The Best of Both Phone, and Tablet
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"Good Player/Great Value" on by mauifan
Pros: Lightweight, Easy to use, Works well with XP
Cons: Tracks start at the begining after it is turned off, no playlist support
Summary: I just bought this from Costcto for $79.99 to replace my Rio Forge that died after 8 months of use. I was looking for a player that used AAA batteries (since I have a boatload of them)and that was expandable(so that I could use the existing 1GB SD card from my aforementioned Rio)and this player fit the bill.
If the folks at Sandisk are listening, could you please update the firmware so that the e140 will resume playing where I left off on a track when I shut down the player. I download a number of podcasts and I am not crazy about the fact that I have to remember where I left off and then fast forward to that spot when I turn on the player. It would also be nice to be able to set up playlists.
Other than that, this seems to be a fine player and at under $80, a real bargain. -
"Decent Cheap MP3/WMA player" on by rockdawg
Pros: FM Tuner, cheap, supports up to 2GB SD card
Cons: SD Card easily removed
Summary: This is my third MP3 player (Rio500 64MB, BUSlink 256MB, and this Sansa e140).
I puchased this and a pair of Shure e2C earbuds for less than $150. Not bad considering the earbuds alone are $100. And yes, I pretty much bought this on price alone, not paying alot of attention to reviews. I don't regret it in the least. I've owned this for about 4 months and so far, I'm pretty happy with it. I use it primarily while commuting back and forth to work (bus). A single AAA battery lasts me at least a normal 5-day work week (even ultra cheap alkalines).
This unit does support FAVORITES...just be sure to update the firmware. I recently purchased a 2GB SD card for $99 and it works great in the unit. The only problem is that you can easily push the card and pop it out. It would have been better placed on top or bottom rather than on the side. Well, at least not on the same side as the power button. The power button is a multi-function button that you will find yourself pressing a lot. And you WILL press that card and eject it. DOH!
I've not lost the covers for the USB or SD slots yet. However, I can see how easy it would be if you're not careful. I've not experienced any errors or weird formatting issues with the unit. Windows sees the unit as two separate drives - the internal memory and the SD slot. You can simply drag and drop from Explorer. I like that much better personally rather than having to be forced to use proprietary software.
The FM tuner works great for me. I used to have a radio on my desk at work. I sit about 20 feet from the windows and my radio still had a hard time picking up reception from many of the local stations. This unit picks up almost all of the local stations at my desk. I was very surprised. It's great!
Personally, I like it. It serves my purpose. I think the sound quality is as good as my stepson's 2GB iPod Nano (comparing them with my shure e2C earbuds). The 5 line backlit screen displays plenty of information in my opinion and it's nice and bright. 3 lines of song info (Artist, Song Title, Album), 1 line for the time bar, last line for the battery indicator and the number of the song you're playing (ex. 100/484).
I hope this helps you a little. -
"Overall, great player, good value" on by msdestynie
Pros: cheap, SD slot, good sound, great battery life, can fast forward/backward within a song/file
Cons: menu system needs some work, lagging menu (just a bit)
Summary: I'm really impressed, overall, with this player. I like everything about it, except the menu system. Even with the updated firmware, the player's menu is still semi-hard to navigate, and it's not easy to find a particular song you want to hear. However, if you put it on shuffle and let it play, it works perfectly. I still haven't figured out the default sort order that the player uses for the songs (for navigation with the front forward/back buttons, w/o use of the menu button).
Overall, I'd buy it again. I'm sure the menu system could be fixed with another firmware update, c'mon Sandisk! -
"First Player. Pretty Good" on by jnbills
Pros: Expandable Capacity, easy file manipulation, Good FM reception
Cons: Sometimes does not recognize files.
Summary: This is my first MP3 player. I love the concept of carrying so many tunes in such a small package. I use it with an FM transmitter in the car and I plug it into an amplified speaker system at work. It works great. I have had occasions where I load it up full with music and it only recognizes a few of the loaded songs. I think this may have been the result of using folders for artists and albums. I have stopped using folers and now put all files in the root directory. It now seems to recognize all files. All in all a great player for the price and I look forward to loading it up with 2GB more space.
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"Am I overly impressed because this is my first mp3 player?" on by snowful
Pros: Features, audio, memory expansion, price, ease of use, clean appearance, earbuds, download speed, battery life, protective cover, scroll wheel
Cons: A little larger than I wanted in a player, a hair laggy in some controls, protective cover, scroll wheel
Summary: I am a 49 year old male techie and one of my hobbies is computers. I have recently consumed myself in researching mp3 players as this was to be my first. I have read every available review on nearly every available player. No SanDisk was in my top three. I was also 99% convinced that I would buy online due to pricing. I was also set on a 512mb player. That would have been a huge mistake.
Of course I ended up buying a SanDisk e140 from a local retailer on an impulse purchase, in spite of price and the c/net Editors review.
I think the beautiful young saleswoman in the store may have had something to do with it, and the player was on sale. The store also has a satisfaction guaranteed or your money back 90 day policy. I keep the player if I like it or I get a full, and instant, refund if I don't. A no lose situation.
I get home, boot it up expecting a small sampling of music installed so customers might enjoy listening while reading the manual. Not. Some stupid audio book excerpts. I read the manual anyway, then put the mini cd that comes with into the computer and read the comprehensive version of the manual. I then began to rip some music. I went with mp3 at 320 kbps.
Downloading to the player was a breeze, and fast. A 168MB mp3 file in 2 minutes and 20 seconds. I downloaded 9 albums in about 12 minutes.
I liked the file system right away. Organization is by Artist, Album, Songs, Favorites, New Music, Genre, Year, and Spoken Word.
Before downloading, I manually entered the relevant info on two of the albums for the purpose of file organization as the albums were locally produced and marketed and Media Player 10 detected no info about them. The albums were then included in the players playlist in each area that I had entered the particulars; Artist, Album Title, Genre, and Year.
For those interested in entering manually, here is the procedure: after ripping, and before downloading to the player, I right clicked on each song in those two albums, selected Properties, then clicked the Summary Tab. You can enter all the information you want in there and the player will recognize it. It is a potentially time consuming chore to do it with every song, but after playing with it I found some tricks to dramatically shorten the process.
Time to take a listen. The earbuds are comfortable and adjustable for ear size with large, medium, and small rubber fittings. Medium works really well for me. For me,they are comfy enough to wear for hours on end and getting bucked off a bull wouldn't knock them out. They also block unwanted (almost all) outside noise.
I boot up the device and pick some music. Yikes, it sounded like a cheap AM radio with bad reception. I went searching for the equalizer. Nothing!?!? I kept searching without luck. Knowing that there should be one, I went to the SanDisk website in search of the latest firmware. It wasn't easy to find the download; it is not listed under downloads! The latest version matched the version the player is telling me is installed. Sigh. Ok, I installed it anyway. Voila! Equalizer and SRS WOW!
Oh my, what a diference. With the adjustments provided by both Equalizer and SRS WOW I can make even old, subpar recordings sound good. I originally thought that with whatever player I bought I would need to buy a pair of aftermarket earphones to increase sound quality. Not so. I give high marks to the sound quality of this unit.
The protective cover supplied for the unit is stiff and protective. That is good. When the cover is installed, most of the controls must be operated by actually pressing down on the stiff cover. That is bad. Without the cover the controls work well. I plan to cut holes in the cover at the most often used controls. The scroll wheel/Volume adjust is stiff. It will not accidentally adjust itself, but it is stiffer than need be. The response in the scroll wheel is laggy. If I move it to adjust volume and immediately follow with a menu selection the music usually cuts out for a couple of seconds. I have slowed down my inputs. Problem solved.
I just now dropped the player on a hardwood floor from desktop height. The player pulled away from the earbuds leaving the buds in my ears, silent. Nothing external broke. I plugged the earpieces back in. The player is still playing and has retained all of it's functions. How about a lock to keep the buds from pulling out of the player. The player would never hit the floor while the earbuds are in ears.
The battery that was included lasted about 10 hours of mp3 and FM. I also left the player on all night, though not playing. The FM is not bad, though some stations that come in well through my car audio are a little weak through this. From what I have read this is an almost universal problem with mp3 players. Going to mono FM helps substantially with reception. That said, I am now listening to Public Radio in stereo FM. It is coming in crystal clear.
This player exceeded my expectations. I was almost certain I would return it the day after purchase due to what the editors wrote in their review. It turns out, IMHO, the buyers who have written glowing reviews here are the more accurate reviews.
I highly recommend the e140 to first time buyers. I also recommend this for current mp3 player users to check out when they are again in the market for one.
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