SanDisk Sansa Clip+ user reviews (4GB, red)

Pros Very Cheap

Cons Leaks memory. Slow.

Summary Jasmine France: the CNET reviewer, did a crappy job of reviewing this product.

I bought the 8GB version. First, be aware that this is 8*10^9 bytes instead of the preferable 8*2^30 bytes, so it doesn't hold a much as a computer programmer tends to expect.

I quickly (over a couple of hours) slapped about 7GB of data onto the player. When I removed it from my computer, it hung. While trying to understand why, I had to remove all data from the system and try reloading it piece by piece. A couple hour later, it still hung when unplugged from the computer. I did a web search to understand why and eventually found a 'diskutil' application on my Mac that ran an fsck (File System Check) on the Clip's filesystem. That did the trick and cleaned up the Clip to the point where it would play.

Two days later it stopped playing again complaining the filesystem was overly full. (Nothing was added to the Clip during this time.) I plugged the Clip into my Mac, ran the cleaner, and could listen to music again. My non-technical wife was unable to use the Clip until I came home from work and spent 5 minutes screwing around with the product. This cleaning step appears to be necessary every two days.

This morning I picked up the clip and turned it on. It took two minutes before the Clip booted to the point that it would display the main menu.

Pros I bought this model (after much research) for her birthday - which was just yesterday. The only three things that she actually liked about it was the color (I bought her black), the incredible sound quality and formats available.

Cons MAJOR CON: Again - to quote my wife: "What is the POINT in buying electronics when you can't even replace the battery when it dies?! Recycling is a scam and this is too much of a "throw-a-way nation as it is. " Her rant did not end there.

Summary Bottom line is that she is returning it tomorrow for a model (better brand name) that costs only $20 more, ALLOWS you to change the *rechargeable* batteries and actually comes with more features. Had I known this was only a "limited use" MP3 player - I would *not* have purchased it, nor would I ever recommend it to anyone. I'm actually in agreement with her as this being too much of a "throw-a-way" nation. Corporate entities need to get the dollar signs out of their eyes and STOP making so many disposable things.

To be perfectly honest - I had always relied on CNET when considering a purchase. However, now I'm a bit skeptical. Both my wife and I are in complete disbelief that this product actually has cnet Editors' Choice (Aug 2009) stamped on the box. If you're going to post a review on a product - please, in the future - post a *THOROUGH* review so that people know what they are *REALLY* buying before making a wasted trip and end up being disappointed. Not one single review I had come across stated that the battery cannot be replaced. It is is *VERY* fine print on the back of the box.

Again, the only features she did like were the color, the incredible sound quality and formats available.

Another con to this product/company is that they are far too cheap to include a FULL instructional booklet within the box. You have to visit their website for the entire users manual (we're both wondering if this is their way into suckering consumers into purchasing a pre-loaded music card that will ultimately be useless when the unit conks out or - if and when the model is discontinued). My wife quite literally wasted HOURS compiling her song and audio book lists before realizing this was a throw-a-way item.

Unless you literally have money to throw away - don't buy this one.

Pros Low price which is good cuz you'll might want to buy them by the dozen given their failure rate.

Cons Notoriously bad jacks - check the web and you'll find dozens of people complaining about SanDisk jacks that have to be wiggled and pushed in just so, not just to get good sound, to get any sound at all! I've had 2 and the jacks were bad on both.

Summary Lest you think I'm subjecting them to tough use, nope. I'm an old woman and my Sansa has never left the bedroom, use it listening to audio books while falling to sleep. No jogging, no rain storms, no dropping, the player couldn't have an easier life. Old story, you get what you pay for and for the price of a Sansa, you don't get much. All that said, you can buy 4-6 Sandisks for the price of an ipod and if you only want to listen to audio books, maybe it's an ok deal.

Pros Small, looks nice, easy to use, good battery life.

Cons Screen went dead after 6 months.

Summary Would not buy this again.