SanDisk Sansa e250 2 GB MP3 Player with microSD Expansion Slot (Black)
by SanDisk
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Category: Network Media Player
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: SanDiskBrand: SanDisk
Edition: Electronics
Audio: English (Original Language)
Model: SDMX4-2048-A70
Color: Black
Publisher: SanDisk
Studio: SanDisk
Music Label: SanDisk
Product features:
- Sleek, ultra-thin digital audio/image/video player with 2 GB of flash memory
- Compatible with MP3, WMA, and WMA-DRM10 music files (PlaysForSure)
- FM tuner with record capability and voice recorder; bright 1.8-inch color TFT LCD
- Convert most popular video formats (MPEG-4, WMV) to play on device
- User-replaceable rechargeable lithium-ion battery for up to 20 hours of life
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of SanDisk Sansa e250 2 GB MP3 Player with microSD Expansion Slot (Black)
Customer Review: Great mp3 player, and awesome value
Summary: 5 Stars
The Sansa e250 isn't the greatest mp3 player ever made, but its the perfect one for me. It had all the features I wanted, and didn't have all the features I didn't want, thereby saving me a ton of money. Here are some overviews:
Design:
Its not quite as responsive as the iPod, so it doesn't feel quite as smooth when you're navigating throughout the interface, but its really not a problem, its a no frills mp3 player. Its very small, and lightweight, but feels quite durable. The scroll-wheel (like an ipod) isn't quite as sleek as anything I've ever seen, but it works well. Around the wheel are 4 buttons. One toggles pause/play, two of them skip to the next track or previous, and the one below goes back to the menu, so you can browse your stuff while the music is on. There is also a power button and a voice record button on the side. The screen is good for browsing through music and good enough for a few pictures. I wouldn't watch videos on it, so if you're really big on videos, not only does this thing not have enough space to have too many vids, but also really the screen is too small. One last note, there's a button in the top which effectively acts as a screen-lock. If the white is showing, its unlocked. Otherwise, if the orange is showing, its locked.
Basic Overview:
-Charges through USB cable to computer-2GB Flash Memory: for people who don't need all of their music on their player at once, this is actually enough. You're going to have to plug it in to the computer to charge anyway, so how hard is it to drag and drop a few files? Also, this player comes with a MicroSD slot, so you can upgrade the storage. Additional 4GB of space costs about $33 on amazon, so you can have a 6GB mp3 player for not too much more if you're not happy with the 2GB it comes with.
-Around 1.5 inch screen diagonally measured
-20 hours of battery life: I actually cannot verify this personally, but I have used it probably for 12 or more hours and it has not died (it actually has not died on me ever)
-Voice recorder: Its not like one of those things where you can leave it on a desk and it'll record a conversation 50 feet away, but if you hold it near your mouth and talk into it, then you can make voice notes with no problem.
-FM Tuner: Self explanatory, its a good quality FM tuner which lets you listen to FM radio
-Advanced features such as playlists: I have not used playlists because I swap music all the time but the feature is there
-Shuffle/Loop modes
Getting Music On:
-There are two USB modes that this mp3 player supports. I don't quite remember their names, I think the acronyms were MSC and MMC or something like that. The difference between these is, one of them requires you to syncronize your mp3 player using some included software. I found this quite pathetic and instead switched to the other mode (you can consult the manual for more specifics, but its an option in the 'settings' and I think its MSC) and that way when I plug in, it finds my mp3 player, and I can open it in "My Computer", and simply drag the files into the "Music" folder. Now, I can either sort these neatly by making folders for each artist and album, or I can just throw the tracks in there and the Sansa will sort and arrange them.
RockBox:
This is the most important section! If you know whats good for you, you'll upgrade the firmware of this mp3 player to use RockBox software. Just google it, and follow the instructions, and you can totally upgrade your sansa. There are HUGE advantages to this, some of which include a better interface, custom themes you can download, much much more customizability and options, Last.FM support (if you have a last.fm profile, you can enable it, and it'll write your tracks into a file, and you can take that file and upload it somewhere and it'll sync it with your last.fm profile). Also, RockBox enables you to resume playback and all this funky stuff, and gets rid of the minor complaint I have (see "problems' section). RockBox is great, there's even a mode where it'll read the settings out loud to you. But the absolute best part of RockBox are.......the games! RockBox comes with about probably 30-40 great games which are fully playable, including pacman, tetris, chess, bejeweled, and a lot more. But my personal favorite is, Doom! Yes, you heard me right, the full 3D version of Doom (Freedoom) is on this thing, and its really playable and quite fun. Sort of amazing that top of the line computers barely ran Doom, and now a cheap mp3 player can run it?
Problems:
This was the hardest section for me to write about this sansa, because there are so little problems with it, especially after upgrading to rockbox. But, after much effort I have come up with two.
1. The "Database Bug" as I have coined it. If you use software to shuffle music to your mp3 player until its full, such as the feature in Windows Media Player sync option, it'll totally fill up the drive. The problem is, when you copy all your songs over and turn the drive on, it'll search all the tracks for their information, and make a database out of them, enabling you to sort them by artist, album, songs, etc (as on all mp3 players). This process of creating the database takes well over a minute, and in the end, it'll work, but won't be able to save it because you filled up all the space on it. So each time you turn it on, it'll have to create the database for over a minute. The solution for this is, either try RockBox (although I haven't tried it yet and am not sure how it'll work), or just delete some songs off of it, which leads me to #2
2. If you delete a song off your mp3 player AFTER the database has been created and saved, chances are, especially if you're shuffling your music, you're going to bump into that track information, and your player will look for it, see its gone, and an annoying "corrupted file" error will come up, and then it'll automatically go to an arbitrary song, which is the same everytime, so you have to press skip twice. I deleted an artist from mine which was about 1/8th of my total collection, and it drove me nuts since I skip tracks a lot when shuffling as is, and after every song or two I'd bump into that error
3. When you stick rockbox on this, while you're syncing, if something goes wrong or you turn off your device improperly (I'm not sure exactly how it happens), the blue wheel will be illuminated, and then you can't turn on your player and it can't syncronize. This really worried me the first time it happened, and it is a problem with RockBox. The solution to this is to press the power button for probably 15 seconds (yes it really takes that long) and it'll do a "hard-reboot."
The Competition:
I started off this long-winded review by pointing out why I think the Sansa e250 is not the perfect mp3 player, but its the perfect one for me, so let me explain why.
I paid $35 for this (got it used, but in great condition [refurb]). I could have paid $250 and got an ipod, but I paid almost 8 times less for this. And here's what this has which the ipod doesn't:
1. Smaller, more lightweight, more portable
2. FM Tuner
3. Voice recorder
4. Custom themes (an assumption I guess)
5. Lots of games, and fun ones
6. I can play Doom on it!
The only downside is, its not enough storage, (oh and it isn't white, oh no), but I can buy a microSD card and throw it in a can of bleach, so problem solved!
So I hope this review helped you, and hope you decide to get this great mp3 player.
More SanDisk Sansa e250 2 GB MP3 Player with microSD Expansion Slot (Black) reviews:
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Description of SanDisk Sansa e250 2 GB MP3 Player with microSD Expansion Slot (Black)
The Sansa e200 Series MP3 players are the created by the leaders in flash memory and provides everything you need for music, photo, and video clip playback. The very attractive, sleek design includes a 1.8 TFT color screen with advanced navigational features and an easy to use interface. You can also avoid scratches and cracks with the durable Liquidmetal backing. This Sansa e250 provides superior sound playback and supports Microsoft PlaysForSure subscription music. The SanDisk Media Converter supports most image formats to enjoy photos and small personal videos. The Sansa e250 provides a microSD card slot for content portability. Up to 20 hours of battery life (based on continuous, standard playback of 128Kb MP3 files) microSD Expansion Slot - for additional Storage space Digital FM Tuner - with on-the-fly FM recording Voice Recording Minimum System Requirements - Windows XP Windows Media Player 10+ Intel Pentium class PC or higher CD-ROM Drive USB 2.0 Port 1 Year Manufacturer's WarrantyYou can take it with you. Keep your media in your pocket with the SanDisk Sansa e250 flash memory digital audio/video player with 2 GB of storage. This sleek, light device enables you to enjoy music, video, and photo slideshows on-the-go. Features include MP3 and WMA playback, Microsoft PlaysForSure support, FM tuner (with recording ability), voice recorder, and a bright 1.8" TFT color screen.
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| Sansa e200 series players mix great design and durability with an excellent user interface. View the e200 Series Demo. |
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 Choose a Sansa e200-series player with the capacity that's right for you. |
Form is Function
The Sansa e250 has a sleek, thin design with a large 1.8" TFT color screen for easy viewing. The strong alloy metal casing means the device is durable and scratch resistant. On the front, easy to use, backlit controls let you access what you want quickly and intuitively. The player also includes a microSD slot for expanding your memory capacity, and supports SanDisk TrustedFlash and gruvi content cards, which can be shared with mobile phones. The user-replaceable lithium-ion battery provides up to 20 hours of enjoyment.
MP3 Player
The Sansa e250 will play MP3, WMA, and secure WMA formats. Other formats can be converted using the Sansa Media Converter (included). The e250 also uses PlaysForSure technology. Look for the PlaysForSure logo if you want to make sure the digital music and video you purchase will play back on it every time. Match the PlaysForSure logo on a large selection of leading devices and online music stores. If you see the logo, you'll know your digital music will play for sure. Choose from a large number of digital music and video stores, including MTV's Urge, Rhapsody, Yahoo!, MSN Music, MusicMatch, MusicNow, Napster, Wal-Mart Music Downloads, and many more.
Video Player
View your favorite video clips anywhere, anytime. Use the included SanDisk Media Converter software to convert most popular video formats (such as MPEG-4, WMV, or DivX) into the MJPEG format playable on the e250.
Photo Viewer
Share slideshows of your favorite photos with your friends. SanDisk Media Converter also supports most image formats, allowing you to convert and downsize your images for display on the e250.
On-Board FM Radio
The e250 includes a digital FM tuner for listening to your favorite radio stations. Keep those favorites readily available by adding them to your presets. You can also record live radio on-the-fly for future listening.
Voice Recording
Have a thought you need to get down before it evades you? Use the built-in microphone to record voice memos. Capture interviews, classes, short notes to yourself, or anything else you might feel inspired to record.
Choose the Capacity for Your Needs
The Sansa e200 series is available in capacities of 2, 4, 6, or 8 GB. Each model contains a the microSD expansion slot, meaning you won't be limited to internal memory capacity.
What's in the Box
Sansa e250 digital audio player, travel pouch and lanyard, stereo headphones, lithium ion rechargeable battery, USB cable, and quick start guide.
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