SanDisk Sansa e260 4 GB MP3 Player with MicroSD Expansion Slot (Black
by SanDisk
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Our Price: $259.96 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $53.00 (click here) Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of SanDisk Sansa e260 4 GB MP3 Player with MicroSD Expansion Slot (Black
Customer Review: Tried it, love it!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Some of the reviews I read left me wondering if this was the right player for me. I found a consumer review on-line where they ran through the features and actually demonstrated how the thing works. That did it for me. After that, I knew that I had to have it.
I haven't had to be concerned with the technical issues, as it has done everything except convert video clips that I have taken with my camera. I found some other software that will convert it and allow me to load it onto the player.
Here's why I gave it a five:
1. Voice recording - I use the voice recording to record meetings at work. The sound is crystal clear, better than any tape recorder I have used in the past. Also, using the lanyard and dropping it down the front of my shirt, nobody else realizes that the meetings are being recorded. It's a great opportunity for black mail!
2. I was looking for something that would allow me to record radio broadcasts - I've tried it with music and it sounds every bit as good as the station did the first time. I mostly use it for talk radio and it works great. Radio reception is awesome. I record the radio at work in an office setting. Reception is even passable in the elevator!
3. MP3s - I am very pleased here. I was worried that play-lists would be a problem and that having the player randomly select music would also be a problem. That was based on other reviews that I saw here. I am sorry, but those people must be idiots. You can upload the music using Windows Media Player, dragging and dropping play-lists. The player keeps the play-list and automatically groups your music. You can select the play-list and it will shuffle just that play-list (if you activate the shuffle function). You can also play music by song, album, artist, and genre. Or you can play them all. It's all very simple and works well.
4. Pictures - I am a photo-nut. I love to take pictures of my kids, landscapes, and sunsets. The photos are pretty small, but the detail that the screen allows makes the images very sharp. You can definitely fit more pictures in here than you ever could in your wallet. The photos are all converted to *.bmp files using the software that came with the player, but it is very easy to add photos. You have to rotate all of your photos so they are taller rather than wider to maximize the size of the image on the screen, but it is not difficult at all.
5. Memory - I have uploaded 100s of songs, a handful of short video clips and commercials I found online, 147 photos, and a handful of recordings. I have used just over half of the memory on this thing.
Here are things that I wish you could do with it:
1. Switch out the battery - sure you can, but you need to buy another special battery and I have not seen an external charger. This is a relatively minor thing. It will last a full day (from sunrise past sunset) and recharges in about an hour. It has not been a big drawback for me.
2. Delete songs directly off the player without hooking up to your computer - I ended up with a number of albums of my daughter's intermingled with my music and had to keep fast-forwarding over those songs. They were mixed in with my work music, so I had to tolerate it for a full day. Again, not a huge issue.
3. Despite the fact that I have been very careful with the player, it does have some small scratches on its front, one of them on the display. I can't imagine that this isn't a problem with other players too. Again, it's not the end of the world.
Things that I was surprised by:
1. There's a record button on the side. That makes it easy to record radio programs when you are taken away from listening unexpectedly.
2. Play-lists are easy to create.
3. It is easy to set the player to shuffle and/or repeat
4. The size is really much smaller than it appears in photos
5. The sound quality when recording (voice and radio)
6. You can reset the player by merely holding down the power button for about a minute. I did have it lock up on me when I was getting ready to record a meeting, but figured that out just in time.
All and all, I would say this is a wonderful player and would (and have) highly recommended it to my friends. I hope this helps sway you to make the purchase. I was having second thoughts when I read some of these reviews, but those must have been posted by idiots. Sorry, but it's true.
Customer Review: It's a great little player
Summary: 5 Stars
I'll admit the main reason I did buy the Sandisk Sansa e260 was because of it's price (I bought it for $180) compared to the iPod Nano (currently the 4 GB Nano is around $250) but I also bought it because of all the added features. You can put on videos and images; you can listen to FM radio as well as record it; and more reaons that I will get to later in the review for what made me buy it.
Pros:
- Great battery life.. I can basically go a week without having to ever charge it.
- Storage capacity has never been a problem for me and I have almost 1,000 songs and at least 20 videos.
- I'm surprised no one has really mentioned this yet but you can actually expand on the total memory capacity with the microSD slot which has cards that currently go up to 2GB. (That's a total of 6GB for the e260 and 8GB for the e270.)
- The sound quality is great and heck I just use the default settings that it is set at, I don't really mess around with it too much other then turning the volume up in some situations.
- The video quality is great but it depends on the kind of videos you upload like I have short 5 to 7 minute videos that I download off sites and I think the quality on the player is actually better then it was on the computer in most cases.
- The overall vibrancy of the screen is a sight itself. When you first turn it on you think wow the color looks great and then you get into messing around with the settings and say wow it can get even brighter.
You're probably thinking about now I bet this guy has no cons at all right? Well despite my love for it there are things I don't love about it or wish would be added.
Cons:
- Despite the overall durability the screen does get scratched. Also finger prints show up all over but those are no problem whipping off.
- Playlisting on the player is bad. I just gave up with it all together and either just have it play all the songs on shuffle or I listen to a whole albums separate.
- I can't really say it's a con now since I solved the problem now but I hated the headphones, they were very uncomfortable and they just didn't fit. Funny thing is though after I took off the ear piece coverings they felt much better. I have never changed out the original headphones.
- The voice recording really isn't worth it in my opinion. The sound quality isn't really that clear and you can't make very long recordings although you can make multiple recording but you're still lacking the continuation.
- There aren't really any good add-on accessories for the player itself. There is a speaker dock but I really wouldn't buy it and there is also FM Car Transmitter which is great because I don't want to carry around a bunch of CDs. Other then that there is nothing.
- Protective casing wise for these players the ones that are out now just look bland to put it nicely. That's one thing I liked a little about the iPod is all the different designs and stuff they have for their protective casing but there's nothing fancy about the casing for the e200 players.
- I'm a guy that loves his sports talk shows and there are no stations for that on FM radio. I don't really like any of the music that they play on the radio these days other then some of the songs on good classic rock stations. Anyways my main point is I wish there was AM as well because I would definitely trade FM for AM radio.
A couple tips I have learned so far:
- When first turning on the player make sure you unlock it by switching the button at the top of the player left of the headphone jack. I too had been confused about this at first.
- If the ear piece coverings bother you take them off. It won't be any less comfortable.
- Always use the battery saving settings because they really do save you a lot of batter and you don't need to be staring the screen for every song unless you are paranoid it's going to blow up or something.
- There are many easy options for uploading songs to the player so don't be afraid of not using iTunes. (Some options are Windows Media Player, Rhapsody, Napster, and more.)
I hope my review has helped you some in making your decision to purchase the Sandisk Sansa e260. If I were you though I would definitely buy it because it's worth it.
Customer Review: Made the right choice
Summary: 5 Stars
I did a lot of research before purchasing my first MP3 player. Fairly computer savvy but a novice to MP3 players. Was close to purchasing the Zen but was concerned about how many people said they froze up. Fortunately I looked a little longer and discovered the Sansa e260. Great reviews though some mentioned them freezing up. Seeing that seemed an inherent problem with MP3 players, I knew I'd just have to take my chances. Finally went to the store and actually saw and held both the Zen and Sansa. After examining them both the choice was simple. The Zen felt cheap and not very durable. I liked the weight of the Sansa and the size of the screen. Didn't know if I'd really need 4 GB but figured if I was going to get one I might as well get one with a lot of storage with the ability to add expansion.
All that said, I have had the Sansa for about two weeks and while I have not had the time to REALLY explore all of its features, I can say that so far I am EXTREMELY pleased with it. Downloading music from my computer was cake. It is holding its first charge exceptionally well. After two weeks and about a half-dozen uses the charge is still about 98% full. Don't know but I think that is pretty good. The pre-loaded video demonstration was awesome. Still have a few minor issues with the ease of use of the different menu screens but I'm sure with more time to play with it I will find it very accommodating. I have found the earphones that come with it quite good, but again I've not tried any other headphones with it. I mainly wanted an MP3 player to listen to tunes at the gym and to keep me entertained on upcoming plane travel. So this MP3 player is PERFECT for me. May run into 'issues' down the road, but so far I can say that this is a magnificent piece of technology. I did download the firmware from the Sandisk website (highly recommend visiting it before and after purchasing one of their players), which I think is advisable. Yes, the buttons on the front are small but I have small fingers so it's not a problem - but could be for a guy or gal with larger fingers. The screen is a very nice size and seems to have very good resolution, although I did finding watching the demo videos a bit difficult and had to find the right angle to hold the player to see them more clearly. But I do think if you want this player for a lot of video downloads you will be pretty satisfied. I do wish (and hope) Sandisk starts producing more accessories specifically for the e200 series, but until that time there are many companies making accessories compatible with the series (can someone recommend which AC adapter charger is safest and best for this MP3 player?).
All that said, I can say "So far so Great!" I think this is a very high quality, very user-friendly, durable MP3 player that is worth whatever cost you pay for it (and boy there is a wide range - I would just advise buying it locally and not on-line for the obvious reasons - possibly used, damaged, and if you have to return it you can run into a lot of headaches). I am almost embarassed to say I paid through the nose getting it at Wal-Mart, but if I need to return it it is much easier than having to mail it somewhere, and I was able to play with it before actually buying it. Just a personal choice. I hope in a week or two I'm not dealing with a dead or dysfunctional MP3 player, but at the moment, early on, being a novice, I think this player ROCKS! I can highly recommend it, and I think if you are down to either a Zen or Sansa, go for the Sansa. The Zen is cute and offers a lot of neat accessories, is smaller and colorful, but the Sansa is far more durable, offers a larger screen, and in all just seems to be a more durable, better quality item. I wasn't even going to go near an Apple Ipod! The "proprietary" conditions with them regarding music downloads really turned me off, and in general the user reviews are not good. Check them all out in person and see what feels 'right' to and for you. But absolutely give the Sandisk a look. I am a very satisfied owner.
Customer Review: Great player especially with a subscription service
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the 4G device, and was so pleased that a week later I purchased a second 6G player for my wife. I read of lot of the reviews here on Amazon, which helped me make the decision to go with the Sansa. I think most features have been covered, I just thought I would add a few tips for people considering this mp3 player.
When I got the player it came with a flyer offering a 1 month free trial for Rhapsody To Go. I had been thinking I would go with Yahoo subscription service, because for years I have not been a fan of Real whose marketing tactics I have deplored. In any event the offer got me to do some reasearch about the various subscription services, and the consensus seemed to be that Rhapsody offered the most features, although it was a bit higher priced.
So I did sign up with Rhapsody for the To Go service, using the one month free trial offer. I can report that I could not be more pleased with the service. The subscription model puts another nail in the iPod coffin as far as I'm concerned, and given Sandisk's aggressive pricing for this player I agree with the Engadget guys that there isn't any reason to go with the Nano.
Now the caveats, and tips. I've not used an iPod and iTunes, but from what I read it is pretty bulletproof. The subscription model and combination of the Sansa e200 series with Rhapsody works great for me...I've got 3 computers authorized and two Sansa players. I've had zero problems with DRM...but if you read the forums there are folks who have definitely had DRM renewal issues.
It's my feeling that the latest versions of Rhapsody and Sansa firmware have got most issues under control. So when you get your Sansa player, immediately go to the Sandisk website and download the firmware updater program and update the firmware on the player...I received my player a week ago, and at that time it did do a firmware update.
Remember to set the USB connection (under settings on the player) to MSC instead of MTP for the update. There are two ways to connect to the player and normally you will use MTP mode, but not for the firmware update. Another point, when I tried to move a playlist created in Rhapsody to the Sansa in MTP mode it wouldn't transfer over as advertised...although the songs in the playlist were moved over. When I connected later in MSC mode the playlist automatically moved to the player. I will assume a further firmware or program update will take care of this issue down the road.
Also Rhapsody recently updated their software, so if you are not just now installing the Rhapsody software I would update their software before plugging in the Sansa. Another important point is that if you uninstall and then reinstall the Rhapsody software, make sure to 'deauthorize' the computer before you uninstall the software. The reason is that you are only allowed to authorize 3 computers (you can only be logged on to the service on one at a time though) and you will use up one of those if you don't deauthorize it before the uninstall. (You can get Real to re-set your list if you make this mistake, but it sounds like a bit of a hassle.)
And if you are going to uninstall the software go to their site and search the forums for instructions on how to do a complete uninstall.
Of the three installations of Rhapsody I performed, one didn't go right and I had to re-do it, but after the second install it worked fine.
Sorry if you think I spent too much time talking about Rhapsody, but my point is that when I purchased the player I assumed I would only use it to play music I already owned that was on my computer. After experiencing the subscription music model (whatever service you go with), I am blown away by how much it adds to the entire experience of the Sansa. I've been waiting for a long time to find an mp3 player that would give Apple some competition and finally, this is the one!
Customer Review: I love this mp3 player!
Summary: 5 Stars
This was everything that I was looking for in a portable music device and more. Within minutes of removing it from the box, it was synced up to my laptop and I was loading music onto it. Very user friendly and intuitive. I didn't want an iPod because I didn't want to convert all my WMA music files to iTunes and I didn't want to feel so limited with a proprietary device as the iPod (although friends who own iPods love theirs). I wanted something that was affordable, held a reasonable amount of music and would accept mp3s and WMAs with no muss or fuss. This was it.
The design, size and shape is hot and fits comfortably in my hand. The sound quality is really good (although diehard audiophiles may feel differently). The screen is bright, the colors vibrant and the size just right (I only use this for music so I can't speak for the video or photo options). I like the bonuses of an FM tuner, voice recording and the ability to record FM broadcasts too. The price was right and dirt cheap at the time of purchase from amazon which made this a sweet deal.
Unlike others, I have only had two slight problems with my player. Sometimes I would lose sound in the left ear. I would either restart the system or wait a few seconds and it would do a sizzly staticy fade in. I soon discovered this only happened when I used the custom EQ option. Switching back to a factory EQ setting immediately restored the sound. Since the custom EQ doesn't do much anyway and the tabs aren't labeled, I don't feel I am missing out on much.
And I am having a heck of a time getting it to display my album art. However, that's an extra but not necessary feature for me. I will suss out the solution later, or not at all.
My only beef is not being able to connect this to an exterior sound system via the USB port but using a headphone audio cable connector thingy allowed me to connect it to my stereo system.
Other quickly solvable beefs I had at first were having to charge the battery through the USB port. Quickly solved by purchasing a Sandisk AC charger through amazon for an unbelievably low price.
Also, the control buttons are tiny and hard to press and the surface of the player scratches easily. I also occasionally pressed the voice record button by accident but not as often as other reviewers seemed to. All of the above were quickly solved by purchasing a Speck Products toughskin case also available through amazon. It's a thick stylish casing that adds great grip to the unit, comes with a durable removable belt clip, a screen protector, recesses the control wheel, makes the control buttons easily accessible and prevents the record button from accidentally being pressed (you have to push hard and firmly to activate the record button).
Also, the headphones that come with the unit are not the best. I use my Sony Fontopia headphones.
Overall, for this being my first mp3 player I am highly satisfied and would recommend this to anyone who wants a simple, easy to use player. However if you're a diehard technophile you will probably hate and gripe about little things that won't bother the average user. But for the average joe, you can't go wrong.