MP3 Players Review

SanDisk Sansa Fuze 8 GB MP3 Player (Silver)

Customer Reviews

awesome player for price

I'm not new to the Sansa products having had a Sansa Rhapsody e250 & Sansa Express now for about 1.5 yrs. I was very happy with the simplicity of syncing the above that I looked at the new Fuze. I've had for 2wks. and love it. It's classy looking (silver-actually more metallic silver-gray), sturdy not plasticky, and what I love about it is the ease of syncing thru Windows media Player. You can also drag and drop and with expandable micro memory card, you have loads of space for your music, podcasts, audio books & videos. I didn't get it for the video feature since the screen is very small and 50 somethings don't need more eye strain than what we already experience with reading glasses. Photo viewing is not the best but then this is not a high definition digital TV so you get what the product can offer in such a small screen. I probably would've given this 4 stars because of the small screen but everything else is working w/o problems and it's easy to use, so I gave it a 5 stars. I've had several "oohs and aahs" from friends and they were really impressed by the classy look on the Silver Fuze. for the price, you should not be disappointed, never had an IPOD and don't plan to switch now.

Great MP3

I bought this for my husband and have enjoyed sharing it with him. Unlike the iPod, the Sansa Fuze can be used on multiple computers. We switched earbuds because they weren't too comfy, but other than that have been pleased. As soon as the price drops on Amazon, I plan to buy another one for me. Before you buy, check the price, it's been as low as $111.00 and as high as $129.00. If it's closer to the high end you might want to wait a few days to see if it drops back down.

Excellent MP3 Player for Podcasts

Yesterday I received my Sansa Fuze 8 GB which was ordered from Amazon. I plan to use it mainly for podcasts/recorded lectures with music breaks between podcasts. (UPDATE: I have now been using the Fuze for several days. I have decided that it is the best MP3 player available for podcasts. The bookmarking feature is key. Also, it is easy to navigate through lots of podcasts.) POSITIVES - Ability to erase a podcast - Excellent bookmarking (if you exit a podcast, when you return a menu asks whether to resume where you left off or start over) - Easy voice recording. NEGATIVES - Case looks easy to scratch (comes with cheap ultrasuede pouch -- will probably lose within the first week) - Poor main menu; can't do even the minimal customization as on the Zen. Thus, can't have the menu skip items for features that you don't use, such as the radio or the voice recorder. - Poor navigation among menus. Nothing innovative in relation to other MP3 players that I own, including the Creative Zen and the Sansa e280. - On-off/lock button is difficult to move; finger slips and you need to use a nail, which makes it hard to do without directly viewing. In sum, the Fuze has two terrific features for podcast listeners: it has the first really functional bookmarking and delete. Overall, however, it is a disappointment. The ideal MP3 player for podcasting has yet to be produced. Such an ideal player would allow file level organizing, it would display the full file name and all of the metadata. Since there is no uniform file naming and metadata scheme, to identify podcasts you need to be able to see this information. In addition, there would be an option to display large size characters so the screen can be read by adults with less than perfect eyesight without glasses. The Fuze does not begin to approach perfection. Given the popularity of podcasting, it is surprising that manufacturers have focused nearly exclusively on optimizing MP3 players for music. However, the Fuze does have a few very podcast-specific features and this is a good sign that manufacterers are beginning to understand the needs of podcasters. (The Fuze includes free songs and Rhapsody software, which I intend to remove as neither is of interest to me.) SUMMARY COMMENT AND FURTHER ABOUT METADATA: I have found that the Sandisk Sansa Fuze is the best MP3 player currently available for podcasts. It has a nearly ideal bookmarking system and the ability to delete podcasts after you've finished with them. However, the Fuze is not perfect. The perfect MP3 player would allow organizing by file name and would display metadata. There is no universal metadata/file naming scheme for podcasts. This is the achilles heel of podcasting today. It makes it difficult to know what you have on your player and to find the podcasts you want. In the future, metada will be richer (include a full abstract for the podcast) and MP3 players will display the metadata in an easily readable form.

Great player - doesn't have to convert music files like Itunes

Love my new sansa fuze. I got this because I wanted something besides an Ipod. When I dumped my entire cd collection, Windows Media dumped the songs as wma's. Of course, Itunes must convert these files before dumping them to the Ipod. With such a large library, I did not want to have to go through this conversion. Besides being half the cost of the 8 Gb Ipod, this also allows for expansion through a memory card. It sounds great and lasts about 20-30 hours on a full charge listening to music. Scrolling is a little slow as it doesn't accelerate at all like the Ipod. I am hoping that Sansa is working on this and can update it in a firmware upgrade because it can be a little annoying when trying to get through a list of artists. Large playlists are also slow to appear. I have some playlists that are about 250 songs and they take 20-30 seconds to open. Player starts immediately even with the space filled over 7 Gb. Haven't tried the video feature, but I was really just looking for a music player. I bought a rubber skin for it as a protector. So far, no scratches or dents even after dropping it a couple of times. I will be getting a screen protector for it as well.

Very, very good product

I'm a SanDisk convert after the Sansa Connect and, now, the Sansa Fuze. Being used to the Connect's format, the Fuze was a snap to adjust to. As an MP3 player, I have almost no complaints (other than the inability to scroll backwards to Z - you start with A and have to wheel down the alphabet and, same as the Connect, the jack is on the bottom which isn't the best place for it). The only complaint I have is that I haven't been able to watch Video on this player. I thought that any MP4 file, once transferred over to the Fuze's video folder, would show up and play. No such luck. I'll keep trying since playing Video is sort of the icing on the cake, not the primary reason for the purchase. The BEST thing between the Connect and the Fuze is that the Fuze's battery is 1000x better. The Connect will die after 4 hours whereas the Fuze can go for 24 hours +. Now that Micro SD cards can hold 8 gigs, I've got a 16 gig device here. VERY cool! Great little product. Ipod?! We don't need no stinkin Ipods...

Keyword : sandisk