SanDisk Sansa m230 512 MB MP3 Player (Blue)
by SanDisk
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List Price: Our Price: $27.95 You Save: $22.04 (44%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $14.54 (click here) Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of SanDisk Sansa m230 512 MB MP3 Player (Blue)
Customer Review: Exactly what I was looking for
Summary: 5 Stars
This MP3 player is exactly what I've been looking for. I wanted something small and durable so that it would withstand rattling around in my backpack (as I am a college student), and it seems quite sturdy so far. Also the buttons and interface are very user-friendly. The volume control is also easy to access and adjust when the player is in my pocket.
The earphones are (in my opinion) very high quality, and I am pleasantly surprised as to the quality of the sound this thing produces. And here's a plus: when you have the earphones on, other people can't hear them. This is how it should be, but a lot of times with other MP3 players' ear phones you can still hear peoples' music. Not so with these; they're intended for the listener only. And their style and design is also quite sleek-looking.
I am also quite pysched about the built in radio. I enjoy listening to the radio from time to time, because of the variety of music available. And in comparison to Apple's I-pod, you have to buy a sort of "add on" radio tuner to be able to listen to the radio with an I-pod, and such an add-on costs around $50 by itself. For just $13 more, you can buy this MP3 player instead, and still be able to store your own music on it just like any other MP3 player. I should mention about the radio though, that you only have access to FM stations and not AM stations.
Overall I found that this player has everything I need. It's really an amazing deal for the amount of features you get, and I am quite pleased with it. I highly recommend it.
Customer Review: A great "starter player" that you can get for next to nothing
Summary: 5 Stars
I could not figure out what the big deal was about MP3 players.
People were happily spending hundreds of dollars for something that, while extremely cool looking, seemed to me like a glorified Walkman/Discman?
Somebody got me an M230 for my birthday, though, and it's changed my life. I'm literally listening to as much music now as I did when I was a teenager.
The Sandisk is lightweight, just slightly larger than a Bic cigarette lighter; it holds about six hours worth of music; and it has great sound.
The weight is perfect, easily shirt-pocketable, and you don't have to worry about jostling it at all. Using a car adapter, I was also able to play it while driving and it sounds great, even coming through my ratty car speakers.
And no, you can't put 1,000 songs on it -- only about 130. But I have such a huge music collection, I think I'd go crazy if I could put a massive chunk of it on my player. I actually find that if I put 100 songs on it, after about a week it's a lot of fun to go through and cull the stuff I don't listen to and add stuff I've either bought during the week or suddenly rememebered I wanted to hear. I like that it forces me to be a little selective.
Plus, the bottom line is that this is now selling for less than fifty bucks. If you're not into MP3 players, you can check it out for about the cost of three or four CDs. If you like it -- and you probably will, as have the people I've given this to as gifts -- you can always pay an arm and a leg for an iPod later.
Customer Review: Flexible and Reliable MP3 Player
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this MP3 player one year ago, and I liked it so much that when I had to purchase some special tokens for awards in our factory I picked it again. My wife and I share this small but practical MP3 player, and usually she is the one picking the songs, so, whenever the newest update of songs in the player is not good for me, I switch to the radio.
We use it a lot for exercising, and it is the best: you can barely notice its weight and the headphones have the right size to fit in your ear without any discomfort.
Once my wife left it in her exercising clothes, and sent it to the washing and drying machines. When she found it, it was dead. As you would expect, it did not work immediately after that. However, we set it up aside (without the batteries) for 2 days, and after that IT WORKED LIKE NEW!!!! It is definetely build for tough.
Battery life is good in this player, the sounds are good, but there are some areas for improvement:
1. The FM radio. You have to work on the presetting of stations, if not, the navigation comes a little unfriendly when you are jogging.
2. The USB connection. It is set for USB2 connection, so we had some trouble getting it to work with our old USB port. After we changed it, we have had no problems. This change is not listed on the manual, so we had to figure it out ourselves.
Other than that, we are pleased with this player. Our next stop: probably a video player or a Cell Phone-MP3 - Video player. We still don't know.
Customer Review: Nice sound, Nice features, Nice price
Summary: 4 Stars
I wouldn't say that this is a top of the line audio player, but with better headphones you can get a great sound.
For a little more, I suggest you get the M240 or M250, which have the same features, but with 1GB and 2GB of storage, respectively.
Why to buy this unit:
-Rock bottom price
-Decent sound with your own headphones
-Nice interface
-Works with various music subscription services (somtimes requires firmware upgrade--see sandisk.com)
-Has "Plays for Sure" software embedded.
-Can be used to store any type of file (mass storage mode)
-Can shuffle play
-Comes with an arm band and player sleve for walks, workouts, etc.
-Lightweight
-Plays for 11 Hours on 1 AAA battery
Why not to buy this unit:
-You want to use it with I-Tunes (not possible)
-You want a unit with rechargable battery (buy rechargable AAAs, only option)
-You want a unit with swappable media (SD or flash)
-You want a unit that comes with good earbuds or headphones
-You want a unit that has 1GB or more (see the M240 and M250 or a variety of other players)
-USB modes can be confusing, causing unit to suddenly not register as a compatible music device with windows (easily fixed by changing modes back to music playback instead of mass storage)
-controlls sometimes require futzing with to get what you want.
I recommend this player for a first-time player and for those who need a cheap player with good sound.
Customer Review: Great Player, Good Value...Superior to Creative Player
Summary: 4 Stars
I've owned three Creative Zen Nano players: 256mb, 512, and 1 GB. The rirst I put the battery in backwards in (I imagine this will probably fry any player...), the second the one-off switech jsut died, and the third the memory got corrupted for unknown reasons. I just bought the m230 because I thought I might havve better luck. I can't say how thngs will turn out in the long run, but the first few hours find me very impressed with the m230 compared to the Zen players.
Pros-
* volume can be much louder (more chance to destroy your hearing :))
* displayed mp 3 information is much more visible and extensive
* ability to play by genre, title, artist gives more flexibility than the Zen
* AAA battery. (so do the Zen players) I mention this because some mentioned this as a negative. I am still using the alkaline that came with it, but I'd recommend getting MiMH rechargeables. You should find that they last much longer and the cost is very little since they cna be recharged a hundred times or so...I haven't had one die on me yet so I don't know how long they last. They easily pay for themselves in a short time.
Cons:
* Inferior clear plastic sleeve that is the "case". There is an optiona! It will be my next Amazon purchase.
* The Quick Start guide skips things like setting FM presets. The full manual is online but you aren't told of its existence. Do a Google search for "Sansa m230 manual" or go to the Sandisk site.