SanDisk Sansa m250 2 GB MP3 Player (Black)
by SanDisk
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List Price: Our Price: $59.95 You Save: $90.04 (60%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of SanDisk Sansa m250 2 GB MP3 Player (Black)
Customer Review: They should recall all M200 Series
Summary: 1 Stars
I got this Tuesday. Wednesday at 3:30am I opened package. For three hours I was as happy as a little girl. At 7:00am the player wouldn't go beyond the logo screen. When pushing the power button, it came on, saying it was initializing and displaying the SanDisk logo then went to SANSA screen and froze. It has done this each time since. I tried all the fixes suggested on all the discussion boards. It's petrified crap. I will be returning for a refund. Forget replacing when so many people are having the same problem in the last month. I shouldn't have even bought this thing. It should be recalled. All the other m200 series have the same issue. Look at the discussions for each one on this site. I don't believe this is a typical defect but instead a widespread bug. Buyer beware. This is the only time I've ever purchased electronics that totally failed in the first few months. This one failed in 3.5 hours. Coincidence doesn't cut it for me after reading all the problems in the last week alone. When it worked, the voice recorder was loud enough (Creative's are really low in contrast). The FM radio worked just fine. You can drag files to it in Windows Explorer or My Computer, or use WMP by clicking the tray icon's Synch function. I couldn't get WMP to find it on its own, though. The player doesn't really sort as much as have a search type function. I too had problems with it playing in alphabetical order after using WMP to synch. Drag and drop was fine if the file name started with the track number. Good while it lasted, but why do so many complain then give it four stars? If it doesn't work as expected its not worth even three stars. Make better use of the star ratings. I give it one star because of the widespread bug this series has lately.Customer Review: Rugged, Barebones MP3 Player
Summary: 5 Stars
I originally purchased the 1 GB model 2+ years ago. I use it when I run or work in the yard (10+ hrs a week). Day in, Day out this rugged little player keeps on playing. So much so that I've bought this newer model as a gift for my sister for her to use for the same purposes.
Sound Quality is exceptional. I'm on my 2nd set of earbuds. The little wires broke at the hook in to the player. I found it wise to loop the earbud wire around the player leaving some slack so that the inadvertent pull doesn't strain the little wires.
The little LED is surprisingly readable. Selecting particular songs (out 1-2 GB) is laborious. But to load and let them play, its fine.
I keep my tunes in Windows Media Player. The Sansa only seems to allow a single playlist; so, I've established (and continuously modify) various playlist in WMP and then upload (which is simply point and click) from WMP to the Sansa when I need a change (every month or two). 1 GB of WMA tunes (as I've recorded them) is about 150 songs; so, I don't quickly get bored.
Its very good on batteries. I use standard rechargeables which I recharge with a Maha/Powerex MH-C204W (best little charger I've found). It charges in pairs. I have four batteries and continuously recycle them every day or two. Note that if you switch the unit off, when you switch it back on, it plays where you left off. However, if the battery dies, you replace it and restart, it restarts where it was restarted before. Hope that makes sense.
In summary, I'd recommend this player to anyone for basic usage. If you must carry ALL your tunes with you ALL the time, selecting this one and then that one, you'll want something with more storage and selectability (iPod, etc.)
Customer Review: Functions well
Summary: 3 Stars
First impression of this unit is that it is a little "cheesy". The carrying sleeve makes a Glad sandwich bag look expensive and it was promptly discarded. Everything seemed to work but not brilliantly. This unit was purchased primarily for use during exercise, both walking and at the fitness center, so the FM capability was essential for my use. The unit does pretty much what it is supposed to and after using for a while seems to be reasonably intuitive in operation.
Not having a decent holder for attachment to my sleeve or clothing, I tried carrying the unit in a small pant pocket with the earpiece cord strung inside my shirt from the pocket but this unit feels fat and bulky in spite of its' minimal dimensions and the cord wanted to creep down eventually tugging on the earpieces so I gave that up. I have since purchased a Sennheiser CXL400 combo lanyard/earpiece set so that the unit could be strung from my neck. This arrangement is acceptable except that the unit wants to bounce off my chest as I walk, which becomes an annoyance. The only cure seems to be placing it inside the shirt but that is subject to sweat.
I was attracted to the use of a standard AAA cell for power on this unit which allows use of either rechargeable cells or off-the-shelf AAA alkaline cells. However some other units have rechargeable batteries built in that are charged off a USB connection which is an attractive alternative. For my use, the 2GB is more than adequate.
In summary, OK for the price, does what it is supposed to without drama (so far) but it's a little clunky in shape. Accessories are functional but marginal. In retrospect I would have probably liked the Sansa Clip a little better but of course I don't have one to compare.
Customer Review: Excellent budget 2GB player!
Summary: 5 Stars
Prior to selecting this unit, i'd looked at the Creative Zen Stone, Ipod shuffle, and the Sansa Clip. Those looked pretty good EXCEPT they used lame rechargeable batteries. Hey i don't mind carrying batteries around, and when my player is low on energy i want to be able to put in a new one and be set to go. Not have to shackle it to my PC's USB port to charge for 2-3 hours. To make matters worse some of those models mentioned above have no way to remove/replace the rechargeable, so when the battery dies your left with a dead unit.
So those were out. Only other decent 1GB+ MP3 options i could find on amazon that used regular batteries, were the Coby-C885 and this Sansa M250 that i'm reviewing now. The coby was nice but its weakpoint was its lousy signal output not being loud enough.
Finally tried this unit and it hit the mark! It uses regular AA batteries and no rechargeable junk, AND the signal output quality is quite loud. About 12% louder than the coby. Nice!
Other than that the unit is easy to use, has a nice amount of standard MP3 features, compact, and looks slick. Playing music & progressing from track to track is a breeze, the LCD display is nicely lit, and loading music onto it was simple and fast. It comes with pre-set sound equalizers like "Jazz" and "Rock", but what i really like is it has a CUSTOM equalizer setting, where you can tweak the sound to your own preferences.
Overall: using regular batteries for power, nice standard features, neat design, and ease of use, all makes this player a winner and recommended. Also an unexpected surprise: The earbud headphones included with this player, they were actually BETTER than my own set and got replaced with them. This was money well spent.
Customer Review: Played for 6 days and now freezes on startup screen.
Summary: 1 Stars
I used the player for 6 days - 26 hours of play - and within that time it worked great. Now it will only power on and off. The symptoms appear to be the same as reported in following url thread on the m240 - I have the m250 black. You can search google using m240 freeze to find it if the url does not work. I sent mine back for replacement and I am hopeful that the replacement will not freeze, however, in the discussion below one unfortunate person bought 3 all of which froze and had all 3 replaced only a week later to have the 3 all frozen again.
I have firmware 4.0.44E. I didn't update the firmware before using and I am not sure if there is a new version. My computer can't detect it anymore so I can't upgrade the firmware either if that might have been an issue. The discussion below also contains the troubleshooting steps that sandisk will send you if you encounter this issue - quite long and quite a pain and no reported successes in the forum. If you do choose to buy this player keep the packaging and stress test it for the first week. Run two sets of batteries down and if it is still working then hopefully you have a good one. Might be a good idea to update the firmware first. The player does come with a two year warranty, which is good, but I am not certain how long it would take to resolve the issue through sandisk. Fortunately I bought through amazon and they send me a replacement before I have even sent the defective one back to them on their dime, if the second one fails I'll ask for a refund.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/discussionboard/cd/discussion.html/ref=cm_cd_ef_tft_tp/103-5259331-8107845?ie=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2GDN6NH93JLIB&cdAnchor=B000BP50AY&asin=B000BP50AY&cdThread=Tx1186FME5VZ1I1