Electronics Review: SanDisk Sansa Clip

I'm not much of a big spender when it comes to electronic gadgets (apart from PCs, that is). I've owned four MP3 players: a 128MB Creative Nomad MuVo, a 20GB Creative Jukebox Zen, a 4GB 2nd gen iPod Mini, and the subject of my scrutiny today: a 4GB SanDisk Sansa Clip.

This started as a quest for an MP3 player that I could use while riding my motorcycle. My Jukebox Zen is far too bulky, and the iPod's touch-sensitive scroll makes it impossible to operate with gloves. The Nomad MuVo is a bit easier to deal with, but it has a pitiful storage capacity and tiny buttons.

After doing extensive research on Amazon, I selected the SanDisk Sansa Clip because of the following features:

Storage: I wanted a player capable of holding a long weekend's worth of music. 2GB was my lower limit.

Size: I didn't want a bulky player, nor did I want a minuscule player with tiny buttons, like the iPod Nano. The Sansa is quite tiny, about the size of your average keyless entry fob, but just big enough that it won't get lost in a pocket.

Controls: I need to be able to operate the player with gloves on. My mesh armor gloves won't be a problem, but my deerskin gauntlets may present more of a challenge. The Sansa has tiny buttons, but they protrude from the player a bit, and the controls on the front face are shaped in such a way that they can be operated without looking at them.

Value: I did not want an expensive player, as there is always the risk of it getting wet or being dropped on the road. At approximately $50 on Amazon, I view the Sansa as a very good deal for a compact 4GB player, even when compared to other non-Apple players like the Creative Zen Stone.

Not an iPod: The Shuffle is far too small and lacks a screen, and the larger iPods' touch-sensitive scroll wheels can't be operated at all with gloved hands. Even worse, the controls mounted perfectly flush with the front surface, making them very difficult to operate without looking at the player. The fact that they can't be used as Mass Storage devices is inconvenient at best (don't get me started about iTunes), and they're much more expensive than any other brand.

Now on to the features of the player itself. First off, it's tiny. From the pictures on Amazon, it looks like a small device, but you don't appreciate how small it really is until you're holding it in your hand. It is about the size of your average keyless-entry transmitter. Even with its tiny size, the controls are easy to access and use, especially the volume controls and the center select/action button.

As the player's name implies, the "clip" is one of the defining features. The clip is mounted to the back of the device and held closed by a relatively strong spring. Perfect for clipping to a belt or a pocket, or to the wrist strap of a glove.

The front of the player is dominated by the control pad. At the center is a domed select/action button, surrounded by a ring-shaped directional pad, with a separate Menu button to the upper right. There is a volume up/down button on the right side of the casing, and a slider on the left for power and control hold.

Above the controls on the front is a tiny 1" screen, which displays information about the current track, an animated visualization, and the menu system. Despite its paltry size, the blue OLED screen provides perfect clarity and amazing contrast, and looks to be bright enough to read in all but the brightest direct sunlight.

The menu system is relatively simple and easy to navigate. The "Now Playing" screen has a central position in the menu, and is very easy to navigate to. Music is automatically arranged by artist and album, but it seems a bit picky about tag information - quite a few of the first batch of songs I transferred onto it ended up being performed by "Unknown" in the album "Unknown". It seems to dislike songs that only have IDv2 tags. Transferring files with WinAmp seems to help the situation immensely.

The included earbuds emit a flat, mediocre sound, but the foam pads are comfortable and do a decent job of deadening external noise. They should prove adequate when riding, where comfort and noise reduction trump sound quality, at least for me. It's always nice to hear music over the drone of the engine without having to crank the volume up to eardrum-abusing levels.

As far as construction goes, the plastic casing feels solid and has a high-quality feel. The clip feels relatively strong, and the spring feels stiff enough to clip the player securely to clothing.

The player requires no software to interface with a computer. It is set up for mass storage support by default, so it can be plugged into any PC with any operating system. It is also very easy to manage with WinAmp. An updating utility can be downloaded from www.sansa.com to automatically download firmware updates for the player.

My initial impression of the player is good.

Pros:
Good value
Compact, lightweight size
Large capacity
Bright, clear screen
Easy music management
Easy-to-use controls

Cons:
Mediocre earbuds
Poor tag support when dragging files to player
Mirror surface on front shows fingerprints

Overall score: 90%



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Now playing: Bad Religion - 1000 Memories
via FoxyTunes

A thousand memories, is all I take with me
Because your smile is just too much to see
You're just a thousand memories...