Clip v. Clip + (my review)

[eb23air]

I was extremely happy with my 2GB black Clip I had purchased over the summer. It was the perfect little mp3 player but I yearned for an mp3 player with a higher storage capacity onto which I could put the majority of my music library. Enter the Clip + 8GB and a 16GB microsdhc card. I considered the Sony S639 and the Cowon I audio 9, but those were just short on capacity and too high on price.

After one day of owning the Clip + here is how I would review it after having listened to the Clip for a few months.

Pros
-Much faster scrolling through songs. This is a relief for me because I am a serial song skipper and it takes me a while to sometimes find a song that fits my need for that moment.
-Sound quality may be better. It might just be me, but it sounds a little better. I am no music expert by any means though.
-Much better construction. The clip being fixed certainly helps it feel more solid, and I like the look a lot more, it is much sleeker.
-No light up D-pad and ring.
-Higher capacity (still waiting for my 16GB microsdhc card).

Cons
-The radio is way too loud at the minimum volume. This is almost a dealbreaker for me since I listen to the radio at night prior to sleeping.
-The Slotradio icon. I pressed it a few times and got sucked into a few second black hole as the player waited to get back to the menu.
-Bugs? Not sure about this since I may have put some non-music files on the player that were in my music folder, but the player gets stuck every so often, the screen goes black but the next song starts a few seconds later.

Things to Fix (suggestions)
-The minimum radio volume issue so it is on par with the minimum music volume.
-Removing the Slotradio icon.
-It would have been nice when pressing the center button while a song is playing to display the information for the song that is playing rather than the visualization screen or the "next song" information (available on doubleclick). It is far more useful for me to have the info for the current song than for the next song, especially since the album name is not displayed when a song is currently playing.

All in all a great player, but not yet a replacement for my original Clip at least for my purposes until some issues are resolved.

[CrowdAds]

[WalkGood]

Moved to MP3 Player User Review, left you a one week redirect. Nice write up, why not include some picturess too

[JK98]

My issues with the Clip+ are the battery life(only around 12 hours) and the fact that if I play untagged podcasts in folder mode, play some music, then turn off the player, the player won't remember which podcast file was playing playing last.

Imo the best solution to the short battery life is to design a player that uses an inexpensive easily swappable lion battery so someone can carry spare batteries. It would also be nice if this battery could have at least 50% more capacity than the current Clip+ battery.

As for the radio volume, this depends on the signal strength for each station. I guess the solution to your issue would be to have a second volume control, so each person could balance the volume of their favorite radio station with mp3 playback volume.

The Clip+ is a great device though despite its shortcommings. I haven't found a very small and inexpensive player that is better for playing podcasts or that has better sound quality.

[d_headshot]

I think the non-lit control pad is a con. At least the >> icons, etc. should be back lit and not the glow ring.

[dfkt]

I'm glad that gaudy/tacky glow ring of the older Clip is gone. Its colors didn't match the OLED display at all, they were quite different shades of blue, clashing with each other - making the player look cheaper and more patched together than it should be. And I can find the buttons just fine without that crappy backlight.

[fuzzypits]

Good summary, I'm going to pick up an 8 GB Clip+ for like $50. I might go for the 8GB fuze though considering it's only $30 more.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by fuzzypits

Good summary, I'm going to pick up an 8 GB Clip+ for like $50. I might go for the 8GB fuze though considering it's only $30 more.

No reason to do that unless you need longer battery life than the Clip+. Video isn't good enough on the Fuze to warrant an extra $30 over the Clip+.

[JK98]

In the US, the price difference between the two is much smaller. $70 vs $64 for 8 GB, or around $56 vs $40 for 4 GB(on Amazon. These prices keep changing rapidly though). The Clip+ 4 GB at around $40 seems like the best deal overall.(Funny, right now the 2 GB Clip+ is slightly higher in price than the 4GB on Amazon).

The Fuze also has a much larger display than the Clip+, and a scroll wheel, while the Clip+ has just buttons for navigation. I have both a Clip+ and a Fuze, and am not sure which I like better. They are different and each has its plusses and minuses compared to the other. I guess what I really want is a hybrid of two, with a screen midway in size between the two(perhaps just a monochrome alphanumeric lcd display to save power-imo it is better to eliminate video and photo viewing ability to save power), a standard mini USB connector, a scroll wheel, a power button like on the Clip+, volume buttons like on the Clip+, battery life of 30+ hours(40+ would be even better though), and a built in clip. I hope this could be accomplished in a player that is midsize between the two.

[Dreamnine]

A Cluze+.

[Miyazaki]

Sounds wonderful (prospect of a fusion)! Actually I've sort of been wondering if Sansa will update the Fuze..

[veider]

The Clip+ is awesome except for the battery life, i´m getting 5-6 hours of real world use and 9 to 10 in "test" settings, touching nothing, half volume and low bright. Also hte battery life indicator fails a lot dropping from 50% to shut down and similar things, there is post in the Sansa Clip forum talking about this problems. If not for this issue this could be the little player in the market if not the best overall.

[bikertrash]

As for your radio being too loud, check out the Koss Keb24 IEMs. They're aroiund $24 at Walmart. They have a volume control on them. I like their sound quality for the price, but playing your radio with the volume down the SQ probably won't matter much.

[Adub]

Originally Posted by JK98

Imo the best solution to the short battery life is to design a player that uses an inexpensive easily swappable lion battery

I didn't see that coming

[eboyer93]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

No reason to do that unless you need longer battery life than the Clip+. Video isn't good enough on the Fuze to warrant an extra $30 over the Clip+.

The main reason to get a Fuze over a Clip is the battery life and bigger screen for browsing for songs.

[leavenfish]

Originally Posted by eboyer93

The main reason to get a Fuze over a Clip is the battery life and bigger screen for browsing for songs.

Did I not read elsewhere that the onboard Amp is more powerful?

[jendol]

for me the main difference between fuze and clip+ is the fact that you can put LOD on fuze o connect to amp, and this certainly put the SQ to entirely different level. of course the fact that you can watch videos and photos also need to be mentioned

[Clip+aCard]

Well Hello: I am brand new member here & for my 1st post I will be introducing myself & also passing a few comments (mini review?) on MY new Clip+ which is also my 1st ever MP3 player.

I live in Thunder Bay , Ontario, I am 53 yrs old, between jobs & bought this MP3 initially for the purpose of listening to an audio training program in computer networking. I have also been listening to standard MP3s and downloaded podcasts etc. All seem to play with better that acceptable sound quality. The model I have is the 4GB unit & I bought another 4GB microSD card for it just to "fill the hole" & keep the dirt out but I am finding the extra memory handy & going fast! lol

I have had my Clip+ for 2 or 3 weeks now & have had no real problems. I do not seem to be having any volume issues i've read about from other users. In addition, I am not having issue with the reportedly shorter battery life since I normally only use my unit for a few hrs a day on the average.

I do find the volume CONTROL a little "hokey," in that sometimes it seems to work & others you have to push twice. I believe this is because the unit has entered screen-save mode, you have to push vol+ or minus once to wake it up & on the second push the vol actually begins to move. I find this inconvenient & time consuming. If you wanted to lock the buttons there is provision for that so having to push the extra time to wake it up & adj vol seems unnessary when you have not locked the buttons.

The Vol control could also have been easily improved by placing it on the front with all the other controls. Having it separately on the side means you have to "re-position yourself" to get at the vol even tho you have just been using other controls on the front.

I do find there are a few quarks in the navagation/firmware that i don't understand enuff yet to detail here but i will likely add more facts & issues in this forum later when I have used the Clip+ more. It is also dissapointing that you cannot simply display/view the time & date without going into system settings & scrolling down thru a sequence of sub-menus??? There should be a "Quick-key" to the time since it is in
the system & you should not have to spend a minute or two to find it on the display!

Generally, Ease of use ranks very high: The "Drag & drop/no software required" system seems simple & reliable for putting new material on the Clip+. In addition Sansa is not nickle & diming you or snoopin & fussin in your PC like Apple & Sony promise to do! I do find (& perhaps related to my somewhat rookie experience
with ANY Mp3 unit) that the menu/submenu structure of files you put on the unit appear different than the way they appear when you view them on your computer screen. Many files can appear to be in the same folder on the computer screen but when you snoop thru them on the clip+'s screen, they appear to be re-organized into aditional subfolders that don't show up on your computer screen. It hasn't been to much of an issue finding anything but is simply an unexplained anomily to this point?

On the PLUS side: There are far too many good things to say about this unit then I have time to bring forward here! I find the sound is very good for the cost of the player - even with the standard included buds. I know there are better available, & i may very well some day buy some superior Phones, but i expect the bang for the buck here is unsurpassed! There are many convenient & well designed features in this compact & easy to learn package. The whole "Clip concept " is superior in my opinion to any unit you have to fumble around in your pocket for and you can't beat this unit for portability & size.

If you are considering buying a Clip+ I would recommend you go ahead & get one. For $50 you really have very little to lose & you are more than likely to be very pleased with your purchase as I am!

later!
C&C

[Clip+aCard]

Originally Posted by fuzzypits

Good summary, I'm going to pick up an 8 GB Clip+ for like $50. I might go for the 8GB fuze though considering it's only $30 more.

I did some research before purchasing my Clip+, & i sensed that the downside of the Fuze, or any unit with the spin wheel, is that grit or other debris can get into the wheel & it wont spin properly any more rendering the entire unit inoperable! So even tho it definately has some perks & PLUSSES over the Clip+ , They are of little advantage if the unit won't operate.

cheers
C&C

[paulr]

Originally Posted by JK98

I have both a Clip+ and a Fuze, and am not sure which I like better. They are different and each has its plusses and minuses compared to the other. I guess what I really want is a hybrid of two, with a screen midway in size between the two(perhaps just a monochrome alphanumeric lcd display to save power-imo it is better to eliminate video and photo viewing ability to save power), a standard mini USB connector, a scroll wheel, a power button like on the Clip+, volume buttons like on the Clip+, battery life of 30+ hours(40+ would be even better though), and a built in clip. I hope this could be accomplished in a player that is midsize between the two.

There is another Sansa not mentioned here, the m200, whose current (v4) hardware generation is apparently very similar to the Clip under the skin. So what I think would be really great would be an m200+ with 8gb of memory and a microsdhc slot. That would run for about 12 hours on a rechargeable AAA cell like the current m200, but you could just swap in another cell. Also nice would be a bigger version (Cowon D2 sized) with a full sized SDHC slot and an AA cell that would run the unit for 30+ hours. Similar to the old Cowon G3 and iRiver T10 that ran for 40+ hours on an AA.