I have been putting off buying an MP3 player for quite awhile. Probably the best ones out there are the various Ipods from Apple, but I have a couple of issues against Apple and it's Ipod's that have prevented me from buying one. I hate how they've tied it into lockstep with ITunes, which I dislike intensely for the prices and for the proprietary format they force you into. If I used a Mac it probably would make sense to buy an Ipod, but I'm a PC user both at home and work. So, I simply put off the purchase hoping something else would finally come in....And it finally did.
SanDisk's Sansa brand of mp3 players has been around for a short while, but recently they came out with the 8GB Sansa E280. This had everything I was looking for: 8GB of flash memory plus a slot for additional memory, user-replaceable battery, ability to play WMA files, and an FM radio. The menu is easy to use and the music quality is excellent. It can be synched with Windows Media Player or used as a flash drive. I've found using it like a flash drive is a bit easier. It will also store playlists, pictures and video files, as well has just data files. It comes with it's own "media converter" software to help you move music, pictures or video's into the right format. I'm very pleased with the Sansa and would recommend it to anyone who wants a non-Ipod-flash-mp3 player.
You can find it in various spots at a discounted price and far below the equivalent Ipod 8GB Nano. I ordered mine from Amazon.
Check out the specs at: http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item(2057)-SDMX4-8192-Sansa_e280_MP3_Player_8GB.aspx
I am so glad you like your Sansa!
Merry Christmas!
Posted by: D Seifert | December 15, 2006 at 01:50 PM