CNET Editor's rating: 6.3 out of 10
Reviewed by
Jasmine France
Review date: 11/15/06
The good: The SanDisk Sansa c200 series player is an exceptional value, considering its assortment of features. It comes with a FM radio, a voice recorder, photo viewer, a built-in MicroSD slot for adding memory, and even a user-replaceable, rechargeable battery. Navigating menus is a breeze.
The bad: The menu interface is boring and screen quality subpar. Sound quality is far from impressive; there's no video support. The player uses a proprietary USB port. And, there's no 4GB version.
The bottom line: Thanks to its exceptional value and user-friendly features, the SanDisk Sansa c200 is an acceptable choice for youngsters and first-timers--but more sophisticated users would be better off shelling out a bit more for a better player.
Editors' note: The rating of this review has been updated to reflect the inclusion of album art support, a feature previously thought to be absent from this player.
SanDisk knows how to produce affordable MP3 players, which is probably why value-conscious music lovers have made Sansa the second most-popular device in the U.S. market (behind the Apple iPod). The company's latest release is the Sansa c200 series, successor to the c100. At $79 for the 1GB version and $99 for the 2GB version, the c200 is SanDisk's cheapest player series to date. However, although the player is easy to use and packed with features, it's not a high-quality device.
The physical design of the Sansa c200 is nothing special, but it works. It's almost identical to the c100, except controls (Fast-forward, Reverse, Play/Pause, Menu/Power, and a center Select key) are laid out in a square rather than a circle. The c200 measures 3.1x1.4x0.6 inches, so it's not the most compact device on the block, but it can fit in a pocket. Around the edges of the player you'll find a well-placed dedicated volume toggle, a microSD slot, a proprietary USB connector, a record button, a hold switch, and a standard headphone jack. The drab, 1.5-inch screen sits on the front of the c200, just left of the control pad.
The Sansa c200 has one of the simplest interfaces we've ever used, yet it's also extremely boring. Text font is uninspired and displayed on a dull blue background--we get depressed just looking at it. At least the top menu is icon-driven, with images representing various selections. You can also view photos (while listening to music) on the c200, but we don't recommend it: photo color appears washed-out. You can adjust the screen's brightness, but resolution and contrast is poor. The FM tuner, however, is pretty decent, and includes a recorder, an auto-scanner, and up to 20 (oddly unnumbered) presets. A pin hole microphone lets you record voice.
To transfer music to the Sansa c200, use the included USB cable to connect the player to either a Windows or Mac PC. Note that you'll need to first select the mode--MTP or MSC, respectively--in the settings menu. Mac users can simply use the drag-and-drop method in Finder to transfer artist or album folders to the player's music folder. Windows users have a choice of transfer methods: use drag-and-drop or a WMA jukebox such as Windows Media Player or Rhapsody. The Sansa c200 is compatible with MP3s and both protected and unprotected WMA files. The player supports playlists as well.
SanDisk isn't known for its stellar audio quality, and the c200 keeps up the tradition. Sound quality is fair to poor; music sounded flat, bass-deficient, and slightly tinny when listening with the included earbuds. Swapping in a set of Shure E4cs improved quality slightly, offering more on the low end, but songs still lacked warmth and depth. Most music sounded fairly hollow, although down-tempo, minimal rock (Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, for example), and dub music sounded passable to pretty good, depending on the track. The rechargeable battery, which is user-replaceable, is rated for an unexceptional (but acceptable) 15 hours; CNET Labs tests beat that rating by about an hour.
Intro:
The Sandisk Sansa C250 is a 2 GB, flash player.Compared to other flash MP3 players on the market, it is midpriced at around $100.
Noteworthy Features:
This unit comes with a radio tuner.An available microSD memory card slot allows even more storage.
Weaker Features:
None noted, given available product data.
Suitability:
A flash MP3 player, suited for bringing quite a few songs with you.Listen to your favorite local stations on this radio equipped player.
Value:
Overall, this MP3 player has great features for the money.
Suggestions:
If you don't totally love the headphones that came with your MP3 player, you might find aftermarket headphones that better suit your style.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Great MP3 Player for those who like it straightforward
The Sansa c250 is a great MP3 player for those who do not want (or need) all the little fancy (...
The Sansa c250 is a great MP3 player for those who do not want (or need) all the little fancy (and often unnecessary) little extras. If you are looking for something that is nice, compact, and plays music for you without any gimmicks, then this is the player to buy. There is no need to install any extra software that comes with it unless you really want to, since one can easily just drag and drop files between your own PC and it. Also, the sync feature in Windows Media Player seems to be a great way to move files between this and your PC, though I'd recommend using WMP11. It is a great value, and it is quite obvious why this is the second most popular MP3 player (second only to the iPod). While for some, 2GB may not be quite enough, this item is expandable with a compact SD drive bay. One thing that is nice that the battery is easily replaceable; so there is no need to send the item in for a simple battery replacement. In short, for those who want a more down-to-earth alternative to the iPod, this product is the way to go.
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by Chicago3K (see profile) -
December 25, 2006
9 out of 9 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 out of 10 - Excellent A very good player....!!
I was thinking of returning my newly purchased Sansa c250 after reading this editor's review. I'm glad I ...
I was thinking of returning my newly purchased Sansa c250 after reading this editor's review. I'm glad I listened to the player first. IT'S GREAT! I couldn't care less about pictures. I like the screen, menu system and controls and I can add capacity with micro sd cards. The sound is very good.
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by The_Truth! (see profile) -
December 3, 2006
7 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.
5 out of 10 - Average pretty good...
Well, I really liked it when I first got it. I got it cause it was cheap, and the background ...
Well, I really liked it when I first got it. I got it cause it was cheap, and the background is color, unlike all blue and black like my old mp3 player. The sound was ok I guess, but my headphones seemed to break a lot(probably my fault, my cat likes to chew on things.) So yeah, everything was good and stuff. Then like 1 day after the warranty expired(60 days for me I think), it kept freezing. Then eventually that escalated to it not playing the sound through one of the head phones. I checked the headphones, and they were working fine. I even tried different headphones in it. Then eventually, it stopped playing sound alltogether. It would just show the song and show that it was playing but there was no sound. So yeah, I was pretty ticked off and thought it was just a problem with mine so I didn't really worry about it. Well, 3 of my friends who also bought it, had the same exact problem, all of those problems started after the warranty also, which is pretty weird. And some of my other friends who bought other Sansa mp3 players had problems with theirs too, which kind of makes me wonder if sansa makes crappy items. All in all it's a pretty good player until after the warranty. So if you wanna risk spending $70, go right ahead...I probably wouldn't recommend this to another friend.
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by jayaretwo (see profile) -
May 26, 2007
9 out of 10 - Spectacular The CNET Review is Wrong
This MP3 Player has everything. The menu system allows you to go straight to the song you want to listen ...
This MP3 Player has everything. The menu system allows you to go straight to the song you want to listen to. It has a sleep feature which is extremely handy for those that like to go to sleep listening to music. The sound is great, and it even gives you the ability to do your own Custom Equalizer Settings which is the key to get the best sound from it. It plays FM Radio with presets, and you can even record off of the radio, which is cool. It does playlists.. plus, you can build a playlist right there on the MP3 Player itself. This thing does it all. Battery life is pretty darn good. It will rarely die on you. I just bought another 1GB for it for $30 right off the Kingston website. I love this thing!!! The menus are perfect for getting you where you want to go.
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by markhoward02 (see profile) -
January 18, 2007
5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Great 2nd mp3 player
Since my 40g ipod decided to kick the bucket and I have to get it repaired I was in need ...
Since my 40g ipod decided to kick the bucket and I have to get it repaired I was in need of a new mp3 player, esp since I do a lot of running and it is much easier to lug than a CD player.
Yesterday my fiance' got me this for christmas and I have spent the better part of this morning (with her in bed) adding songs to this, testing the sound quality and enjoying it.
I don't buy the editor's review of poor sound quality. I mean it isn't the Bose Wave system, but what do you expect from an mp3 player?
The nice thing about a smaller capacity player is that I actually can customize playlists for my daily tastes instead of my library of 7000 songs on my ipod which will shuffle and I sometimes have to skip 10 songs ahead, depending on my moods... not everyone is like me, but those that have varied musical tastes which can shift daily appreciate that.
The editor complained about the blue screen and the font, I say who cares. I am in this for music, ease of loading and portability issues, and this player does it all beautifully. If I wanted to look at a screen and a font, I would stay at home on my PC instead of being active with my player.
The only downside is the weight and material it is made out of. Being that it is real light and almost all plastic, I feel that if it is dropped it won't last too long. Hence, why tomorrow I will be buying an arm band for this badboy. If that is my only complaint, then oh well.
In closing... although, IMO, the ipod is the creme de la crop of mp3 players, the sansa c250 is definitely a winner and even when my ipod gets repaired I will use this for running, lifting and other activities that don't require me to have 40 gigs of music at my fingertips.
2 out of 10 - Terrible So far the cons outweigh the pros
I am not a child, but I am a beginning user and this is not a good player for a ...
I am not a child, but I am a beginning user and this is not a good player for a beginner.
First, the 16-page user's guide is terrible. It does not tell me that I recharge the batttery by plugging the player into the USB port of my computer; it does not tell me how to create play lists; it does not tell me how to get the player to play only the songs on the GoList. (My player plays ALL of the songs in the song list, in a continuing loop.) The user's guide does not define terms, which is basically the same for a new user as writing the guide in a foreign language. Some information is available on the Sansa web page in the form of videos, but it is harder to use in the video form than it would be in a well-designed and complete user's guide.
The player comes with five pre-recorded songs. These songs are not deletable. There is no delete function in the menus, and the songs do not appear in the music folder in my desktop, even when the folder and all of its subfolders and files have been unhidden. These songs, which I am finding increasingly unpleasant to listen to, play whenever I select anything to play. I am a classical music person. Poulenc's "Gloria" is NOT improved by a following movement of reggae/rap fusion. Frankly, I think this alone should merit a full refund. If I have to listen to these selections, then I do not have a personal music recording and playback device. The whole point of this is to be able to hear my own selections.
Other than classical music, I want to download audiobooks from my local library and listen to them while exercising. If this player has a stop/resume function, I haven't found it. Reading the user's forums on the web, others have not found it either. When you read a book, do you go back to the beginning of the book, or even the beginning of the last chapter and re-read, every time you pick the book up? So why would you do it with an audio book?
I am really unhappy with this player, and If I can't find a way to delete those pre-recorded songs and resume an audiobook where I stopped, then this MP3 player is a waste of money.
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by lbch (see profile) -
December 29, 2006
9 out of 10 - Spectacular "All that and a bag of chips"
When comparing with other mp3 players this one came out on top overall by a respectable margin, it not only ...
When comparing with other mp3 players this one came out on top overall by a respectable margin, it not only looks good it feels good in the palm of my hands and I had no problem downloading pics and music from my laptop. I'll be trying video soon. An alarm would have been nice too. Cool blue dial light. I even bought one for my nephew who is an ipod lover, this is an ipod nano killer and some....
scjr Atl
Updated ....less I forget that you can add more musiq and photos with the micro sd card slot, you can't beat that with a baseball bat! I consider it a must on any mp3 player, does yours have one? You can use it interchangeably with a sd card adapter with your pc/laptop/dvd player w/memory card slots, pda's and the list goes on.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular NICE Mp3 Player with FM Radio(radio and voice recorder) and Pictures load with his own software.
I think it's hard to compete with this excellent product because of the price and the quality of the ...
I think it's hard to compete with this excellent product because of the price and the quality of the product delivery(2 GB). For a second mp3 player in my life I think it's a good deal. I was scared of the sound volume and quality when I took a look at the review of other people. But when I listen to it I can't even put the volume at Maximum because it's too loud. And for the sound quality it's excellent. For a mp3 @ 128kbps I find it even better than Cd quality. They provide me with nice earphone and the little outlet to put it around your neck so you can bring it all around. We have to use Windows Media Player 10 and more to put the music in the Sansa so if you are as me and you didn't classify your mp3 TAG by artist & album, it will be rough to synchronize every files as you wish in the order that you would like to have it.
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by sunsource (see profile) -
December 7, 2006
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
5 out of 10 - Average you get what you see
i got one of these in Dec and i kinda regret getting one cause of the poor quality of pictures ...
i got one of these in Dec and i kinda regret getting one cause of the poor quality of pictures and no video support. this i recommend to people that want a cheap one and want pics to show to family and friends.... if you want a really good one go for a San Disk e200 Series they have HIGHER GB and support video
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by davmcn (see profile) -
January 21, 2007
2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 out of 10 - Perfect A very good mp3/wma player
(upgraded from the c100..got tired of buying batteries) the player does just what its suppose too, play music and ...
(upgraded from the c100..got tired of buying batteries) the player does just what its suppose too, play music and it does it quite well, the included ear buds deliver sound clear and crisp. the display informs of music info artist, album, track, and will scroll if any are too long. cnet reviewer is whining about no video and at the same time comparing to the ipod, atleast try comparing it to a nano(prior to new model)...anyway the this is a good player, it works well w/ both realplayer and windows media w/ out having any changes to the settings i personally use Media Monkey(not the recommend media player) the only thing w/ that is if you select a song on the sansa to be removed at the next snyc it doesnt...plus w/ my collection when i sync i remove everything of the player before adding content, this way i get to hear stuff i havent heard in a while, rather then carrying my entire library w/ me and still not hearing songs even on random.
cnet review also complained about the lack of bass and such things, i personally never like the presets of any eq on any audio device, there a several eq settings(rock, classical, pop, etc..) and you can customize your own and it will stick, until you format the device....
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by retroblu (see profile) -
January 10, 2008
Manufacturer: SanDisk Corp. Specs: Digital player / radio, 1 GB, MP3, WAV, WMA, Protected WMA (DRM), 1 x Lithium ion Rechargeable Player batteryInternal
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