SanDisk Sansa e270 6 GB MP3 Player with SD Expansion Slot (Black)
by SanDisk
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List Price: Our Price: $64.68 You Save: $235.31 (78%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of SanDisk Sansa e270 6 GB MP3 Player with SD Expansion Slot (Black)
Customer Review: don't trust rebate or after purchase support
Summary: 4 Stars
The player lives up to everything it should be but after purchase support by Sandisk needs to improve.
The rebate offered on line is a nice little extra but it really pissed me off that I just received a post card saying that my purchase was invalid. I checked all the requirements prior to purchasing and again before I sent in the form only to have it dismissed. I have ceased using other vendors that tempt you with troublesome rebates and I think it is time to do the same with Sandisk products. This is just plain false advertising!
Other complaints with the player are that Sandisk does not offer a USB cable for sale separate from the player. I asked Sandisk nicely about this and after numerous exchanges they agreed that they would send me cable as a once only replacement cable; after more then a month I am still waiting.
The worst part of the after purchase issues had to do with dealing with customer support. Mind you, the customer support personnel were very nice but the process of trying to get resolution was grueling. They needed me to register my e270 but they wanted a serial number that is not easily found. I went through 4 exchanges of email asking for its location and a possible picture so that I could locate it. It turns out that you must disassemble the e270 to get to the serial number. When I asked why they didn't have any instructions as to how to do this, support responded that they don't want to have people know how to take the device apart. HUH! THEN WHY THE HECK DO THEY PUT THE SN IN A PLACE WHERE YOU HAVE TO TAKE IT APART AND THEN REQUIRE THAT YOU DO SO!
I like the product but I am definitely not impressed with after purchase support.
Customer Review: Great MP3 player, few minor problems
Summary: 5 Stars
The e270 is the 6 GB model in the SanDisk Sansa e200 series of MP3 players. Possible Capacities are 2, 4, 6, and 8 GBs, beyond the capacity differences the e200 series are identical.
Pros
-Fairly Inexpensive
-Better Sound Quality than previous SanDisk MP3 players
-Up to 2 GBs of memory expansion via MicroSD card (4 GB MicroSD cards are not available and it is unknown if they will be compatible)
-FM Radio
-Displays Pictures and plays video
-Fast sync time
Cons
-Proprietary USB connection
-Easy finger print magnet
-Screen is ok, not great
-Crappy headphones included
The screen is a nice display, it looks good for being on such a small device, but it is not as nice looking as some of the Hard Drive based MP3 players such as the iPod. Unlike most MP3 players this one has a memory expansion slot, a very nice addition. The headphones which are supplied are pretty crappy, but when are headphones included with the MP3 player ever good? The music quality is very good, obviously the encoding is extremely important, but the Sansa sounds better than my old Dell Pocket DJ. Proprietary Ports suck, but the proprietary USB cable is included. In order to put pictures or video on the Sansa they have to go through the media converter. Pictures and video can only be stored on the actual Sansa, not a MicroSD card. As of right now the e200 series supports MicroSD cards up to 2 GBs, there are 4 GB MicroSD cards on the horizion, but as of right now it is unknown if they will be compatible with the e200 series. The drawbacks are very minor, if it was possible to give 4.5 stars I would. Definetly reccommended.
Customer Review: Best gadget I've bought in years
Summary: 5 Stars
I was hesitating on buying the iPod Nano because I'm the guy who usually bought something and the next week something newer and better came out. I think this time I finally got it right. The e270 is sexy. I've seen the Creative Zens get cosmetic scratches within minutes of pulling it out of the box, this tiny e270 looks great, appears durable, and I'm confident it will survive my abuse. Dragging and dropping music is a cinch, the iPod and Zen software my friends use took some getting used to...and the out of the box conversion software to put videos and graphics on this baby is just too easy. The variety of accepted formats wasn't impressive, but it took my mp3s and wmas with no problem. It converted my jpgs with no issue. There were 5 out of 40 music mpegs had an error during conversion. And a movie in .avi format was broken down into 12 .mov files. I took this with a grain of salt and assume future firmware improvements might fix this. The menu works better for me and I prefer the e270's dial over other mp3 players. Improvements I would like to see would be the ability to put the videos in subfolders without disappearing from the menu, a different style headphones, a freebie screen protector and some way to wear it other than the supplied carry pouch or lanyard. I'm still trying to pick up an FM station, can't determine if the weakness lies with the built in antenna or the AFN stations in Iraq. The flash memory was the basis for this buy, the drive players were too bulky and sensitive to my treatment. The added feature of a micro SD slot is probably excessive, but not unwelcome. I am VERY happy with this purchase. Now how about making some accessories for this thing!?Customer Review: Adequate, but don't actually use that whole 6GB.
Summary: 2 Stars
This product has all the basics: MP3, video, voice recording and FM radio. Its interface and sound quality are good, and its build quality seems solid.
However, if you actually *use* anywhere near the amount of storage the unit gives you, it will bog down to unusability. I filled the 6GB of storage, and used a 2GB MicroSD card as well. Every time I turn the unit on, it takes 40 seconds to get past the SanDisk splash screen, and a full 3 minutes to "rebuild the database" - every single time. Not only that, trying to change tracks tends to take 15 seconds or more to respond when you press the "track forward" button. According to what I have read from multiple sources, this is a firmware issue that SanDisk has failed to resolve. This is absolutely unacceptable in a unit designed to be an iPod competitor.
Also, I was led to believe that this unit accepted MicroSDHC cards up to 8GB, but this is false - it will only accept standard MicroSD cards up to 2GB. Had I known this, I might not have bought this unit at all. I will be trying the Rockbox firmware on it to see if it remedies any of my difficulties, but as-shipped this unit's performance is unacceptable.
/edit: I have installed Rockbox on this unit, and am far happier with its performance. While Rockbox has a few flaws in terms of ease of use and features, it boots and performs far faster and offers far more features than the default Sansa firmware. It also enables MicroSDHC cards to be used, up to 8GB. If you are going to purchase one of these units, I strongly suggest using Rockbox - it bumps up my opinion of the product from 2 stars to 3.5.
Customer Review: Solid product for an attractive price
Summary: 4 Stars
I have bought 2 Ipods for my two sons and have watched them fight the file format issue since we have a PC instead of a Mac. When it came time to buy a portabile music player for myself, I set the following criteria:
1. Must be compatible with Rhapsody which I have been using for years.
2. Must not have a hard drive
3. Capable of handling the large number of WMA format music I have converted from CD.
4. Price / valuable ratio must be good.
I finally broke down and bought a Sansa E270 last week. I have been listening to it nearly non-stop.
The pros:
It fit my criteria listed above.
It is easy for me to use (at 47 I don't want to fight technology)
The sound is great when I substituted higher grade noise canceling headphones for the earbuds it came with.
While it doesn't handle the thousands of songs I had hoped it would, it handles as many as I need and syncing with Rhapsody is easy.
The cons:
Face plastic scratches very easily
Ear buds furnished with it are worthless
Software bundled with it was hard to install on one of my computers
Doesn't come with wall charger.
Summary:
I bought a wall and car charger and rubber case on Ebay for it for less than 10 bucks, they work well. I really like being able to move my Rhapsody music easily over to the Sansa. I didn't realize that I had to change my Rhapsody subscription from $9.95 a month to $14.95 a month, but it is worth it to have all the new fresh music available from Rhapsody each month.