I’ve been an iPod user since the Generation 1 click wheel, but I took notice when Amazon sliced the price in half on the SanDisk SDMX4-6144 Sansa e270 6 GB MP3 from $300 to $149.
We last noted the price cuts in iPods back in February
If you ignore the iPod’s design, styling and cool factor — which is a large part of their appeal (at least to me) — then on a per gig basis, the Sansa 2 gb is a good deal for the smaller mp3 players (I’m sticking with the iPod)
MP3 Players
| Sansa | ||
| Size | Price | $/GB |
| 6 gig | $149 | $24.83/gig |
| 2 gig | $99 | $49.50/gig |
| iPod | ||
| gig | $142.49 | $71.25/gig |
| 4 gig | $189.99 | $47.50/gig |
60 gig |
$269.99 | $4.50/gig |
80 gig |
$329.99 | $4.12/gig |
XXX
I have an e250 and I don’t care for it much. The first one had a left channel that would stop playing for no reason. Advancing to the next song would bring it back. It also froze up quite a bit when connecting/disconnecting the USB cable.
I have a new one that seems OK, but they didn’t fix the EQ. Boost the either of the lower two bands more than 3db or so and you’ll overdrive the audio circuit and induce clipping, even at low volumes.
They also revised the thumbwheel and made it quite difficult to spin compared to the older unit. On the other hand, the buttons have a more tactile feel.
Overall, I give it 2 out of 5. The price was good (one star) and the audio is pretty clean (second star).
DUDE!!! – The SanDisk is really $99 – this blows away the Ipod and you now need to update that cool table – does this change your analysis?
Maybe this is why the market is starting to discount AAPL.
While the iPod is still dominant and a great product, the “fad” premium is starting to wane. And the product itself is starting to be commoditized as other MP3 players are starting to come close to its design.
This is what I get when I talk to other iPodsters. I no longer hear about iPod talk as much as I hear about them talking about other MP3 products. While they are still using the iPod and aren’t about to rush out and buy other MP3 players, it does finally speak volumes about the maturity of the iPod.
i had a 4 gig Sansa for 2 days ( i much prefer my ipod video at this point)
If the Voice/FM radio recording features on the Sansa had been hi-quality stereo I’d have kept it…..
The “all-in-one” gadget is not that far off…
My LG VX-9800 phone from Verizon wants to be that “all-in-one” device. As a music player, it had a nice interface and poor sound quality. Poor enough that I used it as an MP3 player for all of two minutes before I gave away the MiniSD card which I had installed for the express purpose of music storage.
Give me that phone with a better browser, Plays For Sure compatibility, and an audio section designed by people who give a crap about audio, and I’m all over it.
i can’t stand the IPOD, its an over priced music player. i really don’t like the apple snob factor. look, the other device that is 1/2 the price does the same exact thing. they probably come out of the same factory in china. just from the pics that are posted here look at the scrren of the ipod and the sandisk model the sandisk model looks much better. but anyway, i would think the next gen cell phones will put a big dent in the MP3 market. check out the black jack from cingular it has the capacity for a couple gigs of storafe, mp3, email device and a little slower than road runner speeds if you are in a good 3G area. death to IPOD !
“Death to Ipod! Long live the Iphone!!!”
To be an ipod killer, all the wannabees need to focus on ONE thing…..Quality.
Quality and GUI…..OK, the TWO things the challengers need to focus on, quality, gui, feature set and price…..
Those FOUR things will ultimately prevail.
Seriously though-Quality. Make each feature work as well as the next.
i.e. If you have great sound and shitty video then it’s still JUST an mp3 player. Capiche’?
ive had an ipod and sansa sansa blows ipod away ipod is gay very gay
This is a great player. I got it after I read the review at http://thesansa.com. I love it because of all its wonderful features and its price! Highly recommended for everyone!
ipod is practical and is expensive for 1 reason IT IS BETTER
u guys who hate ipods r dising it cause it is better than ur mp3 or whatever it is than dont meet the ipod standards
sansa rock they got all the fetures that you could want and its easy to use and you dont need itunes and on the nano you cant play videos
Interesting… Apple has once again tried to conquer the world with non-standard, copyrighted equipment. If you want to connect a radio transmitter or other headphones, better buy iStuff, no standardized products will work. It’s a new Mac, isn’t it?
I prefer sansa, mostly because of this.
The sansa is better than the ipod nano But not the video because thats unfair for a flash to take on a hard drive. The ipod nano is the ugliest piece of crap ever. People are only buying them because there friends have them and they think there cool. The sansa has video, pics, radio, and voice recorder. nano has Only Music music.
P.S Itunes sucks use windows media player 11 its alot simpler (or Media center Samething)
man I just hate the iPod nano it sucks really
its just crap u get all the features of the nano plus video in the e200 series for almost half the price and also it has a bigger screen
then y buy the nano just because ur friends have it??
i think its very impressive i give it 4.5 out of five the -0.5 because i heard it freezes sometimes
ANYTHING is better than an ipod…. Im going to buy a sansa after reading hundreds of awesome reviews for the 8 gb sansa from fellow ipod haters… the only reason most people buy ipods is because they’re well advertised and no one knows about sansas etc. ipods WERE really the first ‘cool’ mp3 players but that has changed now… move into 07 people… down with the reign of the evil ipod!
I was thinking about getting the Nano but I herd about the Sana. A 2GB Nano is around $150. A 8GB Sansa is about $170! Plus the Sansa has a bigger screen, views photos, plays radio, voice recorder, and plays videos! What does the Nano do? JUST MUSIC!! The only reason why people buy ipods is because they think they are kool because their friend has one. Get the Sansa, it does way more and has 4 times the memory for about $20 more!
Ipod and Sansas are cool, but got their problems.
Ipod : The center wheel gets a little dizzy with time. It will bring you to the wrong selection you wanted to, it’ll pass it. Same thing with the sound, it’ll jump to “too hight” or to “too low”. Very anoying.
Sansas : Got problems with the volume button, it got stuck. And the sounds vs an Ipod is not the same. The headset given with the sansas didnt have the same bass booster than the iPod.
Finnaly I kept the Ipod because of it’s weight and it’s great screen quality, and most of all, of its great sound. It’s up to you!
dude, my dad worked at radio shack and he said that ipods use the exact same technology as ipods. just because ipods are brand name doesent make them any better. and the price for ipods is tottally ridiculous. im gettin a sansa, it has everything the ipod has and more. plus, the ipods do look kinda stupid.
Sansa is the best! It costs less than the Ipod “nano”, It also has twice as big as a screen, play photos AND VIDEO, plus has more memory and FM tuner and voice recorder! Compared to the Ipod nano, the nano’s a peice of overpriced junk!
GO OC FLIPTRACK!!! THE Ipod STINKS!!!
i can’t stand the IPOD, its an over priced music player. i really don’t like the apple snob factor. look, the other device that is 1/2 the price does the same exact thing. they probably come out of the same factory in china. just from the pics that are posted here look at the scrren of the ipod and the sandisk model the sandisk model looks much better. but anyway, i would think the next gen cell phones will put a big dent in the MP3 market. check out the black jack from cingular it has the capacity for a couple gigs of storafe, mp3, email device and a little slower than road runner speeds if you are in a good 3G area. death to IPOD !
booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo IPOD SUCKS THEY CAN SUCK MY ****
ipod is overrated. it has its own problems just like anything else.
i prefer sansa to ipod because:
1. price- you get so much more with sansa than ipod because you pay so much for the “ipod” name when it isnt worth any more than sansa
2. ease of use- its easier to download songs onto the sansa, and the buttons are easier to use than the ipod thing. (i do like the look of the ipod scrolling thing, but it doesnt respond as well after a while.)
3. features- so much more comes with the sansa without noticeable lowering of quality
but the sansa has its problems:
the headphones. the ones ipod comes with are better. but that can be fixed, just get some better headphones and you’re good.
the voice recorder/fm recorder- its cool that it has it, but the quality isnt awesome.
if they fix those 2 things, they got a real kickass player
i think sansas are class a. at christmas i was looking around at nanos but then i saw the sansa e280 which is 8gb for exactly the same price as a 4gb nano. i thought agaist getting the nano and got the e280 which i later realised had video play back. i was well happy…overall i would give it a 4/5 just because the headphones were cheap and also its got very beat up very quick but that just be me :]. i am very happy with it and would recomend to ANYONE(plus you dont have to go through stupid programs to put songs on like itunes which is always freezing)
Sansa is way better. I can watch videos, which the Ipod Nano/Shuffle can’t do, and I can record even on the radio, which the Ipod can’t do, it has a good scroll wheel, and I got a 2 gig for 99 bones, compared to the Ipod’s 130 for a 2 gig, and the Sansa has more capablities. I never had a problem with mine, it works fine. I suggest going with the Sansa E200, it’s great and cheap, and I was even able to put almost any video on it, and I was able to put my beats on there(Yes I make beats for diffrent artist, link it) Holla At Ya Boi.
I own a Sansa e250. I love it. After a few trials and tribulations I figured out some ground rules.
1. UPDATE THE FREAKIN DRIVERS. I couldn’t upload songs because the driver for the MTP mode was outdated.
2. DO NOT put the player on an Ipod stand. The scrollwheel actually started smoking! The screen turned bright blue! I had to return it for another one! Although it did fit nicely…
3. ALWAYS use the included neck strap. Rock music + rainstorm = BAD DAY! The scrollwheel is STILL crusty! It still works great though.
Either way, you can pay $150 for 6 gig or 1 gig. I love my 2 gig Sansa. Videos are great, you can transfer music with ANY program. Only problems (Other than the above ones) is the screen practically screams, “Scratch me! Smudge me! Oh yeah!”, the Sansa Media Converter soaks memory likea sponge, and 2 of the three screws on the back fell out. Other than than, it is GREAT.
i got my sansa about 5 months ago and i have also had an ipod nano, yup the sansa e260 wins…lol…video is awesome i actually put talladega nights on it which is a kick ass movie/////
The Sansa e200 is the best. it is so much better than the ipod nano because it can play videos, show pics, record, play the radio, and most importantly play music. It is even cheaper than a nano and you get more. Dont get a ipod people just get because of the name. dont be stupid so get a Sansa e200
GO SANSA E200!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m a ex_nano user, new Sansa user.
Nano only does songs and pictures on a tiny screen.
Sansa does music and pictures on a half-decent screen.
-plays videos
-plays radio
-records off the radio
-records voice(make notes on the spot)
-has an equalizer for bass and treble
-replaceable battery(don’t pay apple $100 to change your battery, do it yourself)
-GUI has nicer graphics as opposed to Nano’s white screen
-turn table is more accurate than Nano’s scroll wheel
-Drop and drag music on and off. Want to play your music off a computer on campus or at work? Too bad Nano users, you need iTunes, tough luck.
-Sansa costs anywhere between %20-%30 less than the Nano
-Best reason of all…
you don’t look like an iSheep for buy it to fit in.
Sansa has so much more than the Nano I forgot stuff, hahaha
-It’s expandable, your already paying $250 for your 4Gig Nano, you can buy a 6Gig Sansa for $190 and add 2Gig later on for $40 and get 8Gigs for $230…still less than Nano but twice as much memory.
im sure ipod is a little better but i just hate apple that’s all. besides i got my sansa 4gb for 129 dollars, not even from ebay but from futureshop…
the only reason i went with the sansa vs the nano is the expandable storage. iPod’s got nothing on Sansa because Sandisk is primarily a memory card company, thus the cool feature of having several memory cards with different libraries.
plus the FM tuner.
i own a sansa c240 1GB
what i like about sansa is that it has an fm player and voice recorder. also because it has an expansion slot that i can fit a 4GB microSD into. Ipod doesn’t have any of these features. that’s what i hate about it.
Thanks to all those Dudes Hating iPod .
Well i was one of the iPod hater a while ago .
First of all its iPod not IPOD or ipod.
Secondly I used to have a Creative muvo tx Fm earlier (i must admit here that its the toughest player that i kno . I mean i ve dropped it a million times . I have even dragged it scratching it on the road when it popped out of my hands while riding a bike). But i wud admit its Sound quality is not even close to a Shuffle .
Also I think arguing that any X Mp3 player is better than iPod is like arguing Like those Mac die hard fans who say its better than windows . How many iPod have sold ??100 million units actually .
Its means that it must have Had something to make it this Big .
I certainly dont mean that Sansa may not be a good player or any other player may not be feature Rich than iPod .
But i think any other player has to test time to topple iPod .. Till then its Hail iPod
to ipod terminator
There is so much sophism inside your post that it gave me headache
I personally enjoy using a Sansa more, but i can’t really say that either one is better, it’s all about personal preference. Many people find the moving scroll wheel on the Sansa annoying–I find it more reassuring than a bunch of sensors that imitate a moving wheel, but again, that’s just me. Then there’s the screen size of the sansa, the replaceable battery, the fm/am radio, sturdier design…but it’s all preference. I forgot price? Price is a major factor too.
The iPod has too many limitations.
iPod Nano:
BATTERY NOT USER REPLACEABLE
no FM tuner
no built in microphone
no recording function
no EQ (only presets rock/jazz ect)
no option for memory expansion
only uses iTunes to transfer from computer
you must keep all of your music ect on your computer
not drag and drop compatible
will not work with any music subscription service.
Sansa:
USER REPLACEABLE BATTERY
FM tuner
built in microphone
five band EQ
memory expansion slot
drag and drop compatible
works with several music subscription services.
The user replaceable battery and real equalizer alone make the Sansa the better choice hands down IMHO.
Why would anyone buy anything electronic that they couldn’t replace the battery in themselves? $100 to replace a battery?! That is nothing short of one of the biggest scams of all time.
I’m considering either a SanDisk or iPod. I have an amplifier & pre-amp and huge Klipsch speakers. I want to connect a player using RCA jacks on one end to the pre-amp & a mini-jack into the player. My only interest is music & I dont plan to use head phones. The player is only a source for my music. I used to connect my laptop computer to my stereo equipment. I’m more interested in quality of sound than cost. Can you please tell me which is the best?
So….. i’m about to buy a Sansa e 280 8GB for $140 USD.
Is it worth it?
Can I put my limewire music in it without problem?
Pat Scarlett:
I’d go with the Sansa w/ rockbox installed.
I see you are into premium sound, so to be honest with you I think you will more then likely be disappointed with the quality of any compressed digital audio no matter what player you use. All of the compressed formats leave a lot to be desired when run though a quality audio system…however uncompressed files are just fine.
Airplanek8:
Yes. You can put your limewire files into it without any problem.
Pat Scarlett:
I’d go with the Sansa w/ rockbox installed.
I see you are into premium sound, so to be honest with you I think you will more then likely be disappointed with the quality of any compressed digital audio no matter what player you use. All of the compressed formats leave a lot to be desired when run though a quality audio system…however uncompressed files are just fine.
Airplanek8:
Yes. You can put your limewire files into it without any problem.
Hey! Whether you rather Sansa or Ipod, read this!
I’ve always hated Apple. It’s just a company that I’ve never mixed with to this day. So right away I rejected the iPod and looked at other products. I finally did the research and decided the Sansa 8 gig was nice. I bought that. Now I liked it because of all it’s features. But there were somethings they didn’t mention in the review…
Later that year my Sansa was stolen. Just a couple months ago I got a iPod Nano 3rd Gen. And holy crap I’ve never seen such a big improvement over two small objects.
The iPod 8 gig was WAY better than the Sansa. Sure, by reviews you think iPod is dumb and the Sansa has more features, but consider this:
On Sansa, it takes about 5 minutes to sync a couple albums. On iPod, a couple seconds. (I couldn’t believe how fast I could move a gigabyte of music onto the iPod.)
On Sansa, you can fit about 4 hours of video. Which is very low amount for the eight gigabytes. On iPod I have 22 episodes of the Simpson’s, a couple movies, and about 10 music videos. It makes 11 hours and only 2.95 gigabytes. Like holy crap if you want some video GET THE IPOD!
Next the radio feature, is actually quite boring when you could spend 5 bucks, or get one of those Nano attachments.
TV out is so much cheaper and easier on the iPod.
It’s a lot easier to organize and sync music movies, etc. on the iPod than on the Sansa.
Pictures: On the iPod you just choose the folder where the pics are and iTunes does it for you, on the Sansa you need to use their slow converter.
And one more thing: It took about one minute to sync those 22 Simpson’s episodes…
So think of all of this, from an Apple HATER! I HATE Apple. But still, when it comes to quality and easiness (The accessories for the iPod are much cheaper, as well. You know it’s about 100 bucks for a little pack for your Sansa??) you should spend the extra 100 or so to get a much easier and smooth experience.
I hope this did change your decision. And I hope you do not get into the inconvenience of Sansa.
I got to say i have SanDisk mp3 player and it blows ipod away.
I have had the ipod’s ever since they came out. I don’t like that I have to use i tunes to load the music. With my new Sensa e250 that I just bought for $29.00usd from e cost I have to say I like the controls on the ipod better but overall the Sensa is better for me for the money. I can take files from wmp straight to the unit. Not with i pod. Shame on you ipod for trying to be so self minded.