- CNET Editors' Rating 6.7/10 Good Editorial policies >>
- Average user rating from 29 users 4.7/10 Mediocre Read user opinions >>
The good: The affordable SanDisk Sansa c100 series boasts a simple and effective control interface; a small but handy color LCD that displays photos and album art; extra features such as an FM tuner, voice recording, and photo support; and compatibility with Audible and WMA subscription services.
The bad: The SanDisk Sansa c100 series utilizes a proprietary USB cable and has poor battery life for a AAA unit. It also offers poor voice and FM recordings, and you can hear a tiny click when you start a track.
The bottom line: The SanDisk Sansa c100 series gives you a decent set of features for a decent price, but don't expect great battery life.
Specs: Device type: Digital player / radio See full specs >>
Price range: $79.95 - $81.90
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 04/07/2006
- Released on: 08/31/2005
Both models in the c100 series look identical, measure 3.1 by 1.4 by 0.9 inches, and weigh 1.6 ounces. Although aimed at the budget crowd, the SanDisk Sansa c100 offers a 1.25-inch-diagonal, 65,000-color screen with support for JPEG photos and album art. Of course, this tiny wide-screen unit is much too small to take photos seriously, and you must convert pictures before viewing, using the included Sansa Media Converter application. On a positive note, its album-art display and simple icon-based menu system lend the otherwise bland c100 a hint of luxury.
Based loosely on the m200 series, the SanDisk Sansa c100 has an updated tactile five-way controller, as well as dedicated menu and volume buttons. The menu button, which also serves as a Back button, is critical to the c100's ease of navigation. The side opposite the volume buttons includes a hold switch and a pinhole microphone. The headphone jack is on top, and the proprietary USB port is on the bottom. The back of the unit houses a AAA battery. Overall, the unit has a cheap plastic feel like its predecessor, but as the SanDisk faithful often voice, build quality often does not make (or break) the MP3 player, especially an affordable one. However, we balk at the proprietary USB port; the m200 series has a standard mini-USB port.
The SanDisk Sansa c100's menu system is intuitive and organized logically. You can browse tracks by artist, album, song, genre, playlists, Audible files, and recordings. The only negative we noticed was the cumbersome process of sifting through 1GB of files on a four-line display with three songs showing at a time; the iPod Nano and its Click Wheel are much more efficient.
For a budget flash-based player, the SanDisk Sansa c100 series has a fair share of features, including MP3, WMA DRM (purchase and subscription) and Audible playback, a voice recorder, an FM tuner/recorder, and photo support. The FM tuner has a decent signal, and it features an autoscan function and 13 presets. The voice and FM recorder both capture in a low-bit WAV format, and quality isn't crystal clear by any means. Voice recording is below average, with copious amounts of extraneous noise and clicking sounds if you touch the device while recording.
As far as music playback is concerned, we had good luck getting the SanDisk Sansa c100 to work with subscription files from Yahoo Music Unlimited and Napster. The device communicates with Windows Media Player via MTP, but it can also be set to MSC or UMS for drag-and-drop simplicity, even on Macs. With low but perceptible background hiss, sound quality is decent if a tad thin, and the maximum volume is underwhelming. The five EQ presets (Normal, Jazz, Rock, Classical, and Pop) and the five-band custom EQ add a bit of warmth. We also noticed a slight background click when starting songs.
Additional features include a single on-the-go playlist, as well as slide shows and simultaneous MP3-listening and photo-viewing capabilities. Excellently implemented, the SanDisk Sansa c100's context menu button opens up a few options--such as shuffle, repeat, and additions to the Go playlist--when in playback mode, though we think it should include EQ options. Bundled accessories include a proprietary USB cable, a standard pair of earbuds, a lanyard, a quick-start guide, and a software CD with a full user guide.
Battery life is rated for 15 hours--not bad for a rechargeable player such as the iPod Nano but painful for a AAA-powered device such as the SanDisk Sansa c100. We expect at least 20 hours from nonrechargeable cells; you'll be replacing batteries often if you're a heavy user. Translation: The player's inexpensive, but you'll make up the difference in batteries soon enough.
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User opinions
WRITE YOUR OWN REVIEW How would you rate this product?
-
1/10 Abysmal August 5, 2006
"Hard to judge when the player won't work" Read more >>
-
5/10 Average April 2, 2006
"Unit provides good sound and ease of use...when working" Read more >>
-
7/10 Very good April 21, 2006
"good for the price" Read more >>
- WRITE YOUR OWN REVIEWSee all 29 user opinions >>
Where to buy
| Store | CNET Certified | In stock | Shipping | Price |
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Yes | $8.49 | $79.95 |
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Not yet rated
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No | Free | $81.90 |
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No | $1.99 | $79.95 |
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