Sandisk's Sansa Puts Edge on Value

I have owned this mp3 player for a few weeks now. I was in the market for a a decent mp3 player that wouldn't burn my wallet, but did not compromise size with quality.

This mp3 player was very inexpensive, as I purchased it for $199.99 - rebate to total $59.99 after rebates and before tax. For the price, I did not expect much.

First of all, this player is LIGHT. It is not the lightest of mp3 players. but it is light. Since this player uses FLASH memory to hold your music, you no longer have to worry about your music skipping. Also, because this player has an SD Memory card exapansion slot, its bound to get ready for future capacity upgrades, too.

Loading songs onto the player was simply a "snap". I had several CDs that I purchased from the store and did not feel like holding a CD wallet and a CD Player with me everywhere. You simply "rip" your audio files onto your pc via a program like Windows Media Player, and just drag and drop! What do you get? PRESTO! Music to your ears. the cable it comes with is short and being that the cable is short, I would recommend that you purchase a USB cable extender if you plan on having the cable plugged into the back of your pc without having to hook and unhooking the mp3 player constantly from the back of your pc. The cable is a few inches long, I say about six inches. However, because my computer has USB ports in the front, I need not to worry, but I am sure several users will need a longer cable.

This player comes with a plastic casing and an arm strap for those who plan on using this player "on the go". the casing does look a little on the "cheap" side, but do not let that deter you from gaining a "frugally made" product perspective. Despite the cost, the player is filled with value, and definately puts an edge to the word value. It even comes with a case and an ARM strap? Come on!

Also, this player only uses ONE AAA battery. Its energy consumption is pretty decent. I use even the cheapest batteries and get HOURS out of ONE. I even used about 10-11 hours on my FIRST battery (even with SRS WOW on!!)

Now, you are probably wondering what is SRS WOW. In case you didn't know, SRS WOW is a technology that enables the player to "enhance" the sound by amplifying bass and other tones to produce RICH and SHARP sounding audio. The headphones that arrived with the player are decent as well. Normally you would expect something cheap, this player arrived with earbuds along with a total of THREE SETS of custom fitting rings! Whether or not you have LARGE or SMALL ear holes, . . . it is NO problem. You simply find the best fitting ear piece and attach it. Another thing about these headphones is that face that they cancel out noise from the environment. You hear nothing but pure music. EVEN with the volume set low, you will not have to worry about environmental noise. The SRS WOW technology equipped with it also gives you rich sounding music.

The "multi-function scroll" wheel is a "click" wheel that you can use to adjust volume or breeze through menu options. The HOLD function prevents you from accidentally turning your player on when you do not want to.

The USB port on the top of the player has a small white piece that fits over it to shield dust from entering the player there. It is flimsy and I recommend that you use the plastic case is the plug inside, or take something else more secure to seal out dust. That is one downfall.

The DIGITAL tuner with FM radio playback is pretty good. You can set up to 20 presets to come back to later at your taste. The tuner sounds were pretty good for a player as small as it was.

I love the fact that is light, though. EVEN with the case AND the battery, it is still very light. And the player's attractive styling makes it wonderful. I have never tried inserting an SD card in it yet, as I have not been able to fill it up completely since I have such a hard time deciding what I want to put on it.

The player is NOT rechargeable and with the great battery life it has with even ONE cheap, AAA battery, why would you want to recharge it?

You can find your music by artist, year, genre, album, and more. You can even find out how much memory has been used and how much remains!

Here is a plus! Are you afraid that adding tunes to your SANSA would drain your AAA battery? WRONG! I even took my AAA battery out BEFORE uploading tunes, and the player runs off the power of your pc! Isn't that great? So, if you want to upload songs and you didn't have a battery, you could load them up first, and then get a battery later to just "pop" it in and go!

The case is decent for me, though. And the arm strap is pretty decent as well. I really have no major complaints. You know how many people really want an Apple mp3 player, but just cannot afford them, . . . well, this player is just for you. (If you plan on storing about 200 songs depending on file size and quality and you like SKIP FREE music without paying the expensive price for a flash based mp3 player like the iPod Nano)

This player is by no means a nano. It is not thin as a pencil. It is not rechargeable. It is not equipped with a color screen. It is simply an mp3 player that gives you MORE for YOUR buck!

So, if you want an mp3 player that does not compromise quality with price, I highly recommend this player, esecially since it's skip free, . . . you don't have to worry about a HARD DRIVE based player to skip!

EVERYTHING you need to start off is in the box. (Except the music and computer, of course) And you even get trials to many popular music download companies for FREE!

So, don't take MY word for it. Try it yourself, and you will see why I am not sorry that I did not buy an alternate mp3 player!