SanDisk Sansa Clip 4 GB MP3 Player (Silver)
by SanDisk
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Our Price: $69.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $36.98 (click here) Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of SanDisk Sansa Clip 4 GB MP3 Player (Silver)
Customer Review: Don't miss the bonus!
Summary: 5 Stars
I got a gift certificate for Christmas and decided to buy the Sansa Clip as an additional MP3 player for use in the car and boat. I use my iPod a lot, but this would be an extra - there when I needed it. I bought it with the idea that it would be a simple drag and drop player. Well, when it came, I was first shocked at how REALLY tiny it is. It weighs next to nothing, but has a nice bright display and intuitive controls. I didn't use the included installation CD, and just connected the mini USB cable to my computer and started dragging and dropping MP3 files. I did a bunch and then disconnected to listen to what I had. They came up fine on the player and sounded great. They retained the album information and I was happy.
The next day I decided to see what the installation disc was all about - that was when I found the real value for me. The installation disc just invites you to subscribe to the Rhapsody music service. I have loved Rhapsody for a number of years and use it all the time. Then I found the bonus - you can create, drag and drop your Rhapsody playlists onto the Sansa Clip - without purchasing the MP3's - you just "rent" them. That makes all of the music that Rhapsody has to offer available to take with you at any time - without buying it. Color me dum and late to the party, but I was blown away with this capability! Once you add them to the Clip, you have the music, album and track information, and even the artist bio. One caveat - Rhapsody "sees" the Clip as an extra computer, and Rhapsody only allows you to "authorize" 3 computers per subscription. I already had 3, so I had to de-authorize one in order to use the Clip.
The other features of the Clip also seem to work great. The FM radio was surprizingly clear and works well. I added a Rhapsody "Channel" and that work great, too. The included earbuds are OK, but a bit low on base, but that is no surprise. The build quality and features of the Clip are all first rate.
I also was reminded how much 4GB of music actually is. I put about 175 songs on the Clip and it says that it is 11.8 hours of music, and it is only about 1/3 full. Considering how easy it is to rotate playlists on this thing, why would you ever need more?
In summary, I am more than thrilled with the Sansa Clip and can't imagine a better digital music bargain.
Customer Review: Freakin Awesome
Summary: 5 Stars
This has to be the alomost perfect player for my needs. I picked this up on Amazon for about 40 bucks. Dollar for Dollar it must be pretty close to the best deal that I have ever gotten, The player seems to be well made, the features are incredible. It kicks the dog poo out of its major competition which is of course the Ipod shuffle. Let me tell you about a couple of the advantages that made me pick this over the shuffle. Numero Uno: it has a screen. I can not imagine navigating hundreds of songs without a screen, totally ridiculous idea. 2: equally important it has a fm tuner. The gym that I go to plays the audio from the tv's via FM wavelength, and sometimes I just get tired of my music. The reception is pretty good to good. In my appartment I get better reception with the sansa than w/my 700 dollar Bose system (Jesus Christ). With the Sansa you even have the option to record from FM stations. 3: the cost. I could buy two sansa's for one shuffle. This thing also has a voice recorder, this is something I would never need but for some it might come in handy. And the sound with this system is simply amazing. Best MP3 player I have ever heard regardless of cost. Another plus is it uses the basic Mobile(?) USB cable, which means that this device, my phone, and my camera can all share the same cables and chargers. It also requires no aditional software(itunes) to sucker you into buying music from, I mean transfer music to the player.
Just so you don't think I'm drinking the cool aid there is a couple things that I would like to change on this. 1: Not that big of a deal since this is just my gym/work player, but it is really time for bluetooth to become standard on MP3 players. Not just for headphone but also for syncing and playing through speaker systems. Pretty much every cell phone has it now. 2: the headphone jack points to the side. It would flow much better if was on the top or even the bottom of the device. But that's pretty much it. If you don't require video or more than the 4 gigs you get w/this player, you will be hard pressed to find a better deal.
Customer Review: BIG Bang for the Buck!
Summary: 5 Stars
Initial Review for the Sansa 4GB Clip. [factory refurbished]
I recently purchased and received two of these units for $58 total including shipping. If you are purchasing new at nearly $50 each I would strongly recommend a Sony Walkman [MP3] player. Two years ago I bought a 4GB for $55 and myself an 8GB for around $85. BUT these refurb. units Sansa is offering are OUTSTANDING! First impressions: Small generic brown box, no special instructions, came with a "new" looking player in silver, mini-usb [motorolla phone/wall charger also works], new earbuds. I elected to order the silicone slip-ons for about $2.50 additional for each. They both came about half charged and took about an hour to top-off to full. I plugged on into desktop that has my 30GB music library and it booted the sync-screen up in a short moment. The Sansa interface is quick and easy to use with Win-Media [which I prefer, not fond of itunes/ipods]. Sync prep is as simple as drop-drag and sync. Sync is SUPER fast for a price-point product like this, almost as fast as my Sony unit[s]. I was able to load both nearly to capacity about 3.85GB in a short 15 minutes.
Originally purchased one as a gift [retirement] for my 61 y/o dad-in-law [will be his first MP3], but after going to youtube I took the chance I buying two. One as a gift and the other for myself to use in those instances where I don't want to bring an expensive Sony, like the jobsite [contractor], exposed to weather, backpack camping, fishing, boating, beach, gym, etc. Or when I go to evening class at the community college.
Bottom line: If you can find one refurb for $20-something get it, it would be a great unit as a back-up/extra unit or for a youngster you don't want to spend a ton of cash on [ipod?]. Depending on your music quality taste you may want to use a better set of earbuds. Sansa's are ok but both my Jlab's and Sony earbuds sounded better. Most people have extra earbuds lying around their house anyways. I will post updates as Dad and I continue to use this seemingly fine product.
Customer Review: Great while it lasted
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm not going to waste your time listing the features. It's a great little player - lightweight, small, and the clip holds it securely in place. My wife and I both have one and it's a fantastic complement to the Rhapsody music subscription service.
I'd have no problems giving this 5 stars if it had lasted more than about a year...it survived to see just beyond the end of its warranty period in fact.
I'm an occasional runner, not more than 2x a week and sometimes I don't run for months (like in the winter...I watch TV on the treadmill). I'd normally use this to play music in my car (through the aux input) or to listen to music on a plane. My point is that I'm not putting a lot of wear and tear on it.
I was out running the other night when the unit just died. I figured I'd forgotten to charge the battery so I charged it. Next time I'm getting ready to run, I find the unit is still dead. It won't come to life unless it's connected to a computer. I tried the various reset/recovery procedures found online but nothing works...it only lights up when plugged into a computer.
Others have had the same problems as me...apparently the wires connected to the battery break off. This is not something easy to fix since the battery is not replaceable by the user and the wires are very thin, requiring a very small amount of solder.
Figuring I had nothing to lose...the clip was dead except as a flash drive and I've already got plenty of those...I popped it open. Sure enough, two wires had come lose from the battery. It's beyond my means to repair and probably not worth it to send it back so into the trash it went, sadly.
Be aware that others are having this problem. I'm not saying don't get the Clip, because it's a nice MP3 player, just that you may find it's not suited for a lot of abuse because of the weak connection between battery and circuit board. I gave it two stars because I expect quality, even in little electronic devices like this.
Customer Review: Reviewing ONLY the 4g model
Summary: 3 Stars
I first bought a 2g model of the clip. Loved it. Absolutely. I listen to audiobooks on it at work. As my collection of audiobooks grew the 2g wasn't big enough, so I went looking for more space. I found the 4g on a very nice sale here at Amazon. Great, I thought.
Within a month I was cussing the dumb machine. One of the audiobook formats I listen to would begin studdering within an hour. Didn't matter which book in that format, they all began studdering within an hour of play. That same format (exact same file even) works perfectly on the 2g. So, I started carrying both players. Then it started freezing on the other format after about 3-4 hours. Imagine how frustrating it is to have an 8 hour shift and have your book suddenly cut out on you half-way through. It took reformatting the clip to unfreeze it. Which meant losing all the books on it and starting over from scratch. Not fun. Went to the Sansa site and downloaded the update for it. No joy. Went to the forum at the Sansa site and followed very detailed and complex instructions to fix the problem (I'm not a computer programmer and that's why I bought the Clip because it's simple). Even after spending all that time in frustration following those horribly complex instructions it still studders on the one audiobook format and freezes on the other. BUT, it does play music flawlessly. Great sound, perfect play. No freezing, no studdering.
Since discovering this, I purchased an 8g clip. It plays all my audiobooks flawlessly, plus music if that's what I want.
After reading some of the reviews here and the forum at the Sansa site, I learned I'm not the only one with a problem when it comes to playing audiobooks on the 4g. My opinion it that it has some glitch that applies ONLY to audiobooks and ONLY to the 4g.
To sum it up, if you want to listen to music I highly recommend this player. But if you want to listen to audiobooks stay with the 2g or invest in the 8g. By the way, I give the 2g and the 8g both 5 stars.