SanDisk Sansa Fuze 4 GB Video MP3 Player (Red) Review
The battery lasts all day at work, I love the FM radio feature, it lets me resume a podcast where I left off. The only real criticism I have is that I wish there was podcatching software that would work better with it. But I’m really picky, and that’s a fault of available software, not this player. It is well-made, easy to use, and with the Micro SD slot, you can add a ton of memory to it. I don’t know why people bother with lower-grade MP3 players when you can buy a reconditioned Fuze.
SanDisk Sansa Fuze 4 GB Video MP3 Player (Red) Feature
- Listen, watch, and play all day with 24 hours of battery life and room for up to 1,000 songs
- Watch your favorite video clips or share your photos on the 1.9-inch color screen
- Digital FM radio with 40 preset stations
- Voice recording with built-in microphone
- Expand your existing 4 GB memory with the microSD/microSDHC slot
With the SanDisk Sansa Fuze, you can fuse your portable entertainment, featuring 4 GB of storage. Listen, watch, and play all day with 24 hours of battery life and room for up to 1,000 songs**. Watch your favorite video clips on the Sansa Fuze’s 1.9-inch color screen. Measuring just 0.3 inches thin, the Sansa Fuze marks the next wave of music and video players.
Your portable music machine with 4 GB of storage. (Click image to view larger.) |
The MicroSD/SDHC memory card slot means storage possibilities are essentially unlimited. (Click image to view larger.) |
Smaller than a credit card and as thin as a pencil, the new Sansa Fuze MP3 player looks great–and has the brains to match. (Black player shown here; click image to view larger.) |
Audio Player
Smaller than a credit card and as thin as a pencil, the new Sansa Fuze MP3 player looks great–and has the brains to match. With room for up to 1,000 songs**, you can listen all day long. Jam to FM radio with 40 preset stations, play with the built-in voice recorder, and listen to your favorite audiobooks wherever you go. And with 24 hours of battery life, you’re free to listen, watch, and play all day–literally.
Watch Your Favorite Videos
The Sansa Fuze comes with 4 GB of built-in memory enough to store 12-hour video playback segments. Watch your favorite video clips from wherever you are. To ensure speedy file transfers, the unit features a USB 2.0 connection. Simply connect the player to a PC, and start dragging files from your Windows Media Player 10 or 11 applications.
Expanded Capacity
With an option to extend the capacity, its MicroSD/SDHC memory card slot means storage possibilities are essentially unlimited. Expand your music collection, show albums of photos with up to 2,000 images**, and watch your favorite videos on those long trips.
Compatible Formats
The player supports MPEG4 video files and audio files saved in MP3, secure and unsecured WMA, WAV, Audible, and Overdrive file formats.
FM Radio
If you’re feeling like a break from your own tunes, or want to dial in the TV frequency at the gym, use the digital FM tuner. Save your favorites on the 40 user presets.
Voice Recorder
Use the voice recorder with built-in microphone to take memos, record meetings or lectures, or capture whatever else you might feel inclined to point a microphone at. When you’re ready, transfer your files for listening on your PC.
What’s in the Box
SanDisk Sansa Fuze 4 GB MP3 player (red), earphones, USB 2.0 cable, quick start guide
* 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes; some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions; thus, it is not available for data storage
** Based on continuous audio playback at 128 kpbs MP3; video playback at 512 kbps/ MPEG 4; photos based on 1.7 MB average file size; battery life and performance might vary depending upon usage and settings; battery not replaceable.
Customer Reviews
Incompatible with WinXP – S. Shelton – USA
Cons:
* Incompatible with Windows XP. When connected a WinXP system you’ll get error bubbles telling you of a failure of a mass storage device and that an unsupported device was installed. Prior Sansa devices managed to be truly plug-n-play compatible with XP, so why not this one? I know XP is old, but people still have it due to Vista being its replacement.
* Uses a nonstandard input jack that requires a special USB cable. If one end of the cable is a full-size USB cable then there’s no reason the other side can’t be a standard mini-USB port. Forcing users to use propreitary cables like guarantees the user will either lose the cable or will try to connect it to a computer when the cable is not available.
* Sandisk provides poor customer support. The tech on the other end of my online chat ended the conversation after about 4 minutes of silence on my part because an important call came through. As I was typing a message to wait a second he killed the connection. I’m sure he was monitoring multiple windows, so why’d he have to shut me down? After that I called support but I didn’t have the time to go through support. They offered to call back at a certain time but they did not call.
* The buttons and headphone jack aren’t positioned well when using the MP3 player while jogging. Some buttons are too easy to hit accidently, the headphone jack is in a bad spot.
* Like all Sandisk MP3 players, it turns on and plays music automatically when connected to a PC. Chances are if I’m connecting it to a PC I either want to charge the battery or change its contents: NOT listen to it!
Pros:
* Good sound quality
* Reverse shuffle memory. This is possibly the first device I’ve ever owned that keeps track of the songs it has played when in Randon/Shuffle mode. Most devices are lazy and will send you to a random track when hitting reverse, but the Fuze will actually send you to the previous track after clicking this button. I like this a lot.
* Large bright screen that shows plenty of information
* Easy to use menu (each generation of Sandisk MP3 players is always accompanied with improvements in this system)
* It would be a great MP3 player for users running computers with Windows Vista (and possibly Win7) and who don’t need to contact support.
Screws up after one month – Karla Whitsitt –
This little player is cute, but it has had multiple problems with freezing, or not being recognized by the computer. And now the wheel doesn’t work. Would not purchase this again.
sansa fuze – Eric S – MI USA
I purchased this as a gift for my son. I had one small question for tech support initially, which was answered promptly and thoroughly. The problem I had was my mistake and everything has worked great. Very good sound quality, great battery life, and ease of use. Windows XP recognizes it quickly, and the built in options menu is extensive if you like to mix, match and sort. I liked it so much, I have purchased one for myself. Really good deal for a compact all in one media player.
Sansa Rocks – MT2CO – CO
Product arrived quickly, in time for Christmas, daughter loves it. We have 3 Fuzes in our house, and 3 other SanDisk MP3 players. Have not had problems with any of them. We love their OS and the value. Why pay 2x or 3x for IPod?
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Feb 10, 2010 11:00:10
. Better than a 200+ iPoo’ed