SanDisk planning 8GB Sansa e280?

So we can't vouch for the validity of the photo you see here, but if we're to believe an Anything But iPod forum member claiming to work as a tester at SanDisk, then it depicts a pre-production version of the unannounced Sansa e280 with a "nano-killing" 8GB of flash memory -- plus a memory card slot to jack that total up to 9GB. Although anything posted to forums should be viewed with no small amount of skepticism, a WHOIS query supposedly confirms that this member was indeed posting from SanDisk's Virginia campus when he revealed his info, and the fact that the pic looks pretty legit only further enhances this rumor's believability. Plus, Apple will surely boost the nano's capacity at some point or another, so it's obvious that SanDisk will have to do the same if it hopes to shed its runner-up status -- because simply insulting potential customers doesn't seem like a great way to gain market share.

[steve @ Jun 29th 2006 12:55PM]

ya heres the post
http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=718
maybe i should have waited before getting the e260 because this might mean a price drop for the e270.....

[Graham H. @ Jun 29th 2006 1:09PM]

upon checking my e250 (w/ 512 microSD), that appears to be a legit screen. in case there was any doubt, this is a great player, in any capacity.

[Todd George @ Jun 29th 2006 1:42PM]

Now if only they could make better firmware. The RockBox thing could be huge for those of us who hate the factory e2x0 firmware, if it ever happens.

[anon @ Jun 29th 2006 2:37PM]

#2, that doesn't mean that it couldn't have been photoshopped

[G MOney @ Jun 29th 2006 2:38PM]

Now why would you be so stupid as to post confidential information on the net FROM A WORK CPU!

[sracer @ Jun 29th 2006 2:45PM]

The photo is legit. As for the e200 series in general, Sandisk has a real winner here... they just need to stick with it and see it to maturity. I have an e250 ($149 @ Best Buy) and absolutely love it. As a music player it is excellent and video playback is superb. Sandisk just needs a few tweaks to the firmware and this thing will be over-the-top.

[MKB @ Jun 29th 2006 4:25PM]

Having gotten the e260, I have only two grievances I wish they'd deal with before coming out with anything else.

1) The 10 minute video limit is beyond awful!

I've tried hacking the 600 second limit (among other things), but it refused to play anything on the device after conversion until I changed it back.

2) The lack of OGG Vorbis support.

[Justin @ Jun 29th 2006 5:31PM]

usually anything that has the suffix of "killer" ends up being anything but.

this is no exception.

[Jakov @ Jun 29th 2006 5:57PM]

Sandisk e200 users are like Apple users: they make excuses for bugs and oversights and consider them more "eccentricities" than faults.

Stop fooling yourselves, Sansa e200 users. This thing is a piece of dump that should never have been released before proper testing.

It's a frustrating journey into Hell to own one of these catastrophies.

Be warned.

[BarbaryCoast @ Jun 29th 2006 7:20PM]

Us iSheep are not impressed. Baaaaa.

[MKB @ Jun 29th 2006 8:53PM]

I've only got those two complaints which I mentioned above which I find to be inexcusable.

I bought it because it was less expensive and did more than the iCrap. I am still quite pleased with what I got for my money (my expections are likely lower than some).

However, it's definitely far from a journey into Hell IMHO as I've yet to hear anything resembling proof that would merit this description.

[Zenigata @ Jun 29th 2006 10:29PM]

i purchased the 6gig model recently and returned it withing 30 days of use from best buy. the player itself is a good player in size and stuff but the only thing that sucked majorly about it, is that it froze on me 3 times..once at the apple store in nyc haha

when i say freezes i mean the screen freezes on watever it;s on, i had the now playing screen, and the music continues but you can't control anything..no wheel, no volume, no way to shut it off. there isn't even a reset button on the unit. the light on the wheel stays on too so i had to let it drain the battery and die and start it up again after charging it up. my old creative zen jukebox (which i miss, i don't care how big or thick it was i never had problems like this -- well the HD crashed lol but thats typical) had one so if it froze i could just pop say a paper clip in and bamn i'm ready to roll again. sandisk's solution is to remove the battery which requires you carrying a philips head screwdriver with you wherever you go lol

they really need to fix that issue. if they did i might consider buying the 8gig unit.

[David @ Jun 13th 2007 2:47PM]

i just bought the e-280 8 gb - the screens freezes after 3-4 times of use for coupple of times, i was shocked, as it brand new, i went back to costco to exchange it , cause i thought its may be a defective unit and now i see you have the same problems, San Disk should do a recall on the product. when i returned it back the customer service rep told me he already hed another person returning it with the same problem.

[Hal O'Brien @ Jun 29th 2006 11:47PM]

"...simply insulting potential customers doesn't seem like a great way to gain market share."

Oh? Are you saying you guys hate Apple's new TV ads, too? They almost seem Republican -- great for whipping up the base, but not terribly useful for getting anyone to actually, you know, buy their product.

[Jakov @ Jun 30th 2006 3:28AM]

MKB: read the many posts on problems concerning the e200 series here

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=9

And I bought the e260 a few months ago and returned it 2 days after the purchase. Could I have purchased a lemon? Read the posts in the above link and you'll see that I wasn't the only one with major issues.

Journey into Hell.

[Jeff Norman @ Jul 1st 2006 11:54PM]

I have had two e270 units (6gb) for about 3 weeks now. At first I noticed all of the bugs alluded to by others and almost returned them. The worst bug was the at the end of each song there was a loud POP that destroyed the left earphone of a $200 set of japanese earphones. I was pissed to say the least.

However, I followed tech supports instructions - USB mode to MTP, format the player from windows, install firmware downloaded from website and reset - and all of the problems from freezing to popping to noise (mentioned in CNET review) were GONE. This is especially interesting because the VERSION of firmware is the same on the website (as of today) as the shipping version. While no one at SD would admit this to me, I strongly suspect they had a manufacturing glitch and a batch of units went out with firmware that was incorrectly or incompletely loaded or ridden through with errors (or maybe even the wrong version, and the version reflected on the info page is wrong). Whatever, point is the fix above fixes ALL problems.

Now that i have had it working for a couple of weeks, I am very happy with it. No, SD did not offer to replace my expensive earphones, but the player is a complete ipod killer, creative killer, etc. 6gb of FLASH, under $200, fantastic sound quality, an interface that is much improved over the ipod wheel, and drastically infinitely better than the nano's (the only flash ipod right now), plus support for secure wma, and finally and most importantly SD support which ipod will never have.

FWIW, I own 2 ipod mini's and they were at one point my favotite by Apple has fallen far behind on fucntioality and their closed itunes interface has convinced me that I had to find a wma player. One other ipod like innovation for SD that you also may have missed was the option (not requrement unlike itumes) of automatic firmware upgrades when the device is connected. This can be enabled from SD's website under support with a download.

The only faults now that I have with the device are: (1) I wish it had ogg-vorbis capability, that would be something, (2) lack of audible support like SD's other players (hopefully coming soon to firmware upgrade).

[Sheena @ Jan 12th 2007 9:14PM]

I'm having the same problems with the screen freezing and then I can't do anything but wait until it comes alive again..lol..So, I'd like to follow your instructions:

"However, I followed tech supports instructions - USB mode to MTP, format the player from windows, install firmware downloaded from website and reset - and all of the problems from freezing to popping to noise (mentioned in CNET review) were GONE."

But can you elaborate on how to do this? I'm not sure what you mean by "format the player from windows", etc? Is this in the booklet or how did you do this?

Thanks for the help!

[Vadaniels @ Jul 9th 2006 10:48AM]

You want journey into hell, hows about a generic Mp3 player that stops for no reason, gots hot enought to burn your skin and leaves an everlasting impression on the screen if you have the misfortune to press anything against oh might I add that this thing is big and bulky and doesn't even have a holder. The Sandisk e200 series is a gift from God compared to that. The Genric piece of crap I used to have was a journey to the Third Dimension of hell where all the demons laugh at you and throw hot rocks at you for not buying the Sandisk e200. I kid you not.

[Andrea @ Jul 19th 2006 6:23AM]

I have just purchased an E260, living in italy I won`t have the FM tuner featur on the player.
This hurts me a lot ... I would have payied 10% more to have this function!
Daes anyone knows if this lack is only a software matter and if there is the way to unlock this function even in Europe??

[Michell @ Jan 15th 2007 8:45PM]

I purchased a 4gb sansa e200 series rhapsody mp3 player last december.
Since yesterday, it will not work.
When I press the power button, the blue light comes on along with the screen saying SanDisk, but after that, the screen either goes blank or static.
My computer won't even recognize the player anymore.
Any solutions to this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
[e-mail]

[Andrew @ Jan 28th 2008 11:29PM]

Did you ever get an answer on your question? as to the screen going to static, or just resetting all over again. Mine currently turns on, blue wheel lit up, shows the sandisk logo screen, goes to static, then starts the cycle all over again, and does that about 10 times, then shuts off. the "reset" doesn't work (holding down the power button for 20 seconds)... any help would be nice, I think the memory chip is fried, or something, I took it apart, and disconnected the memory chip, and plugged back in.. same thing.

Anything you all can say would help, thank you.

[ZenWoman @ Jul 13th 2007 10:46PM]

I've had the e280 (8 gig) Sansa for less than 5 hours and it's sitting there with a blue screen, totally unresponsive, and no reset button. I thought of removing the back, but since I'm sure I'll be returning it tomorrow, I guess I'll just let it run down over night. I can't believe it, since I've spent hours the past two days tracking one down. Very sad! It looked so promising for the first hour.

[sidonie @ Oct 7th 2008 1:55AM]

For those of you who keep trying to figure how to reset it, heres how. all you have to do is hold the start button and the center button at the same time and it should start up again. it has worked for me everytime, plus thats what the ppl at sandisk told me to do.