SanDisk Sansa Express 1 GB MP3 Player (Black)

I bought the 1GB Sansa Express for my wife for Christmas. My wife wanted an mp3 player for the gym. The requirements were these: - had to be small and light with the ability to fit in a pocket - had to have an FM tuner for the video screens at the gym - had to be able to play a variety of audio formats without additional software I can say that the Sansa Express is just the ticket. You don't need any additional software other than what is already on Windows XP and Vista. The device is about as long as a USB jump drive, but a bit thicker. It plugs into any USB port, even the slower 1.0 USB ports (if you happen to have an older computer). When you plug it in, Windows recognizes the player without fuss. Now here is where most people get themselves into trouble. They just start dragging and dropping, not really understanding how the Sansa Express works. That's a sure way to lock the thing up and create frustrations. The first thing I did was let the device charge for 2 hours. At that point the battery meter indicated a full charge status. I then used the Sansa screen menu to "format" the device. Finally, I went to the Sansa website and got the latest firmware for the device. Firmware updates are incredibly easy, and the Sansa website has a forum with many beginner and advanced participants. A short read of the forums, and you'll learn some great tricks. In fact, I would say that reading the forums on the Sansa website will give you a much better understanding than the included manual, which is not that great. The sound quality on this device is astounding. Playback of a recording on the Sansa Express is audibly superior to that same recording on an iPod Nano 1st generation. You can also choose from some equalizer presets and even create your own custom equalizer setting. I showed my wife how to use Windows Media Player (already installed with Windows products) to one-click sync music to her new Sansa. Windows Media Player lets you create playlists and shuffle as you sync, and that's quite handy. FM reception is excellent and sound quality in that mode is also nice. All in all, the Sansa Express is a great media player. It supports many more formats than the iPod, manages power effectively, sounds great, and offers probably the best pricing of any media player on the market. If you need to add capacity later, you can always insert a micro SD card for even more capacity. Nice!

I like this mp3 player very much. I love the total plug & play (no drivers at all) and drag and drop operation. Battery life is very good, I have done 13 hours nonstop no problem. No cord to lose or carry. Sound quality is pretty good too. I picked up an extra 2gb micro sd card here on Amazon for $15 (get Sandisk, 3rd party cards won't work). The included headphones are actually better than the Sony earbuds I was using! The only things I don't like are pretty nit-picky... the usb cap looks like it could get lost easily. The FM tuner is pretty strong at home, but next to useless at work indoors... I expected as much. FM tuner operation can be a little slow until you have your presets set. But I love the option of the FM tuner for football, etc. Something oddball worth mentioning... I had to plug this player into my laptop to charge it up a little before my desktop computer would recognize it. Strange, but since then it's never been an issue. For the price this is an awesome product for those looking for a no-nonsense (non ipod) player. UPDATE January 2009 : I came across my old review and thought I would update it. The unit still works but has issues. It is no longer recognized on my primary PC. I plug it in and it lights up but will not sync or charge. I use a different computer and it works. The battery is erratic. Sometimes it will charge for hours and indicate it is fully charged, they when I went to listen to mp3's the battery died in 10 minutes. Nowadays if I get a couple of hours of playtime I'm happy (it used to get 8-10 hours). Also, the FM radio is junk if you are in a steel frame building, such as my office building. Doesn't pick a single station up in DFW. If I walk outside it works great. So it still works and I still use it, but I would not buy this one again.

I bought this product as an inexpensive and basic way to listen to mp3 music files at the gym and public radio on my daily communte to work by bus. It served those purposes. The sound was reasonable, but I wasn't expecting and didn't get concert quality playback for what I paid. But it was light-weight and flimsy. The controls were a bit awkward for me because of a combination of the device's flimsyness, the smallness of its control buttons, and my big fingers and heavy-handedness. It lasted several months before my frequent and probably too rough manipulation of the control buttons got them stuck, effectively rendering the devise useless. This product is probably good for somebody wanting a inexpensive basic player with a reasonable sound, and for whom light-weight, low-end plastic products are no problem to handle and take care off. It's drag-and-drop feature and the fact that it plugged directly into a USB port on my computer without a cable made it very easy to load and delete files. It's not for those who expect superior sound, many features or who, like me, tend to be rather rough on gagets.