- Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 46 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"Very good player especially for its money, not excelent though"
Pros: Direct 2.0 USB connection, cardreader, price, mic, recording from radio
Cons: menu usability, some bugs in software, some ergonomics issues, lack of extra features, moderate battery, no manual
Summary: Before buying this player I used to own Sony NWE005 2 gig usb key player, so I'll compare them throughout review.
The main reason due to which I had to return my Sony Player was that it had to be used with additional software in order to transfer/ sync files. And that software was really lame. So I was hoping that release of Sandisk Sansa Express will make things brigter for me. It was anounced as USB-key player, which you can use as player and USB key w/o any additional software. So as soon as it was released in Canada I bought it. How great my surprise was when I hooked it up with my latop and it wasn't recognized as usb-drive!!! I was shoked. As player's package doesn't include any manual I had to look it up on the internet and even though I found it, its existence is not obvious, which is strange for fresh product. On the other hand talking about package contents SanDisk included lanyard, which Sony didn't. (Sony 9/ SanDisk 7).
So manual said that in order to use player properly I had to download Win Media Player ver. 10 or higher (I had ver. 9). I downloaded it and problem was solved. However you have to keep in mind, that it should be installed on each and every PC which you plan to use player with. (Sony 6/ SanDisk 7).
The player itself is rather attractive and stylish. I like its design. The only con is that lanyard hooks on usb cap, which means you can potentialy loose player carrying it on the neck. (Sony 10/ Sandisk 9).
Menu is easy to navigate through, buttons are ergonomic, you can easily use player without taking it out of the pocket. Display is quite informative, but its brightness is insufficient, you can hardly read it on a bright day. Max. volume is not the highest one and even though it's not improtant for me it is for many people. Then there are minor bugs which I hope will be fixed in future firmwares (eg. player sometimes doesn't save radio recordings, in radio mode vol. up doesn't work once you turned it down to minimum) (Sony 7/ Sandisk 9).
Extra features include mic and recording from radio which are quite cool but for which I couldn't find much use. I would prefer to have clock (as Sony player has) and extra settings insted (such as ID3 layout setup in Sony). (Sony 9/ Sandisk 6).
The last but not the least is price. I paid 70 CAD for my device, which is half of the price of Sony player I used to have. (Sony 5/ Sandisk 10).
Summing up Sandisk Sansa Express is very affordable player of good quality with all basic features. If you are buying your first mp3 player Sansa Express is definetly a good choice. However if you look for more and price is not crucial for you, look elsewhere.
Where to buy
SanDisk Sansa Express (1GB):
$19.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$19.99 | Yes |
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