Clip+ vs. Fuze

[Mordocai]

So, after taking a look at the Fuze+ at Best Buy, and asking advice from various people, I have decided that I need to choose between the Clip+ or the original Fuze for my first MP3 player. I can only really think of two main concerns when considering whether getting a Fuze or a clip+:

1. The small screen of the clip (I have 17 GB of music and plan on getting more).
2. The anythingbutipod Fuze review does not say that it supports .ogg music, and all my music is in .ogg format. (Rockbox may fix this issue?)

[skip252]

The differences between the Clip+ and the original Fuze is battery life , screen size and the D-pad vs. the scroll wheel. Sandisk firmware updates have brought both of them to the same level of codec support. I use .ogg Vorbis on both my Clip+ and Fuze in both the OF and Rockbox. Rockbox supports a wide variety of codecs including .ogg Vorbis. Follow the link in my sig to find out just how many.

The screen size doesn't affect the amount of storage. A Clip+ and a Fuze with the same internal storage and the same size card will hold the same amount of files. The Clip+ screen is small but bright and readable. I can read it in everything but the brightest direct sunlight. That a common failing of most portable players including the Fuze.

BTW, smart move on the Fuze+. Unloaded it's not too bad. Once you load it "sluggish" doesn't come close to describing how poor the performance is.

[Adub]

The small screen on the clip+ won't make it a chore to go navigate your music. I generally have 20gb on my clip all the time and with the holding down the button quick navigation it's easy to scroll large libraries of music.

As skip pointed out the OF and Rockbox both support Vorbis so you will be fine in that respect.

[Mordocai]

Originally Posted by skip252

The differences between the Clip+ and the original Fuze is battery life , screen size and the D-pad vs. the scroll wheel. Sandisk firmware updates have brought both of them to the same level of codec support. I use .ogg Vorbis on both my Clip+ and Fuze in both the OF and Rockbox. Rockbox supports a wide variety of codecs including .ogg Vorbis. Follow the link in my sig to find out just how many.

When you say that the battery life is different, does the Fuze or the Clip+ have the greater battery?

Originally Posted by skip252

The screen size doesn't affect the amount of storage. A Clip+ and a Fuze with the same internal storage and the same size card will hold the same amount of files. The Clip+ screen is small but bright and readable. I can read it in everything but the brightest direct sunlight. That a common failing of most portable players including the Fuze.

Yeah, I was thinking more along the lines of having to scroll through all of it. I have 900+ artists, for instance.

Originally Posted by skip252

BTW, smart move on the Fuze+. Unloaded it's not too bad. Once you load it "sluggish" doesn't come close to describing how poor the performance is.

Yeah, that is what I had heard. Of course, it might get fixed with firmware updates... but I didn't like the touch controls anyways.

Originally Posted by adub

The small screen on the clip+ won't make it a chore to go navigate your music. I generally have 20gb on my clip all the time and with the holding down the button quick navigation it's easy to scroll large libraries of music.

As skip pointed out the OF and Rockbox both support Vorbis so you will be fine in that respect.

Well, it is good to hear that it isn't too hard to scroll. Since there is a very small price difference, price isn't an issue. Is there anything the clip+ does better than the fuze? If not, I might as well go for the bigger screen and video capabilities I think.

EDIT:

I noticed that there is talk about the fuze version 1, and fuze version 2. Assuming I choose the fuze: Are all ones that are being sold on the SanDisk website version 2? And is there anyway to tell before hand if I buy from somewhere like amazon?(I plan on buying it online on black friday)

[nodirectionhome]

the Fuze has better battery life, but I'm getting 15 hours+ on my clip+ with Rockbox.

[writedoc]

Originally Posted by Mordocai

So, after taking a look at the Fuze+ at Best Buy, and asking advice from various people, I have decided that I need to choose between the Clip+ or the original Fuze for my first MP3 player. I can only really think of two main concerns when considering whether getting a Fuze or a clip+:

1. The small screen of the clip (I have 17 GB of music and plan on getting more).
2. The anythingbutipod Fuze review does not say that it supports .ogg music, and all my music is in .ogg format. (Rockbox may fix this issue?)

I originally bought a Clip+ but returned it and replaced it with a Fuze and have not regretted my choice. Recently purchased a Fuze+ but returned it yesterday and sticking with the Fuze until something better comes out to replace it. For my reasons on replacing Clip+ with Fuze, see http://anythingbutipod.com/forum/sho...77&postcount=7. For my Fuze and Fuze+ comparison, see http://anythingbutipod.com/forum/sho...67&postcount=9

[skip252]

The rated battery life on the Clip+ is 15 hrs vs. 24hrs for the Fuze. AFAIK nobody ever gets that in real life. The test conditions just aren't anywhere near how anyone I know actually uses a DAP. Much more realistic expectations are here, http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SansaRuntime.

I wouldn't make the chance I'd get a V1 or V2 a concern in my purchasing decision.The only way to tell which version it is would be to turn it on and check the firmware version. The V1 hasn't been made in quite a while so it's highly unlikely Amazon or Sansa would be still shipping those.

Battery life aside the big difference for me is the D-pad vs. the scroll wheel. If you have a lot of albums it can take a lot of turning of the scroll wheel to move up and down the lists. With the Clip+ you just press and hold the direction you want to go. It can zip through hundreds of files in a few seconds.

I also like that the Clip+ has an external volume control. The external volume control lets you change the volume without having to navigate back to the Now Playing Screen. That can be very handy at times.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by skip252

The rated battery life on the Clip+ is 15 hrs vs. 24hrs for the Fuze. AFAIK nobody ever gets that in real life. The test conditions just aren't anywhere near how anyone I know actually uses a DAP. Much more realistic expectations are here, http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SansaRuntime.

I wouldn't make the chance I'd get a V1 or V2 a concern in my purchasing decision.The only way to tell which version it is would be to turn it on and check the firmware version. The V1 hasn't been made in quite a while so it's highly unlikely Amazon or Sansa would be still shipping those.

Battery life aside the big difference for me is the D-pad vs. the scroll wheel. If you have a lot of albums it can take a lot of turning of the scroll wheel to move up and down the lists. With the Clip+ you just press and hold the direction you want to go. It can zip through hundreds of files in a few seconds.

I also like that the Clip+ has an external volume control. The external volume control lets you change the volume without having to navigate back to the Now Playing Screen. That can be very handy at times.

100% agreed.

[Carson Dyle]

Originally Posted by skip252

Battery life aside the big difference for me is the D-pad vs. the scroll wheel. If you have a lot of albums it can take a lot of turning of the scroll wheel to move up and down the lists. With the Clip+ you just press and hold the direction you want to go. It can zip through hundreds of files in a few seconds.

I also like that the Clip+ has an external volume control. The external volume control lets you change the volume without having to navigate back to the Now Playing Screen. That can be very handy at times.

I'm also considering the Fuze and Clip+. Right now I like the larger screen of the Fuze for navigation and don't think the smaller size of the Clip+ offers much advantage. Will probably use Rockbox.

When scrolling large lists with the scroll wheel, doe it accelerate?

Normally when the Fuze is playing, does it fall back to the Now Playing screen, so that the default action of the scroll wheel, should you (for example) just reach into your pocket while it's playing, is volume control?

[hkmix]

Originally Posted by Carson Dyle

I'm also considering the Fuze and Clip+. Right now I like the larger screen of the Fuze for navigation and don't think the smaller size of the Clip+ offers much advantage. Will probably use Rockbox.

When scrolling large lists with the scroll wheel, doe it accelerate?

Normally when the Fuze is playing, does it fall back to the Now Playing screen, so that the default action of the scroll wheel, should you (for example) just reach into your pocket while it's playing, is volume control?

Fairly sure both units have list scroll acceleration. Clip+ RB has pretty fast scrolling options if you set the acceleration to 2x/1s. Looks really nice too, since RB refreshes faster than OF. You can't go wrong with either one. I prefer the Clip+, but that's just me.

[skip252]

The Clip+ and both have scroll acceleration. It's implemented better on the Clip+ IMO but it does exist on the Fuze. It can still take dozens of turns on the wheel to get through a long list so I usually browse by album or artist rather than song.

In the OF Fuze does default back to the now playing screen after a few seconds. I found the wheel too sensitive too put in a pocket unlocked. But doing a unlock-change volume-relock is really easy with a little practice. Rockbox doesn't default to the WPS, it stays where you put it. It never takes more than 2 button presses to get back to the WPS. Once you get there the unlock and volume change sequence is the same.

[Mordocai]

Well, I found a pretty good deal on amazon on the clip+ ($45 and change) for their black friday sale, so i went ahead and got it with them. I think I will end up getting a Fuze(not plus) in the future though, as amazon is selling refurbished(the clip+ was new) ones for about $50 as well. For now, though, I think the clip+ will be fine and it was cheap :P. I'll probably rockbox it as well, though i'm going to use the OF for a few days/weeks first, so I get a good comparison.

Thanks for the help!
Chris

P.S. I guess it isn't really Clip+ vs Fuze for me anymore, it's clip+ AND fuze :P.