service, using the one month free trial offer. I can report that I could not be more pleased with the service. The subscription model puts another nail in the iPod coffin as far as I'm concerned, and given Sandisk's aggressive pricing for this player I agree with the Engadget guys that there isn't any reason to go with the Nano.
  
  Now the caveats, and tips. I've not used an iPod and iTunes, but from what I read it is pretty bulletproof. The subscription model and combination of the Sansa e200 series with Rhapsody works great for me...I've got 3 computers authorized and two Sansa players. I've had zero problems with DRM...but if you read the forums there are folks who have definitely had DRM renewal issues.
  
  It's my feeling that the latest versions of Rhapsody and Sansa firmware have got most issues under control. So when you get your Sansa player, immediately go to the Sandisk website and download the firmware updater program and update the firmware on the player...I received my player a week ago, and at that time it did do a firmware update.
  
  Remember to set the USB connection (under settings on the player) to MSC instead of MTP for the update. There are two ways to connect to the player and normally you will use MTP mode, but not for the firmware update. Another point, when I tried to move a playlist created in Rhapsody to the Sansa in MTP mode it wouldn't transfer over as advertised...although the songs in the playlist were moved over. When I connected later in MSC mode the playlist automatically moved to the player. I will assume a further firmware or program update will take care of this issue down the road.
  
  Also Rhapsody recently updated their software, so if you are not just now installing the Rhapsody software I would update their software before plugging in the Sansa. Another important point is that if you uninstall and then reinstall the Rhapsody software, make sure to 'deauthorize' the computer before you uninstall the software. The reason is that you are only allowed to authorize 3 computers (you can only be logged on to the service on one at a time though) and you will use up one of those if you don't deauthorize it before the uninstall. (You can get Real to re-set your list if you make this mistake, but it sounds like a bit of a hassle.)
  
  And if you are going to uninstall the software go to their site and search the forums for instructions on how to do a complete uninstall.
  
  Of the three installations of Rhapsody I performed, one didn't go right and I had to re-do it, but after the second install it worked fine.
  
  Sorry if you think I spent too much time talking about Rhapsody, but my point is that when I purchased the player I assumed I would only use it to play music I already owned that was on my computer. After experiencing the subscription music model (whatever service you go with), I am blown away by how much it adds to the entire experience of the Sansa. I've been waiting for a long time to find an mp3 player that would give Apple some competition and finally, this is the one!
  
  
• Excellent mp3 player for your money!
  By ABEX2Q0RXMQ8I on 2008-01-19
  At the end of last year, I was looking into purchasing an MP3 player. I did a lot of research into them and found that there were not many contenders that shine above all the rest. The two choices that I was left with ultimately were the Apple iPod and SanDisk Sansa.
  
  I purchased this item about 3 months ago and I must say that I could not be happier. I use it every day and no other words could help describe it except perfection. SanDisk truly thought of everything when designing this product. It has a beautiful sleek exterior that not only is very attractive, but also very durable at the same time. Many of my friends who have purchased and iPod complain about the touch-sensitive wheel and after a while certain buttons and functions cease to work from continued use. The construction of SanDisk Sansa far exceeds that of the iPod in that nothing is touch-sensitive and every function has its own button or wheel. I expect that my Sansa will outlive any iPod on the market!
  
  The storage capabilities of the SanDisk Sansa MP3 players are perfect for those people who do not wish to house their entire music collection. This item is so easy to move music back and forth onto the computer and my favorite aspect of all is that I do not need to use an additional program such as iTunes to manage my music; this really outshines iPod for this sole reason. The Sansa works very much like a USB flash drive and moving files is a cinch! There are so many options the user has in regards to cataloging the saved music and I actually love the way all of it is displayed with beautiful, full-color menus that are far more aesthetically pleasing than the menus of the iPod.
  
  The user has many options to supplement this MP3 player with accessories. Although the product line is not that of the iPod line, every accessory anyone would want is available. You will not be able to find the pastel or neon colors that many of the accessories for iPod feature, but rather, all of the accessories complement the sleek, contemporary design of the Sansa; most are either black or silver and some even have blue LEDs to match those found on the wheel of the player itself!
  
  I love the fact that I got a product that far exceeds that of the iPod for a fraction of the price! I am very happy with my decision to go with the SanDisk Sansa and know that it will be with me for years to come!
  
  If you are looking into purchasing an MP3 player that will give you everything if not more than what an iPod can, I highly recommend this product as your choice! Its durability and flexibility puts it in a class above all the rest! You will not be disappointed.
  
  
• Excellent MP3 player
  By A260LRVLP22BYA on 2006-05-22
  OK I will admit I am not a huge Apple fan. I was looking for anything but an IPOD. I searched and read reviews for 3 months about all the different players available. A friend bought a Nano for Christmas and I was impressed but like I said I am not an Apple fan.
  So finally I had just decided to give in and buy a Nano. I had given up trying to find a better alternative or even one that was close.
  
  But to my surprise I read a last minute review of the SanDisk Sansa e260. It sounded great but would it really compare?
  
  Believe me, it does!!! It offers more than I ever would have guessed. It comes with a built in FM tuner so you don't have extra attachments and costs associated with it. I don't know how much I will use it but it is a nice "free" feature.
  The audio player is excellent and has 8 preset EQ's.
  The video is great and also the Pics but I bought it primarily as an MP3 player. The screen is amazingly clear and bright. Much better than the Nano.
  That brings me to the real selling point for me. You can use the included software to manage your music or you can use Windows Media Player but the beautiful this about this player is you can connect to your PC\Laptop as a usb drive.
  Since I already have about 20 GB of music on my Laptop converted and normalized. All I have to do is drag and drop the music I want to Sansa drive and media folder. The transfer for a standard CD is about 10 seconds. So far I haven't found anything that didn't play on the Sansa.
  
  The other two big selling points for me are a removable\replacable battery and an memory expansion slot. Both are long overdue by other manufacturers.
  The Sansa takes a about 4 seconds to load but it isn't an issue for me especially when it help preserve battery life.
  
  This is a great alternative to the IPOD. In someways, it is superior. Battery life (compared with my pals Nano), screen clarity, Expansion slot, USB drive mode, Built in Voice recorder and FM tuner. All this and $50 less than the comparable IPOD Nano.
  
  
• Useless if you travel without a laptop to charge the player
  By AWGBA9CS8RV19 on 2006-06-21
  I just bought a SanDisk Sansa e270, and deeply regret the purchase. I need a travel charger and a spare battery, but you don't sell either, and will not tell me what other chargers, if any are compatible with the e270. Your technical support representative's answers are absolutely useless - I have cut and pasted my questions and his responses below. Given the non-existent customer support, I will not buy another SanDisk product again.
  
  ===============
  Your Question/Problem: I want to use the Sansa e270 when I travel, but won't be carrying a laptop. How do I charge the battery since you don't sell a travel charger? Can I use the IPod Nano/mini charger brick and plug the Sansa USB into it? If not, what can I use.
  Also, I want to buy a spare battery since it is user replaceable, but you don't sell it either. Where do I buy one?
  ________________________________________
  SanDisk Response: (06/20/2006 08:09)
  
  Thank you for contacting SanDisk Technical Support.
  I understand how inconvenience the issue may be causing you.
  As of now there is no available wallcharger and spare battery for the Sansa e200 series. Also we do not recommend that you use the charger of the ipod player, considering that is not a product of SanDisk.
  If you have any further questions, please feel free to reply to this e-mail.
  Thank you for choosing SanDisk.
  Have a nice day!
  
  Sincerely,
  Michael Louie I.
  SanDisk Technical Support
  ________________________________________
  Your Response: (06/21/2006 08:03) My trips typically last 2-4 weeks, so I really do need to charge. Since you do not sell chargers and batteries, and recommend not using non-SanDisk chargers, that makes my SanDisk unusable after the charge runs out.
  The only alternative is to use the IPod charger - please tell me what the correct voltage, amperage, and polarity is to charge the Sansa e270. I am willing to use a non-SanDisk product even if it means voiding the warranty. Otherwise I have wasted almost $300. And when will you start selling spare batteries, since one of the reasons I bought the Sansa was because SanDisk advertised it had a replaceable battery - although this may be true in theory, it is not true if you don't sell one!
  ________________________________________
  SanDisk Response: (06/21/2006 08:03)
  
  Thank you for contacting SanDisk Technical Support.
  I understand how inconvenience the issue may be causing you.
  The ampherage, polarity and voltage are all proprietary information that we are unable to release at this time.
  You may try to do a search on a compatible charger for the Sansa e200 series player. However we do not guarantee that anything will work with it until we put a charger on the market. But we have no information when it will be out.
  If you have any further questions, please feel free to reply to this e-mail.
  Thank you for choosing SanDisk.
  Have a nice day!
  
  Sincerely,
  Michael Louie I.
  SanDisk Technical Support
  
  
• Sansa vs. ipod nano
  By A235NETOI4XQJA on 2006-11-26
  This review will compare the Sansa to my Ipod Nano.
  1. The Sansa is a plug-n-play USB drive. Simply plug up and drag files onto your player. The ipod can only be loaded through I-tunes (Apples specific software for IBM compatible machines). I really dislike the I-tunes software. It is clumsy and not very user friendly. It does not have the look, feel, functionality of your typical windows or MS Office type applications.
  2. The Sansa cost was much less than my ipod Nano while offering greater functionality (movies, pictures, and 4 GB's not including the expansion card option).
  3. The ipod Nano has superior sound quality. No question.
  4. The Ipod standard headphones are a higher quality. Not only the sound, but the construction. The headphone wire is much thicker and they generally feel more rugged.
  5. The Sansa holds more than music. Pictures, FM radio, movie clips. The Ipod Nano is only a music player. I realize that Ipod has other models that do more, but the price tag also increases.
  6. Ipod converts files to a .AAC format. No, you can not share music files without the conversion done with itunes.
  7. Lastly, Ipod has superior accessories. They have hundreds of options for cases, mounting fixtures, color skins, etc. Sansa has limited accessories.
  
  Based on this review, I hope you can choose the best one for you. Personally, all things considered, the Sansa was the best choice for me. I am use to the windows style file system and really like features for the cost. People really into accessories would probably prefer Ipod.
  
  
  
• e260 vs Nano - an easy decision, heres why
  By A2Y63G8F6EISHM on 2006-06-22
  I recently purchased a new nano for my fiancee, and one of the e260 for myself. My thought was that I wanted to buy her a nice expensive unit, and I would settle for the less expensive unit. However, it turns out that the e260 is way better than the Nano. I'll break down why, and to be fair there is a couple of things also listed that the Nano does better.
  
  THINGS THAT e260 DOES BETTER THAN NANO:
  1.) e260 can do more
  - You can play video on the e260 - great for little vacation clips from your camera.
  2.) e260 screen is bigger, more colorful and brighter
  3.) e260 battery is replaceble, no need to throw your unit away when the battery dies (since apple ipod would charge too much to send it in and get battery etc).
  4.) Price per Storage ratio. Nano cost $175 for 2GB, e260 was $140 for 4GB (prices at my purchase time) Thats TWICE AS MUCH for LESS MONEY.
  5.) e260 is more scratch and break resistant. Built better.
  6.) e260 has an FM TUNER, you can listen to radio!
  7.) You cannot use a coupon or coupon code on any Apple products at any store anywhere, you can with e260.
  8.) e260 has memory card slot, yes you can add even more storage and/or move stuff off/on with a little micro-sd card.
  9.) Battery charge - you get at least a couple of hours more from full charge out of the e260.
  10.) Drag and drop your music onto the unit, no need for management software. This means the unit can also be used as a file storage device like a USB drive.
  
  THINGS THAT NANO DOES BETTER THAN e260:
  1.) Nano is slightly thinner.
  2.) Nano has more accessories on the market, its hard to find them for e260.
  3.) The scroll wheel of e260 is mechanical, the nano scroll is sort of touch based. Some prefer the mechanical, but the touch based is prefered by me.
  
  Its no contest for me, I will never buy IPOD again, you just do not get what you pay for. Really, if there was an IPOD Nano out there with the same features as the e260 and same storage space, apple would charge over $500 for it.
  
  
• Player is good -- software not so good
  By A2U0TAE7YSZPK4 on 2007-04-15
  MAN!! I finally was able to figure out how to overcome all the obstacles SanDisk mounts for a non-geek user. The obstacles:
  1) The manual included with the player is close to worthless. The one included on the CD is better though, as mentioned elsewhere, is not exactly normal user friendly.
  2) Plug in the player to your computer (mine is Win-2000 3+ year-old desktop) after, of course, you figure out where that might be. (Well, ok, not so hard, right next to the plug for my iPod.)
  3) Great. Now I can load some songs! I go to Windows explorer to see if I can see the new removeable drive show up. Nope. Mine didn't. So I downloaded the recommended software -- Rhapsody. Can Rhapsody see it? Nope. Tried this and that, looked at the doc and finally called Tech Support. After a minorly tense conversation, I finally understand that the help desk person wanted me to change the USB setting from the default MTP setting to "MSC". Success!! Ok -- that's nice I can see if from Explorer, but I can't see it in Rhapsody, still, after disconnecting, reconnecting, etc. What do I do now Ms. Help Desk? Try it on another computer, she says. Nice.:(
  4) After several hours Googling this problem, reading at forums, trying other stuff, I finally hit upon a "Music Manager" that works!!! Yay! So, I hope you might save some of the time I wasted with trying to make Rhapsody work and waiting for SanDisk to get back to me, etc, etc. Go to the Media Monkey site [...] and try out this terrific piece of freeware that (for me, at least) works very well. I still have to address the "playlist" hurdle but I'll leave that for the morning.
  
  I'm satisfied with the player, sound, price, replaceable battery. But until I found Media Monkey, I was planning to return it to Amazon in the morning. (Honestly, if I knew then what I know now, I'd have bought another nano because iTunes is pretty easy.)
  
  Dianne
  
  
• First MP3 player I ever owned and not disappointed
  By AH9MUK2Z52V6N on 2006-11-22
  I had been talking about wanting an MP3 player, but I did NOT want an iPod, as I heard you cannot add files in Windows format and that's what all of my music is. I received this e260 4 GB MP3 player for my birthday in June 2006, and this is the first MP3 player I have ever owned. Although there are a few little quirks, overall I am not disappointed and would recommend this MP3 player.
  
  Like many rechargeable battery-powered items, it required a lengthy initial charge before first use. After that, the future charges don't seem to take as long. The MP3 player plays for hours on end without needing a new charge. Although I've never run it completely down, I have used it continuously for about 4 hours with no battery issues.
  
  I installed the software on my computer, and the disk is where you will find the owner's manual. I was a bit irritated that there was no hard copy of the owner's manual, and just a few weeks ago it came up as an issue when my MP3 player froze and I had to turn on the computer to look up the troubleshooting guide (turns out if the player freezes you need to hold the power button down for about 15 seconds to reset it).
  
  It came pre-loaded with 20 songs, only one of which I had ever heard of (and it was one of those no-name bands that played once on Saturday Night Live). Although my first instinct was to delete the songs to make room for my own choices, I decided to leave them on there until I need the space. About three of the songs have grown on me a little bit over the past 5 months. I currently have 517 songs on there and still have room for more.
  
  As far as performance goes, it performs pretty well. The buttons are a little difficult to get used to, as you navigate through the functions and the song lists by scrolling a wheel. Not too bad, but when you turn on the player and it begins at the beginning of the list and you want a song that's in the middle and you have a lot of songs on there, you will be scrolling a lot.
  
  I do not use all the functions that came with this MP3 player. It has music, fm radio, photo, voice, video and a settings option. I have used the music function and the voice recorder option, both with good results. The only downside to the voice recorder is that you can't get the recordings you made off the MP3 player and onto your computer. It would have been nice to be able to record things and sync them onto your computer. As for syncing music files, I have not had any problems, although I did have one instance where it shows a song was downloaded, but when you try to play it, it skips to the next song alphabetically in the list. I don't know what caused this. Also, you can only store a song as one genre, which is a little annoying. Be sure you have your genres picked before you sync because once the song is on the MP3 player, you cannot change the genre.
  
  It came with a headset, but I have never used it. Instead I purchased some Panasonic folding travel speakers to use with it.
  
  I do wish the MP3 player had some alternate form of charging other than needing to be connected to my computer's USB drive to charge. Another con is that a scratch of some sort appeared on the inside surface of the screen. I can't remember it being dropped or anything, so I don't know what caused this, but it's pretty noticeable. It doesn't seem to affect the operation, just the aesthetics.
  
  Overall, the cons are little irritations to me and I would recommend this player to someone who doesn't want an iPod.
  
  
• Good MP3 player, but needs some tweaking to be great
  By A177AVUF1JE6A8 on 2006-11-22
  I recently purchased the E260 on Amazon, and I am relatively happy with the purchase. The E260 is a nice music and FM radio player, has good sound, and has a decent user interface. I find it easier to use than the Creative Micro that I used to have. I do not have problems with the buttons (and I have large fingers), and I find the movable wheel very useful. The touch sensitive bar on the Creative was too sensitive and difficult to operate.
  
  My major use of a MP3 player is during commuting to work. I listen to the radio above ground and to podcasts and music below ground in the subway. The E260 is great for both functions -- the FM radio reception is actually quite good, better than my Creative Micro and an older RCA Lyra.
  
  The reason that I gave it 4 stars is because the software on the player is missing some functionalities that SanDisk should fix in future Firmware upgrades. First, it would be nice to return back to the song that you had been listening to before you switch to FM. The player requires you to go back through the menu steps to find the song again. It does save what you had chosen before, so all you have to do is press select over and over again. If it remembers these choices, it would seem a logical step to put you back at the actual song again without the menu steps? Second, the player is missing a bookmark capability. This is a big issue if you want to use the player to listen to audio books. Third, the fast forward only steps forward by 5 seconds or so each push of the fast forward or if you hold it down longer. The Creative Micro accelerates the speed of the fast forward the longer you hold down the button. A similar functionality would be nice. Otherwise, it takes too much effort to advance to where you are in a long podcast or long audio book.
  
  
• Great mp3 player
  By AP4CCW8PC389J on 2006-05-05
  I really like my Sansa e260. I purchased it to test it out while the e270 was on backorder and I have been pretty impressed what it can do.
  
  What I like about my Sansa e260:
  -Audio/photo/video playback is excellent
  -Small in size but thicker than the iPod Nano (the Nano in my opinion is a tad too thin)
  -Large screen and good photo/video quality for something its size. It's not top of the line, but my coworkers and I have been impressed with the screen quality. I've watched videos on it with no problem
  -Nifty blue glowing dial
  -Ease of use. Most of it was self explanatory though a "quick guide" was included in the box
  -Battery life. Even playing videos, I was able to get 10+ hours before the battery was too low.
  -Expandable memory (micro SD card, which I will soon purchase)
  -Comes with conversion software for photos and video
  
  Things I don't like about my Sansa e260:
  -Lack of accessories. I did have to hunt down my player but if you walk into any store you can see that it is an iPod dominated market. I was only able to find a silicon case for it but hopefully this will change over the next few weeks
  -Lack of AC charger. Only a USB changer was available as is in the iPod, however I have been unable to locate a OEM or aftermarket AC charger. Hopefully this will change but until then I use a USB/AC adapter
  -Expandable memory slot will play mp3s only, not photos or video
  -Attracts finger prints like crazy. Somehow the oils on your finger tips show up on both the black and metal parts of the player. I expected it on the front but not on the liquid metal.
  -Radio works but doesn't get the best reception on all stations
  -Conversion software will split large video files into smaller shorter clips (~10 min clips) which results in short pauses as it goes to the next file
  
  Is it the iPod Nano killer?
  Yes and no. I think it's a wonderful flash player with many features the Nano lacks (but some can be added on) for a comparable price. If you are an avid iPod fan you may not like the tactile wheel. I love the photo and video playback and am impressed with the screen, which is larger than the Nano's. I would suggest finding a vender and testing it out before you purchase it. Although it is thicker than the Nano, it has an impressive battery life even with video playback and the battery is user replacable. I am satified with my Sansa e260 and think it's worth checking out if you're looking for a flash player with many features.
  
  
• A Very Nice Player
  By A8IC4AYQRG3SV on 2006-09-16
  I've owned several Sandisk players. If you want a low cost player with reasonable capacity and an easy AAA battery choice, Sandisk has been the way to go. Now they have moved way up in class, with the E200 series. These players have a great color screen, more advanced navigation, and lithium batteries that can be user replaced by removing 4 screws. Sandisk sells them for [...].
  
  If you have a 4GB player, you have to be able to find things. When I first got the player, it didn't 'find' the 'genres' of my music files, which is one easy way to categorize. Fortunately, when I did a firmware update, the genres showed up. If you want to create (genre or other) categories for your music, you can use something like Jetaudio to label many 'selected' files, all at once, by the way. This player also sorts by album, and the tracks on the album are in the correct order. Again, this is information in the tag, so the tags have to be done correctly. Most 'ripping' programs do this, at least for mp3's.
  
  Aside from genre, the E200 sorts by artist, and title. The scroll wheel is quite fast, and the bright screen makes seeing where you are much easier than previous Sandisk players. The sound is solid and it seems quite clean with a good pair of headphones. It will drive good phones, which are often less efficient.
  
  This is a good player, especially with the rebates. I use drag and drop, and I loaded this player completely in less than half an hour. The size is just about perfect. If it were thinner, it wouldn't really fit anywhere that it doesn't already fit. The screen size is very good, but maybe not for video. It looks like a solid piece of equipment. I never had problems with other Sandisk players, but they looked flimsy. Also, this one looks much more elegant.
  
  If you upgrade the firmware once, future updates should be automatic. When I drag and drop files with good tag info, I can navigate to the artists and the songs without any hitch. Tags are what makes iTunes work, and this player seems to do a good job, as long as you have good tags. If not, try a program like Godfather.
  
  It's great to see a player that looks good, sounds good, and holds a bunch of music. All for a price that is more than reasonable. I like this player so much I wish I had the 8GB version, but maybe I will get a miniSD card.
  
  I don't like handing out 5 starts, but I think this is 4 and a half. The USB charging is a little limited. I did find that a cheap 4AA USB adapter works fine and charges it. But you still have a special cable you must have with you. But that is a small drawback.
  
  
• half of an mp3 player : at this price you'd want the whole thing
  By A300H3PB3O9ESY on 2006-11-10
  While an ok piece of hardware (3 stars) as a product it's a disappointment (1 star), the software is not yet ready for prime-time & sandisk appears to have no intention of fixing it.
  
  Sandisk dropped the ball on this one.
  
  There are many good things to say about this product, but at its price, you would expect a product to compete with the others on the market.
  
  virtually without documentation, assumes that you are an expert in the arcane uses of Microsoft Windows Media Player e.g., the documentation implies no way to build playlists, but you can through WMP, not to obviously though, plan to spend a few hours learning how to use it. then use it regularly, as otherwise you'll forget how to use a non-intuitive pgm.
  
  No bookmarks. forget using it to play podcasts or audiobooks (also no support for audiobook format) - this is a major flaw for me. Customer service says that it is not intended for playing podcasts or audiobooks. period...
  
  Communication is poor. Suggestions to customer service go nowhere. They say they have no way to supply feedback. The sandisk website has no option for customer feedback. direct email comes back saying you don't have permission to mail to us.
  
  Automatic update: installs a program on your computer that runs full time (and is a service so it's tough to kill) but doesn't really update until you switch modes on the mp3 player manually, then the screen fills with misleading information to add confusion. i.e., not automatic, but deliberate, but bogs down you pc full time anyway.
  
  Overall it could come very close to being an ipod killer, but they didn't go the extra step, and threw it onto the market prematurely without plans to bring it up to code.
  So let's face it, sandisk is a hardware company, nothing else.
  
  The radio is none too good. instead of using the earphone cord as antenna, it uses the usb connect to the laptop cord as a pigtail i.e., useless.
  
  there's much more to say, and I'll add to this as I get time.
  
  You can buy mine cheaply on ebay, as I am going to buy a different mp3 player (any suggestions?)
  
  
  
• Great Little Player But Take Note...
  By A2FRSGE7LIZMFO on 2006-08-26
  OK, I bought a Creative Zen MicroPhoto 4gb because it was supposed to be compatible with Yahoo's music service. Plugged it into my laptop and could get it to register maybe 1 out of 10 times. I called their customer support and the guy wouldn't even give me the time of day, instead he emailed me useless information. I returned the product that day.
  
  Then I buy the Sansa e260 and guess what??? Same problem. After two frustrating days I realized their customer support WAS open on weekends so I called. The fellow was helpful and said my USB ports might not be generating enough power to run the device properly because I was using a laptop. Well, I unplugged my other USB devices and what do you know??? It works fine!
  
  OK, so I can't use my optical mouse and a couple other things while I'm synching music, but whatever. The player works, it looks cool and my problem was solved. If only the Creative support people had suggested something similar I bet that device would have worked just fine, also!!!
  
  
• Good Choice for Price
  By AT3NRCGB6G8DA on 2006-12-07
  I bought this because I needed something to hold enough music to keep me occupied on a long flight.
  
  I managed to actually see a few different players before I bought this one, and it is probably the best choice for both the price range and capacity.
  
  Whats Good:
  - Can play music & video and store photo images
  - Has FM radio but then who cares?
  - Good battery life
  - Expansion card slot
  - Nice price
  
  Whats Not So Good:
  - Need to convert photo and video using Sansa S/W (bundled)
  - The USB dock connector seems to be propritary
  - They don't include an AC adapter in the package
  - Can't find any customizable EQ features
  
  As always there will be some improvements that can be made, but then the same thing can be said for more expensive players too. Is the sound quality the best on the market? I doubt it, but I think for the price you really can't go wrong with it.
  
  Spend the time sorting out your music play lists first before you start moving music over. I didn't and discovered that everything just went into one large folder so I had to start over.
  
  Play lists make sense, so it's worth spending the time to figure out what works for you beforehand.
  
  I have probably 500 songs and I have used half of the stated storage capacity which is about where I should be based on the product specifications.
  
  This would also be a great choice for general use (to and from the office) or maybe working out at the gym.
  
  If you had planned to spend around $130.00 (at the time of this review) then it's a great choice.
  
  Maybe you won't look as cool as the guy with the iPod, but then look at what he paid for a 4GB player.
  
  Get it.
  
  
  
  
• An Excellent MP3 Player
  By A3SDCX65FWZLFI on 2006-06-27
  This MP3 player is far and away better than an iPod Nano. Like anything else, it has it's pros and cons, listed here:
  
  Pros
  * Excellent size and feel. It's small, yet fits in the hand perfectly. It's only slightly thicker than a Nano.
  * The screen is bright, crisp, and displays video. The video is a double-edged sword, however. More on that in the cons.
  * 4GB is a lot of space, and you can add even more with the MicroSD slot for a good price.
  
  Cons
  There are two different categories in the Cons. Cons that can be fixed (via a firmware update), and those that can't.
  First, the Cons that can be fixed:
  * You can only delete songs from the computer, not through the interface. This can be easily fixed in a firmware update.
  * Sometimes a weird glitch occurs where you see songs on the MP3 player that don't really exist. You select it and nothing happens. I find simply taking everything off the MP3 player to the computer, then back to the MP3 player will fix this. The downside to this method is that you lose the ratings you give your songs.
  * The movies are gigantic. The software included streamlines the process, but it manages to take a 54MB .mp4 file and convert it into a 300MB+ Motion JPEG file. I'm not sure if this is normal for the Motion JPEG codec, but it boggles the mind. Also, it breaks up videos into segments of ten minutes. I'm assuming this is because you can only fast-forward at one speed, so it helps make it easier to find where you left off. This can be fixed by simply using the same feature it uses for it's songs, the "Scan through song" feature. Hopefully this can be addressed in a future firmware update.
  
  Unfixable Con:
  * The buttons are hard to push. If the scroll wheel (which lights up with a cool blue whenever you use it) was set into the MP3 player just a liiittle bit deeper, it would be easier to hit the buttons. But it's not. So it isn't. You end up putting your thumb on the wheel, and tilting your thumb toward the button, or you use your fingernails. Sort of annoying. The menu button doesn't have a responsive "click" or anything of the sort, so you have to push it and hope it registers. Also sort of annoying.
  
  I know there are way more cons then pros, but it's human nature to point out the flaws. But if/when the fixable cons get fixed, it becomes obvious the pros outweigh the cons. I can still wholeheartedly recommend this MP3 player right now.
  
  
• Only buy this if you have no preferences whatsoever
  By A2TIJYZHR0K60U on 2006-07-19
  Let's start with the good stuff: this product is nice looking, it's light, compact, and easy to navigate. Customer service is exceptional considering the state of customer service in this country. The sound is very decent for such a small flash player, although I had a hard time finding a comfortable spot for the earbuds.
  Now for the bad: this player froze up after only two weeks of use, and although I was able to fix it within only minutes on the phone with customer service, it didn't fix the problem completely. I had to re-format the player, erasing everything I had put on it in two weeks, but the drive space was still showing as filled, which took another call to customer service to figure out.
  
  It is absolutely impossible to put anything in any kind of order on this player. With music that's not really a big deal, but when you're trying to download an audio book with 150 different tracks, it's a little important to be able to download track 1, 2, 3, 4 etc...Because, well, the book progresses that way. I can't really follow the story if I listen to track 23 then track 14 then track 142...It's a little confusing. And, it's also a little bit of a pain to have to scroll through 150 songs looking for track 2, then 3 etc.
  
  The software they provide, rhapsody, is garbage. I must have reorganized about 1,000 tracks on my computer, redoing the ID3 tags for music and audio books, so that when I downloaded them it would all be under the same title, genre, whatever. Well, after spending hours and hours redoing all my audio files so I could download them in a relatively organized manner I thought it would be nice to put them on my mp3 player, but as soon as I dropped them into the player through rhapsody, it reverted all my files back to the original id3 tag (which customer service was baffled by).
  
  Playlists are also quite a problem on this. You can't simply create a playlist while on the computer, you have to go to every individual song you want on the playlist to select it, then find the next song, select it, and so on. It was too much of a hassle.
  
  In short, do your research, and make sure that you are getting the right type of player for your needs. If you plan on listening to anything in order, don't buy this player. What I have found is that it pays to do your research, and it is often worth it to pay the extra money for "nicer" products.
  
  
• A terrific value for a very high tech device
  By A1PN2U0AWXGVML on 2006-11-30
  I got this the day after Thanksgiving for only $129. A terrific value for a 4 gig player. Even though I have an ipod nano and a video ipod, I wanted to get this as it has something I've been wanting for a long time - an FM player. This player is about twice as thick, a little wider and a little shorter than the nano 2G. Here's my breakdown of the sansa:
  
  PROS:
  Durable
  Shiny, hard to scratch plastic front
  larger screen than the ipod
  photo capable
  album art capable
  FM radio
  FM radio recorder
  voice recorder
  MP3 player
  Rhapsody channels (from best buy)
  Great battery life
  looks great
  produced by a reputable company - SANDISK
  
  CONS:
  tiny buttons
  thicker than an ipod nano
  screen isn't all that sharp
  scroll wheel can get tiring
  no contacts or other info can be stored
  FM radio doesn't have the digital info displayed such as song and name like the ZUNE does
  software not nearly as good or easy to use as itunes
  
  All in all a terrific value for a capable player.
  
  
  
• love it!
  By AGLTPRGOGJ4IO on 2006-06-07
  i've been looking for an mp3 player like this for a long time. the ipod is nice, but i always had little gripes that stopped me from getting one (such as the inability to use anything but itunes to load music).
  
  this player is a great alternative to ipod. it's about the same size as a nano, but a tiny bit thicker, and a little heavier. the scroll wheel has a nice tactile feel to it, and contrary to other reviewers i like the way it feels (although i concede the buttons are a little hard to press without adjusting my hand). the screen is impressive-- bigger, brighter, and clearer than nano. the menus are well thought out, though this is my first tag-based player (vs. folder-based) so there is a slight learning curve for me. mine came already loaded with the most current firmware.
  
  the first time i connected it to my computer i nearly panicked-- the unit would turn on, then show an error and turn off. then i realized i had the "hold" button on. switching it off fixed the problem. i didn't install any of the sandisk software and windows xp found the device and gave me the option to sync it with my music in windows media player. you can also open the player as a folder in my computer and just copy music that way if you prefer. to copy photos or videos you do have to install the sandisk software. i copied over all the music i could think of (maybe 30 albums?), and i still have 1.5gb left. i was considering ordering an extra mini-sd card to expand the memory, but now i think i will hold off since i'm having a hard time filling it as it is!
  
  all in all, great mp3 player! i will update my review if my impressions change.
  
  
• Wall Charger?
  By on 2006-11-16
  I'm interested in this item and upon research i saw that some people couldn't
  find a wall charger. If you go to Wal-Mart website you can find a wall charger for any MP3 player with a USB cable.
  
  Otherwise I think this is a great product
  
  
• Best player out there, a few small quirks
  By A1D6VC85VOJDHV on 2006-08-18
  This player has more storage for less price of a nano. Its just a little thicker, but otherwise as small. With included media converter it can play just about any type of video. I ripped a DVD to my hard drive, compressed it to 1gb, then used the convertor software to get it on. Now I can watch DVDs anywhere, its great. The battery life is rediculous, sound quality is good as well. I don't think the buttons are hard to press at all, and the scroll wheel, while mechanical, is still smooth.
  As stated in the title, it does have a few small quirks. The interface does take a little practice, but after a day or 2 it was second nature. You can add songs to the "go list" while its on, but to create other playlists you need to make them in windows medial player and sync the 2 devices... Its really easy, just download the pdf manual and it will make sense. The eq has presets, but itn't otherwise adjustable. Otherwise, the only downfall is that its not as popular as iPods, so there aren't as many accessories. I think that if more people buy them and they become more popular accessories should start to appear, but I'll just have to wait for them.
  
  
• lasting quality? not so great.
  By A392TGWEPCBRPW on 2006-09-17
  There are lots of great reviews already on here at Amazon, and on the web, so I'll just add what I think is important to reiterate.
  
  -The buttons
  they are *small*, not raised, and very close to the wheel. I have no idea why they did this. It makes it 10x harder than it should be to simply press a forward/backard button.
  *can* you eventually get used to it? yes. you can. but why should you have to?
  
  -LCD
  It was not meant to be viewed the way it's displayed! Why Sandisk? Why? If you hold the device on it's side, the lcd looks great. but if you hold it straight up, it gets washed out and kinda hurts my eyes to look at. The LCD was *obviously* meant to be put in 90' on its side, as a wide-screen lcd. why didn't they just adjust the controls to suit that?
  
  -sound quality
  w/the included headphones, average. If you get better headphones, very good. (for my tastes anyway, this one is so subjective, just try them out at the store for yourself)
  
  -voice recording
  did they actually test this? when you play back your recording, it's hissy and pops. perhaps it's the mic sensitivity? You have to speak loudly to get a "clear" recording of your voice, but that just seems silly to do in public..
  
  -Crashing
  The latest firmware (Sept 06) fixed this mostly, but I'm not 100% sure. My sansa used to freeze/crash about once a day before, forcing me to reboot it. (hold down the power button for 15 seconds) It hasn't crashed since, but I still feel wary of it..
  
  
• This players meets all my needs
  By A3J2G5QM4U3ZZA on 2006-11-25
  I have been using my Sandisk player with no problems downloading songs or pictures. I have also made some observations that makes this player function more efficently.
  -use MTP music files because they use less file space.
  -adjust the file size on pictures to use less memory.
  -use the Speck toughskin case to protect display window (extra).
  -use the AC Sandisk USB charger instead of the computer USB port(extra).
  I do not use the raio or the video settings because of no interest, and the large amount of memory the video consummes.
  This player does fine using the earphones or hooked up to a audio center.
  
  I think that the 2MG card will be on my list of upgrades.
  
  The only upgrade I am made was to buy a better set of earphones. I did not like the pair supplied with the unit. My earphones have a volume control on the output cord which makes it much easier to control.
  
  I am not sorry about buying this item from Amazon.
  
  
  
• IPOD........Save your money. This rocks!
  By A3I9MDNP4JGT46 on 2006-11-26
  I have the 4 gig and added 1 gig in expansion slot. Audio, Video, FM Radio, Recording and Photos. Easy to use and you don't have to use iTunes. Drag and drop
  your music. Convert video easily. I would buy this over IPOD any day.
  I have dropped this and the battery life is second to none.
  LOVE IT!
  If it were not for IPODS foothold on portable music......This would be the standard to follow.
  
  Brad
  Orange County, CA
  
  
  
• great video and audio
  By A1TK6R2JSC97HL on 2007-03-18
  I wanted to wait about 3 months before writing this review - I'd feel horrible if I praised it after 2 months, only to have it go bad on the third. Anyway, unlike most happy owners who praise this as a great alternative to an iPod Nano, I'm kicking myself for ever getting buying an iPod (okay, it was a present for my wife) seeing how much better a player this is. The Sansa isn't as slim as a Nano, but when you hit the size of a Zippo lighter, does every extra mm down really matter that much? It's really my first mp3 player, so much of my love stems from the novelty of being able to carry around gigabytes worth of music.
  
  I'm no audiophile, but the sound quality was good, and the Sansa's firmware allows you to sort through your music by song title, album, artist or genre. (To get your song's identifying info just right, you should download a good mp3 tagging program; I've been happily using "mp3tag", which is available free for DL - it's simple to use and configure, but that doesn't mean that there aren't better programs available on the internet).
  
  Transferring your music is simple - your Sansa will connect to the computer using a USB port. The Sansa uses two connection modes: MTP (which treats the Sansa like a media player to be synced) and UMS (which treats the player as an extra HD - happily enough, this mode, which I find easier to use, also allows you to use that add-on tagging software, so you get the best of both worlds). The buttons are bit on the thin side, and you have to be careful when using the forward or reverse buttons to scan through songs lest you also skip to the next/earlier track. You can easily scan within mp3 tracks or add songs to your "go list".
  
  The surprise here is the video player. Though the screen is small, and pixelations are a fact of life on playback, the resulting images are easily watchable. (Although it's probably optimal for character dramas and sitcoms that lack any demanding visuals; the included movie, a 30-second spot likely inspired by one of the latter "Star Wars" movies, was an unfortunate choice for spotlighting the Sansa's video capabilities.) Framerate is about 15fps - it's noticeable, but it's hardly a slideshow. Video files have to be converted before they'll play on the Sansa which...is no problem at all. The accompanying software is simple and is finicky only against files with really long names. Just find the files you want, click "convert" and the program takes care of the rest. My commutes are now survivable thanks to the Sansa and hours of unwatched TV. Playback can be a problem though - if you fastforward too much, the video breaks down. Luckily, the software automatically breaks every video file down into half-hour sized chunks. Left alone, the video played well - with only infrequent skips, and few jumps between video and audio syncing.
  
  The Sansa charges off your PC's USB port. For those not connected 24-7, a Macally charger can be had for about [...]. However, the Sansa has good endurance - I packed one on vacation and managed to not need a charger despite watching several hours of video and listening to a fair number of mp3s. The Sansa isn't just a great alternative to the iPod, it's a great player all around.
  
  
• Why I'm glad I didn't get a Nano.....
  By A2ASW2GQ6KRY8Y on 2007-11-13
  I bought this for my boyfriend for Christmas. I decided to put a few songs he likes along with a video or two on it before I wrapped it up for him. I was expecting it to be an alright MP3 player because of the reviews I had read, but I never expected it to hold a light to any of the Apple's creations.
  
  I took it out of the box expecting to plug it in and need the program on the cd to add music to it... because that is how the other top mp3 players work. Well, it didn't need any program installations. I plugged it into my computer and it was simply drag and drop music from my music folder to the Sansa music folder. I was very impressed with this feature. I did, however, have to install the video converter program (which comes with it) to my computer in order to put videos or pictures on my comp.... BUT this was also a very simple program to use.
  
  The look of the Sansa also impressed me. Though it's a little thicker than a nano, it's still very small... and I love the blue light around the turn wheel. The video has vivid color and looks GREAT~!
  
  I'm very impressed with the FM radio and the voice recorder that it came with as well because I know my boyfriend ALWAYS likes to listen to the Kentucky basketball games and he's not always around a radio (I didn't try either out-- I'm just impressed it has them)... the iPod doesn't have a radio or voice recorder.
  
  I've owned three different music players: the 30gb Ipod Video, the 4gb first gen Ipod Nano, and *currently* the Pioneer Inno which is also an XM player. I never thought I'd say I like an MP3 player better than either of my Ipods. I never thought I'd experience one that could hold a light to either of my ipods but this one does. &for the price... I believe it may actually surpass the new Nanos (though I've not tried out a 3rd gen one).
  
  I hate for this to be a compare/contrast review... but I know what sort of reviews I was looking for whenever I was in the market to buy an MP3 player. In my opinion I think the Sansa is easier to use than the Ipod, has just as good color with the video as the iPod, runs/loads things a little faster than my iPod did, and has more features than the Ipod. I'd love to be able to compare it to the Zune (because that's another one I was considering), but I've never experienced one of those. In comparison with the Ipod... I believe this one should win-- hands down.
  
  The only negative I can see-- so far-- is it's lack of accessories on the market. We all know the Ipod has tons of items we can buy to use with it. Though I did buy an FM modulator for the Sansa... which is really the only accessory I ever use with any MP3 player (and I figure the only one my b/f will ever use). I don't know. I love this little thing and now I kinda wish I would have asked for one of these instead of a new Nano for Christmas...
  
  

• Solio Universal Hybrid Solar Charger (Silver)
• Solio S323-B36T Hybrid 1000 Universal Charger for Mobiles, Ipod and Cameras
• Solio Universal Hybrid Solar Charger (Black)
• Solio Universal Hybrid Solar Charger (Pink)
• Targus PA400U DEFCON 1 Ultra Notebook Computer Security System

• SanDisk Sansa e200 Silicone Case (Gray)
• SanDisk Sansa e200 Series 5-Piece Travel Case Kit
• Sandisk Sansa Mp3 E250 E260 E270 E280 Series Bundled Home Travel Wall Charger and 12v Rapid Car Charger
• 2-Piece Value Combo Pack Of Brand New Home Wall Travel Plug in Ac Charger + Vehicle Cigarette Lighter Power Car Charger with IC Chip For SanDisk Sansa e200, e250, e260, e270, e280, e200R, e250R, e260R, e270R, e280R MP3 Music Player
• Macally SN-A411 USB AC Charger for SanDisk Sansa MP3 Players