How is this player?

It's good. I have the 4 GB version. My (and others') only criticism is the buttons next to the scroll wheel are hard to press because they are small and next to the raised ring.
I'd buy it again after having it for a couple of months.
The video and photo features are neat and seem to work well but not useful for me.

Costco has the 8GB for 185 (rebate included in price already).

@mattb123: I agree with you on the buttons -- too hard to press. Another gripe I have is the inability to fast forward at high speed -- this is big problem if you are trying to get to the fourth hour in a 6hr audio book mp3 track. Otherwise I'm happy.

A dumb question and a technical question...

Isnt this the only multi-gigabyte player with expandable storage?
And can you transfer items from the storage to the internal memory?

The inability to fast forward is moot as long as you use pause, although it wouldn't be too hard to engineer that in. I have the 512MB version that was offered on woot for $20 a couple months back and have had no problems whatsoever. Great to take to the gym or run with. Might pick this one up as a gift.

I will agree with #2 and #4 as far as really liking these players. The firmware updates helped with a few of the early glitches.

Speaking of firmware, a very useful feature is the automatic firmware update utility that Sandisk provides ... I recommend downloading it and installing it on your PC. It makes the firmware updates easy and painless IMO, and will keep your player very up to date!

The drag-n-drop in Explorer is a great feature, as I hate players that are solely bound to their own proprietary software when it comes to getting files on and off the player itself.

The FM feature has worked very well in my area, as I get all the stations I like with excellent quality; too bad they didn't include an AM tuner as well so I could get my favorite talk radio stations too.

I will agree that the buttons can be difficult and rather awkward to use; however, I ONLY found that to be true for the first few days or so using the player. This may sound too simple or ridiculous to many people, but I have since gotten down a technique which works 100% of the time and has made the button pushing as easy and almost unconsciously seamless as any other small MP3 player I have used.

I believe the problem is that too many people feel they need to try and only push down on the exact spot where the buttons are located, while trying to avoid hitting the scroll wheel itself altogether. Using that technique along with only applying the typical softer finger pressure that they would use on most other small MP3 players leads to the problem with the small buttons being so close to the scroll wheel, so it can easily make button pushing very awkward & very difficult. After trying that exact approach of trying to pinpoint a button press for a few days and finding it unpredictable as to whether or not my finger found that perfect sweet spot to wo... [Truncated]

Sorry if no-one was interested, but here was the technique I started using which helped my own button pressing problems:

I now just rest my thumb half-way on the scroll wheel, while the other half rests on the button I want to press. I then apply a more firm single press using the entire area of the thumb that is resting on both the scroll wheel and button of the player. In doing this, I do actually press on the scroll wheel (which in return does nothing in of itself), but at the same time, my press has also ALWAYS worked the intended button properly the very first try! My hands aren't small, and not large either, but typically sized for a 180lb 5'11 man. I also do not have to apply an enormous amount of pressure either, just a slightly firmer press than I would typically use with other small players is all it really needed.

So in my experience with this player the button pressing problem was just a matter of finding the proper technique more than it was a huge design flaw of the player itself ... as always, YMMV!

All-in-all, a great little player at very good prices, and definitely an acceptable alternative to the Ipod IMO. I can easily recommend people give this player a chance.

I read in a review that the record button is in some odd place where you can easily press it. Is this true? I think it was Maximum PC where I read the review - they didnt like it.

#9, yes, the record button is on the side and sometimes can be accidently pressed...I guess its not totally bad because you have the option of not saving recordings, but it wastes a good 10-20 secs to where you were.


This player isn't bad, but isn't great either. I seem to have the problem powering it on, as it sometimes just boots up with a blank screen. Have to turn it off by holding the power button 10 secs and retrying until it boots with a screen.

player is good overall. just some set backs when it comes to categorize your music. best way is to do it throught window media player. Go add the song u want to WMP. then right click and click on tag editor. you should be set.

This player is OK I guess except the screen stopped working after two months. The warranty works well though, they are sipping me a replacement. I also have couple of iPods and although they are a little more expensive I think they are a better value over all.

I like this player, but I have a few gripes:
1) Yahoo music engine is sketchy with this. I returned my first Sansa because the music was on the player, but would not play the songs. Also, I had to connect to YME often to recertify my songs I DL'd. Maybe it's the YME that sucks.
2) Fast Foward can be a pain in the butt.
3) Radio station selection - you would think hitting the left/right arrows would change the stations, it doesn't.

I took a chance and plugged the USB charger cable into my wife's phone USB wall charger and it worked like a champ (BIG green charging battery on the screen). When I was on vacation, I was able to charge it without using a laptop.

#13 said: "3) Radio station selection - you would think hitting the left/right arrows would change the stations, it doesn't."

Not sure what the gripe is about changing stations unless you are actually griping that the arrows cannot control the direction of selecting your various preset stations; but that's because those left/right arrows are meant for digital fine tuning the radio stations by .1 each time and not jumping through presets!

You can jump through presets one at a time by pressing the center wheel button (which I'm sure you know), though I do agree it would be easier to jump between a couple close presets using the arrow buttons rather than cycle through all of the presets using the center button to get back to the previous preset station you had played.

Would be nice if they could use the center button in FM mode as a mode switch for the arrow button's use, rather than using it solely as a preset cycle button like it is now. If they used it as a switch instead, you could set the player to 2 modes when using the FM tuner. In mode 1, the arrow buttons would fine tune the stations digitally by the .1 they currently use, and in mode 2 the arrow buttons would function as forward & back tuning for your many preset stations. I would really like that change myself!

I agree that it is a great player. I've got the 4GB version.
My gripe is that you can't play music while it's connected via USB to charge.