SanDisk's Sansa Fuze gets official, priced

Check it -- HandStands isn't just making kit for items not yet conceived. Oh no, SanDisk's Sansa Fuze is indeed more than a figment of someone's clever imagination. Judging by a product listing at Amazon, this media player is set to ship "within one to three months" and features a 1.9-inch display, FM tuner, built-in microphone for voice recording, a battery good for 24 hours (audio) / 5 hours (video) and a microSD / microSDHC expansion slot for good measure. As of now, we know that the 4GB unit in red, pink or black will sell for $99.99, but there's no word on whether more (or less, for that matter) capacious / colorful models will eventually emerge.

[Via DAPreview, thanks Nick]

[dmatthewbrown @ Mar 10th 2008 2:27AM]

The MicroSDHC capability certainly makes this a valuable player. Now, if they could only fix the painstakingly limiting UI.

[gfar @ Mar 10th 2008 8:53PM]

Agreed.
If my 2nd gen mini wasn't still working fine, I would get this one for sure.
The ability to add a 12gb or higher card is very attractive.

If only it had A2DP, and if only A2DP didn't sound like AM radio...

[smurf @ Mar 10th 2008 2:37AM]

I don't understand why mp3 players use cds to convey music. Use a music note or something.

[think_tanker @ Mar 10th 2008 2:38AM]

The iPod Nano is so going to get owned by this PMP.

[Darkroom @ Mar 10th 2008 2:44AM]

not even

[Darkroom @ Mar 10th 2008 2:44AM]

not even

[LordFarkward @ Mar 10th 2008 3:28AM]

so darkroom thinks it's odd then... though he says it twice... now that's odd...

[Sirius @ Mar 10th 2008 6:12AM]

@LordFarkward

What? Since when did two become odd?

:P

[BuddyBoy @ Mar 10th 2008 6:23AM]

I seriously doubt it.

People don't go out looking for an mp3 player, and then decide which one, they go out looking to buy an iPod.
No matter what features and price point SansDisk put in a device, they buying public is unlikely to have heard of it or want it.
Apples marketing machine has created a public awareness of iPod and iTunes till Sansdisk creates an iTunes killer and puts in some advertising they are not going to own the Nano any time soon.

[LordFarkward @ Mar 10th 2008 6:26AM]

the oddity lies within the irony :)

[Chebwa @ Mar 10th 2008 10:00AM]

Think it's odd...? What?

[The Mad Mule @ Mar 10th 2008 2:42AM]

Dang, this looks like a souped-up version of my Sansa Clip.

[mushrooshi @ Mar 10th 2008 2:44AM]

Ive noticed...

Sandisk first made budget players.

THen it won with its awesome players.

Now all I see is the same mediocre players.

Sorry. Rank me low.

[iuqiddis @ Mar 10th 2008 2:53AM]

I've used a couple of Sandisk players, and I think that their hardware is fine; however their gui needs some serious work. Its too clumsy and unintuitive in my opinion.

[wootman @ Mar 10th 2008 1:19PM]

simple solution, use rockbox.

[klew @ Mar 10th 2008 2:52AM]

I really like my Clip, so this isn't a big price jump for more capacity, formats, and card support. If it only had a removable battery, watch out!

[Michael LaFramboise @ Mar 10th 2008 3:35AM]

So can to scroll w/ the wheel as you can w/ the iPod or just click on its sides as you can w/ the zune?

[mike @ Mar 10th 2008 3:42AM]

maybe the blue ring can be rotated, like some other sanza(s), but it seems too smooth and narrow.

[Leoedin @ Mar 10th 2008 4:49AM]

It looks similar to my view - the red thing will be rubber, and physically turns. Feels great!

The view's hardware is amazing. The software is terrible. It crashes, freezes, doesn't play half the video it should, and in general is rubbish.

[klew @ Mar 10th 2008 5:08AM]

if it's like the Sansa Clip, the wheel does not spin.

[tekdroid @ Mar 10th 2008 3:59AM]

Points for removable storage.

I hope it catches on in other players. iRiver seem to have done a similar thing in their entry-level line.

Great to see.
No FLAC yet, Sandisk?
http://flac.sourceforge.net

[BuddyBoy @ Mar 10th 2008 6:27AM]

I wish more players supported Flac, so we could have a lossless format as portable as mp3.
I'm wishing someone writes a Flac player for the iPhone/Touch so I can move away from apple lossless to something a little more open, with better encoders.

[OvRiDe @ Mar 10th 2008 4:49AM]

The added MicroSD card is nice, my Sansa has it now, my only gripe is that you cannot load music to the mSD from the device itself using USB. Instead you have to pre-load the card using a reader, and then once you insert the card into the device it will read it. Also you can only store music, no video or voice records. But other then that my player has been sterling, no regrets here, but I wouldn't mind a bit more polished GUI.

[carterman @ Mar 10th 2008 7:01AM]

Should've been full-size SDHC support. I

[booticon @ Mar 10th 2008 7:04AM]

SDHC, eh?

I think I just found something to replace my e260.

Oh, and I think the GUI is just fine.

[AlexNC @ Mar 10th 2008 9:42AM]

TV-out? If so, this looks great. I love my Sansa Clip.

[Jubei @ Mar 10th 2008 12:14PM]

At 99 dollars its probably cheap enough for the many immature children that continually post here on Engadget to afford one. At least they have something to spend their allowance money on. Of course with such a cheap build, longevity is questionable. The UI is terrible, hardware build is sub par as usual, but its good enough I suppose.

[Raf @ Mar 10th 2008 12:33PM]

I think this looks like the latest gen iPod Nano. It also looks like a chopped View. Personally, this should have been the View because the view is enormous!

Still my e280 works great. Though I would pick this up if it was released sooner. Wonder what will its features and capabilities will be?

Now if they release a version that is silver with mirror finish just like the 4gb Clip, I would like to have that!

[TheWB @ Mar 10th 2008 1:02PM]

"People don't go out looking for an mp3 player, and then decide which one, they go out looking to buy an iPod."

That is SOOOO not true. A lot of people, including myself, bought the previous model of the Sansa line. They make a decent player and there is no lockin to iTunes for syncing your music. They even let you copy music back off of the device onto another computer, something that most MFR's don't let you do.

[Skobbolop @ Mar 10th 2008 5:18PM]

no, you're wrong..

BuddyBoy talks about the "buying public".. you're talking about yourself and your techgeek friends, who do a bit research before they buy an mp3player...

the majority of consumers don't even know that there ARE alternatives to Apple.. it's sad, but it's true..

[TheWB @ Mar 10th 2008 5:57PM]

No, sorry but you sir are wrong.

I know at least 3 non-geeks that have a Sansa and I've seen them "in the wild" numerous times.

As a matter of fact, I was at WaWa the other day and I saw some hoochie lookin girl pull one out of her bag. I guarantee you that she was not a geek.

[TheWB @ Mar 10th 2008 5:59PM]

Oh and try going to Best Buy sometime. There are tons of alternatives sitting right next to the iPod. Are you saying that self-serving consumers don't even bat an eye when they see the lesser priced alternatives? Puhleeeeze. People love to save money.

[Mikizzle @ Mar 10th 2008 1:15PM]

Looks pretty cool.

[S&M @ Mar 10th 2008 1:19PM]

One of the greatest features on my Sansa e-series and view is that the batteries can be replaced easily.

Go Sandisk!

No I am not a kid spending my allowance. I am an adult spending hard earned cash, and appreciating value. I already have a pile of dead iPods, (Gen1, Shuffles, etc.) I believe I made a smart move for my family.

[Big_G^^ @ Mar 11th 2008 8:09AM]

I will agree the software on their players sucks, but that's why I use Rockbox software for my e280. http://www.rockbox.org/

It works infinitely better than the weak sansa software and makes bootup time about 6 seconds. Also I don't know about some other people's experiences, but I have been able to load both the player and my microsd card with simple drag and drop on the player. It may be something that rockbox does to the player but I doubt it, because it loads up the original software to load songs on.

With the rockbox, I have been really pleased with the e280 and will definitely buy another sansa player in the future.

[geognerd @ Mar 10th 2008 5:47PM]

Looks OK, but it doesn't strike me as a worthy successor to my e260. Bigger screen and microSDHC capacity seem like the only improvements, though there wasn't much that needed improving in my opinion. The e2xx series feel solid; the Fuze looks like just another hollow plastic MP3 player. Here's to hoping my e260 lasts a long time.

[sansarocks @ Mar 26th 2008 2:52AM]

This one looks cool..sansa hardware is great but I think if they can beef up their gui then it could be a much better option then an iPOD

[Evan @ May 7th 2008 5:27PM]

Yep.... so, i think i just made up my mind as far as which mp3 player i'm going with.... and its not Sandisk. This looks great, and i'm sure it will be, but really, they change their flagship model every five mintues, and every time they do, it looks something more and more like apples offering. They were the ones who made isheep, and i don't??? what the crap... So yeah, i was pretty happy with the 280, and the view, but i dunno, right now, i'm thinking Creative.