SanDisk's Sansa Clip upgrades to 8GB, stays tiny

Going jogging for more than a hundred consecutive hours? Then the old models of SanDisk's teensy-tiny Sansa Clip audio player won't satisfy you, but this week a new variant hits with a capacious 8GB of storage -- a plenty-fair amount for the $99 price, and downright triumphant for a clip-on. That kind of storage wouldn't make sense in a Shuffle-like device with no display for song browsing, of course, but it's welcome in the Clip 'cause it actually has such a screen (it's OLED, if you were wondering). Like the other Clip models, it's got 15 hours of battery life, though, so it still won't make it with you on your daily jog from Boston to Pittsburgh. Full PR after the break.

SANDISK ROLLS OUT NEW 8GB VERSION OF THE POPULAR AND TINY SANSA(R) CLIP MP3 PLAYER

Capacity increase doubles available space on tiniest player in Sansa line

WHO/WHAT

SanDisk Corporation, a leading seller of MP3 players in the United States, today announced a capacity increase for the Sansa(R) Clip MP3 Player. One of the most popular flash-based players in SanDisk's Sansa line of MP3 players, this tiny Sansa(R) Clip has a new capacity point of 8 gigabytes (GB).

The new 8GB Sansa Clip can store up to 4,000 songs and runs for 15 hours on its rechargeable battery.

WHEN

The new, black 8GB Sansa Clip is expected to be in stores and online (www.sansa.com) in the U. S. the week of November 10th with an MSRP of $99.99.

MORE

The matchbox-sized Sansa Clip can fit into the palm of the hand and clip onto clothing and a perfect holiday gift for people who love music on the go, including runners, walkers, or gym goers.

The Sansa Clip stands above the leading wearable music player because of its bright OLED color screen – allowing users to select the music they hear, not just wait for songs to come around at random.

The Sansa Clip boasts a long list of advanced features, including:

• Audio formats: support for MP3, WMA, WAV and Audible audio books.
• Music services: support for many music download and subscription services, including Rhapsody To Go(R), Napster, eMusic and others.
• Recording: built-in microphone for voice recording.
• FM radio: built-in FM tuner, with user option to create
• station presets.
• Accessories: earphones and USB cable.

The featherweight Sansa Clip, weighing only 0.9 ounces, comes with a clip that makes it easy to attach the device to clothing, a backpack or purse. The clip is detachable, so the device can become even smaller when the clip isn't needed.

Sansa Clip Family Pricing

The Sansa Clip continues to be available in 1GB capacity with an MSRP of $39.99, 2GB capacity with an MSRP of $59.99 and 4GB with an MSRP of $79.99. The 1GB Sansa Clip is available in black; the 2GB Sansa Clip
is available in black, red, pink and blue; the 4GB is available in silver and the 8GB is available in black.

The Sansa Clip requires a computer running Windows XP or Windows Vista.

[dave @ Nov 11th 2008 8:21AM]

Erm, hasn't it been out a while? I saw one in Currys just a few weeks ago before plumping for the 4GB version.

[helloUser @ Nov 11th 2008 8:11AM]

Looks like steve jobs finally decided to wear a belt.

[Charles @ Nov 11th 2008 8:13AM]

And gain 40 pounds...

[Ray @ Nov 11th 2008 11:23AM]

I can't wear a black shirt and blue jeans without feeling like a bag of hurt.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Nov 11th 2008 11:44AM]

That's funny, exact thought I had when I saw this picture.. and here I thought it was just me.

[happy_penguin @ Nov 11th 2008 5:48PM]

Dude, if the jeans are tight enough you most certainly WILL feel a bag of hurt.

[Charles @ Nov 11th 2008 8:12AM]

Wow! Click Wheel nostalgia! Where can I get none?

[lejupp @ Nov 11th 2008 8:15AM]

|| The Sansa Clip requires a computer running Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Why is that? If it doesn't offer USB mass storage device, then that would be an epic failure.

[gonintendo @ Nov 11th 2008 8:29AM]

Unless it has some sort of amazing and intuitive software like a certain pmp from microsoft.

[Victor Agreda Jr @ Nov 11th 2008 8:50AM]

That's just to run their software. I use it on a Mac and it is fine (bought the last rev in pink and in blue for my kids). You just have to manually add files by dragging and dropping. There's also the minor issue of having those resource forks appear, but the Sansa skips them. C'est la tech.

[Yem @ Nov 11th 2008 8:50AM]

I have a first gen 4Gb model - it works perfectly via mass-storage and I think it supports MTP as well (haven't needed to).

The only missing feature IMO is a browse-by-directory option. It's annoying having to re-tag audiobooks to make them appear logically on the player.

[patsy @ Nov 11th 2008 8:16AM]

Woot carries these every once in a while. Got three of the 2GB models when they were $19.99. It's an awesome little player, great display, good UI, sounds incredible. Way better than the Shuffle shite, and in some ways better than the Nano.

[gad get @ Nov 11th 2008 8:31AM]

Considering it's one of the best-sounding players out there, and has an FM tuner, and now has 8 GB of memory, and of course is also tiny and has a clip... I'd say it beats the crap out of the Shuffle, and maybe even beats the 8 GB version of the iPod Nano. (Depends on how much you care about the actual music listening, vs. flashy extras.) And it's only $99?! If I didn't already have an 8 GB Sansa, I'd snap this thing up in a heartbeat!

[who? @ Nov 11th 2008 9:42AM]

I got a 2GB from woot too, but it's way to big for me to run with compared to my iPod Shuffle. It has the volume (HxLxW) of about 3 iPod Shuffles and the clip can't support it's own weight if you clip it upside down on your sleeve and run with it (unlike the shuffle).

On the other hand, the sound quality is much better on the clip, that fact does make the FM sound awful in comparison, but it's not the clip's fault- all regular FM is low quality. Of course it also has a screen and microphone.

All in all, I'd say the Shuffle is better for people who need to run relatively fast with it or enjoy simplicity and the smaller form factor, whereas the clip is better for general listening with high-quality earphones.

[Brad, The @ Nov 11th 2008 10:07AM]

I got 2 from Woot, as well. I think I paid about $35 (including shipping) for my 2GB. They came up again a couple months later, and they were down to $25, so I picked up one for my wife. The original one locked up a few times, but a quick firmware update stopped that. Overall it is a fantastic little player. I don't know why it's listed as Windows compatible only, since you can drag-and-drop to it from any OS.

[Ddog @ Nov 23rd 2008 1:49PM]

I run fast with it just fine, I just clip it to my shorts instead of upside down on my sleeve. Don't you wear shorts when you run? :O

[Chris McCorkle @ Nov 11th 2008 8:25AM]

Poorly photoshopped.

[helloUser @ Nov 11th 2008 8:42AM]

Illustrator, not photoshop. You guys need to learn more about the differences, not everything is photoshop. Much like, not everything revolves around apple and ipod. Oh well, thats the engadget crowd i guess.

[Kaiser-Machead @ Nov 11th 2008 1:51PM]

Looks GIMPed to me.

[J5892 @ Nov 11th 2008 2:09PM]

Actually I would say the player was created in illustrator, then slapped onto that guy's belt with photoshop. :D

[)law( @ Nov 11th 2008 8:39AM]

what is the point of a screen if its thats small, wouldnt it hurt your eyes to squint?

[Jon Acheson @ Nov 11th 2008 10:38AM]

My 2 GB Clip doesn't bother me at all.

I'm seriously tempted by this.

[Defiler @ Nov 11th 2008 12:41PM]

Put your Shuffle down and go to a store and play with one. You'll convert. ;)

[Yem @ Nov 11th 2008 8:53AM]

It only shows 2-3 lines of text. It's very bright - if you can read engadget at the default font-size you wont have to squint at this player.

[djfake @ Nov 11th 2008 9:03AM]

makes sense to upgrade to 8gb, especially considering the clip's FLAC support.

[scape @ Nov 11th 2008 9:15AM]

I have the older 2gb, it is the most amazing cheapass player out there. it even went through the wash on super cycle and still seems to work. it also seems to run for hours with a quick charge (i left it in my car about 3 months and then turned it on to play and it ran for a few hours straight).
not to mention it works with most regular software such as windows mp, winamp, or plain ol' drag and drop, not just the proprietary software nor special folder structure
don't knock a product til you try it :)

[SK @ Nov 11th 2008 11:02PM]

I can vouch for the washing machine test-my 1GB survived, without problem, the spin cycle.

These are great to travel with-decent battery life and tiny. If you lose it, who cares! For $30, buy another.

[The Joker @ Nov 11th 2008 9:14AM]

I have the 2GB and it's an excellent device for what it is: a tiny, inexpensive, good sounding, sturdy player. One of the few with a standard USB connector. 8GB makes it even better.

[wootman @ Nov 11th 2008 9:21AM]

I have a 2gb from woot, its amazing, supports subscription services.
I'll probably pick the 8gb up if woot ever carries it.

[Lyle @ Nov 11th 2008 9:39AM]

I have the 2GB player...and the only complaint I have about it is that it doesn't have a true random number generator...so, you'll figure out which song is next pretty quickly...I used to get to listen to it a lot at work, and I sure did.

Now, my fix was to steadily delete the songs off of it...but, I'd rather Sansa fix it.

[trainwrecka @ Nov 11th 2008 9:47AM]

clips on mp3 players... such a simple idea that is so friggin' brilliant!

[Todd George @ Nov 11th 2008 9:51AM]

I have one of these, and they are truly an excellent little device. It's a bit thicker than my iPod Shuffle, but seems lighter, as it's plastic. I love that it charges over straight-up mini-USB, no proprietary cable gimmicks. It sounds great, as others above have said. The screen is bright and clear, even if a bit small (what do you expect for such a small player?). I've used it over both the mass-storage (MSC) and Windows Media (MTP) protocols, and it works great with both. I have the 4gb model, and found it for $59.99 which seemed like an excellent price. I currently sync it to the Napster To-Go subscription plan, and have all the music I could ever want.

I love this little player.

[Jon Acheson @ Nov 11th 2008 10:42AM]

I second everything you said.

The only snag for me was that I had a bunch of old MP3s that were not tagged properly, but I have mostly fixed that by re-encoding them or editing the tags myself.

Also, it looks great.

[Harold @ Nov 11th 2008 11:10AM]

I have a 2gb, 4gb, and now an 8gb of these and they are by far my favorite MP3 players (I have a Sony NWS-706F and multiple ipods).

I take about an hour long walk every day and the screen is bright enough to read outdoors (actually, the 8gb has newer firmware and a brighter screen than the earlier versions), without the device adding any bulk at all. Very easy to sync, very easy to operate, even with gloves on.

Only thing I wish is that it played AAC's. Otherwise, it's perfect.

H

[rawr @ Nov 11th 2008 12:23PM]

That picture looks oddly photoshoped.

[Defiler @ Nov 11th 2008 12:43PM]

I have the 2GB model and it is perfect for working out or running. Only thing Sandisk needs to add is a microSD slot.

[LostPhil @ Nov 11th 2008 2:03PM]

Try the Sansa Fuze - a little bigger but has the same (apparently excellent when the EQ isn't enabled) sound chip as the clip and has a microSDHC slot.

[Defiler @ Nov 11th 2008 2:13PM]

I have seen that one and like it and I do appreciate the FYI but when it comes to "clip and go" players I still prefer the clip. I don't want to mess with armbands, etc.

[AndyS @ Nov 11th 2008 12:45PM]

I love my 4GB clip for podcasts and audiobooks. They just need to add folder browsing and time remaining on tracks. AAC would be nice for some podcasts, too.

The clip unfortunately sometimes comes off the back unexpectedly, but otherwise it's great.

I'd upgrade to the 8GB if I find a good deal.

[Raphael Salgado @ Nov 11th 2008 1:08PM]

"Photoshopped" sounds better than "Illustratored."

[Raphael Salgado @ Nov 11th 2008 1:08PM]

Whoops, I was reply to a comment above.

[Kaiser-Machead @ Nov 11th 2008 1:53PM]

Too bad it doesn't have AAC support. I have a lot of mp3's, but I have a lot more AAC.

[Ddog @ Nov 23rd 2008 1:57PM]

Well, that would be your own fault wouldn't it?

[Al @ Nov 11th 2008 3:08PM]

All this player is missing is a simple rockbox support for more file support and even more sound enhancing. I know if it had the support I would for sure get one.

[Baba Booey @ Nov 11th 2008 8:55PM]

8gb....sweet. I'm listening to my 2gb red Clip right now...I love it. I got my Fiio amp and my M-Audio Q40's linking up right now and it sounds AMAZING. For all those who'd go for the Shuffle over this...just get some decent headphones and do a side-to-side test...you'll be converted.

[CrazyDelta @ Nov 12th 2008 1:45AM]

I have a 4GB version and it beats the hell out of anything else in the market. Except maybe for this new 8GB version.

And they forgot to mention in their PR that all Sansa clips support OGG and FLAC as well...how cool is that?

[Iadra @ Nov 25th 2008 1:59AM]

I just got one of these today, and I love it! It's simple, compact, and extremely convenient. Works fine with my eeebuntu - no additional software necessary, so I am sure it will run with any major operating system. No media player necessary, no nothing! It's mindbogglingly practical. :)

[bama89 @ Dec 2nd 2008 12:55PM]

i'm on my second, as the first died in the wash (both 2 gigs). only complaint is that the battery life on my second one is miserable, tho the battery life on my original one was stellar. would definitely recommend to anyone who goes to the gym or wants a small player to fit in the pocket or on the belt.