Clip Zip

[Mikerman]

Originally Posted by glove4

Where are these available? Can't find any online for sale. Haven't checked Best Buy yet.

The SanDisk online store is having a nice promotion on these for the next 2 weeks: buy the player and get a free black case for it (it's a nice one, although it is thick), along with free shipping. Plus, register with SanDisk and get 10% off.

http://shop.sandisk.com/store?Action...SiteID=sdiskus

You're paying the full retail price, but between the free case, the free shipping, and the 10% off, it seems to be a pretty nifty deal.

[CrowdAds]

[Dom2002]

I stopped reading the pc mag review when they mentioned the rating for the POS ipod shuffle was 3.5 stars and the sansa Clip+ was 4 stars. What kind of a twisted world are we living in?
Just bought a Clip+ so probably won't pick this one up for awhile.

[Mikerman]

Originally Posted by WalkGood

Nice write up Mikerman

Thanks--fast reader there!

It seems to me that the Clip Zip will be popular for iTunes users, with its aac (non-DRM) file support --this really allows SanDisk to get at that market easily, without file conversion hassle.

Also, for people who like album art and graphics--sure, the screen is small and not retina display-like, but album art and bling can be fun.

And then, of course, it's there if the earlier models get discontinued, as the successor, or as an alternative to them, including if one just likes getting the newest thing. I just saw, though, that Amazon still is selling the original Clip, along with the Clip+--pretty amazing.

I think, as the above comments show, that some users, especially many of the type here, would have liked to see some other advances, such as greater battery life, greater internal storage (I still need a solid-state 100GB+ player!), and software enhancements (and perhaps video support, just to have?), in addition to what SanDisk added--I call that player the Uber-Clip. Also, I'm hoping that the "user-aid" features that unfortunately got dropped from the Clip Zip screen get brought back with a firmware upgrade (current track and total track numbers, time elapsed, and time remaining/total time--don't people care about this info.?). But I think that the player will be popular with consumers--it actually is pretty nice, subject to the above, and is not a goof.

[Mikerman]

Originally Posted by Dom2002

I stopped reading the pc mag review when they mentioned the rating for the POS ipod shuffle was 3.5 stars and the sansa Clip+ was 4 stars. What kind of a twisted world are we living in?
Just bought a Clip+ so probably won't pick this one up for awhile.

Pretty amazing that the Clip+ was only at 1/2 a star above the Shuffle (the screen and microSD slot themselves add a star or star-and-a-half)--it wasn't a jewelry rating, after all. But hey, at least the Clip+ was rated higher than the Shuffle . . . .

[steinburger1109]

Ya know, I'm just glad that even though they threw a bigger and better screen in there, it's still only slightly more expensive than the Clip+ (4GB was $50 for black on SanDisk, $45 for Clip+)

[Lagoo56]

I'd be interested if they jacked the battery life up to 20 hours of playtime instead of the same 15 hours or maybe I wouldn't,the design reminds me of those Phillips DAPs that are fugly to me.

[The DarkSide]

Still a nice little upgrade, even if they didn't boost the capacity to 16gb and give that little sucka a small battery boost.

[Mikerman]

Originally Posted by glove4

Where are these available? Can't find any online for sale. Haven't checked Best Buy yet.

Just saw this evening that the Clip Zip now is available from and through Amazon.com. Perhaps the price still is adjusting, though: the Amazon prices are $5 more than the retail prices by SanDisk at its online store (and with no free case that SanDisk is throwing in for the next 2 weeks).

[HulkSmashNow]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Still a nice little upgrade, even if they didn't boost the capacity to 16gb and give that little sucka a small battery boost.

I agree, TDS, and nice write-ups by Mikerman and Marv -- two fellas whose I opinions I trust!

I wasn't going to immediately jump on this, but damn if ain't tempting, and that orange looks pretty cool.

[dgb52]

Originally Posted by Mikerman

Just saw this evening that the Clip Zip now is available from and through Amazon.com. Perhaps the price still is adjusting, though: the Amazon prices are $5 more than the retail prices by SanDisk at its online store (and with no free case that SanDisk is throwing in for the next 2 weeks).

Sandisk is also doing free shipping

[Mikerman]

Originally Posted by dgb52

Sandisk is also doing free shipping

And don't forget to register with SanDisk and get 10 percent off your purchase--hey, every bit helps.

[Kendall]

I can't see anything here to make me rush out and replace my Clip+. Still, it's nice to know that this'll be available as a decent replacement when it finally breaks.

More battery life would have been nice (that's my only real issue with the Clip+), and I wouldn't have said no to increased storage, but I'm just relieved that Sandisk haven't utterly screwed it up like they did with the horrible Fuze+.

[JK98]

Radio Shack has the 4GB Clip+ this week for $35. Since the Clip Zip is so new, it will be hard to find it even at full price. It might be a while until the 4GB Clip Zip is discounted to $40 or less. While the Clip+ might go on clearance sale this fall, I doubt it will go under $30 for a new 4GB one.

[Pennhaven]

In a way, I'm happy the changes are not groundbreaking. It means there is no reason to go out and replace my Clip+.

I do hope though that by the time mine needs to be replaced that SanDisk will have come out with a 16GB or greater Clip Zip.

In the meantime it will be interesting to see if they have reinforced the actual clip on this version. That is the only real weakness in the Clip+ design, IMO.

[Mikerman]

SanDisk has said that the Zip's clip is stronger than the +'s.

[vittau]

Is it an AS3525 device? Is there any hope for Rockbox support in the future?

[neutron bob]

Yes, the new Clip Zip is running on the same platform and processor as the Clip+, an Austria Microsystems processor.

The Fuze+ is running with the Freescale processor, quite different.

Note that the screen graphics of the Fuze+ have been adapted to the new device, taking advantage of the color display. The interface is a little different from the Clip+. though users of the Clip+ will have no problem adapting to these differences.

Bob

[Mikerman]

The idea of having to "adapt" to anything on a Clip is pretty humorous.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by vittau

Is it an AS3525 device? Is there any hope for Rockbox support in the future?

http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=28709.0

[vittau]

Originally Posted by neutron bob

Yes, the new Clip Zip is running on the same platform and processor as the Clip+, an Austria Microsystems processor.

Originally Posted by WalkGood

http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=28709.0

That's great news! Now I know exactly what to do when my Clip+ decide to bite the dust.