By Adam Cochran
It is no secret that we are not big fans of the iPod. There is nothing wrong with the device itself, we just don't care much for the way committing to an iPod means committing to iTunes and other proprietary standards (oxymoron).
We love media players that do it all without forcing the user to change their music into different formats or go through long conversion processes to get the music or media onto the device.
The Sansa e200 series is shamelessly designed and marketed to compete with the iPod Nano. However, when it comes to features and construction, the Sansa e200 beats the Nano hands down.
Let's compare, shall we?
|
iPod Nano |
SanDisk e200 |
|
| Music format | MP3, WAV, M4A/AAC, Protected AAC, AIFF, Audible audiobook, and Apple Lossless audio file formats |
WMA, Protected WMA, MP3 |
| Construction | Composite | Composite, Titanium alloy (Back cover) |
| Expansion | None | Micro SD (currently up to 1GB) |
| Video | None (only on big iPod) | .mov format - must convert with included software |
| Photos | JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG | JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG |
| Software | iTunes | Anything except iTunes for music SanDisk Media Converter for photos & Videos |
| User Replaceable Battery |
No | Yes |
| Voice Recorder | No | Yes |
| FM Radio | No | Yes |
The iPod's strength is that it has been well marketed and adopted by millions. It is a great device, but it has many shortcomings. The e200's strengths are direct correlations to these shortcomings.
The best features of the e200 are its tough construction, beautiful screen, ease of use and great sound. I have reviewed several of SanDisk's previous models of audio players and while I have always liked them, they have never been that great when it comes to sound. The e200 shows that a lot of effort has been put into improving the weak and bass-less sound of the early devices.
Construction is another area where the Sansa e200 excels. It is solid. The front is glossy composite and the back is Titanium alloy from Liquidmetal® Technologies that is stronger than steel and highly resistant to scratches and wear. It does add some weight, but it is a solid feel.
I also love having hard buttons. Many other similar devices are now copying the iPod with the use of touchpad controls. I don't trust touchpads. I like to feel the buttons. At the center (see photo) is a ring that lights up. This ring is your volume control. It is a textured ridge that is easily spun to adjust the volume.
One funny thing I noticed in the documentation was also a direct answer to iPod complaints. Recently there were some articles and lawsuits concerning the high volume level of the iPod.
Apple released an update that lowered the dB level of the iPod and many iPod users weren't happy. The e200 comes with a bright yellow document that addresses this issue. Essentially, it says, don't turn this thing up all the way unless you want to risk damaging your hearing. SanDisk leaves it to the user to decide whether they want hearing loss in their later years.
SanDisk also addresses another huge complaint about iPods by adding the ability to change the battery. Although it takes a special battery and changing it requires you to remove the back with four screws, replacing the battery does not void the warranty.
The e200 also has an expansion slot for a Micro SD card. These are tiny little cards that hold as much as a gigabyte (200+ songs). Photos and videos however can not be read from the card.
I have few complaints at all about the device. Sansa's only real weaknesses are based in its software choices and design.
In order to transfer videos or photos to the e200, you must use a very simple program called the Sansa Media Converter. The conversion software reformats and "compresses" images and video for the Sansa. The process works great for photos, but I hope that future firmware and software updates provide the ability to read or convert to other video formats.
To test the video feature, I took a 2 hour DVD and, through several steps not supported by the software in the box, I converted the movie into a 41MB WMV file. That's right, the entire movie in 41MB. I then took that video and converted and transferred it with the SanDisk software. The result was a 650MB collection of MOV files (an Apple Quicktime format). This was very disappointing.
If the Sansa would support the original WMV (a Windows Media Video) or any other high compression format, you could put as many as 200 hours of video on the device. As it is, you can only put on about 8 hours. True, there is not much need for a ton of video on such a small screen, but in terms of memory, one movie takes up a quarter of your space for music.
The SanDisk e200 series comes in three flavors (2,4 & 6 Gigs). It sounds great, looks great and has every feature you'd expect and a few you wouldn't. With a few software improvements, many could still be made, fans of similar devices would be hard pressed to find reasons not to switch.
No matter how you look at it, SanDisk has proved itself a major player in the MP3 player wars and I have found my new favorite portable media player. The positives far outweigh the negatives and I have no problem recommending the e200 series to anyone looking for a serious alternative to the Nano or any other device currently on the market.
| Castellini on Computers Rating (1-5 mics) |
 |
| Recommended Market: | Students, joggers, audio book fans, anyone stepping up from a smaller device |
| Approximate cost: | e250 (2GB) $179, e260 (4GB) $229, e270(6GB) $279 |
| Company and Web Site: | SanDisk [1] |
CLICK HERE TO BUY IT NOW!! [2]
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