RedWine
06-13-2007, 07:27 AM
For a $60 investment, you get to control your music, listen to and record FM radio, record your own voice, use an actual screen, and have the same amount of storage as an iPod shuffle—what's not to love?
Tiny and lightweight. Simple, attractive design. Bright screen. FM radio. FM and voice recorder. Super cheap.
Lousy earbuds. Battery life is so-so. No power adapter.
$57.00 - $64.00
Player Type: Flash MP3 Player
Radio: Yes
Recording, Voice: Yes
Recording, Line In: No
Audio Battery Life: 15 Hr
Screen Size: 1.1 inches
Storage Capacity: 1 GB
Dimensions: 3.09 x 0.99 x 0.64 inches
Weight: 0.068 75 lbs
Video Recording: No
Music Playback Formats: AAC, MP3, WAV, WMA, Protected WMA
There's not a whole lot to say about the Sansa Express, and that's the point. People shopping for cheap portable media players often default to the Apple iPod shuffle just because they've seen it in ads and, hey, it works with iTunes. SanDisk throws a monkeywrench into that simple process with its new Sansa Express.
Although it costs less, SanDisk's new 1GB player device boasts features that the shuffle can't match, such as an a OLED screen for menu navigation, a digital FM tuner, FM and voice recording, and upgradable storage capacity via a microSD expansion slot. If you are looking for the perfect cheap flash player for the gym or, perhaps, to give to the technophobe in your life, it doesn't get much simpler or affordable than this.
I really like the design of the 1.1-ounce Express. It's a 3-inch-long, half-inch-thick black rectangle with a silver-color plastic backing. The tiny 1.1-inch OLED screen shines through a translucent surface, displaying menu options and song information.
Also, the left side of the player houses a USB connector that can be covered by a removable cap. This means the player can plug directly into your PC without any cables, which is nice—it's pretty much a pocket USB drive that doubles as an MP3 player. The power button doubles as the menu button, and it's located next to the hold button on the top right-hand side of the player.
On the bottom right-hand side are the volume control buttons, and to the right of the screen, on the face of the player, sits a click wheel–esque set of buttons for play/pause, skip, and navigation. The headphone jack and expansion card slot are on the right-hand side.
The Voice section of the menu lets you make recordings via a built-in mic and is operated with the play/pause button. Pressing the center button on the control panel—the "enter" button—will save your recordings when you've finished.
A Settings screen offers to reset all settings, format your player, and tells you how much space is left in your flash memory. This is also where you can change EQ settings and customize the power-off, sleep, and screen-saver modes.
My battery test yielded a fairly modest life of 14 hours, playing a mix of MP3s and WMA on a continuous loop.
Tiny and lightweight. Simple, attractive design. Bright screen. FM radio. FM and voice recorder. Super cheap.
Lousy earbuds. Battery life is so-so. No power adapter.
$57.00 - $64.00
Player Type: Flash MP3 Player
Radio: Yes
Recording, Voice: Yes
Recording, Line In: No
Audio Battery Life: 15 Hr
Screen Size: 1.1 inches
Storage Capacity: 1 GB
Dimensions: 3.09 x 0.99 x 0.64 inches
Weight: 0.068 75 lbs
Video Recording: No
Music Playback Formats: AAC, MP3, WAV, WMA, Protected WMA
There's not a whole lot to say about the Sansa Express, and that's the point. People shopping for cheap portable media players often default to the Apple iPod shuffle just because they've seen it in ads and, hey, it works with iTunes. SanDisk throws a monkeywrench into that simple process with its new Sansa Express.
Although it costs less, SanDisk's new 1GB player device boasts features that the shuffle can't match, such as an a OLED screen for menu navigation, a digital FM tuner, FM and voice recording, and upgradable storage capacity via a microSD expansion slot. If you are looking for the perfect cheap flash player for the gym or, perhaps, to give to the technophobe in your life, it doesn't get much simpler or affordable than this.
I really like the design of the 1.1-ounce Express. It's a 3-inch-long, half-inch-thick black rectangle with a silver-color plastic backing. The tiny 1.1-inch OLED screen shines through a translucent surface, displaying menu options and song information.
Also, the left side of the player houses a USB connector that can be covered by a removable cap. This means the player can plug directly into your PC without any cables, which is nice—it's pretty much a pocket USB drive that doubles as an MP3 player. The power button doubles as the menu button, and it's located next to the hold button on the top right-hand side of the player.
On the bottom right-hand side are the volume control buttons, and to the right of the screen, on the face of the player, sits a click wheel–esque set of buttons for play/pause, skip, and navigation. The headphone jack and expansion card slot are on the right-hand side.
The Voice section of the menu lets you make recordings via a built-in mic and is operated with the play/pause button. Pressing the center button on the control panel—the "enter" button—will save your recordings when you've finished.
A Settings screen offers to reset all settings, format your player, and tells you how much space is left in your flash memory. This is also where you can change EQ settings and customize the power-off, sleep, and screen-saver modes.
My battery test yielded a fairly modest life of 14 hours, playing a mix of MP3s and WMA on a continuous loop.