- Includes stereo earphones, 1 AAA battery, belt clip, CD software
- Plays MP3, WMA, and WMA DRM
- Digital FM tuner with 20 preset stations
- Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port for fast and easy transfer of files
- Compatible with Windows 98SE, 2000, ME, XP; Mac OS 9.2x+, 10.1.2+
I have perfect eye sight but I am so accustomed to my Iriver IMP-350's nice remote with good display size( a CD MP3 player). I looked at the manuals of the creative Muvo's and the sandisk SDMX1-512 and was able to see that the interface and menus of the Sandisk player was superior to the Creative Muvo's. I also considered the Iriver flash players, but they were too expensive(still are). I have only used my Sandisk player for 2 days now and it has given me no problems.
The file transfer is very fast and the battery life seems pretty good so far. The battery is at 3/4 bars after 2 days of use, and it's the cheap alkaline battery that came with the player. I have one complaint, I wish it came with a neck strap like the creative Muvo's. I used a strap from an old pair of sun glasses. It comes with a nice clear plastic protective case and a set of cheap air phones, plus a nice velcro arm strap for all you joggers. The quick start manual is ok, the full manual if on the CD or the website. It's got a nice backlight and clear screen, sound quality is excellent and radio reception is very good, better than my Iriver IMP-350's reception.
The CD comes with musicmatch jukeboox version 9, I didn't even install it, it's crap, stick with winamp or media player. You don't have to install any drivers for windows xp. The entire screen flashes when transferring files, which is super fast. Voice recording is ok, I wish it had radio recording like the creative models though.
This player is great and cheap, go for it, you won't be sorry:-)
Tuki
Buy SanDisk 512 MB MP3 Player Blue Now
I really, really like the Sandisk 512MB MP3 player!I bought this a couple of days ago because I've started running on the treadmill. I was using the old yellow Sony sport armband model that was just a radio, and it was driving me crazy when commercials came on (or a slow song -death during a workout!).
The MP3 player allowed me to load much of my music (ripped to the WMA format to fit more) and the shuffle allows me to start the music and just go, never knowing what's coming next, but always knowing it will rock!
The radio is also very nice on this unit. The reception is clear and there are more than enough preset slots to save my stations.
Contrary to an earlier comment, I find the size of this unit is just fine for a workout. The unit is also VERY light; I barely noticed it was there.
Also, echoing another earlier comment, when copying to the unit, I treated it like a hard drive and just set up folders with my music sorted into the approprate spot. That created playlists.
The one issue I have with this MP3 player is in the area on controls, more specifically while I am running.
The controls while setting up the unit are actually pretty good (if you have the manual handy...they are not intuitive, but the manual lays it out OK)! They crammed a lot of features into a little package and it has all I need.
However, if I want to switch from radio to recorded music or back the other way WHILE running, it is very difficult. That's not usually a big problem though: I'll probably use one method or the other during a workout, so the switch is not a huge issue.
Overall, I am very pleased with this player. It is more than worth the significantly lower price I paid for it (vs. say, the iPod). Go for it, you won't be disappointed!
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I bought the Sandisk 512 MP3 player for use while running. If you are a runner, you probably already know that the jukebox-style (e.g. Ipod) and CD-style MP3 players don't work well because the constant jarring makes it impossible for the player to read its media. Memory-based units like this one don't have this problem because there are no moving parts to jar. Weight and a rugged case are also considerations. I compared this unit to others made by Apple, Rio, Creative, and iRiver breaking the units down by size, price, capacity, and features. With few minor differences, all of these players look pretty much identical with the exception of the Apple (No display? Are they kidding?), iRiver (AA battery instead of AAA = more battery life), and the Sandisk because it is the least expensive of the bunch.So I bought it, and here's what I've found thus far. I'll break this up into three categories:
1. The Player -
+ It's small and light. I can run with this in my hand and barely notice that I'm carrying it.
+ Nice sound for an MP3 player.
+ Good user interface some people didn't like having to learn it, but I found it quite useful. Particularly since I can listen to the music and adjust the equalizer at the same time.
o The construction of the unit does not speak of durability. It is so light, however, that I am not sure if there is enough mass to cause it to break if dropped. I will update after I drop it for the first time whenever that happens.
Bump for battery in case makes it more difficult to fit into my existing arm-band holder with my cell phone. OK, that sounds like whining. Probably is whining.
2. The Headphones -
+ Nice sound great bass response for earbuds.
+ Comfortable to wear.
o Cable is shorter for left earbud than right earbud. This kind of assumes that you will be wearing the unit on your left arm and operating it with your right hand. I did not find this to be a plus or a minus, but it might annoy some people (i.e. lefties), so there you have it.
The earbuds have these big bits on the outside that serve no function that I can figure. The problem being that when I go to wipe away sweat, I knock the earbuds out of my ear because I bump the big Frankenbolts sticking out of my ears. For now I am using my old buds from my last player and thinking about taking the bits off with my Dremel. I will update if I ever get to doing that or if my old buds die.
3. The Armband/Cover -
+ The band is lightweight and relatively comfortable.
+ The band is made of a fabric that is remarkably breathable.
o The band itself, while breathable, seems like it may not hold up to a lot of sweat. I'm holding judgement on this and will re-post if it self-destructs. NOTE: after 6 months the band is still going strong so perhaps I was wrong on this.
This is probably the cheapest construction that I have ever seem in an MP3 cover bar none. The cover for the player is made of thin vinyl which will not protect the player from anything but scratches. I would've preferred neoprene or silicon rubber to help the player stand up to being dropped. NOTE: after 6 months, the problem has not been breakage of the player due to bashing, but the snaps have begun to rust from sweat. While they're still functional, it doesn't look very nice.
UPDATE: A few people have suggested the ROM update I have to agree. The player was refusing to take any more songs on it after only filling to around 200 MB. The ROM update is trivial just another file that you download to the player and then turn it on. Availble at the web page (http://www.sandisk.com/retail/dap-firmware.asp).
UPDATE #2: After a couple of weeks worth of use, the unit stopped talking to my computers and was tagged as defective by Sandisk tech support. I sent it in (they pay for FedEx shipping) and after some wrangling (UPS shipment of new unit #1 disappeared from my front porch perhaps it would be better if they didn't write on the outside of the box what was inside the box?) I received the new unit. This has a different style of headphones (no "frankenbolts") and a version of firmware not currently available on their web page (2.0). Going without the player for a while was a hassle, but they did try to make it less painful by at least paying for shipping and sending a brand new unit as replacement.
Update #3: Player #2 stopped talking to my computer just as player #1 did. This time, rather than to waste time with their tech support, I troubleshot it myself and came up with an answer. Turns out that if you re-format the filespace on the device you HAVE to use the FAT (FAT16) filesystem type. Selecting FAT32 is what causes this problem. Here is my solution that I offer completely without warranty for a WinXP system. If you are at all uncomfortable reformatting disks, you should avoid this or get someone who is knowledgable to perform it. If you reformat the wrong disk on your computer, you will definitely break something/lose your data so DO BE CAREFUL:
1. Connect the player to the USB port.
2. Click on Settings->Control Panel->System Properties
3. Click on the Hardware tab and launch the device manager.
4. Click on the + icon in front of Disk Drives to expand the selection.
5. Right-click on the drive corresponding to the MP3 player and select the Properties menu item.
6. Click on the Volumes tab, and then press the Populate button to determine the drive letter.
7. Start up a command prompt (Programs->Command Prompt) and enter the following command to reformat the filesystem on the MP3:
format : /FS:FAT
8. Click on the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray, select the MP3 player, and click on the stop button.
9. Unplug the MP3 player, power it off, and reconnect it to the system.
10. MP3 player now appears in Windows Explorer.
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I was looking for something with a radio, decent storage and an attractive price. This unit has satisfied all conditions.Pros:
-Size and weight are wonderful. Tucks into any pocket for casual use, and I don't even notice it while using the armband for a workout.
-Drag & drop loading & unloading are getting harder to find in mp3 players. This is amazingly hassle free, just like using a Sandisk USB drive. Mp3 and wma without a problem. It does come with jukebox SW if you like that, but I have yet to try it.
-Price is great.
-Storage is fine for my needs. Holds to have several 20-song mixes, books-on-tape, etc.
Cons
-The navigation isn't perfect. It's not that annoying, but it's not too intuitive after several weeks use. If you spend a lot of time moving through mixes, switching b/n radio & mp3 playback, etc, then this will be a bit annoying, esp while running/biking. If you just play, then it won't be much of a problem.
Par
-The battery life and radio reception are decent. Neither is wonderful, but both are par for current technology.
Reasons to buy this over an ipod (or why I did, and I'm happy)
1) Radio
2) AAA batteries, vs. proprietary
3) Ease of drag & drop loading and unloading.
4) I don't really care about the ipod peripherals or style.
5) Better size than ipod/ipod mini, and more display info/options than an ipod shuffle.
Since I didn't plan on having my whole collection with me (simply 40 songs, if not less, at a time), a 1gb+ player would be overkill. True portability, plus not having to wait for a recharge and potentially having to send the player back 3 years later to pay x amount to replace the battery, meant that I was looking for something that runs on AAAs or AAs. I might also jog with it and a read through the on-line forums showed mixed results for micro-drives in this capacity which placed me in the market for a 512mb or 256mb flash DAP.
Examining the reviews and user opinions on CNET, Amazon and various on-line, audio forums, the companies to consider were Apple, CreativeLabs, iAudio, iRiver and SanDisk.
Apple has a great reputation and everyone seems to agree that the quality (both finish, ease of use and sound) of their players are excellent. The only controversy was with the short life of the lithium ion batteries but all players with this energy source will have this problem. (According to Battery University, if the user leaves the battery at 100% charge at 77 degrees Fahrenheit, at the end of 1yr, the total charge level will only be at 80% which means that if you were able to get 20 hours of play, a year later, you'll only be able to get 16 hours)
The new iPod Shuffle didn't appeal to me because it lacked a LCD screen (try navigating a CD-RW with 107 songs and you'll know what I mean) Also, I heard that the Shuttle was binded to your home's iTunes so the only way to transfer files from your office was to first format the thing. It doesn't have a FM tuner, runs on lithium with ~12hr life, and doesn't support WMA but is the only player to support AAC. You can only have 1 playlist. So it wasn't for me. However, if you have a large iTunes collection, have an iPod and just want a excellent sounding player with familiar controls to workout at the gym with, this player is for you.
CreativeLabs, the guys who brought us the awesome sound blaster cards ( I have the Audigy 2 ZS), offers a wide array of DAPs which have just as much mind-share among the enthusiast as Apple. Their most popular models are Zen Micro followed by Zen Touch. The major issues were: 1. bad firmware update for the Micro and 2. the headphone jack on the Micro seems to degenerate too quickly. Sound quality-wise, vox poplui is that Zen Micro and the iPod 4gb sound about the same.
Among the flash players, only the Muvo N200 and Muvo Tx FM have a FM tuner and run on AAA batteries with ~15hr life. Both are exactly the same but the Tx FM can act as a USB key without having to use a small adapter like the N200 -this also means that the Tx FM is slightly larger. Reviews and discussions suggest that both have pretty good sound quality but not on the level of a iAudio or iRiver. I favored the Tx over N200 because the former can be a true USB key but ultimately decided not to go neither because the LCD was so small. (Went to J&R to see one).
Of interest, the original Tx FM could not fast-forward to the middle of a song, however, a firmware update has fixed this plus added support for Audible.com. I have also read the manual and found the controls (jog wheel that can be depressed to select and volume + & -) to be as intuitive as Apple's. Overall, the N200 & Tx FM are for people whose willing to sacrifice a bit of sound quality in order to get a small LCD screen. Both have FM tuners and so-so voice recorder ability but has no playlist support and you can only have 1 subfolder (C:\Level1\Level2). They support MP3, WMA and Audible.
iAudio is a company that appears to be quite popular in Korea. They don't seem to have as big a following in the states due to fact that their players, before the recent price decrease, were rather expensive and had limited distribution. Their most popular models are the U2 and iAudio 4 (there is a 5 out now, different look, same insides). Both had FM tuners, excellent voice recording ability with playlist support and fast forward ability. They support MP3, VBR, WMA, WAV, OGG and ASF
Since there wasn't too much on the forums about them, the CNET reviews were the main source of information and the U2 was rank the top flash player with some of their other players also taking top spots. The U2, with its extremely small form factor, had excellent sound, on par with the iPod Shuffle and a beautiful design. The only problem for me was that is used lithium rechargeable batteries. The iAudio 4 used AAA batteries and had the same sound quality as the U2 but didn't navigate via joystick. Both had about a ~15hr battery life.
Taking a look at the manuals, the i4 did not appear to be as intuitive as the CreativeLab Muvo or Apple iPod. The U2 is good for people who want excellent sound with an easy to read LCD and navigation plus small footprint. The iAudio 4 is for those who are looking for everything in the U2 but is willing to trade slightly larger form factor and navigation to have a non-lithium battery. I have ordered a iAudio 5 512mb (The i5s are gorgeous!!!) and am waiting for it to arrive. An interesting note is that you can change the short boot-up screen for the i4. Just download the software from the company's site and it makes converting a moving gif for the start-up screen a snap.
iRiver is iAudio's rival in Korea and it seems that both have about the same sound quality (which means excellent sound and on par with the Shuffle). iRiver is also known to have elegant designs and their iFP-799 is no exception this player looks very similar to the U2. The review on CNET and elsewhere were very favorable to all their players however, it seems that quite a few users in the forums have quality problems and report the units breaking about a few months later. I was going to get an iFP-799 which supports MP3, OGG and non-protected WMA but didn't want a lithium battery (these things are everywhere) and the fact that it doesn't work as a UBS key killed the deal. You have to install iRiver's software in order to transfer anything onto the player but you can't save songs from the player to your computer perhaps done to please media companies. Battery life, at ~40hrs, was the longest of all.
SanDisk has been in the flash memory business for awhile and it was a logical step to create more value-added products like a MP3 player. Their entry seems to have forced prices of flash players down. I have brought 2 of these (gave one to my youngest brother who loves it) and found the value, relative to price, to be the highest among all the flash DAPs. It supports MP3s and both protected and non WMA files. There is no playlist.
The sonic quality of the item was a bit worst than your average CD player and the included headphones sounded mono. Switching to my Sennheiser HD 457s, gave the sound a better range (lows were lower and highs were higher) but it came with a slight decrease in volume.
The FM tuner had trouble auto-scanning but you could manual select and I found the reception to be no worst than a standard walkman. I have not tried the voice recording but heard that it was only good for personal messages. Don't expect to record lectures like the iAudio and iRiver DAPs. The unit itself only supports one folder level (no subfolders) and couldn't seem to handle more than 10 of them. My brothers and I found that the navigation wasn't a problem for us. Reading the manual, however, was required in order to get all the options. How can someone know that holding down the select button for 3 seconds while in any mode will bring up the systems menu?
The LCD screen was a decent size. With a blue backlit, there were no issues reading it. Since you could just drag and drop your songs via Windows Explorer, I have not tried the included software. You can also create your folders via Windows Explorer. The small form factor meant that you could place it in any pocket and not notice it there. No problems were had connecting to our 4 PCs via the included USB cable. File transfer was very quick. A reviewer complained that file deletion was difficult but that was not the case. Just select the song and hit Rec, press the Play/Stop to confirm. We had been using the 2 units for awhile now and the 15 hour stated battery life appeared to be correct.
This DAP is definitely good for those looking for a ultra portable device. It's not much bigger than your thumb. The sound wouldn't blow you away (audiophiles would be better serve with a iAudio, iRiver or iPod Shuffle) but the low price will surely impress. SanDisk looks to be a strong contender in low-end flash player market.
General note about what storage size to select. Besides, the SanDisk 1GB, non of the other 1GB items could be recommended. Often times a 4GB unit can be had from the same company for just $25 to $30 more which means that the user should choose between 256mb or 512mb. Assume 6mb per song, you can have around 42 and 83 songs, respectively.
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