Sandisk's Sansa e270 gets nude

Loyal Engadget reader turned gadget pornographer Francis noticed how much we cared for Sandisk's new Sansa e200 series MP3 players, so he cracked his open and sent us pictures of the silicon and flash memory goodness that spilled forth from within. Sure, the photos don't leave much to the imagination, but you can't tell us you weren't wondering what that navigation wheel looked like under its shiny plastic cover. Don't worry, we're not here to judge.

[Thanks, Francis]

[TIMMAH! @ Jun 7th 2006 12:35PM]

Hey on the review of the Sansa E200 series (I couldn't comment on this before because comments were turned off), but one thing I haven't seen in any of the reviews was if these players allow you to play by directory. I know they are UMS enabled, but can I just dump a folder of songs (as poorly tagged as they are) and be able to play them by selecting the folder on the device? That's what I really love about my Muvo2 and I'm sure there's others out there that aren't really interesting in wading thru all their files to make sure they're tagged correctly just to play them once and then replace them with a new batch of tracks.

[Liam @ Jun 7th 2006 12:36PM]

nice, i was considering this or the ipod.. i however chose the ipod nano

[neo-fight.tv @ Jun 7th 2006 12:51PM]

I was considering this, but PC World says the audio quality is 'so-so'. Can anyone confirm?

[G @ Jun 7th 2006 12:55PM]

This has already been done:

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2006/03/sandisk-sansa-e200-series-review.php

[Scoobydoo @ Jun 7th 2006 1:00PM]

Hmmm... Biggest news to me was the "designed by MSI" on the board... I knew MSI made players, but wasn't aware they designed the Sandisk ones...

[Adam @ Jun 7th 2006 2:03PM]

I'm also interested to hear about the sound quality. I need a new mp3 player, my Rio S10 is far from new.

[Steve @ Jun 7th 2006 2:39PM]

I have the e270...

Dumping a directory of songs and playing them: Not sure haven't tried it

Sound quality: No complaints... I'm using a pair of Sony behind-the-neck MDR-G42 and I think the sound quality is awesome. I've never tried an iPod to know if they sound better, but the songs sound just as if I was plugged into the headphone jack of my PC.

Radio tuner: Not really the best. Can only seem to pickup the strong stations in my area.

My main reason for getting this over an iPod was that I had tons of music already ripped to WMAs and had bought a fair amount of music from the Microsoft music store and needed something that was Play-For-Sure compatible.

[MacCanuck @ Jun 7th 2006 2:49PM]

re the Sandisk Sansa e260

PCMag gave a strange, mixed review...

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1960965,00.asp

"... But the overall user experience—meaning navigation, cross-platform software/hardware integration, and ease of use—isn't quite as smooth as that of its chief rival. ... "

"Bottomline
The e260 has an excellent combination of features, style, ease of use, and price, but the overall user experience still isn't quite as smooth as that of the iPod nano.

Pros
Removable battery. Sturdy shell. Very good audio quality. Easy to use. Expandable storage. Extensive feature set. Strong FM tuner.

Cons
Playlisting features aren't great. Buttons are slightly difficult to press. No lossless support. Loading music in USB mode causes erratic behavior. Requires separate apps for loading music and visual media."

More Cons than Pros yet a 4.5 star rating!!!???

It supposedly "blows away" the nano re features but what good are those if it's not a good overall user experience?

That's like rating a new, beautifully designed Ferrari at 4.5 and ignoring the fact in only goes 5 miles at a time before breaking down. Looks good but leaves much to be desired functionality (usability)-wise.

[DogzOfWar @ Jun 7th 2006 3:16PM]

I have the 4 gig model (e260), and I think it's been just great. The UI is smooth and cool-looking, with a really bright screen. REALLY BRIGHT and crisp.

FM (here in NJ just outside NYC) is pretty good. Obviously my car gets better reception since it has a 3 foot antennae, but FM and FM recording is great.

Sound quality is great. I use Sony behind-the-ear headphones like a commenter above. Volume can get good and loud. Works great in a cassette adapter in my car.

Only had one problem so far. You can rate songs, so they appear in the shuffle list more often. Anyway, rating a song and the player froze up. Had to push and hold power button for 20 seconds and the player rebooted. No data loss, everything was fine.

Great player.

[perfectionist_etc @ Jun 7th 2006 3:17PM]

I have had the e260 (the 4GB) since the end of March.

It's great!

Compact? Definitely. (Some people are complaining the e200 series is too big and clunky!)
Buttons hard to press? I don't think so, personally.
Durable? Yes!
Fingerprint magnet? Absolutely.
Scratchable screen? Unfortunately.
Simple? No quick start guide needed.

Music quality? Great, but I'm not an audiophile.
Album art? Yes! Goes wonky some of the time, though.

FM reception? Decent. Agrees with Steve on this one.
FM recording? Decent quality, but an MP3 recording option would have saved space while boosting sound quality. (32kbps, WAV is the curreny only option.)

Voice recording? Handy feature, but I don't use it very often.

Photo viewing? Okay. It would be better if the smaller images that don't take up the whole screen were centered.

Video playback? Surprisingly good. It's pretty smooth with some hiccups every minute or so on animated television. That's pretty good for 15fps. This feature is best suited for music videos.
Video audio quality? It suffers during video playback even if the quality of the source video was crystal clear.

[steve @ Jun 7th 2006 3:42PM]

im planning on buyin the 4 gig model today at office depot for $160
i would love to get the 6 gig but sadly money is an issue
(at least i can use a micro sd card as removable media when i need it...)

[Alex @ Jun 7th 2006 5:24PM]

I just bought that from Office Depot this weekend.
I think the sound is excellent, only con here is that it does not have custom EQ.
I love it so far.
Check SD for a good discount.

[Joey @ Jun 7th 2006 9:22PM]

Any one see any accesories for this thing yet. Like car charger or a nice FM Transmiter or anything?

[Wolf @ Jun 19th 2006 10:03PM]

I'm sold, but the question is, should we wait 2 more months before buying it? For all the firmware updates and the price to drop to a reasonable level.