IT Blog Today

When looking into buying an mp3 player I had several things I wanted, but wasn't certain--at first--that I could find: Great sound...FM tuner...voice recording...screen...size...Napster compatibility and most importantly, cost. We purchased several Creative Zen Stone shuffle-type players for our daughters for Christmas convinced that they were compatible with Napster, which they are not...so we were a bit disappointed. Oh, they are fine players, but not being able to download from our Napster account was a giant negative. The girls chose to keep their Zen Stone's and download off our current cd collection.

So...the wife and I went on a search for mp3 players for us. We knew what we didn't want, but weren't sure we could get everything we wanted at a decent price. Out of the blue, we accidentally discovered the Sansa Clip and after a brief once-over, my wife and I decided this was what we've been looking for.

First, these little gem's are small. Considering all it does, it is amazingly small. Sure, it's thicker than the ipod shuffle, but the shuffle lacks quite a few of the features of the Sansa Clip--and it's STILL cheaper by not a little, either. The screen is great. MUCH better in person than I thought it would be. If you absolutely INSIST on a color screen that can also show photos and video, look elsewhere, but if you want a screen that displays quite a bit of info and is VERY easy to work with, the Sans Clip is fantastic.

At first we were afraid after opening the box that it wasn't Napster compatible, which would've been a HUGE letdown...but after some 'net surfing and investigating, we discovered this: according to Napster, the Sansa Clip is NOT on their official list of compatible mp3 players...yet. According to SanDisk, yes it IS compatible, it just hasn't been certified just yet. What WE discovered is that yes, it IS compatible and works just perfect with synching music to our players. Problem solved. If you have one yourself and you wonder the same thing, take it from me, it IS compatible -- but if it doesn't work, try it using a different computer before you write it off.

Sound quality is also a BIG deal for me. I work in radio and I have become almost annoyingly accustomed to digital quality audio, and while some people may not be bothered with this, I find it bothersome when I hear a song that is so obviously recorded from more than 10 years ago and you can hear that analog *hiss* in the background on almost all songs not digitally re-mastered. Some people either don't care or can't hear it, but for some reason I do...and with ths Sansa Clip, the quality is exceptional. One of -- if not the best I have tested.

Features that come with the Clip include the shuffle category, which I think could use some tweaking because when I put it in this mode, I hear specific songs repeat sometimes after only 3 songs have played...I want my shuffle to play all the songs randomly--but never repeat anything unless and until it has played ALL the songs stored in memory. Call me picky, but that is my only real gripe with this model.

I like how you can choose music based on genre (country, pop, rock etc) and you can rate all songs using from 1 to 5 stars...VERY convenient--after you finally have all the songs rated. It does take time to set it up, but worth it.

The voice recording is a cool feature in case you are stuck somewhere and need to write something down or save a thought you just had and you can't write it right away. VERY nice addition.

Size. For MY money, this little player is tiny. I am constantly amazed I can carry with me 500 mp3 songs in such a small package. Sure you can buy more memory mp3 players, but honestly, who listens to 5,000 songs that regularly that you have to add them to your playlist? My wife loads anything and everything, whether she just likes it a little or a lot...for me, I like to download ONLY the songs I REALLY like. I don't want to have to skip ANY song in my library--but if that isn't a problem for you, passing one song for the next is as easy as pressing the right side of the wheel on front. Voila. Easy.

The included earbuds are fine and provide decent audio quality, but never quite fit my ears all that comfortably. This is not a problem for my wife, so I guess each person must weigh this factor individually because the earbuds are NOT one size fits all, more like one size fits most. I have a pair of Phillips noise cancelling earbuds which work WONDERFUL and more than fulfills my audio eccentricities.

Finally, co$t. For the money, I think it is VERY hard to beat the features in the Sansa Clip and quality. I have yet to see a comparable name-brand mp3 player for the price that fulfills all my needs (and wants). While one may be out there, I just haven't found it personally. I am VERY happy and quite thrilled I have this little device around to help me out when I work out at the gym, go walking or just sitting around and need my tunes with me. If you are looking to make an investment in a small player with multiple features at low cost, you would be hard pressed to do better than the Sansa Clip.

I've owned several iPod shuffles which I originally purchased primarily for listening to audio books from Audible due to favorable reviews and its small size. Despite being able to decode DRM content from Audible, the iPod shuffle is barely adequate for listening to audio books.

The Sansa Clip is not only less expensive, but blows the iPod away in nearly every aspect except for size and weight. These are not a factor, since the clip is still extremely small and lightweight. I clip the device through a belt keeper where the controls are easy to get to and unlikely to be interfered with in my pocket. Not that it is really an issue since it is very easy to lock out the controls by sliding the power switch to lock position. The iPod can be similarly clipped but has no way of locking out its controls and occasionally a button press can cause my position to be reset to the beginning of an eight hour part.

Losing your position on the iPod is also a well documented side effect of powering the unit off even if you posit first. Even after being aware of this problem for a couple of years, Apple has done nothing about it but continues to advertise their product as being able to retain its position. The clip never loses my position, and although I generally pause the device instead of powering it off, even powering it off while it is playing works fine since it's a soft power down. The iPod power switch literally kills the power to the device. Pausing the iPod can leave it on for a long time, draining your battery, but pausing the clip causes it to power down within less than a minute which would be annoying except for the fact that this is adjustable and it boots back up within a matter of seconds.

Why is losing your position on an iPod such a problem? Well, often you have no idea how far you are into the part and even if you do fast forwarding requires holding a button down and occasionally listening for half an hour or more if you are several hours into a part. I estimate I've spent over 10 hours fast forwarding my iPod shuffles and in general I live in fear of turning the power off. Keeping track of your position in the clip is a snap since it has a display which shows both graphically and by time what your position is. Furthermore, it knows about chapter marks and also shows which chapter you're in within a part. Fast forwarding is far superior since it accelerates as you hold the button down. Unlike the iPod, you don't have to listen to snippets of sound as it fast forwards or rewinds. And also unlike the iPod, you can cause playback at slower or faster than normal speeds which can be very useful for getting back to your position or listening to poorly enunciated speech.

Just like the iPod, it will keep track of your position in multiple parts or books, but since it has a display is much easier to figure out which book you're listening to and more importantly, which part of a book you are listening to. Try that on the iPod with a seven part book when all the parts start with the exact same introduction and you'll see what I mean.

And that's not all! This device doesn't require any special software to copy content on. Just mounted as a mass storage device, like any other USB device, and manage your content with any operating system. No need to load the humongous iTunes application or deal with its bugs and poor integration with audible. There's no need to partition space between audio content and other content like there is with the iPod.

Since the device has a separate port for headphones and for USB, you can listen to it while it's charging either near an outlet or cigarette lighter adapter while driving for example. No way to do that with an iPod shuffle. I listen to audio books on weeklong fishing trips with my father, but not while the shuffle is charging. No problems, with the Sansa clip. No need to buy a proprietary charging device or run an inverter since any DC to USB charger will work just fine.

The new iPod shuffle requires special proprietary headphones and is even worse than the last one in this regard. Many people find the Apple headphones to be uncomfortable or unwearable, which is understandable, but who wants to pay for even more expensive proprietary headphones? And who wants to carry an extra set of headphones? I use the same headphones for my telephone for example and wouldn't want to carry yet another pair with me for listening to audio books.

In addition to all of these capabilities, the clip also comes with a decent radio with extremely to use presets. Sometimes I like to take a break from listening to books and it's nice to have the option of just listening to the radio in the same device. It also has a great microphone and voice recorder for taking quick notes are dictating which you can't do with the iPod. I found that it works just fine even through the very inexpensive silicon cases that are available. No need to poke a hole for the microphone. Although the case is not necessary, the clip works just fine through it and it definitely ruggedizes the light weight plastic device.

I should also mention that the volume range is great, and the graphic equalizer is also a nice plus for listening to music. You won't find such capabilities in the iPod shuffle. Just like the iPod, the battery is not serviceable and lasts for over a dozen hours on a charge. Both devices take an hour or two to recharge, seem to hold a charge for a long time, and will eventually have to be replaced if the battery wears out before you decide to upgrade.

Buying multiple of these in case one of them fails on a trip, to loan to friends, or just upgrading is a real possibility since they are significantly less expensive than Apple's offerings.

In short, I'm in love with this product and find that it excels against the iPod shuffle in nearly every way. The only thing you can't really do with it is watch video. This is actually also a benefit to the device since the screen was designed specifically for audio use which conserves power and makes it very legible due to the large font size and large viewing angle. Kudos to the engineers for building such a marvelous product and to SanDisk for making it possible at such a reasonable price. I'll be buying more of these as gifts.

I was about to buy the ipod shuffle, but found out it didn't have an FM radio, and it only plays MP3's. After researching several other brands and models, I decided that this was the best for me. I got an incredible surprise when put the earphones on and played some tunes on this Sandisk player! The sound quality is superb...it really depends upon the quality of the MP3 or WMA track you're listening to. It's just as good-sounding as my Zen Microphoto. The earphones that came with it are excellent-sounding...not the best, but excellent, even though the wires look a bit on the thin side.
The LCD screen is bright and very readable...I wear -1.25 reading glasses and I don't need them to see what I'm selecting. The buttons and slide switches are good quality. The clip is plastic, and spring-loaded.
The capacity of this 2 gigabyte player is rated at 1000 songs in .WMA format; less if it's MP3. I'm sure you can get more songs in, if the songs are less than 4 minutes each.

I was pleasantly surprised that even though all I did was dump all of my MP3's unsorted, the Sansa put them all in genres, albums, artists, and playlists! And about the only thing I wish this Sansa Clip had is a bigger memory.

It's smaller than a hot wheels toy car, so it's perfect for when you don't have much room when traveling. It has a built-in clip, so I place it on the back of my baseball cap when I go walking or working out.

This is a very rugged and dependable mini mp3 player. I recommend it highly.