Strengths:+MicroSD expansion slot
+Large bright screen
+Voice recorder
+FM tuner+recording
+Tactile navigation wheel (iPod-like)
+USB data storage, Linux-compatible!
+Slim and stylish
+20hr batterry life
Weaknesses:-Video format eats too much space
-Photo viewer is almost useless
-No unicode support :(
-Shuffle function could be better
-Slow booting (15 seconds)
-Fingerprints magnet
Posted Dec 11, 2006 - STRENGTH (continued):
+Overall, this device is very rich in features, and produces very good QUALITY SOUND. The 5-band EQUALIZER comes in a firmware update (out-of-the-box unit does not have it), and allows you to tune the sound the way you wish. There are also 10 presets, but actually you need just Normal preset or equalizer (I use "Normal" most of the time, and the sound is great). You can adjust equalizer while playing a song. The device plays MP3s with 320 Kbit/sec rate easily.
+The WHEEL is very iPod-like, and it is also tactile (you feel it as you turn it). The NAVIGATION is simple, with large supporting graphics. The only thing that could be better is the shortcut to "search through the song". You can do it using the wheel as iPod does, but on iPod you can get there with one click, though on Sansa you need to go through the menu. The central "Ok" button is very convenient. The side buttons are a bit small for large thumbs, but you do not use them that often.
+The unit displays COVER ART for every song (icon and full-screen modes) as well as small equalizer animation. The JPEGs used for cover art must have 72ppi resolution and can not use progressive scan (cover art from iTunes and Windows Media Player works well).
+Sansa organizes files by MP3 tags, not by file names. Therefore, you can not delete files using Sansa, you must do it from the computer when Sansa is connected.
+The device connects to computer USB (1.1 and 2.0) in two modes (WOW!): MSC (mass storage) and MTP (to sync with Windows Media Player). The MSC mode is most useful, as you can store data files like on external hard drive. NO DRIVERS NEEDED!!! I tested it with LINUX, and it did not require drivers too, so geeks would love that. MTP mode is usefull to sync files with Windows Media Library and it works good too.
+YOU DO NOT NEED ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE to transfer music to Sansa, in fact, you can just copy-paste it from iTunes screen using MSC mode!
+You can add songs to "Go list", shuffle, repeat and rate them. Looks like the rating you apply on Sansa gets synchronized with Windows Media Library if in MTP mode, but I did not really pay attention.
+The battery life is outstanding! Much longer than 10 hours!
+The VOICE RECORDER is amazingly good. Mic quality is significantly better than in my cheap digital voice recorder. There is a convenient "Record" button on the side of the device. You can save and delete recordings on device.
+The FM radio is good. You can save presets and RECORD radio stations. Not that I listen to radio a lot, but still good to have.
+This is one of RARE players that have EXTENSION microSD SLOT! So you can upgrade Sansa's memory with rather cheap 2 Gig microSD cards.
Some WEAKNESSES:
-The photo view is ridiculous. You must convert JPEGs to small BMPs using Sansa conversion software to view them on device. This is rather ridiculous, as the device CAN VIEW JPEGs as cover art, but not in Photo mode. The worse, you can view photos with portrait orientation only, so you need to rotate landscape photos on your computer before converting them to Sansa's format.
-The VIDEO files must be converted to special format using Sansa software. The playback is good and smooth, but converted video files take ENORMOUS space on device. A video clip that takes 10 Megs on my HTC cell phone can easily take 100 Megs on Sansa. This is ridiculous too, since the video resolution is rather small.
-There is no UNICODE support, so all non-latin alphabets (like Chinese or Cyrillic) would be displayed corrupted. This is sad, as iPod and iTunes display these languages without problem.
-SHUFFLE function does not utilize true randomization. If you play album in shuffle mode, it will always start playing with the same song. Sometimes it plays the same song two times in a row. This is not a big deal, but randomize function is not a big deal too.
-The device BOOTS UP slowly (12-15 sec). This can be frustrating, especially when using Auto Shut Off function.
-My friend who listens to podcasts a lot, reported that some LONG WEIRD PODCAST FILE NAMES make the device to HANG when rebuilding indexes (when disconnecting from the computer). To fix that, you need to go to "Safe Mode" on the device and remove these files manually using computer. Some OLDER FIRMWARES cause device to hang sometimes too. So, do not forget to update firmware! Luckily, firmware updater on Sansa is really convenient.
-The device looks really STYLISH (thanks to BLUE GLOWING WHEEL), but still is a FINGERPRINT MAGNET. So buy the case (available in most stores) and forget about this problem.
BOTTOM LINE:
No wonder this player is one of the top-rated players (see Amazon rating). I love it! Do not forget that open source RockBOX OS will be ready for Sansa soon!
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