SanDisk on Sansa: Value is our top priority
Sansa Clip+ is awesome regardless
I've gotta hand it to SanDisk. The company doesn't shy away from honesty. Recently, a handful of Sansa Clip users reactivated a forum topic having to do with apparent pitch issues on the device whereby music plays back ever-so-slightly slower than normal. The concern was that the problem may have carried over to the new Clip+. (Incidentally, based on my testing, it hasn't. If anything, it plays tracks a fraction faster when stacked up against my sound card and Sony Walkman.)
The interesting part, however, is not the existence of some exceptionally discerning listeners--neither CNET testers nor our Audio Precision ATS-2 Audio Analyzer noted anything particularly egregious--but SanDisk's response, which was essentially that in the battle between value and sound quality, value wins. And if you are unsatisfied by the audio offered by a Sansa player, you are more than welcome to look elsewhere for your MP3 player needs. Or, the company's own words:
"Over the last few days there have been several meetings with Engineering, Marketing, and Product Management regarding the pitch issue some users have seen. Please see below a statement regarding the decision that was reached as a result of these meetings. At SanDisk, our goal with our Sansa MP3 product line is to provide products which deliver a quality consumer experience at price points which are accessible to the majority of the population. Our 'value' positioning has served us well historically, although we acknowledge that occasionally our products do not live up to some users' expectations.The issues raised on this Forum regarding sound fidelity are important to us however due to trade-off decisions that were made in engineering these products to deliver superior consumer value at what we believe are extremely attractive price points, our sound fidelity isn't perfect. We have re-evaluated the possibility of reducing the pitch variation and due to the engineering trade-offs the decision was made to stay with the current design. Very few listeners, however, have noticed or complained about it as an issue in actual practice. For those who can detect sound differences with their naked ears during actual use and not via frequency analysis, our products may not be the best choice for them," per slotmonsta, SanDisk Forums Admin
Maybe this comes off a slight to some, but rarely have I seen a company lay it on the line so directly. SanDisk could have just as easily danced around the topic with circular language or brushed it off entirely, and I have to applaud it for taking the direct approach instead. Maybe I'm giving the company too much credit? Feel free to add your own thoughts below.
For more than five years, Jasmine France has covered a variety of tech products for CNET--from scanners to keyboards to GPS devices--but she's happiest where she is now: sitting atop a pile of MP3 players, "testing" every music service known to man, and jamming a variety of earbuds in every shape and color into her absurdly small ears. E-mail Jasmine.
Donald Bell is an electronic musician, a veteran record store employee, and a fearless hardware hacker. He's also CNET's Senior Editor for MP3 and digital audio.
Jasmine France is CNET's resident digital audio doyenne, writing and editing product reviews, crave blogs, and feature stories on all things MP3. And if you need advice on headphones, she's your girl.
The truth is, quality costs money, and if you spend 12K to buy a Kia, no, you do not get a Bentley. Until those users understand that there is truly not an entitlement to live like a sheik for WalMart dollars, there will always be that gap between expectations and reality.
Tom Peters was right - not every customer is a customer you want to have in your business, and some customers have the potential to cost your business more than you will ever make serving them. While we all need to strive to improve our products, service, and value to others, there are times when this particular course of action is appropriate, and given the outline in the story above, this certainly sounds like one of them.
Sandisk is refreshingly honest in telling the golden ears crowd to go elsewhere.
After all, you're talking highly compressed music to start with... sheesh!
Now, when are we going to hear news about a new Fuze or the so-called Tap? I'm already Zuned, Zii'd, Walkmaned and iRivered out of my mind. Please, Sansa, throw us a bone, here!
Afterward, Sandisk abruptly closed my account, and banned me... twice. The 2nd was in response to the 1st ban where I sought to better understand their actions. I participate in quite a few forums across the tubes and this is a firs for met All I can say is wow.... Gestapo much SanDisk mods?!. They didn't even so much as give a reason, warning, etc. They also didn't delete any of my previous posts so not even sure where the offense is. I didn't say anything against the ToS (afaict). It looks like they are adding insult to injury on their false promise to fix a rather trivial/minor thing on their device, all for a buck. But I wonder how many bucks their authoritarian, brazen stance is costing them....
SanDisk has issues, not so much in their hardware but their ham handed customer relations.
God I love direct, unapologetic honesty. To those who do not understand the price/value relationship, hope their honesty drove you away and good riddance. That lack of understanding will guarantee your place as an employee not an employer. (At least not an employer for long)
By the way, I am no slouch regarding audio fidelity, my audio system represents an investment of well over $80,000. But I can still recognize great audio value when I hear it.
Nevermind that because you negate the fundamental problem in your blase response. Namely, SanDisk said they'd fix the problem, outlined the fix in the very next firmware revision, a fix that would take very little time and cost (perhaps is already fixed by SansaFix) to fix and comparatively to other fixes, and they retracted that statement, and just basically said f--k you to those waiting for it.
Any understanding to the contrary is just naive and gullible. And thanks for the tip, but I think I know better than to accept some anecdotal false-dichotomy-understanding of what makes an employer (or employee) as the be all/end all.
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October 15, 2009 8:40 AM PDT
- My player is 3 years old, with no problems. Their customer service is great. And the price of their products sure fit in with my budget.
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