SanDisk Sansa e280 8 GB MP3 Player (Black)
by SanDisk
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List Price: Our Price: $40.00 You Save: $209.99 (84%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of SanDisk Sansa e280 8 GB MP3 Player (Black)
Customer Review: Sansa E280
Summary: 5 Stars
When my Zen Micro blew up on me a few weeks ago, I decided it was time to purchase a new MP3 player. I had long tried to avoid the iPod but after playing with a friend of mines new 8GB iPod Nano I decided I would get one. Fortunetly, I stumbled across the Sansa E280 by chance while looking for a good deal on the Nano. I decided to take a chance on this relatively unknown device and am now thrilled that I did!
While it is basically the same width and height as the Nano, it is slightly thicker which might bother some people but I still don't even know it's there while in my pocket. The Nano has a color screen which can be used to view photos and 8GB. It's actually a nice little player but compared to the Sansa E280 it falls easily to a comendable second place. the E280 has an internal 8GB but there is a slot for a 2GB expandable memory disk! It is very easy to connect to the pc as well. I am by no means a computer expert and I use Windows Media Player to store my music. When I first connected the E280 to the pc, it asked me did I want to sync the two, which I said yes to. Ten minutes later the Sansa was loaded with all my music, no problems what-so-ever.In addition to displaying photos as the Nano does, it also plays videos. When reading reviews I thought this was a clever gimic but nothing worth using on such a small screen (it is only slightly larger than the nano's). I put an episode of South Park onto it when I first got the E280 and was suprised by the quality. I still wouldn't recommend replacing your tv with one of these but it is actually far better than I thought it could be. The packaged video coverter works well. I literally dragged and dropped the episode into it and the it was converted and transferred to the E280 before my eyes. The fm radio is also brilliant. My Zen Micro had an fm radio that never really worked. I didn't expect much better from my new MP3 player but once again I was suprised. No problems picking up the local stations at all.
The player itself fits comfortably in my hand. The only complaint I have about the physical player is the rotating wheel. At first I was disappointed with it as it felt very cheap, particularly when compared with the rest of the player. I got used to this very quickly and don't have a problem with it anymore but I think it is worth noting all the same. The other complaint I would have about the player is that songs cannot be deleted from the player itself, you must hook it up to the computer and manually remove them.
All in all, I would highly recommend the Sansa E280. Of the many MP3 players I tried out, this one really came out of top. It is beaten on size by the iPod, although the difference is near negligible. If your looking for a great little player packed with more features than you'd know what to do with, pick a Sansa E280 up!
Customer Review: The Whole Family Has One
Summary: 4 Stars
It started out my younger sister got one. It was a e280 v2, which if you don't already know IS A DOWN GRADE! Hers worked for a while but now files are all screwed up.
But then my dad got a refurbished e280 v1 which works great. Then I got one and I love it. PS: I never used the converter so this does not rate it. I have not comented on battery life because honestly it all depends. Mine is on 15 seconds for dimming and the lowest brightness level, so it usually last a good 12 hours if not longer.
Pros:
-Small
-Easy to use
-Held ALL my songs (1300 of them plus a video and pictures)
-You can get a chip to add more room
-Worked great in WIndows Media
-The metal back protected it for my many drops
-A cover and screen protector were cheap
-Has lasted a year so far
-The picture slide show allows you to add music
-The sound was fair but the standard head phones did not work well
Cons:
-In v1 you cannot delete songs on device (v2 you can)
-You cannot turn down wheel brightness so at night it blinds you
-I will admit FM radio is a little hard to change stations
-v2 has broken down and caused many problems and the switch to a new player for my sister (if you read this before you will notice my review went down a star, this is why)
If you are having trouble with yours here are some tips:
1. If the screen goes grey and you are stuck or it is frozen hold down power button until shuts off (Note: this could take 10-30 seconds)
2. If you cannot view your files in WIndows Media player and it won't delete on device here is how you do it:
I have a refurbished SanDisk/Sansa e280 player. I was trying to delete duplicates but my device would not let me. And in my Windows Media Player it would not show the files on the device. Here is what I did and it worked for me:
1. Plug device into USB
2. Went to my Computer
3. Under Other I clicked Sansa e280
4. When in, there was only one icon PPI NAND which I clicked
5. You now have acces to everything on device, I went in and deleted a video and by going through the Music folder I deleted my copies.
CONS:
I could not change file names once downloaded
Hope this helps you!!!
Kcblondy
3. Do not delete presets just scan over them. Saves time.
4. Check blogs. Most likely somebody else had the same problem
5. Do NOT unlpug from computer then plug it back in real fast it WIIL cause it to freeze. Then follow hint 1.
Hoped this all helped!!!
Customer Review: Fab and not an I*p*d!
Summary: 5 Stars
I, too, read the reviews and bought one of these at a deep discount. Hooray, it's not an IPOD. It's a flash memory unit without a microdrive spinning. For workouts, it can't be beat because all that exercise doesn't affect the flash drive.
OK, it's scroll wheel is mechanical instead of the IPOD's cool, finger sensitive wheel. Ummm, DRM is not cool, so who cares about the mechanical scroll wheel; it works well. When it's dark and the blue wheel lights up (like in the car at night) the feel of the mechanical wheel lets me know that what I want to do is getting done.
The color screen is brilliant, the menus are straightforward and easy to navigate, and the synching with your computer's media player software is a breeze. I simply rip all my music to my hard drive using media player, and then drag and drop playlists, albums and songs to the Sansa, and synch it using media player!
As the other reviews have noted, you'll need the latest Sansa firmware to get everything to work without a hitch. Once you've downloaded it, everything works perfectly. I've not yet tried the video (and may never), but the photos look good. However, my cell-phone takes photos, so this is not a feature I really use on the Sansa. This is all about the music.
Oh, sound is fantastic with buds (I like the Koss buds), through my stereo at home (Canton speakers) and through my car stereo plugged through a casette tape thingie. I prefer classic cars, so they're not solely restricted by CD players or satellite radio. It also sounds good on the cordless headphones that fit the Sansa.
Battery life is awesome. I just drop the Sansa in the charger when I get home. Also, HUGE advantage here, the battery is replaceable by removing a couple of screws.
Because the front is shiny black plastic and looks very sleek, I bought the protective system put out by Sansa - hard foam zipper case, simple black case for the Sansa with the peel and stick cover for the screen. The nice thing about this set up over the hard plastic cases that fit over the Sansa or the silicon cases is that this travels well protecting the Sansa from being crushed, the black leatherette case fits in the charger without taking it off, and all the nav buttons are easily accessible with this soft case, something that's been reported as a problem with the hard plastic shells. Finally, if for some reason I need to remove the leatherette case, the plastic film protecting the color screen remains in place and always provides protection. You can buy this protection system on Amazon for the best price.
Final wish - that a clock radio docking station with great speakers would come available for the Sansa so that I can wake up to my music.
Customer Review: It's OK
Summary: 3 Stars
I got about 1 year of use out of my Sansa e280r, before it became unusable.
The Sansa worked well most of the time. I have rhapsody to-go, and it's nice to be able to have "fewer" portability issues with the rhapsody dna inside the sansa. I love music, but I'm not an audiophile. The sound was good enough for me. I used the stock earphones, which still work. this is the first time my "walkman" has died before the headphones.
Now for the issues. It is true that your sansa becomes agonizingly slow if you add too much music. I always had about 5 gb of music on my sansa and was quite happy with it when it worked, which was most of the time.
However, I had to reformat my sansa at least half a dozen times. This really sux because you have to go back and pick and choose which songs to load again. Common! My old palm pilot and now my soon to be old blackberry have backups, why can't my mp3 player??? The customer support was good and they could always solve my sansa's problem by instructing me to do a hard reset. Doh! Well, i guess that's better than sending the player back. i just stopped picking and choosing the songs I added and would just add whole playlists.
I find the rhapsody interface with the sansa to be lacking. Don't get me wrong, it works. But there are ways you can transfer a song from the rhapsody interface and brick your sansa until the hard reset. Twice, I loaded up a bunch of songs on the sansa before a trip, only to have it bricked because i transferred the files by drag and drop rather than right clicking and selecting transfer to device. NO problem, right? I remembered how to do the hard reset. Then, bam, no songs on the device and no way to get internet access to reload it because I'm on an air plane headed for the Canary Islands and 5 days of camping.
What happened to my sansa? The screen cracked. What did I do to make this happen? To this day I don't know. It happened during a run, and when I finished the screen was cracked. I had it inside a case with a clip that was clipped to my waistband. I went online and found that a lot of people had the same problem with their screen cracking. Sandisk will not replace a cracked screen under warranty. The thing that kills me is that I babied this Sansa. I had it in a case the whole time. It looks brand new, minus the cracked screen. I've thoroughly abused my cell phones and blackberries. This never happened with them. Now the device is basically unusable because the whole screen has gone black. Doh!
While I could get another e280 for well under half of what I paid for my first one, I'm going with iRiver or Creative
Customer Review: Sansa e280, a convenient Mp3 player
Summary: 5 Stars
I just received my SanDisk Sansa e280 with 8 G of memory, and I am happy to say it is very convenient to use.
I at first read reviews about it, and was a little worried, but after having it in my hands, I have to say my worries were not needed. My worries were:
-The battery would not be easily replaceable
-The parts would be expensive and not available and most stores
-The player would not play when I was charging it
But after working with it for a while, I learned that these worries were not problems at all:
-The battery can be replaced by unscrewing the back and placing it in and replacing the crews (this takes maybe up to a minute at most).
-The parts for these players (for example, spare batteries or charging chords) are sold in most office supplies and electronics stores, so if I need another part while I am traveling, I can grab it right away and not wait for the part in the mail.
-The player can be charged almost anywhere, from your computer, your car, or a wall socket if you get the adapter set for it. When you charge it in your car or from the wall, you can still listen to music too! It is when you dock your player to the computer you cannot play music, but of course, when I have it docked to my computer, it is only to put more music on it.
Plus I found other convenient points with this Sansa e280:
-The Rhapsody program for putting my music onto the player is very quick. It only takes about a minute to two minutes to put a whole CD onto the player (and note that your files that you use with Windows Media Player program do transfer easily to Rhapsody).
-It's size is perfect. It is thick enough to feel like that it won't slip out of my hand (which is important to me because I have had problems with that with past Mp3 players). It is not heavy either, so it is convenient to carry around.
-The screen and the menus for using the player look great. The interface is very colorful and looks good. I learned very easily how to use the player. The light up wheel was also very useful and looked great on the player below the screen.
In summary, the Sansa e280 is convenient for anyone who wants to carry around their music on a Mp3 player, and for anyone who wants a Mp3 player that is usable almost anywhere and replaceable (with its parts) in almost any electronics/office store. For those looking for alternatives to Creative Labs or iPod Mp3 players, this may be your best alternative, not just in product quality, but in price as well.