SanDisk Sansa e260 review

A couple of years ago this would have sounded crazy, but SanDisk, which is probably best known for flash drives and memory cards, just put out one of the best MP3 players on the market. Yeah, I know, I'm just as surprised as you are, but after spending a few weeks with the new 4GB Sansa e260, part of SanDisk's new Sansa e200 series, I'm going to be sorry to send this one back. The e260 isn't without its faults, but if you're looking for a solid alternative to the iPod, and haven't been so fired up by the latest models from Creative, Samsung, et al. (or are still in mourning for Rio), then you should do yourself a favor and check this one out. Or at least keep reading the rest of this review.

Design

Until now SanDisk's Sansa line has aimed squarely for the low-end of the market, with a succession of clunky, uninspired, no-frills flash-based players designed to appeal to budget-conscious consumers. They've still got some cheapies in their line up, but the e200 series signals a new direction for the Sansa line. For starters, SanDisk doesn't deny that they're going straight after the nano with this one. The e260's design reminiscent of the nano, right down to the glossy black finish and the scroll wheel. It's also just about the same length and width as the nano (3.5-inches by 1.74-inches vs. the nano's 3.5-inches by 1.6-inches), but the e260 is nearly twice as thick (0.52-inches vs. 0.27-inches). Hardly a deal killer when you're talking about gadgets that are this small -- unless you absolutely have to have the thinnest player around, that is.

Yes, the players in the e200 series have scroll wheels -- no touch-sensitive pads here -- but this is a mechanical scroll wheel reminiscent of the wheel on the original 1G iPod (which, for whatever reason, still has a lot of fans). The tactility of the mechanical wheel is nice, and it even glows blue when you're using it (which is also a nice, albeit pointless, touch). The wheel itself is plasticky and feels like the only part of the player that won't be able to stand up to a little wear and tear (not that I've experienced any problems with it so far).

The glossy black finish on the front of the player is most definitely a fingerprint magnet, but it also proved to be more resistant to scratching than the casing on the iPod nano (though not completely impervious, I did notice a couple of small scuffs after normal use). The back of the player is made out of Liquidmetal, a special alloy that is said to be harder and more elastic than similar alloys of titanium or aluminum. We don't really have the equipment here at Engadget HQ to evaluate their claims, but the back of the e260 did emerge from two weeks of testing completely unscathed.

There are six buttons on the front of the player, four surrounding the scroll wheel (Up/Play/Pause, Right/Forward, Left/Previous/Rewind, and Down/Submenu), a center Select Button, and a power button which confusingly also doubles as a main menu button (instead of opening a submenu it takes you all the way back the main page of the UI). Having the power button pull double-duty as a menu button is probably a mistake; I know I've been trained to resist pressing any button with the universal power symbol on it unless I want to turn something on or off, and several times I've switched off the player when I actually wanted to exit to the main menu. The Play/Pause button is also awkwardly placed along the top of the scroll wheel where it can be a little difficult to press; SanDisk should have put it on the bottom like with the iPod or made the button larger. There are two additional controls on the player, a Hold switch along the top next to the headphone jack and a dedicated Record button for voice recordings.


Display

The display on the e260 is excellent. It's very bright, crisp, and easy to read, and while it's not very large, it is a smidge bigger than the display found on the nano (1.8-inches vs 1.5-inches). The e260's tiny screen makes you wonder why SanDisk even bothered adding (limited) support for video playback, but I'm not really complaining, since it's nice to have the option.


User Interface

We all know how bad it can get, but the user interface on the e260 is surprisingly good. The main menu is an icon-based list of options (Music, FM Radio, Photo, Settings, Voice, and Video) and navigating sub-menus is fairly straightforward. It takes a little while to catch some of the tricks, but the UI itself is nice and snappy; there's absolutely no sluggishness at all.

Pressing the Submenu button (the one below the scroll wheel) when you're listening to music takes you into menu where you can find options to Repeat, Shuffle, EQ, Rate This Song, Scan Through Song, Add Song to Go List, and Back to Music List. Volume is adjusted by turning the scroll wheel. Pressing the center Select Button while you're listening to a song toggles the display between the amount of time the song has left, a graphic EQ, album art, and a listing for whatever song is next up in the queue. 


Sync and File Transfer

Poor software integration has been the downfall of many a promising MP3 player. I was a little nervous about well the e200 would fare going into this review, and the results here are a mixed bag.

First, the good news: the e200 supports USB mass storage, so if you want you can just drag-and-drop your tunes onto the player (for smaller capacity players, drag-and-drop is usually the quickiest and easiest way to handle transfers). These transfers were a snap; I was able copy over 100 MP3s (about 400MB) in 2 minutes and 21 seconds.

Here's the not-so-good news: if you want to take advantage of the e200's PlaysForSure support and listen to DRM'd music, including those of subscription-based services like Napster To Go, Yahoo Music Unlimited, and Rhapsody To Go, you're in for some frustration. I tested the e260 with Rhapsody To Go and found that player-software integration still has some kinks to be worked out.

To be fair, most of the time everything worked perfectly fine. I was able to transfer DRM'd Rhapsody To Go tracks over to the player with minimal effort -- the only annoyance was that it would take about seven minutes to transfer 100 tracks over to the player, three times longer than it would during a straight drag-and-drop. That extra time isn't the end of the world, but it took upwards of an hour to fill up a 4GB Sansa e260 with DRM'd music. And the record industry wonders why consumers loathe DRM?

The extra time transfers would take is something I could more or less live with, but I experienced a couple of hiccups during the time I was testing the e200. One day I switched on the player to discover that all of my attempts to play Rhapsody To Go tracks were met with a message telling me that I needed to synchronize the player, something that I had just done the day before, and which in theory I should only need to do every 30 days at most. A second sync solved the problem, but then a few days later the Rhapsody client stopped recognizing the e260 altogether, something which made song transfers completely impossible. Installing the latest build of the Rhapsody client seemed to solve the problem, but it's little frustrations like these that hold back services otherwise promising products like Rhapsody To Go and the e260.

 
Media

These days pretty much every digital audio player with a decently-sized color screen has some sort of digital photo viewer, and the e200-series is no exception. It's also nothing extraordinary, and handles all the usual biz: thumbnails, slideshows, etc. The e260's ability to handle video stands in contrast to the iPod nano, but playback is limited to 15 fps and all videos have to be converted using SanDisk's bundled app before transfer. It's not worth going to a lot of trouble just to watch something on such a miniscule screen, but like I said before, it's sort of a nice frill to have.


Pricing

SanDisk is certainly trying to make it an attractive proposition by pricing these things competitively versus the iPod nano, with the 2GB e250 selling for $179, the 4GB e260 going for $229, and the 6GB e270 priced at $279. Don't ask me why they didn't pick names that were more indicative of each player's capacity, like e220, e240, or e260).


Conclusion

It ain't perfect, but the e260 is a solid competitor to the iPod nano, and if forced to choose between the two, I'd pick the Sansa. With a cheaper price, larger screen, integrated FM tuner, better battery life (twenty hours to the nano's fourteen -- plus the e260's battery is more easily replaced), a MicroSD expansion card slot, and a solid user interface, the e260 gets a lot more right than it gets wrong. That isn't to say that there are some issues that need improvement -- the e260's buttons could be a lot better, its startup time could be a little shorter, and its PlaysForSure integration isn't seamless (which isn't entirely SanDisk's fault - surely Microsoft shoulders plenty of blame here as well) -- but overall the e260's finer points outweigh its defects.

[Jasafar @ Jun 7th 2006 12:35PM]

If this thing had line-in recording capabilities, I'd be all over it.

[That one girl @ Aug 23rd 2007 11:25PM]

Well i got my Sandisk for christams. And it really does not work.I've had it for less then a year. It always freezes up. And i also can not put music on it anymore because ever computer i try it on. It says that it cant read the player. so i dont know what to do.

[spencer @ Feb 13th 2008 4:57PM]

it does. the little button on the side does it.

[Sonja @ Jun 7th 2006 4:06PM]

I recently purchased the Sansa e260 after much review at your site and at CNet.com. I really wanted a machine that would play both music and the radio. I don't care about the video and pictures. Anyway, the i-pod dosen't have the radio feature, and I can't feigure out why they haven't come up with one that does, it seems like a no-brainer. But anyway, they don't and they are over priced and they are, in the case of the Nano, flimsy. So I bought the Sansa. I am very happy with it. The music plays great and the radio works pretty good. I mean, there is no antana so sometimes going under a bridge the reception fizzes out, but hey, nothing is perfect. I have also been very pleasently suprised by the customer service I've received from SanDisk. The only things I don't like about the e260, if you could even classify them as dislikes, are that, like you've pointed out the wheel seems flimsy, but I haven't had any problems with functionality. I also don't care for how you have to plug it into your computer via a USB to charge it. I think it's weird. Finally, if I had one wish to add to it, it would be that they would add AM radio so I could listen to traffic reports and baseball games (Go Mariners!)

[Mikal @ Nov 6th 2006 9:46PM]

Regarding charging through USB. All the USB port provides is 5VDC to charge up or power up any device connected to it. There are many chargers that have a USB socket for you to plug your device into to provide that 5VDC. Walmart or Zellers have these gizmos and well, you plug it into the wall, use whatever cable adapter you need to go to your device, and voila, you are in business. Also, there are devices that plug into your car's cigarette lighter and have a USB socket. I use one for my Creative TXFM to use the car's power as a power source. Works like a champ. Hope it helps you out. Mike K.

[Steve @ Dec 2nd 2006 2:42AM]

I have the e260 and use iTunes. I use a program called tunebite to convert iTuenues (m4p) into mp3 ! cost about $20 Australian for me. so cheeps as and works no worries. I then just drag and drop my iTunes onto the sansa

[jpdoctor @ Dec 17th 2006 9:08AM]

Stay away. It's not worth the investment. I bought the e260 in November 2006. Less than 2 weeks later after going for a jog, I noticed that the cover and lcd were broken. A player of this cost should be able to stand up to more stress than that! I contacted customer service and there began a long and frustrating oddessey into Sandisk support. Support is definitely handled off shore. The responses were there but no understanding, no willingness to help. Essentially, I ended up with a $179.00 paper weight. I couldn't get it repaired, I couldn't get a replacement LCD or Cover. Just lots of responses from Billy Ray, Luther and Shrevdryk with no real intention of helping. Buy a protection plan that doesn't require you to talk to Sandisk or better yet, Stay Away!!

[Gstayton @ Oct 9th 2007 10:51AM]

@jpdoctor, sorry to hear that, but ive had mine for about a year now, its only my second MP3 player, my first was a 1g sansa. Mine has been through plenty, and it only has a small crack in the screen (mostly my fault >.>) So, uuh... well, you musta done something to it... Only thing im having issues with is that i have some files that i cant get rid of or play in the device...

[Otto Van De Steene @ Jun 12th 2006 10:45AM]

but it doesn't work with itunes...

[andy @ Nov 20th 2007 9:01PM]

hey retard its a sansa not ipod. ipod has itunes. sandisk has windows media player or what ever you have.

[Billaeon @ Jun 13th 2006 9:08PM]

...which is a good thing.

[Erin @ Jun 20th 2006 4:42PM]

i was wondering, with the last sandisk i had (was a blue 512mb) it wasnt a good idea to leave the headphone cord in if it was not in use, because as proven by my mom and me, it would shift in the jack and loosen something inside it, causing the sound to give out...so i was wondering if i would have to worry about this currently, with the 4gb sansa i just bought.

[skip @ Jun 15th 2007 1:26PM]

yes! my husband bought me a Sansa e260 w/ 4 gb for my birthday just over a year ago. i done nothing but be careful with it, but i started having problems with it shortly after i began using it. first, it started to freeze up on me. when i called tech support, their answer was to take out the battery and start over, saying that it might freeze up on me if it is in MSC mode. after this happening numerous times (not just in MSC mode), i recently tried to add a few songs on it, but when i plugged it into the computer, it wouldn't show that there were any files on it. my computer would recognize it but would not recognize any of the files on it. i wasn't sure if this was my computer's fault or not, so i tried taking the battery out again and using Raphsody instead of Windows Media Player. this time after many undates to the old Raphsody it would recognize the music files. BUT then i tried listening to my new music and sound would only come out of one headphone. I tried numerous headphones that we own and all had the same result. if i put the jack halfway in, there was full sound. if i put it all the way in, only sound out of one headphone.
moral of the story, don't waste your time on this machine... waste of money...too many bugs, and shoddy craftsmanship.

[David Jalbert-Gagnier @ Jun 21st 2006 8:52AM]

http://www.idont.com/ They have a new ad campaign in the streets of L.A. and NYC (and probably others) playing on the culpability of iPod users who, like 80% of the people who bought a digital music player, happened to have bought the dominant. I never like these guilt campaigns, like the GM ones blaming people for buying cars not made in the U.S. Just make your product superior and more desirable, don't spend on making me feel guilty of a purchase I'm happy of.

[Porquoe @ Jun 21st 2006 8:01PM]

Looks like a price break - I saw the 6gb Sansa e270 @ J&R for $220 and at Amazon for $230. I bought from Amazon 'cause I liked the free shipping. Can't wait for my first mp3 player to get here!

[Joshua @ Dec 6th 2006 8:52PM]

What website is J&R?

[MrFats @ Jun 23rd 2006 12:00PM]

this mp3 player...is totally sweet! I got mine yesterday (the 2 gb version), and I love it. A solid device, with great features.

[Jessica @ Dec 25th 2006 11:13AM]

i got a sansa e270 (6gb) for Christmas/Birthday and love it. one problem though when i use the sansa media converter it cant find my player. idk why. it finds it in windows media player but i need to convert pics. and i cant do that unless it reads the player. please help me!

[leixe @ Jun 15th 2007 6:51PM]

how do u put videos on your sansa .the music is easy but the videos i cant do

[Michael @ Jun 26th 2006 3:25PM]

I recently bought the e260 4gb player and had the most frustrating experience. I transfered over 500 songs to the unit which appeared to be successful. When I went to play the songs it only reflected 464 songs on the unit. I then went to delete the songs and re-transfer and the player showed "Are you sure you want to delete 500 songs?" I scratched my head wondering where these 6 songs are for they were not on the player, but when I went to delete them the player acted like they were there. These songs were legitimate mp3 files and were not corrupted at all for I could play them on any other player with no problem. So if this is happening to any others, heres the fix. Make sure to download the latest firmware! This appeared to fix the problem.

[Diane @ Jun 29th 2006 2:30PM]

I have had mine for 1 month now and am extremely disappointed. It has frozen up almost every other day. I hae been communicating with their tech support every other day. I don't understand why they won't just replace an obvious lemon! It just shuts down and cannot be turned back on without reformating the drive. I lose all my downloads each time this happens!

[Pwatters @ Mar 26th 2007 10:07PM]

This is happening to me too. I was on the verge of returning it, decided I might as well give something a try (since I had the extended warranty) and removed the battery. PITA! That seemed to solve the problem but it's happened again. It will be in the middle of a song and just quit. The turn on button doesn't respond and connecting it back up to the computer doesn't work either. I'm disheartened to hear that this is a problem others have experienced and that your calls to tech support aren't getting you (or me) any solutions! Glad to find your post, though.

[quedak @ Jul 1st 2006 8:32AM]

i had to return the unit back to the store.
... it is better then the iPod, but
there is no Custom EQ
there is no support for external PlayLists (m3u)
there is no support for other charsets but English
you cannot play avi files

[Stealth @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:54PM]

quedak
there is a custom EQ
you can media conver avi to play
Have the 4 gig unit for just over a week now and its awesome!!

[Shane @ Jul 2nd 2006 12:42AM]

Some people do surprise me. "...but it does not work with iTunes". OF COURSE IT DOESN'T WORK WITH iTunes! This mp3 player is made by SanDisk, not Apple! Retard.
Next, cry about it. It doesn't come with other char sets other than english. You seem to know english quite well, READ IT. Sucks now doesn't it?

I just got mine, and I love it. I used to have a 5 year old Archos Jukebox 2.0 and this one far surpasses it. And it far surpasses any iPod out there, because iPod's suck. Name brand with a named price: Too high.

[Chris @ Feb 6th 2008 4:40AM]

Refrain from the dumbass comments please. The guy is obviously talking to those who are well endowed with English and other languages. It doe not fare well to have a song displayed in blocks on-screen. If you can only read English, then that's sad for you.

[joelr_miller @ Apr 27th 2008 4:27PM]

It's not impossible to make it work with itunes. Presumably you like the itunes player for some reason or you want to use the itunes store. In canada for example itunes is one of the only ways you can buy music online at least right now. Rhapsody, Amazon not available. Would really like to try rhapsody though. Don't ask me about napster. I have no idea and hate them because the billed me improperly.

The issue with itunes and e260 is you can't read aac files or protected m4p files. Don't need to buy any fancy software you can do it all with itunes and cheap CDRW disc (RW so you can erase it later and reuse it / repeat). Once you purchase an album burn it to CDRW (in WAV format) ie same as if you bought from the store. Its a backup right? (totally legit). Set your importing setting in itunes to MP3. Eject the CD and close it again. Import the CD (as mp3) and itunes will put all the right tag information for you off CDDB. Those mp3s play on the e260 no problemo.

Drag and drop the MP3s into the sansa and away you go. If you want to get fancy there is a guy on sourceforge ( http://ita.sourceforge.net/ ) that wrote a free program called itunes agent. It allows you to sync an itunes playlist with pretty much any device that shows up as a drive letter on your PC.

I keep a copy of my protected files in the same folders as the MP3. Another trick in itunes is to use a smartplaylist. You can filter so that your playlist shows Kind=MP3 which stops the protected ones from showing up. That way when you sync to the sansa you don't get messages saying m4p files aren't supported.

I don't have a great solution for itunes videos other than don't use itunes for videos... use youtube ;) yes those can be converted to work on sansa too but not sure you are interested in that anyways.

As long as the thing doesn't freeze (hasn't happened to me yet) (knock wood) it's a great little device. I will wait about a year and ad an SD micro card (16GB) when they get cheap and load the rest of my library on. Those micro SD cards are crazy eh? ok so now you know I am Canadian for sure. later.

[peekayve @ Jul 7th 2006 12:55AM]

To charge your SANSA use Griffin PowerBlock AC wall Charger for iPod. just connect the USB end of the chord supplied by SANSA into the charger. Works like a charm!!

[thewayofthewei @ Jun 21st 2007 8:49PM]

no, you cant. you have to make them on windows media player and sync it to the sansa. if you want to add songs to it, you have to delete the playlist, add the songs, and resync it. it gets really really annoying. and when you already have songs on the sansa and want to make a playlist, when you sync the playlist, the songs that were originally on it will be put on a second time. so basically you'd have two of the same song. yeah. really annoying.

[Rubop @ Jul 7th 2006 12:59AM]

Can you create playlists in the player?

[g. @ Jul 7th 2006 9:11AM]

Sonja: My guess would be that apple sells the FM/AM tuner as an addon because in some countries (mine) you have to pay an additional 120$/yr "media tax" if you own a portable radio.
So to me "no radio" is actually a feature.

Sad thing the reviewer doesn't mention if this player plays mpeg-4 or aac+ audio.

[Scott Brown @ Oct 7th 2006 6:21PM]

What country do you live in? $120 a year for media tax?!

[Alex Alexzander @ Jul 8th 2006 12:14PM]

I bought the e260 about a month ago. It does have some slight issues, but they can be overcome.

1. I did have an issue with a song that wouldn't play. In the end, I reformatted it, and placed my song list back on the Sansa, and all is well.

2. I'd really like to be able to play Audible.com audio Books. When I mentioned to Customer Service that all their older players support Audible.com, and so should the Sansa, I was informed it works with a service called "Net Library". So I went to check out Net Library, and I don't know why they even bother to mention that service. Its darn horrible, and nothing like Audible.com. They have almost nothing. Support for Audible.com is simply a must have in my opinion. I went through at least 2 to 4 books per month last year, and so SanDisk needs to add support here, or this could could get ugly. I am not going to carry two devices. That's actually the biggest problem for me. I like audible a lot, and it seems to me that many of the alternatives to ipod skip this vital feature.

Another problem, which has nothing to do with the Sansa, but more with the music stores that support the sansa is this. iTunes sells audible, video, and music. If you go to Napster, you get just music. No books, and no video. What we need is for the alternative to support all the same things, and more, that are supported on the iPod / iTunes duo. Otherwise, I feel like I am missing something.

Now, let's talk about what is right on with the Sansa.

Last year I bought 1,487 songs from the iTunes store. So I paid $1,487. That's quite music bill from iTunes. Plus the cost of the iPod, which was about $300. I wont include audible books in this for obvious reasons, but if you go with Napster ToGo service, you pay $15 a month, and get access to 95% of their catalog. Some thing you have to buy. But its very few. Most things you can get in the Napster to Go service. And that means, you pay $15 and can load up 1,500 songs or more, onto the player.

How many songs are more a fad, and how many are actually songs you wish to own? How many songs of those 1,500 did I buy that I wont listen to anymore? My point is, even with a subscription, you pay less, because the reality is, your monthly expense for music is capped, unless you buy songs on top of that subscription price. But you buy fewer songs when you have a subscription, because you tend not to buy what you get bored of quickly. So rather than spending $50 or $60 a month on music, I find myself spending $15 a month, plus a few dollars here and there for what I actually want to keep forever. My credit card statements reflect the savings too. I used to add up my music purchases, and I was quite surprised how much I was spending in the iTunes store. Seriously, it was $50 to 60 a month, and one month was over $200! Since I have switched to Napster, I have yet to see expenses more than $30. I recently bought a $39 music pack which is 50 songs for $39.99. So that's 20% off! So what would cost 99 cents, is really 79 cents.

Now there is one things iTunes does very poorly. You get a 30 second preview. With Napster, because you are buying a subscription, you get to hear the full song. I can't tell you how many times I bought a song on iTunes, only to find after I bought it, that it wasn't that great. That can't happen on Napster. You buy only what you really want to keep, and technically, you rarely need to buy anything, even if you want it to go portable. The Sansa works with Napster to Go. so subscription music goes with you!

When I first used the interface of the Sansa, being used to the iPod, I felt it could be better. But after a couple weeks, I am just as fast with the Sansa way as I was with the iPod. There are a couple features I'd like to add to the interface to make it better, but all and all, I don't really miss the iPod at all. I need my audible.com though.

This player is light weight. Has outstanding audio. I bought a pair of very nice in-ear earbuds, and they rock. They are black too. I also wish it had AM radio, as I am a KGO fan, which is a very good station in the SF bay Area in California.

If you're not an audible.com nut case like me, this is seriously the player to get. This comes from a guy who owns 3 iPods, one of which is a nano.

[Grace @ Jul 11th 2006 10:23PM]

The player in general is good BUT the customer support sucks! I researched the web site and it showed multiple languages inside the player's interface. It actually does NOT support Asian languages unless you buy it in Asia. Even if you buy it in Asia, some of the languages are not ready yet, still need to wait. The tech support said the hardware made in US is not compatible with the decoding software since the resolution for the player in US is NOT high enough. I was misinformed and got stuck with the device. Called tech support in US, they refused to do anything and since I bought it through Amazon.com, SanDisk kept telling me they will send me the decoding software, over 30 days later told me software not compatible. I missed the 30 days return policy....I am stuck with the device and SanDisk Tech Support gave me an attitude. I am very disappointed. I was looking forward to having this product in Jan 2006 and was excited to see it in March. I will not buy any SanDisk product anymore.

[Chris @ Apr 4th 2007 1:28AM]

I'm sorry, but you need to "get over it" your command of English is exceptional and your complaint about Asian language support seems very trite, considering your obvious skills.

[john @ Jul 14th 2006 3:05AM]

Better than the iPod? Ha! What a joke. There is a reason why iPods are the most popular. It alone justifyably holds the title as the sexiest, best engineered player designed to go with the world's best music software and the world's best computers. My girlfriend went against my advice and bought this SanDisk. Man, the software is NOWHERE NEAR up to the level of iTunes. Basically, it sucks. Sorry, that's just my opinion. My girlfriend agrees but oops, She already spent the money.

[Shawn M. @ Jul 16th 2006 11:44AM]

I've purchased the e260 about 2 months ago. I really want to like this player but it is too frustrating. I also had the same problem with having to sync my player almost everyday when using music from Rhapsody. I also tried it with AOL MusicNOW and it did the same thing. Also, I don't like that you can only make a playlist in Windows Media Player or use the Go list. It would be nice to make a playlist right there within the player. So I have to break out the laptop, boot it up, open windows media player and make a couple of playlists. I also have to make sure I have enough room on my player for the playlist because it doesn't use the music already in my player. No, it has to add the whole playlist music and all. That's really a big waste of space. I do like the "Go List" but I also would like more than one list that you can create from the player itself. I do hope Sandisk makes this possible.

[Rachel @ Oct 29th 2006 9:55AM]

How do you put a new playlist onto the player? I've tried through WMP and it doesn't let me....what am I doing wrong?

[joe @ Jul 16th 2006 4:01PM]

First off, people complaining about music services for this player need to get a life. iTunes is a pretty well designed program, and it's allright if you have the ipod. Winamp is a much better player in my opinion and is more compatible with tons of other things, with thousands of plugins to do virtually anything. There is also an iPod plugin that will allow you to manage your ipod with as much (actually more) control than you do with iTunes. iTunes is not an exceptional program, don't whine about it not being compatible with the sansa. Put your sansa in MSC mode and drag/drop MP3 files with a simple windows interface. It acts as a mass storage device, and so is compatible with varius other devices. You don't need any special software, if you want to give your friend some songs just go over, plug in your sansa and copy the songs over. I just bought the sansa e250 for $105 with a rebate from buy.com, and I love it. Other than the player not being paper-thin, it has no disadvantages to the ipod nano:
- It has an FM Radio
- It has a better file system structure, allowing dragging/dropping of any type of file to and from the player on any computer without any special software
- It supports miniSD/transflash cards, which currently hold up to 1GB with a 2GB card due soon. Most new cell phones also support this card, and they ship with a mini-SD to SD adapter enabling capability with most laptops, some printers, and newer digital cameras.
- It has a bigger screen, and supports limited but decent video playback (the nano offers NONE)
- The blue glowing ring makes it 'sexier' than the plain nano
- It has a microphone and allows voice recording
- It can record FM radio to WAV files
- The battery life in reality is a good 1.5-2 times longer than that of the 30GB iPod or the iPod nano, and is user replaceable.
- It's more scratch-resistant

Why is the ipod more popular than the sansa? Well for one, the ipod has been around for over 4 years. The e200 sansa series has been around for..less than 3 months? You do the math.

The MP3 player you choose is nothing more than a matter of personal preference. It's obvious that the sansa has several clear advantages over the iPod nano. If you have 30GB of music on your computer and you like watching full-length movies on a 2x2 in screen, then the iPod is for you. For those that a phobia of having a player slightly thicker than a pencil and have a fetish for overpriced things, then the ipod nano is for you. For anyone who wants an MP3 player with quite a few fancy extras, the sansa is an excellent option for you.

[ashish @ May 26th 2007 6:01AM]

you got it right man. sansa's too good..

[juicebox @ Jul 17th 2006 10:48PM]

FYI - for any Mac users wanting to use iTunes with a non-Apple mp3 player, try SyncTunes:
http://www.nesfield.co.uk/synctunes/

it works great, it's free and it'll even convert aac files to mp3 format. hope it helps :)

[raj @ Jul 19th 2006 4:35PM]

I returned my Sandisk e260 and exchanged it for a 30gb Ipod video. Although i really like the Sandisk design, I don't think the functionality is quite up there with the IPOD. Sandisk hasn't really made anything to compete with an ipod before so I think they're still in the learning stages. I think future versions of Sansa will be real competition to Apple.

PRO's...
-You can dragn'drop/copy/delete music to the drive easily as it appears in My Computer as a usb drive (same with the additional storage). No need for any special software. (you do need special sw for video and pics though)
-It's a nice design and very small--which can also be a pain when trying to use it in the car
-the extended memory is a nice feature.

CON's...
-like I said..almost too small. My fat thumbs can't manage the thin up/down/left/right buttons. it's actually pretty dangerous for the car. the display takes up half of the device but is still too small to navigate easily. the video display is pretty clear but again still too small.
-i tried playing a few videos and they didn't work well at all. they would cut off after 20 seconds or so. i emailed sandisk and they said try another computer (???). also there is a 100MB limit on movie files--not sure if IPOD's have such a limit.
-you can only create 1 playlist--called a Go List. The only other way to organize after that is to play by "album"--which means you have to edit some songs with Real Player (or something) to make sure all the album titles are correct.
-the "wheel" feels like it's going to get stuck or break later. it's toy-ish feel doesn't match the rest of the sleek design.
-the music ranking thing is kinda dumb. with less than 6GB, how many songs that you don't really like are you gonna put there?

Conclusion...
Buy the Sandisk if you move files back and forth between the device and computer a lot--and don't really need multiple playlists. If not, go with apple.

[Pharmgirl @ May 30th 2007 10:47PM]

False in that you can only create a GoList playlist. I use Windows Media player and have created multiple playlists that I sync IN ADDITION to the GoList. I was mistaken at first about this. But after playing with it and actually reading the owner's manual, I learned how to create playlists.

[Amy @ Jul 26th 2006 12:32PM]

I purchased the Sansa e200 about a month ago, I LOVE it! I think it is MUCH better than the iPOD in numberous ways. I like the fact that it plays video and you can add memory to it. I also like that you can upload your CDs and drop them into the player using Windows Media.

The only downfalls I found with it is that it freezes on me A LOT. And it is kind of frustrating. I also had the same problem that other people had. When I upload a certain song to it, it says that the song is there but it does not play.

Overall, I would recommend this player to anyone. Anything is better than an iPOD. ;)

[p-doody @ Jul 27th 2006 12:07AM]

can someone clarify this for me. i have napster, is this player compatiable?

[juicebox @ Jul 27th 2006 4:32PM]

i got a demo e250 to test and i really like it. seems like a much better deal than a comparable ipod nano. the only thing i wish it had was an AM radio and a better carrying case.

FWIW, it looks like there are some new models in the pipeline because the e200 series is starting to get blown out:
http://www.westexmedia.com/html/sandisk_e250.html

i've also heard about a new ipod nano that'll add video playback and double the memory. good things are coming! :)

[Shay @ Aug 4th 2006 12:28PM]

i bought the sansa (4 gb) yest. i htink i like it so far. but one thing i have a problem with...i want to delete the 10 or so songs it comes with...but i dont know how can someone help me with that?

[Chris Brown @ Nov 12th 2006 7:27PM]

I purchased a sansa e260 about 2 months ago, and let me tell you, this is my first and best mp3 player i've ever owned. I know that there probably is better mp3 players with more functions out there. I found that on my mp3 player, i loaded about 300 sounds on it and then came back and deleted them except about 17 of them because it would not let me delete them 17. The 17 it did not let me delete was sounds that i have loaded on it previously. I was able to delete the sounds that came preloaded on it. The software that i use with my player is rhapsody. After plugging the usb port to the computer, choose manage device using rhapsody, them after rhapsody is loaded, select sansa e260 and you will see all songs on your player, and to delet a song you will have to highlight that song and press delete on your keyboard. You will have to do each track one at a time.

[acheron @ Aug 5th 2006 1:23PM]

i´d like to buy the sansa, but i´m not sure if the fm tuner is also available in europe. can anyone help me?

[Juliet @ Aug 7th 2006 12:03PM]

http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/File/pdf/retail/Sansa_e200_UserManual.pdf

The answers to all your ridiculous problems...