Why bother paying extra for an iPod?

This is a tiny MP3 player utilizing solid-state flash memory and a direct competitor to the smaller iPods.

Build Quality and Operation:

Build quality is decent.  I got one in black, so every fingerprint leaves a visible mark on it.  You may want to get another color if you can't stand the sight of fingerprints all over your Clip.  The Clip is about 2" long, 1.5" wide, and a bit less than 1/2" thick without the clip, or about 1/2" thick including the clip in the back (which is detachable).  The unit weighs only 0.92 ounces and can basically be ignored during workouts.  It's not much bigger than an iPod shuffle and much cheaper per gigabyte.  There is a 1"x0.5" or so OLED screen and a 1" diameter four-way switch with center button reminiscent of an iPod, which lets you go back and forth,  pause, or go to the menu. There is also a home button to let you switch between modes (voice, FM radio, music, settings, etc.).  The center button is like an "ok" button.

There is a slide on the left that you slide to "on" and hold for a second before the unit will power up, to avoid accidental power-ups; do it again and hold, and it powers down.  There is also a "hold" option where you lock it into place to prevent unwanted accidental switching, good for when you start up a Clip for a long workout and don't want accidental button pushing in the meantime.  The USB connection outlet is also located on the left side.

On the right side of the unit is a simple volume control button; hold down one end of it and it will get louder and louder until you let go or it reaches max volume (which is very loud; I usually listen at 30%).  Hold down the other end to decrease volume.  All of the front buttons are kind of "clicky" and thus loud, but they are tight and I expect them to last a long time.

NOTE: Like the iPod shuffle, this unit uses flash memory so it's shockproof; you can jump around or do cartwheels and the Sansa won't skip a beat.



Technical Notes:

Capacity of 4GB is really more like 3.75GB after formatting.  If you rip MP3s at 128kbps, you can store roughly 750 five-minute-length songs on this unit.

Audio quality is outstanding for a player of this price and size class.  I'm not an audiophile, but I can tell you that I was very impressed by the dynamic range and relatively static-free playback.  It's stereo, of course.

The FM radio really works, without that much static. I don't know where they put the radio tuner/antenna because I sure don't see one.  You can autoscan presets (it memorizes up to 40) and keep tapping the middle button to go through them all, as well as manually scanning for stations yourself.

The Clip also supports other music formats. SanDisk runs a sansa.com/forums forum and also has an auto-update program you can download to automatically update firmware.  So far, firmware updates have fixed bugs and added support.  The latest version as of Dec. 2008 makes it so that the Clip can play back the following music formats: MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG, WMA, Audible, and secure WMA.  You should be able to listen to most audio books, given this big menu.

The Clip's visual output is good.  It's a dual-color gold status line plus cyan-colored OLED screen that's fairly bright and 4 lines long, good enough for basic maneuvering.  The Clip sorts by ID3 tag (ID3 tag is part of the MP3 file and is usually accurate if you rip songs from CDs using good software; if the ID3 has a mistake, you can edit this on your computer, but who wants to go through every single one of their MP3 files to fix inaccurate ID3 tags?), NOT by the way you uploaded, so if you upload directories sorted by artist and album, the Clip sees it that way when you move files, but it only sees the artist/album that the ID3 tag says when you are actually in the Clip's playlist editor.  Really basic but it works, though it'd be nice to manually sort stuff yourself.

Also, the backlight to the OLED also lights up the ring around the main control circle, allowing easy operation in the dark.

The battery  life is okay--up to 15 hours of play time with internal rechargeable battery.  In practice, count on 12-15 hours.  So for a player slightly bigger than an iPod shuffle, you get more battery life as a tradeoff.  The Sansa Clip fully charges in about 3 hours once you connect it to your computer via USB cord. That's the only way to charge it. Yank the cable out to automatically disconnect the Clip.

Being basically a nifty flash drive, you can upload/download audio files into the Clip's internal memory via USB 2.0 cable (included with the Sansa).  It's as easy as drag-and-drop!  Or copy and paste, if you like doing things that way.  An optional USB mode supports MSC so you can use iTunes with it indirectly.

Other Features:

You can make playlists on the Sansa or computer, and you can set it to repeat/shuffle.

The Clip also remembers if you turned it off in the middle of a song and if you turn it back on, it plays where it left off.  Nice touch.

The clip on the back is detachable, which is good if you don't need it, because it's huge!  The clip is almost as long and wide as the Clip itself--roughly 2 inches by 1 inch.  It has  metal spring but is made of plastic otherwise.  Great for clipping on during workouts/jogs/etc.

Voice recording.  I was impressed by how clearly the voice recording function worked, though if you speak more than about a foot away from the tiny microphone slit, the recording gets faint. And it's in .wav format which is uncompressed, so don't expect to record hours and hours at a time.  It says you can record lectures, but unless the prof is loud or standing right next to the Sansa, don't bother.  So the feature is mostly for voice-notes to yourself.

FM Radio recording.  This was another unexpected feature.  Great quality.  Record your favorite shows or songs.

Comes with 1/8" (3.5mm) standard size headphone, about 1 meter long cord, and a USB2 cord to connect to your computer to update firmware and upload MP3s.  I'm glad it was a 3.5mm headphone jack, because I didn't want to spend extra to buy yet another pair of headphones at 2.5mm.  This way I can use my favorite existing headphones with this MP3 player at no extra cost and store the ones that came with the Clip as a backup.

Also comes with a useless mini-CD that you do NOT need to install to enjoy this hardware. The CD is just some software that Best Buy/Rhapsody tries to get you to install so that you will buy music from them rather than from Amazon or Apple or someone else.

Cons:

The included USB 2.0 cord is only about half a foot long, which makes it painful if you have to go around the back of your computer to connect, but if you own one of these you probably also own a digital camera, so use the USB2 cord that comes with your camera for both the camera and the Clip and you can avoid this problem.

No expansion slot.

Also, no AM tuner??

Further, the OLED screen stays on during recharging, which isn't good. OLEDs burn out when used too long.  This is a stupid oversight by SanDisk.

The Bottom Line:

Even at $55, the Clip would be worth getting over the overpriced iPods, as the Clip functionality is all that most people need.  Also the clip is great for gym/workout situations as you don't need to pay extra for an armband or something else to attach your MP3 player to.  Just clip it to your T-shirt or shorts.

Compare the Clip to the Shuffle and the Clip wins hands down. You aren't limited by Apple's iTunes, or AAC format, or anything else.  You also get 4 times more capacity for the same price as the iPod shuffle, plus a four-line OLED screen versus no screen at all on the Shuffle.