Sandisk Sansa E100 MP3 Player (Sandisk Sansa E100 512 MB)

Member Name: dfisher

Product:	Sandisk Sansa E100 512 MB
Date:	15/09/06 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple to use, bargain price. Expandable memory.

Disadvantages: Poor battery life, average sound quality. Flimsy build

Initial Thoughts----

Quite plasticky and flimsy. Light and low profile so won't create a large bulge in pocket. No software for managing MP3 collections or for processing files etc. Free plastic carrying case, headphones with replacement rubber 'bungs' and a strap

Using it-------

First, the device runs on a single AAA battery that is supposed to last 16 hours on continuous play. With the one supplied by Sandisk it only lasted for 6 hours and my 900mah rechargeables only last for about the same period. So very poor on battery usage.

The controls are set up quite easily with play/pause, repeat and fast/reverse controls split up into quarters of a square. The plastic buttons give very little feedback and feel flimsy. Pressing a button activates the backlight which can be set to go off after 3secs, 5secs and upto 1min. The backlight is a snazzy blue colour and lights up the screen well, however, it doesn't stay on for the period you have defined it to stay on for. I set mine to 5secs but find it turns itself off after 2secs.

The screen is a black and white lcd screen and displays the track name, album, artist, time played and time remaining. If the name of the track is too long it scrolls along the screen on a continuous loop. The device does have an internal clock, but this unfortunatly isn't displayed on the screen for some unusual reason. There is a small battery meter split up into four segments and this is quite a reliable indication of what you have left in terms of power. Pressing the centre round button tells you the sample rate and frequency.

There is a jog dial to one side that enables you to scroll through menus of to adjust the volume. The jog wheel is responsive and works well. There is a menu button which doubles up as the power button if held down for 3secs. On the other side there is a key lock slider and this locks out all the keys, but if you press a button the backlight still comes on whcih can seriously drain your battery if the buttons are under constant usage ie. you sit on them.

There is an SD slot to one side and this enables cards of upto 2GB to be used to expand the internal memory. A small plastic bung is provided to cover the slot.

Headphones of the ipod style are provided and are the in-ear type. These are quite poor, lacking in bass and volume and in my opinion where far too big for my ears. They also come with replacement rubber plugs that can be changed to filter out background noise.

This device comes with an FM radio which is accessed via the menu button. Reception is excellent for such a small device and it uses less power in this mode than in Mp3 mode.

There is also a stopwatch feature, however as the buttons were rather unresponsive, this wouldn't make an accurate timer with regards to stopping the thing.

Favourite list can be made too and this is a two button job - so quick and simple.

Sleep mode is present and can be set up to 90mins and an automatic power off function is availble for you bedtime users.

Playback------------

There is certainly a lot of bass from this little device. Although in my opinion there was too much, however this can be toned down in the settings.

My major gripe was the lack of power. The thing never seemed to be loud enough, even at high volumes and at these settings the battery very quickly ran out. There is no stop button so once you start playing a track and skip on to the next it immediatly starts to play. I don't like this and would rather it completly stopped playing when you skipped onto a next track and only start when you press play.

Its a little slow fast forwarding during a track and this can be irritating if you are listening to a speaking book, especially if the chapters are long.

Transfer----

Works just like any other USB memory device. Select you file and drag and drop into the device's window. it connects via USB and a cable is provided in the package.

Offers----

I got mine in the US so the offers might be different. But it came with three free e-book downloads from audible.com and 10 free downloads from an mp3 site.

Overall----

Decent, but rather uninspiring piece of kit. Lack of volume and poor battery life let it down. Screen lacks detail. No bonus mp3 software. Sound quality OK but not excellent.

Make sure you buy a pack of high capacity rechargeables when you buy this device!

Summary: Bargain for first time user. Not for the connisseur or regular user.

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