It is cheaper but it looks awful! Who cares? I don't.

Well, I do care!!! Better pay 50 bucks more

What a loser of a website. LOL, all this effort to extoll the virtues of crappy mp3 players. The owner here must be an angry nerd with no life, no girl and secretly gay, to waste his time talking about pure crap.

For once quality is winning out over price. Buy an ipod and you won't be disappointed. Thousands of accessories and the best user experience you can get. None of the others offer the complete solution that Apple has with the ipod, itunes and itunes music store. It does everything seamlessly. Plays more formats then the others and works on both Mac and Windows unlike most other players/music services. Apple innovates and everyone else copies. There's a reason Apple was voted #1 in customer service by ConsumerReports, Apple stock is up over 200% in the past two years, Apple wins awards for design and has many pieces in the Museum of Modern Art.

Wow. I'm sorry, but no. You can't compare that thing to an iPod Nano.

What an ugly piece of kit that thing is.

I don't think you could begin to prefer this to an iPod, ANY iPod...

You've got to be kidding!

The only person, besides Bill Gates, who would buy this player also thinks the Dell DJ Ditty is 'cool'...

I wonder how much Microsoft, with their 'Plays for Sure' - sometimes, pays to keep this site up?

Sure, it's cheaper, but the iPod nano looks way better.

And the screen isn't color.

This site doesn't seem to "get" that the iPod is first and foremost an MP3 player. It's the iTunes music store that sells music in AAC format but you can rip your shit to MP3 all day long and load it into your iPod - or wherever. The other thing this site doesn't "get" is iTunes will burn an unprotected CD from even AAC/DRM files and you can do whatever you want with it. iTunes will even offer to transcode your files to MP3 if you ask it. If anyone is worried about the future chances of playing AAC files, guess what? AAC (otherwise known as Dolby Digital) is more of a standard than WMA (proprietary digital glop). Microsoft "Plays for Sure" is going to change you into "Pays for Sure" if you ever want to hear your music again. Mark those words.

"This site" never said iPod is not an MP3 player, "This site" never said you cannot rip MP3 with iTunes. Why dont your RTFA carefully?

"...people who are using iTunes-iPods have ripped their entire CD collection to the AAC format because that is the default setting in iTunes..."

DEFAULT!

I was half expecting Jr. bob to squeeze in a 'yo mama' joke.

All the ipod fanboys crack me up. I guess if you weren't all a bunch of sheep with the same misguided points, it'd be worthy of an argument, but you're not. This player looks great (come on, the iPod is the MOST played "look" of anything... ick) and has more features that iPod. Face it, the iPod is the king of the hill, but it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with quality and "tech support". It's called "marketing". You've been duped. Get over it. I'm sure you beleive you can "get chix" based on the alcohol you drink and that philip morris actually cares about the people smoking kills. How about thinking for yourselves for once, ya morons.

"This site" never said the iPod doesn't have a beer tap on the front. "This site" never said a lot of things - on purpose.

WTF does that mean? RTFA what... read between the lines? Pay attention to imaginary text? Default my ass.

This whole thing isn't about who has the cool players or it's from Apple so it must suck. Nope. It's about PUBLISHED STANDARDS. One chief complaint in the article was that people are ripping things to that evil AAC.

Oh, I read the article alright. It tells me there are people out there that don't know they have alternatives different from default settings. And what's wrong with AAC anyway (otherwise known as Dolby Digital or MPEG2 layer 4 and a dozen other things)? AAC is not proprietary, it's a standard and may well be recoverable long after Microsoft makes you repurchase your music with a new license for using WMA.

If you don't think they can do it, all it takes is a change to their OS (if you're still using it) and you'll get the "pay up, sucker" boxes when you try to play your WMA music. Oh, you ripped it from a CD? We'll have to DISPOSE of those files because they're probably stolen - and, besides, you didn't pay us for it. Just you wait - if Microsoft ever gets critical mass on WMA formatted music, they will certainly pull a shitball stunt like that as they have so many times before.

There are a number of standards for AAC, many of which you need to license, but it's an Industry Standard Source License that lets you use the software as you wish. Microsoft's "licenses" are a business plan geared toward you (the manufacturer) helping them (Microsoft) make their competitors fail... if you intend to continue using their technologies. Just ask any tech company that got their arm twisted by Microsoft. Big difference, licensing.

Oh, sure WMA sounds fine, better than MP3 at the same data rate, no problems there but the WMA technology is proprietary. So is MP3 (Fraunhofer IIS and Thomson own it). Still, they also have industry standard source licenses, not proprietary business plans.

The biggest worry is proprietary DRM and coding formats that tie you to a single vendor. That describes Microsoft. AAC doesn't bother me one bit (no pun intended) and ripping your CD collection to a standard format with iTunes doesn't apply DRM - so no worries there. Apple's DRM does worry me because it's proprietary, but they let you burn CDs from the music you've purchased and your back in standards world. You just can't throw unencrypted files around like MP3s.

Now if your player doesn't PLAY AAC, then you have a problem - rip your music to whatever the hell you need to.

As far as iPods go, they're the plainest things you could ever look at and short on features, if you ask me. There are WAY better looking players out there that do more things. However, most of the people who have lived with an iPod for even a short period of time love them for the way they work and actually say "damn, if this little sucker is this slick, I wonder what their computers are like?" and they check them out. Notice the upward sales bumps on Macs lately? Still, I really wish iPods had replaceable batteries like cell phones.

Here's the question that should piss everyone off: Why shouldn't the other players ALSO play AAC files? They don't because the manufacturers are locked into excusive agreements with Microsoft that prevent that from happening. It's not a technology hurdle, it has to do with money and limiting competition (how's that going, Bill?). Microsoft insists that players can't play even unencrypted AAC if they also have WMA onboard - and that's what's limiting - and that's WRONG for the end user.

If Microsoft made their own music store and sold their own players, I wouldn't expect anything but WMA to play on it. That's fine and that's their right. Pure Microsoft technology end to end. So why is that wrong of Apple to do that? Watch for the double standard before you answer that.

Most people advertise that they want choices. If that's the case, why are most people still using PCs? Microsoft tries to limit everything you can do with a PC to whatever they can get paid for, like any good corporation. If only their technologies weren't crudely inferior against hundreds of alternative systems out there. Before you flame me for that, I'll tell you I've watched dozens of new Mac converts have the lightbulb come on and totally hate the PC within six months of converting, some even angry about how they've been kept in the dark. A decade ago, it was going the other direction. Not so now.

If you want to knock Apple's share of music player sales because of getting "duped" by marketing, all you PC users fell for the same thing from Microsoft, only backwards. There are many millions of Mac and Linux users out there that think you're "duped" as well... but i digress. Yeah, yeah.. GAMES, right? Go buy a fucking XBox.

A REALLY sucky thing is that Apple won't license their DRM (FairPlay) or better yet, Open Source it. If they did, every one of those little MP3 player makers would dump WMA in a heartbeat and get on the "me too" bandwagon with AAC and iTunes support... which is why Apple isn't licensing FairPlay. Go figure. Why should Apple dilute their iPod sales? They sold like a million iPod Nanos in - what - 14 days? Any three of the WMA/MP3 players would be doing well if they sold a million combined in a year or two, so, damn right, those manufacturers would get away from WMA if they could get a slice of that action.

Aside from RealPlayer, which is almost irrelevant, WMA is the only other DRM bet these manufacturers can make outside of the unreachable Apple, hoping that Microsoft will pull their usual magic and make every other technology die a horrible death. So far, that hasn't worked for Microsoft or the other 100 player manufacturers waiting for a miracle out of Redmond.

There are still lots of chances for the bloom to fall off the iPod, but so far, it's been a good ride for Apple. THAT'S what everyone has to get over. Everyone expects WMA and Microsoft to be the standard except this time they aren't. Really. WMA is NOT standardized (by SMPTE, the ISO or anyone else) nor can you write your own encoder and decoder from source code. AAC is standardized and you can buy the specification from the ISO and write your own codecs. Nobody knows the source code for WMA except Microsoft and that should worry anybody hoping for a long, free life on their file format of choice.

Keep this in mind as you choose your technology partners: Microsoft has blown up so many bridges in front of them that many industries don't trust them anymore. That's a reason they're about to tank in the HD DVD battle. Hollywood doesn't trust Microsoft because the MPAA fully expects Microsoft to own movie distribution rights just like they got to own everything else - by acting like a mafia head crusher. Same extends to their audio DRM format - the RIAA doesn't trust Microsoft for the same reason. They've got a long uphill battle to gain recognition as a trustworthy partner instead of a preditor and, without changing, that will ultimately prevent them from being competitive in the long run. In this game they will have to play with the standards committees, revealing royalty arrangements and source code before being trusted as a long term standard.

That's not likely to happen as long as I'm on any standards committees.

Interesting player, i hope they build internal rechargable battery.

ipod does suck!!!

Now, why couldn't they have put a display like that on the shuffle? Shuffle schmuffle.

Holy Crap, "SMPTE Man" could you get a life? Write much? Fell asleep twice reading all that ramble but the point made is right on the money. It's one of those "hey yeah" moments on why cant the other players play AAC/MP3 and WMV although I swear I saw one, maybe. Can't find it now but that's a stupid deal since you mention it. Now I'm a little pissed. M$ is the one dictating what I can't do? From that, it makes sense for apple not play wmv files and any M$ branded player probably won't play AAC, fair enough but that's a bunch of crap they're doing with players from other manufactureres. I want my AAC on one of those Sandisk players if I choose to have it. Why is it up to M$? I'll be looking for the ipod with the beer tap on it and maybe they'll be worth it then.

Just so you guys know the NEW NANO 2gb and 4gb are total garbage. They fall apart easy, scratch easy......Sandisk is the maker of FLASH technology........Apple uses there technology. I have a 6gb Iriver H10 that does photos also and has a color screen. But whats the point. Personally i think that sandisk MP3 players are the best!!!!!!!

why do the makers of mp3 players even bother with this WMA vs. AAC garbage? why don't more players support OGG?

Just an FYI, these little players support subscription music services like Rhapsody. Yeah, they might be a little rough on the eyes, but being able to transfer new music onto them everyday from your subscription service is pretty cool, and something that Apple simply does not offer...

Bought a ipod 2 gen-- busted. bought a ipod 3 gen- busted, battery doesnt charge. half way across the pacific and the ipod runs out of juice. No where to charge the ipod.
Bought a 1 gb sandisk- works great, 18 hours of play time, no where to charge a mp3 player such as the nano, i slip in a AAA battery and i am up and running again. Yes i can jog for hours and do not have worry about my sandisk not working. Do this with a ipod and you are looking at "!" on the screen and it will never work again.

I hate the fact that the ipod ties you to one pc. That is a joke. Don't get me wrong, they make a nice player, but linking the ipod to itunes on one pc does not work for me.

I just got one of these, and it's a great player. Sounds better than my stereo, which isn't really saying alot I suppose..
It was confusing getting all the ID3tags right until I figured out that the player can only read ID3v1 tags, not v2. Keep that in mind when organizing your songs.

I have this. I also got the latest firmware update from sandisk. It reads ID3v2 tags fine, as far as I can tell. The build quality is toy-like, but it packs a lot of features for the price.

My only disappointment is that it does not support m3u playlists officially. The firmware can read a m3u playlist, but not perfectly. Among some problems, you have to put all the files in one directory, and it caps out around 40 files, even if you have more in the directory.

People only buy ipods because everyone else has them. Why are you freaking out so much? It's not going to change the fact that you got suckered into it. This whole AAC thing... believe me, i have a very trained ear, you'd have to have inhuman ears to hear the difference. It's just a crazy marketing thing. Do some research before you blow off money on something because everyone else has it.

it does support m3u playlists, but yeah.. not officially the if you get the right sandisk tech support to help you they will.. as far as properly, ive never tried it, so ill take your word for it.

I bought one of these about 8 months ago (1Gb). In the past I was using a CD player that could play MP3 CD’s. I was looking at the iPods as well as other MP3 players and this one had the most options and memory for the price. I bought a 4 pack of AAA rechargeable batteries and this for around $80 and have used it on countless flights and drives around the country. The only complaint with this that I had was right at the beginning… It comes default setup to interface with music services and Windows Media Player, I don’t subscribe to any and don’t use WMP as my list player (I use JetAudio & have since the mid 90’s). I couldn’t figure out how to load my MP3’s which were just sitting in folders on my PC onto the player till I read the instructions. I found the setting to switch it to MSC mode and now it looks like a memory stick and all I have to do is copy the MP3’s from my PC to the folder on the m200. If I had to do it all over again, I would still buy this unit over the others I see on the market now.

No Offense to steve jobs, but the Apple iPod of ANY type is way overrated. I own one of these, and to tell you the truth I prefer it much over some other ones. My friend has an iPod Nano and I can't see why he pays $1 a crappy song that you can only play on your computer and the iPod and then burn it and that's it. It's so stupid. Plus I got two months free napster to go, three free audible audiobooks, and a free subscription to regular napster. What else could you freakin want?

its 1,000 times better than the shuffle! Why anyone was comparing it to the nano, i dont know. This gave me exactly what I wanted: Support for my subscription service, easy user interface, easy cmputer tranfer, A SCREEN (unlike certain ipod shuffles i hear), fm radio, voice recording, stopwatch, and plenty of EQ settings.

it s alright and cheap

This thing sucks and it's a piece of junk and a pain!!!

This is my first mp3 player. I ripped all 8 Chris Isaak albums (not counting his Xmas and his brand new one) to WMA and loaded it to test it out. A few tweaks of the equalizer, and it sounds almost as good as it does on the stereo--using the same Koss phones, of course. Not saying that Chris's CDs are the best sounding technically, but this is a direct comparison.

The jazz CDs I ripped & loaded sound fine as WMA files, and they do have excellent sound. I must admit that the included earbuds are mediocre, and it sounds vastly better with good earphones.

I always look for digital devices that take AA or AAA batteries, and use rechargables. One rechargable battery gives me 30 hours of listening (a regular AAA battery lasts at least 20 hours). No need to plug into a comuter to recharge, or spend $50 to replace a worn-out battery.

A $6 silicone case enables me to use it with a belt clip or the included armband. No worries about jiggling or shaking during exercise either. The FM tuner is a good alternative to WMA files, and plays pretty well outdoors. When you get good reception, the sound is excellent, though it often fades or has hissing in the background--no room for an antenna is the reason, of course. But, hey, iPods don't even have this feature at all, so it is a big bonus as is.

And this thing has a much lower price tag. Hmmm. Since I'm not a guy, I can save the money some of you are willing to spend just to look "cool" by listening to an iPod. I can save that $ to put toward tomorrow's must-have gadget when it takes shape.

Thanks, SMPTEMan...........

I think you were right on the $. When I go to the beach and toss a whole muffin to the gulls, I'm reminded of how my music distributors act sometimes. You keep these 2 liter pepsi drinkin', potato chip eatin' armchair quarterbacks thinking about the real deal. The problem with this country is that most of us want to trade popularity and what passes for self-esteem for intelligent thought. Newsflash: you can be smart and still be popular. Don't be stupid, people............make informed decisions regarding your equipment and the future of music.

You people are ipod whores

i dont understand u people why do u need any kind of suport for subscription music services etc. when u can rip your music from cds or dowload it from net. for free without any stupid restrictions which dictate where u can play your music which u acctualy bought in leagal way
if i bought music i wanna do with it anything i like not to be limited by some stupid rights
So i dont buy my music i steal it coz otherwise they steal my money

I have the 2Gb version, the sound is OK and it's pretty easy to maneuvre.
But one thing that pisses me off is the "ID3-tag" catalogue sorting. Fucking pisses me off. I mean, if I decide to put like a 50 songs/singles in a catalogue called let's say "Mixed Songs" the Sansa M200 places all the songs in their own specific catalogues depending on what their ID3 tag is. It doesn't even give a fuck that perhaps I want to sort and place my own mp3 files wherever I would like? This is bullshit, I hope there's some Warez Firmware bullshit to get around this problem, 'cause I will soon throw this shit out the window, but I guess the sound is ok. But that's not good enough damn it.

people said;

"This site doesn't seem to "get" that the iPod is first and foremost an MP3 player"

"Apple innovates and everyone else copies"

Rio actually marketed the first MP 3 players....if you're gonna be an a-hole, a least be accurate.

Mr. Nice Guy

don't understand your problem, I was under the impression this player supported play lists (?)

No, or well yeah, Sansa calls it Favorite Playlist, but this list only holds like 20-25 songs. Which is pretty lame wouldn't you say? That is not my idea of a "playlist function". And another thing that is bugging me is the fact that the sounds gets f*cked up when in "locked mode".

Pop trio Atomic Kitten will reform to play a concert in support of jailed Liverpool football fan Michael Shields...

This is the best player ive ever used. I have the 1gb one and the playlist suports all of my songs, not just 25 and the sound doesnt get f*cked up in locked mode like Mr.nice guy reports. it has alot of features, i think more than a nano. The short usb cable also acts as an arial for the fm tuner, giving it more range. I give it 11 out of 10 for functionality, but only 7 out of 10 for its body case, The face controlls are good tho.

Jittery on 192VBR files that play beautifully with WinAmp or WM11. Bought the 1GB for my 7-year old son for Christmas, but I'm taking it back without giving it to him :

I've had the m250 (2g player) for the last 6 months. I was fairly new to the whole portable player thing - so i looked around and decided for the price this was the best option. My friend has had an iPod for the last 2 years and she is on her 3rd one - the batteries keep going dead - which means that the player has to go to an authorized Apple service center to be replaced (under warranty the first couple times - now it's gonna cost her a fortune to replace). When my battery goes dead I just pop in a fresh AAA that I can buy pretty much anywhere.

I admit that there was a learning curve at the beginning with the ID tags for the songs but now that I have everything tagged right it works fine (BTW I use Music Match to re-tag all my mp3's). I have countless playlists that I've created - I don't bother using the favorites list because it gets dumped every time you add or remove a song. Read the manual - and you'll be happy you got one of these instead of a Nano - why do you want a Nano with no display anyway??

So i want a strait up no bs answer, is this thing worth the money? Im going overseas and want something that will hold a SHIT load of music, will record me and my buddies talking(like a microphone) and will be able to load music from DIFFERNt computers...CAN THIS DO ALL OF THAT? o ya and battery wise its good too? LET ME KNOW!

P.S.
IPODS SUCK!

okay, when i turned my sansa on it stayed at the black screen that said SanDisk. and then it faded outt white and kept repeating to the SanDisk screen and it wont plugg into my computer and connect. whats wrong with it?

I'm shopping for a player that records FM. I download and store all my music on iTunes on my PC and my iMac. If I change my import and translation encoding settings in iTunes to MP3 can I move my music to a Sandisk?

My daughter has a m240 mp3 . We got it on april 3rd 2007, on july 13,2007 it froze.
We bought it at Walmart & they won' do anything about it. I paid $55.00 plus tax & it was
a birthday present. Please tell me you can help me. I am on social security because I'm disabled. $55. is a lot of money to me, plus my daughter does not have a mp3 player
to take back to school.

the only reason im here is cause rhaspody sux and im tryna dowload music to sansa and i did own a video ipod but got stolen :( its difficult rhaspody wont dowload i only listen to the radio i miss my ipod

My kids all have them and they work great and sound good.

www.snyderenterprise.net