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"Nice unit with a few major flaws" on by cps3
Pros: Well Built, Nice Display, Good Support
Cons: Time Limit on FM recording, No A/C adaptor, No line-in recording
Summary: Sorry Sandisk, Mine had to be returned to Costco and I will probably now buy a "Creative" mp3.
My main reason for buying this was to record from the FM modulator on my satellite radio. I leave my mp3 player in my car every morning and record Howard Stern's 5+ hour show while I am in work. I set the modulator in my sattelite radio to broadcast on 88.3 FM and use my mp3 player to record 88.3 FM and set them next to each other.
I come out at about 11AM or Noon to stop the recording and then take the player into work so I can listen to the show and fast-forward through commercials.
I found out after getting my Sandisk e250 that it would only record about 2 hours (or less) maximum while left unattended. After speaking with Sandisk tech support I was told that all of their e200 models ( 2, 4 & 6gb) have the same limitation.They state that they use a diffrent compression for FM recording that limits capacity. The higher gig models can hold more FM recordings but will stop at the 2-hour mark. Not suitable for my needs or for anyone who records FM shows that may exceed 2 hours.
I have an iclick Sohlo G5 ( 1 gig )that I have had numerous problems with, but it will record endless hours of FM. The e250 was supposed to replace that but now it won't.
My other gripes are: no A/C adaptor. You can only charge it through USB. Does everyone but me carry around their computer while traveling to charge USB itmes??
Why are manufactures not putting line-in recording on all their mp3 players. I would love to go from the headphone jack on my satellite radio directly into the mp3 player to record.
How about VCR-type recording timers, fast forward selctions to jump ahead 5-10 minutes ( to get through commercials).
Why don't companies ask people what features they would like instead of giving us what they want?
I know ipod is the standard of the industry, but until they put FM tuners/ recording on their units they won't get my hard-earned money! -
"Try Rockbox" on by brjones
Pros: Rockbox is open source and supports Vorbis/Ogg !
Cons: it free so whats the problem?
Summary: If you have a Sansa try open source Rockbox at rockbox.org. It if Free, open source and it works better than the stock O/S. I can even play Doom on my Sansa!
Billy in Sugar Land -
"I love my little Sansa!" on by SillyJee
Pros: Great sound quality, durable, super long battery life, straightfoward interface, FM tuner
Cons: Occasionally freezes up, takes a while to start up, EQ settings terrible, bundled software is weak
Summary: I got this player after my Rio Carbon bit the dust. I realized I really needed a flash player (for all that I loved my Carbon) because I'm a student and take my player everywhere and just throw it in my backpack. I'm really hard on my MP3 players. This one stands up though. After 2 years, everything works well, and the screen is only a little scratched.
What I love: The sound quality is great, although you've really got to keep it in the standard EQ, all the EQ has is preset options which really just muffle it a bit. I wish that the player would get a bit louder, for when I'm walking around the city and everything is loud, but for everyday, it's great. The battery life really is awesome, I took it with me on a two week trip to Turkey and Greece, and even through 9 hour plane rides, plenty of car trips and sitting out in the sun, it still didn't die until I reached home again.
I also love that it has an excellent FM radio, the channels all come in quite clearly. And something they need to add in iPods is a reverse scroll from the top of the songs list, which this player does.
My greatest gripe is just that the player takes a while to start up, and will occasionally freeze on you, which is a bummer, but it can usually be restarted. I would recommend this player for anyone. It's small, smart and cheap! -
"By trying to do everything it does nothing very well" on by drbob54
Pros: Low price, multifunction device for beginners
Cons: Clunky interface, preloaded with much junk
Summary: I saw this at BestBuy and thought it looked good for the price. However, unlike the Ipod nano where you can load about 1.8 gigs of your own material, the Sansa e250 comes preloaded with about 1.5 gig of stuff, much of what you may not want. Effectively, you are only able to put about 350mb of your own material on this, because that is all the free space available. So people buying this, thinking that they can put 500 of their own songs on it will be sadly disappointed. In fact, they can only put about 100 of their own songs on the device. In order to put 500 songs on, you would need to buy a 2 gig microSDchip for over $50. This wipes out the cost advantage versus a 2 gig Ipod nano. The device stores movies, pictures, plays FM, mp3, records etc. but like most devices that try to do everything, it does nothing very well. I found the click wheel and buttons to be difficult if you have large hands. The device also froze several times and before I understood you could reset it by holding down the menu button for 15 seconds, it was disconcerting to not be able to turn it off. I returned it and purchased a 2 gig nano.
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"Sandisk will no repair their products. / Freezing." on by Collio2
Pros: Good value
Cons: Sandisk dose not repair.
Summary: This is my second one actually. The first one I broke 4 days after buying it, the screen cracked in my pocket, I called sandisk to find they do not offer a repair service. With the new one I got I noticed whenever I would stop a voice recording the player would freeze on me. I have to remove the battery to get the player working again. Its probably a simple fix or update, i have yet to look in to it. Over all it is a good player for its buck. I paid the same amount as an ipod nano only this one plays movies, has a recorder and a FM tuner, plus a replaceable battery. Just be careful, big screens are easily broken and can't be fixed.
SanDisk Sansa e250 user reviews (2GB)
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