http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/ Engadget Comments for SanDisk Sansa e260 review http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jun 7th 2006 12:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Aug 23rd 2007 11:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Feb 13th 2008 4:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jun 7th 2006 4:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Nov 6th 2006 9:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Dec 2nd 2006 2:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Dec 17th 2006 9:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/.>) 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...]]>Oct 9th 2007 10:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jun 12th 2006 10:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Nov 20th 2007 9:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jun 13th 2006 9:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jun 20th 2006 4:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/moral of the story, don't waste your time on this machine... waste of money...too many bugs, and shoddy craftsmanship. ]]>Jun 15th 2007 1:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/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.]]>Jun 21st 2006 8:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jun 21st 2006 8:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Dec 6th 2006 8:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jun 23rd 2006 12:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Dec 25th 2006 11:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jun 15th 2007 6:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jun 26th 2006 3:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jun 29th 2006 2:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Mar 26th 2007 10:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/... 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

]]>Jul 1st 2006 8:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/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!!]]>Jan 22nd 2007 10:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/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.]]>Jul 2nd 2006 12:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Feb 6th 2008 4:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/
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.]]>Apr 27th 2008 4:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jul 7th 2006 12:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jun 21st 2007 8:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jul 7th 2006 12:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/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.]]>Jul 7th 2006 9:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Oct 7th 2006 6:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/
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. ]]>Jul 8th 2006 12:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jul 11th 2006 10:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Apr 4th 2007 1:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jul 14th 2006 3:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jul 16th 2006 11:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Oct 29th 2006 9:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/- 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.]]>Jul 16th 2006 4:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/May 26th 2007 6:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/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 :)]]>Jul 17th 2006 10:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/
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.]]>Jul 19th 2006 4:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/May 30th 2007 10:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/
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. ;)]]>Jul 26th 2006 12:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Jul 27th 2006 12:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/
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! :)]]>Jul 27th 2006 4:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Aug 4th 2006 12:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Nov 12th 2006 7:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/Aug 5th 2006 1:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/sandisk-sansa-e260-review/http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/File/pdf/retail/Sansa_e200_UserManual.pdf

The answers to all your ridiculous problems...]]>Aug 7th 2006 12:03PM