Would You Buy An m2xx MP3 Player Again?

[Pesky]

If you had it to do all over again, would you still buy an m2xx MP3 player?
- Yes
- No
- Reason:

[CrowdAds]

[road_rascal]

I would. I have the 2GB version and it's been mounted on my Goldwing for about a year now and it's never given me trouble. Love having rechargable NiMH AAA batteries. I also don't mind the new version of WMP and the ease of making playlists with it.

[johnc60]

Yes, I would buy another m200 series. Just wish that they would continue on and make an 8 or 16 GB model.

Here's the reasons:

1. Standard AAA battery. If the battery dies on a long trip, I can pickup batteries at just about any store. Also, rechargables work.

2. Standard mini-USB jack. No special cable to deal with. This cable is readily available if you forget it. Many people already have it for cameras and many non-tech stores carry it.

3. It's small and light.

4. Plenty of useful features such as, FM radio, audio recorder, 5-band EQ, sleep timer, playlists.

-John

[dgun]

Yes.

Generic filesystem works under nearly any OS.
Has playlists.
Standard replaceable battery.
Doubles as a data drive.
Low cost.

It has it's problems, but (for me) the benefits far outweigh them.

[jamski]

It's easy for me to be critical, as I got mine as a gift, but I'd definitely do some shopping before consider buying another myself. The limiting factor is that I'd want more size--1 GB just doesn't seem to be enough (!)--and the weirdo little glitches that would necessarily come with getting more space to put on more tunes...resulting in more "unknowns".

Dislikes:
The "unknown" glitch.
The backlighting not working once the battery level drops below half (that should NOT happen, SanDisk!)
The silly "unknown" glitch.
The slow FF and reverse.
The &%$@#& "unknown" glitch.
The backlighting not working once the battery level drops below half (that is a BUG, not a FEATURE, SanDisk!)
Not very Mac friendly.

Likes:
Affordable, great size-to-cost ratio.
Wonderful sound.
Dead simple to use, no synching necessary, drag-and-drop ease.
Pretty decent starter earbuds.
Uses regular AAA batteries and has no problems with rechargeables.
Odd shape makes it easy to grasp and hard to miss when you're sorting dirty laundry.
Display is easy to read...when the backlighting works, anyway (see dislikes above!)
Works just as well as a jump drive.

[RCM]

My sis has an M240 and loves it I might get one if they EVER realease one with an expansion slot

[monel58]

I would get an other one, I really like mine but would update the firmware before i did any uploading. On an update I did buy an other M240, I have one for work and one for home. The one at home I use with the speaker dock.

[paulr]

If "all to do over" means go back in time to when I first bought my M260, then yes I guess I'd buy it again, $149 for a 4GB player was a great deal at that time (more than a year ago). I wouldn't buy one TODAY at those prices. I like the hardware although the battery door on mine is a bit loose (a piece of tape on the end helps). I like that it uses AAA NiMH and a standard USB cable. The audio is fine. I threw away the earbuds that came with it and use headphones. The firmware is awful. It takes forever to boot and it does this crazy crap with the id3 tags and mixes up my albums unless I go and edit the tags. I wish I could put Rockbox on it. There really aren't any players I like right now, but the Frontier Labs Nex 3 is nice and it would be great if they made an SDHC version. Also the new iRiver T50/T60 is sort of the same idea as the Sansa M series. I wish they made 8gb/16gb/even 32gb versions.

[turbodog]

Bought one for me, then one for my wife.... Then one to dedicate for in-car use (different tune selection, and volume level needed to drive the car system is dangerously high if I forget to turn it down when switching to headphones).

Never had a glitch of any kind worth mentioning with any of the 3 units. Works great with Win XP and Vista. Never hooked it up to my wife's iMac, but mainly because iTunes is so friggin' unfriendly. She burns CD's, rips them into the laptop, then synchs the M250 with the laptop. Use WMA format exclusively.

[BnjS]

Absolutely. Ours has been very reliable, easy to use --replaceable AAA batteries are terrific (we have about 8 rechargeables that we recycle in and out). It was a great introduction to the portable player world and a year later, it still gets a lot of use. (Have the 2gb m250).

[henkm]

Maybe

I do like: rechargeble AAA batteries / buttons easy to use without looking / compact and no frills

Do not like: fast forwarding takes forever on big files / does not play by folder / often have issues that player starts from the beginning of audio file when switching on the player (does not remember position)

Would like an equally compact, no frill player, with aa-battery (longer play), with play by folder support. Have not found it yet.

[hplovinokie]

I would diffinetly buy another M200 series player.

Reason:
I have really enjoyed the m230 as my first player (I recieved it as a Christmas gift). It has (in my inexperienced opinion) great sound quality and is for the most part a good player.

The only issues I have are the hassle it takes to make a playlist and the problem I've been having lately sorting songs...

But bottom line - I would surely by another m200 series!

[Phoenix-X]

yes
but i would not be my main player, its nice and easy to use but i seriously want something better... but i do love the ability to "blind control" it

[Deezlink]

Yeah, probley would if I had more storage. I think they should remake it, that would be pretty cool.

[Rich Nagel]

I myself have really enjoyed my M230 -

Now, about buying one: Hehe, my nephew gave me his old M230 when he received a shiny new IPod for his birthday last November <G>. His old M230 looked like it had been beat to hell and back, yet still functioned *perfectly*. I was really surprised at the durability of these little things, after seeing the condition of the body/case of his old M230.

Anyhow, If I were to actually buy an MP3 player, I'd *definately* be buying another of the M2xx series. I just saw one the other day at Big Lots, an M250 for $20 bucks... not a bad deal if you ask me - That is definately tempting, as 2G of storage space would be MUCH nicer than the 512MB on my current M230.

Anyhow, other than an obscure "glitch" every now and then, I have had NO problems whatsoever with my M230... even during and after flashing the firmware to v1.3.0a.


P.S. My nephew was EXTREMELY hard on this old M230, and the LCD screen was so scratched up that you could hardly read it (especially us older folks with aging eyesight <G>).

I buffed out some of the scratches using toothpaste and paste-type auto wax, and then buffed the screen using liquid auto wax... the liquid auto wax left a light coating on the screen that allows you to see it *perfectly*, and the scratches are hardly noticable -

[dgb52]

The M240 was my first mp3 player, i bought it about 3 yrs ago. i never had any problems with it at all other than the battery door clip breaking. i just put a piece of tape over it too hold it in place. i would buy another one, maybe one with more storage, kind of sorry i never picked up the 4gb version of it, i went with a e260 instead

[Alohamora]

I wouldn't pay full retail for one, but at the price of the "refurbs" from buy.com or woot, absolutely!

[Blade]

Absolutely! Since my 4GB ZEN crapped out on me recently, I went back to using my m240. After for about 6 months of not using it, I fire it up and it still works perfectly for a 2+ year-old player.

Pros:
-nice amp output for a AAA based player.
-lightning fast when changing tracks (firmware 2.25A and before only)
-AAA regular battery powered
-includes a Silicon case. A BIG + for me!
-flawless performance for the past 2 years. *knocks on wood* no lockups.
-cool as a first used flash drive at school.

Cons:
-I NEED more capacity!!! 4-32GB sounds nice.
-so-so sound quality. (Has clipping issues, and has poor response in the low frequency range)
-a more secure battery cover

Yup that's basically it. However, somehow the c2xx players don't feel the same as the m2xx and the e1xx players. Funny how a 1GB player had cost around $100 just two years ago.

[dmusicant]

Originally Posted by Pesky

If you had it to do all over again, would you still buy an m2xx MP3 player?
- Yes
- No
- Reason:

Yes. My first was a "refurb" and screwed up but the replacement has worked OK and I've bought two more. Have stayed away from the "refurb" since my first experience with them.
Reasons I like the m2xx:

1. Uses AAA, so I can carry extra NiMH and not need to baby a lion.

2. Cheap.

3. Custom EQ.

4. Sound good to me with quality headphones. Even the 4.x firmware versions have enough power to drive relatively inefficient headphones if you crank up the volume in custom EQ. The 2.x firmware m250 I have doesn't need a boost in EQ volume to drive those Etymotic ER4S headphones.

5. I think the FM is more sensitive than what I've gotten with other portable music devices. I read at Rockbox that the chip is the same as in the iRiver H1xx devices, but it seems better to me, don't know why.

[dmusicant]

Originally Posted by jamski

It's easy for me to be critical, as I got mine as a gift, but I'd definitely do some shopping before consider buying another myself. The limiting factor is that I'd want more size--1 GB just doesn't seem to be enough (!)--and the weirdo little glitches that would necessarily come with getting more space to put on more tunes...resulting in more "unknowns".

Dislikes:
The "unknown" glitch.
The backlighting not working once the battery level drops below half (that should NOT happen, SanDisk!)
The silly "unknown" glitch.
The slow FF and reverse.
The &%$@#& "unknown" glitch.
The backlighting not working once the battery level drops below half (that is a BUG, not a FEATURE, SanDisk!)
Not very Mac friendly.

Likes:
Affordable, great size-to-cost ratio.
Wonderful sound.
Dead simple to use, no synching necessary, drag-and-drop ease.
Pretty decent starter earbuds.
Uses regular AAA batteries and has no problems with rechargeables.
Odd shape makes it easy to grasp and hard to miss when you're sorting dirty laundry.
Display is easy to read...when the backlighting works, anyway (see dislikes above!)
Works just as well as a jump drive.

Um, what's this "Unknown glitch?"

I was wondering about the backlight disappearing. Noticed this on one of mine a couple of weeks ago but it went away. OK, when the battery is weaker. I say "so what!" Big F___ing deal. For me, the abysmally slow FF/REW on the v. 2 firmware m250 was the reason I got another 4.x (lucked out), although the guy who wrote the algorithm for accelerated FF/REW on the 4.x should be taken out and shot. It does next to nothing for the first 5-10 seconds and then goes astronomical in a couple of heartbeats. I find that with some files when I release the FF button, play resumes from the beginning of the file. It drives me nuts. I try to not need to use FF/REW a lot. I usually listen to very big/long (3 hour) MP3s.