SanDisk Sansa m240 1 GB MP3 Player (Silver)
by SanDisk
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Our Price: $99.95 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $39.99 (click here) 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 m240 1 GB MP3 Player (Silver)
Customer Review: Deceptively good
Summary: 5 Stars
I felt a little foolish praising a $20 MP3 player, but now that they have more than doubled the price, I feel better.
The Sansa M240 is not a cheap sounding player, and the reason may be because it doesn't have the usual cheap chips. Sansa is now selling M240s with version 4.x, which means they have changed the electronics four times. I found a website that listed the chips used in the M240, as of 2008, and they were the same as used in much more expensive players, and the main chip has FLAC and video capability, which this model obviously does not use. So, for some reason, Sansa found it convenient to dump some fine chips into a dirt cheap player, perhaps because they were left over from discontinued models, or they got a good deal?
I have the Sansa E250, version 1 and version 3. This M240 sounds almost identical to the discontinued E250 version 1, but not at all like the version 3 (it sounds much better). I tested this by putting the same MP3 of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, fourth movement, on both and AB'ing with a first rate stereo system. Both had excellent stereo imaging and detail. The E250 sounded a bit smoother, the M240 a bit brighter.
I am now listening to Beethoven's Triple Concerto over a stereo with the M240 as a source. If I didn't know, I would not have guessed the source was a $20 MP3 player. The solo instruments are vividly distinct and positioned, even with the orchestra going full blast.
Mine came with a soft vinyl case and armbad. The earphones are sufficient for audiobooks.
I use Nimh batteries, and the backlight works fine. It's got an easy to use sleep timer, too. The voice recorder is good enough to record meetings. Firmware updates are available through SanDisk.
Cons? I wish it had FLAC capability. There is a slight gap between tracks. The track time counter is impossible to read without magnification, and fast forwarding is slow. Battery life on Nimh AAAs is probably less than 10 hours. I wish it was a 2 gb, but I solved that problem: I bought two.
Customer Review: Great Economical MP3 Player For Gym Use
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this at a Black Friday sale to replace my aging Rio s35s. Overall I'm really impressed with it so far. The player doesn't move when I set it on the little shelf on the EFX machine and the buttons are big enough to be easily manipulated just by feel, without having to look at the player. The backlight is bright enough to easily read the screen in the dark cabin of the car. I can't comment too much on the battery life other than to say I've been using it for about 4 hours and the included alkaline battery still reads as having a full charge. The fact that the player only takes 1 AAA is also a great feature because there is nothing worse than a dead battery in the middle of a workout and with this player all you have to do is pitch the old one, put in a new one and you're ready to go, no re-charge downtime and no worries about a rechargeable battery eventually going bad as with an ipod. The volume is more than sufficient to drown out the background noise of the gym and keep me focused on my workout. The toggle "lock" switch on the side of the player is also very convenient. I had no problems syncing this player with my computer using Windows Media Player 11. The only cons I can come up with are that the player doesn't have a time/ date display and the case included with the player is basically a glorified Ziploc bag, but Sandisk does sell a silicone case w/ a belt clip for the m200 series which I also purchased for about $8 and highly suggest picking up if you get this player. I would highly suggest any of the m200 players to anyone who is looking for a small, economical mp3 player for the gym and wouldn't hesitate to purchase this one again.
Sidenote on Storage Space: In order to fit more songs on the player, take the mp3 or wma file and convert them to a lower bit rate (i.e., 192 kbps to 96kbps). This is what I do and I really can't notice much decline in sound quality (at least not while I'm running). By doing this I have been able to fit 231 songs on the player and it is only about 60% full. [...]
Customer Review: Don't sell "reconditioned" items as "new"
Summary: 1 Stars
I had a very frustrating experience with this purchase, and I'm not sure who's at fault, Amazon or Sandisk. But I'm writing this as a cautionary tale for everyone who buys an MP3 player online.
First off, let me say that I think this is a neat little gadget -- a great design and a solid value. However, there were problems:
I ordered this item "new" from Amazon. In retrospect, it seems I was shipped a Sansa that had already been returned as defective. As I realized later, my original package didn't include several items I should have received (and did receive after returning the original one and complaining it was defective.) The items I didn't receive in my original shipment: earbud cushions, carrying case, and the user's manual (very, very frustrating, as I had to search online for instructions).
After using my Sansa for about 10 days, I discovered that my unit couldn't hold more than 10 MP3 files. Whenever I loaded more files, it locked up. I spent several hours reformatting the device, only to figure out on my own that it was defective. Again: very, very frustrating, and in retrospect it's obvious the device I purchased from Amazon as "new" had already been returned as defective, making all this all the more irritating. I can understand discovering that a used or reconditioned item I purchased turns out defective through an oversight. What I really object to is having to spend a lot of my time troubleshooting a device that, it turns out, has obviously been returned as defective by someone else.
To Amazon's credit, they shipped me a replacement Sansa after I complained, and didn't wait for me to return the defective one. The replacement unit works fine. However, I don't appreciate having to spend several hours troubleshooting a defective item without any compensation, other than receiving the working item I had already paid for. By purchasing a "new" item, I had already indicated I wasn't willing to gamble on a used or reconditioned device.
Customer Review: Great player at an awesome price
Summary: 5 Stars
I was torn between joining the Apple Borg and getting an I-Pod Shuffle and exploring other brands of flash-drive players. I knew I neither needed nor wanted one of the huge 20GB hard-drive behemoths, as I needed to be able to take my player to the gym (which the hard-drive models make it difficult, if not impossible, to do) and there is no way I would ever need to sort through EVERY song in my entire CD collection. A flash drive player was the obvious choice for me.
And so I bought Sansa m240 on the recommendation of reviewers on several different websites. Man, am I glad I did.
This is a really great player with terrific sound even on 64kbps WMAs (which take up half the space of similar-quality 128k MP3s). I've got about 150 MP3s and another 100 WMAs stored in the 1 GB of memory, and I estimate I've got room for about another 100 WMAs. I have no idea what else I will put on this baby, but I'm good to go for now with about two workdays worth of music.
Loading songs is tremendously easy--just drag and drop like you would any other file in Windows. The operation of the unit is also fairly intuitive, with noncomplicated menus and easy-to-use controls. I was up and running within five minutes.
The FM tuner works great, although I haven't really used it all that much. It's a nice feature, though. The nicest feature of all, though (for a unit this size and price), is the four-band equalizer. That's something the similar-sized Shuffle does not have (Heck, it doesn't even have a DISPLAY). I haven't used the voice recorder because I have a PDA that does the same thing, nor have I explored its audio book and subscription music capabilities.
I could go on and on about this unit. I've had it a week now and I really haven't found anything I DON'T like about it. It's HIGHLY recommended if you are in the market for a flash MP3 player to listen to tunes on.
Customer Review: MP3 For Beginners
Summary: 4 Stars
With all the hype around MP3 players, especially the Ipod from Apple, many consumers are eager for one that describes their best personality. Nevertheless, a lot of us just don't want one that seems like it is too expensive, and worth a huge pinch in the wallet for absolutely nothing. Fortunately, SanDisk knows what good quality really is in making great MP3 players that you can use for your everyday use. They've really delivered that kind of quality for anyone who owns a computer, or downloads files from a friends house. Sandisk's Sansa line has shown to be one of the best MP3 players out there that really is worth any files from online, and here is why with this model.
The Sansa M240 1 GB MP3 Player is a little bigger that its 512 MB model, but has the convience and quality at a affordable price. The MP3 player is sleek and can fit easily in your pocket which stores over 200 songs. It also works great on a simple AAA battery with nearly 20 hours of playback. This works great and in tune with Windows XP and Windows Media Player 10. You can store music that you've converted into Windows Media Audio, or MP3 itself. You can also store music you've downloaded from online stores like Napster, Musicmatch and MSN Music. The display is crisp and includes a easy scrolling menu, that you can access songs from an artists name, song or album. There is one disadvantage though, it doesn't display the actual album art unlike other MP3 players, but that is the only problem.
All in all, the Sansa M240 is a delightful MP3 player for anyone who is looking for something simple and at a affordable price. I really love this MP3 player series a whole lot, and it does deliver what an MP3 player should do, a good fit for the music lover on the go.
Price: B+
Convience: B
Easy To Operate: B
Display: B+
Overall: B 1/2+