SanDisk Sansa m260 (4GB, slate blue)
Manufacturer: SanDisk Corp. Part number: SDMX3-4096-A18
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Product series
- Accessories
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- With its many features as well as its compatibility with audiobooks and subscription-based music, the SanDisk Sansa m200 series is an overall great value.
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Where to buy
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CNET editors' review
SanDisk Sansa m260 (4GB, slate blue) price range: $199.00
- Reviewed by: James Kim
- Edited by: Jasmine France
- Reviewed on: 10/31/2005
- Updated on:11/04/2005
- Released on: 10/04/2005
The good: Available in up to 4GB capacity; solid value; includes FM tuner and voice recorder; compatible with WMA DRM 10 (Janus) and Audible files; decent controllers; on-the-go playlists.
The bad: Bulky (but lightweight); no line-in recording; poorly backlit display; only one quality option for voice recording.
The bottom line: With its many features as well as its compatibility with audiobooks and subscription-based music, the SanDisk Sansa m200 series is an overall great value.
At 3.1 by 1.7 by 1 inches, the SanDisk Sansa m200 isn't the sleekest flash player around, but it's feathery light at 1.3 ounces with a AAA battery installed. Though the buttons are made of cheap-looking plastic, and the body feels flimsy, the overall presentation is solid. The Sansa m200 series has an ergonomically correct shape that flares in; you want to clutch it so that your thumb is on top of the five-way player controls, which include an A/B-repeat button and a center Select key. These buttons are big and tactile. Holding the Sansa m200 horizontally, you'll find the dedicated volume and power/menu buttons on the top and the hold switch and built-in pinhole microphone on the bottom. The headphone and standard USB jacks appear on the m200's true topside. Bundled accessories include passable earbuds, a carrying case, an armband, a battery, a USB cable, and software.
The only noticeable difference between models is the color. The 512MB SanDisk Sansa m230 ($80) comes in blue, the 1GB Sansa m240 ($120) in silver, the 2GB m250 ($160) in black, and the big daddy 4GB m260 ($200) in slate blue. As you can see, list prices are extremely attractive, with the 4GB version costing less than the 4GB iPod Nano. Street prices will be even less. While the Nano is clearly more attractive and can display photos, it lacks the Sansa m200's FM tuner, subscription compatibility and voice recorder.
The m200 plays MP3, WMA, DRM WMA (including subscription-based music), and Audible file formats. The only major feature missing is line-in recording, and you can make voice recordings in only one mediocre quality setting. The FM tuner has 20 preset stations and an autoscan feature. You can browse the m200's music library by title, artist, album, genre, spoken word, and recordings, and it supports playlists as well as an on-the-go Favorites playlist of up to 30 songs. The main menu includes Play Music, FM Radio, Recorder, and Settings, and overall navigation is logical and easy, thanks in part to the big controller buttons. The blue-backlit LCD shows artist, song, and album info as well as file format, bit rate, and elapsed time, but the blue backlight could be a bit brighter and provide more contrast. We'd also like to see a bookmarking feature for audiobooks. You also get a stopwatch, though.
Sound quality is similar to that of past SanDisk players and definitely not the best we've heard, but most people will be satisfied. The equalizer settings (Pop, Classical, Jazz, Rock, and a custom five-band EQ) help shape the sound to your liking. The SanDisk Sansa m200 cooperates well with Windows Media Player 10 and subscription-based applications such as Napster To Go; it works without a hitch via drag and drop in Windows Explorer, even automatically organizing your files. Though there are other low-cost flash options for subscription services, the m200 series offers the best deal so far. Also, the m200 series shows up as a drive in Mac OS X. Battery life from a single AAA battery is rated for 19 hours, which is decent but not great for a flash player; remember to stock extra batteries. CNET Labs was able to coax only 18.5 hours out of the m200 series. Transfer time over USB 2.0 was on the poor side at 1.1MB per second.
User reviews
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Does Not Play Tracks In Order
by ryandv on December 28, 2005
Pros: The price is great, lots of storage space, voice recording, fm radio, subscription capability
Cons: Does not play tracks in the order they appear on albums, no usb cover, cheep feel to it.
Summary: The largest dissapointment I have with the unit is that it does not play tracks from albums in the proper order. Instead it plays them in alphabetical order. I prefer ...
Summary: The largest dissapointment I have with the unit is that it does not play tracks from albums in the proper order. Instead it plays them in alphabetical order. I prefer to listen to albums in the way artists created them.
I called Sandisk and was told to put the track number at the start song title to have them played in the correct order. Obviously that would be ALOT of work to do that for the over 1000 songs in my library.
Sandisk told me they were aware of the issue and that they were working on a firmware update.8 out of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
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The scroll wheel is dead! I DEFINITELY recommend this player.
by alpainter on December 25, 2005
Pros: size,storage, ease of use, sound quality, price, battery life, great customer service, NOT AN iPod, flash memory for exercise jarring, playlists on the fly,FM reception pretty good, very durable
Cons: setting up playlists can be a little finicky, other than that, NOTHING!
Summary: I already had the 1GB m240, and loved it. Putting music on it is a breeze, especially if you've got WMP 10. Playlists are really easy to create with ...
Summary: I already had the 1GB m240, and loved it. Putting music on it is a breeze, especially if you've got WMP 10. Playlists are really easy to create with WMP 10, or any subscription service of your choice. The controls are really easy to get to and use. I like the fact there are seperate volume, power, music selection controls. I had an iPod Mini for about an hour, and HATED it. The scroll wheel is dumb. I returned the player the day I got it for something else.
The only reason I got this one is for 3GB's of additional memory. Sandisk has knocked one out of the yard with this player, and hopefully they'll begin to take a bite out of Apple.
There was an m200 series player featured in the latest Best Buy commercial, and oddly enough, NO STUPID iPod. If you don't want to jump on the Apple bandwagon, this will be a great little player that will be very good to you.
I've dropped the m240, crashed on my mountain bike, and abused it working out, and it came through unscathed each time! It doesn't feel like much, but to quote the immortal Han Solo:
"She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts kid."8 out of 9 users found this user opinion helpful.
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$179 for 4GB Player
by Sven_32 on December 21, 2005
Pros: Price, Memory, Size
Cons: Flimsy battery cover, headphones
Summary: Just got the new player from Circuit City. The only bad part is the battery cover that is very loose and comes off way too easy. It?s wiggling around ...
Summary: Just got the new player from Circuit City. The only bad part is the battery cover that is very loose and comes off way too easy. It?s wiggling around and does not fir right. The headphones is a personal preference, I prefer the ones that came with the sansa e130.
3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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4GB MP3 for $80
by densoo on January 24, 2006
Pros: Small, cheap, little to lose
Cons: Small, cheap, but lost little
Summary: If you order online at Circuit City it costs just $160 rather than $200 in-store. You can then select in-store pickup and get it same day for the same price. ...
Summary: If you order online at Circuit City it costs just $160 rather than $200 in-store. You can then select in-store pickup and get it same day for the same price. Make sure there is blue tag on top of the product that say $80 rebate from Rhapsody. Work through the $80 rebate form online and this MP3 player is effectively $80. This is, of course, if you already have or already had planned on subscribing to Rhapsody, which I had. I called customer support and they cancelled my current subscription, then I re-subscribed for six months (as required for the rebate). If you don't have or plan to get Rhapsody, $160 is still cheap for 4GB flash memory.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Does Not Play Tracks In Order
by ryandv on December 28, 2005
Pros: The price is great, lots of storage space, voice recording, fm radio, subscription capability
Cons: Does not play tracks in the order they appear on albums, no usb cover, cheep feel to it.
Summary: The largest dissapointment I have with the unit is that it does not play tracks from albums in the proper order. Instead it plays them in alphabetical order. I prefer ...
Summary: The largest dissapointment I have with the unit is that it does not play tracks from albums in the proper order. Instead it plays them in alphabetical order. I prefer to listen to albums in the way artists created them.
I called Sandisk and was told to put the track number at the start song title to have them played in the correct order. Obviously that would be ALOT of work to do that for the over 1000 songs in my library.
Sandisk told me they were aware of the issue and that they were working on a firmware update.2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Poor quality buttons - stay away
by iluvtimeoff on June 5, 2006
Pros: 4 GB for $150 is a great value, light weight, sound quality is surprisingly good
Cons: Cheap build quality, bulky/thick design
Summary: Wanted a 4 GB flash based player for long runs and plane trips. Considered iPod Nano, but price was prohibitive. Saw the Sansa m260 in a Circuit City ad for $...
Summary: Wanted a 4 GB flash based player for long runs and plane trips. Considered iPod Nano, but price was prohibitive. Saw the Sansa m260 in a Circuit City ad for $150 and thought I would give it a try after reading the reviews.
Purchased the m260 new, downloaded about 2.5 GB of songs and podcasts and started playing with the menus and features. User interface is OK - pretty basic. Navigating 360 songs was cumbersome. I experienced the same out of sequence problem as RYANDV in his review, but figured out that had to do with the conversion that Windows Media Player was doing from MP3 to WMA. Once I shut that conversion off, the problem went away. Voice recorder feature worked well.
The problem I encountered was with the very poorly made buttons on this unit. They feel cheep out of the box and within 24 hours, the volume control had broken and was stuck in the "volume down" position, so whenever I turned the volume up, the player would immediately turn the volume down.
I returned the unit to Circuit City, and they refunded the full amount of the purchase, no questions asked.
I would not recommend this unit based on my experience.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great flash player with solid value
by shadowcolt22 on March 19, 2006
Pros: cheapest 4gb flash player, great extra features, long battery life, durable, lightweight,
Cons: a little thick
Summary: This is the best flash mp3 player out there. Don't buy the ipod nano instead. They are the same size, the sanza is a little thicker, but compact all ...
Summary: This is the best flash mp3 player out there. Don't buy the ipod nano instead. They are the same size, the sanza is a little thicker, but compact all the same. It's also 100 dollars less than it's 4gb competetor. I got my 4gb sanza at circuit city for $150. The navagation is easy, intuitive, and simplisic. Just as easy, if not easier than ipod navigation. Putting files in is even easier (drag and drop or windows media player). It even works as a flash drive (allowing you to store your documents or other files). I didn't have to read the manual. THis thing also gets 20 hours of battery life off a single AAA battery. You don't have to wait after you run out of juice, just pop in a new battery. Even with the battery in this thing is lighter than any other mp3 player I've ever handled. Comes with an armband and is great for working out or running with (no moving parts = no skip). If you think you need an mp3 player with more memory your wrong. Unless you want a picture viewing or video playing mp3, you don't need any more memory than 4gb. There is no way you like more than 2,000 songs. This sucker also packs an fm tuner with a bunch of presets, audible support (great if your a truck driver or don't feel like actually reading a book), and a voice recorder (great for taking notes without writing), and even a stop watch. Sandisk doesn't sacrifice quality for value either. THe sound is of great quality with awsome base and can get extremely loud. It lets you browse your music by artist, album, song, year, genre, and more. It has shuffle and repeat features. Unless your geting a mp3 player with video (usually $300 or up), get this one.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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handy to have around
by bobbie loyd on December 11, 2005
Pros: having the fm radio is handy to have in case you just get bored with what you have the radio to listen too.. best of both worlds.. your nucis and the game over the same unit
Cons: need to go through the menu to change from fm to saved music
Summary: we liked this model. It did not hurt that we got the 1g on sale for $70 instead of the regular $120 price tag. the head set acts like the ...
Summary: we liked this model. It did not hurt that we got the 1g on sale for $70 instead of the regular $120 price tag. the head set acts like the antena for the fm radio and the sound it more than acceptable. the 1G holds between 200 and 400 songs depending on your format. It feels pretty good in your hand. We were impressed we each bought one. (family of three)
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Stay away from Sandisk products!
by kingdiamond_70 on May 8, 2007
Pros: Standard batteries, lightweight.
Cons: Too bugged, bad, very bad service.
Summary: I was happy with this player in the beginning until I began having problems with some WMA and MP3 files. They just won't play on the device unless I ...
Summary: I was happy with this player in the beginning until I began having problems with some WMA and MP3 files. They just won't play on the device unless I reformat it and copy them back on. Sandisk support always say it's a normal process to reformat a device once in a while. I don't think so! Well, at least not every 2 weeks... Now my warranty is expired since a week and Sandisk completely refuse to exchange it. They just say "sorry for the inconvenience". Well, I say "sorry, but you lost a customer!"
Also, be aware that they only support Windows XP under the MTP mode. I tried putting some files on the device using the MSC mode which is compatible with Windows 2000. The device will play the files but when you try to play a complete album, the songs will play them sorted by title instead of track number! -
I really LOVE this MP3 player
by bari516 on January 23, 2007
Pros: Small, compact, does the job for a no thrills seeker.
Cons: Not a lot of accessories
Summary: I bought this MP3 player when the iPod craze was (still is?) extremely high. I did not want to get wrapped up in the iPod world. Everything is geared towards ...
Summary: I bought this MP3 player when the iPod craze was (still is?) extremely high. I did not want to get wrapped up in the iPod world. Everything is geared towards iPod, and there are TOO MANY things that can go with it. I also heard some bad things about it just dying after about a year of use. I reviewed some MP3 players and decided that this one was for me.
I was extremely satisfied right out of the package with this MP3 player. It's very small, which is perfect for me. I use it at the gym, and sometimes I don't like the arm band, so I put it in my pocket. This is no problem with the Sansa. I opted for the 4GB because I had over 500 songs on my computer, and I had a lot of CDs that I wanted to put on there also. The price was well under the 4GB iPod.
So far it's been perfect. I don't use the earbuds because they hurt my ears, but all earbuds have done that. The only problem I've seen so far is the fact that there aren't any other protective covers other than the one that is given in the box. The one included is just a flimsy piece of plastic, although it does prevent scratches and covers the screen. I would like a more study one, becaue I am a very big clutz and I drop things alot.
Another thing I really like is the fact that the battery does not add any weight. It's a AAA battery, and I use the energizer lithium batteries (the silver with a blue stripe) for all of my electronics, and they last SO long. I bought this right around a year ago and I still have the same battery in it.
Great product for a person who wants a no thrills MP3 player that just works. Only wish was that there were more armbands, protective covers, and maybe something that can play over speakers at home, although I did buy an FM transmitter at Target for $15 that workED great until the other day
Oh well!!
Specifications
- Manufacturer: SanDisk Corp.
- Part number: SDMX3-4096-A18
- Description: The Sansa m200 Series MP3 players add to SanDisk's growing line of products for the audio market. Created by the leaders in flash memory, this flash-based model provides high-quality digital music playback at an affordable price. As a replacement to SanDisk original Digital Audio Player line, this improved look also includes Sansa's excellent navigation: songs sorted by title, artist, album, genre as well as play list support. The Sansa m200 Series MP3 players are one of the first to provide Microsoft PlaysForSure Subscription support.
General
- Product type Digital player / radio
- PC interface(s) supported Hi-Speed USB
- Flash memory installed 4 GB Integrated
- Color Slate blue
- Included accessories Arm band, Carrying case
Digital Player / Recorder
- Supported digital audio standards MP3, WMA, Audible, Protected WMA (DRM)
- Playback modes A-B repeat, Repeat all, Random play / shuffle
- ID3 tags support Yes
Built-in Display
- Audio system built-in display LCD
- Backlight display Yes
- Display illumination color Indigo
Audio Features
- Sound output mode Stereo
- Additional features Voice recording, FM radio recording capability
Equalizer
- Equalizer factory preset qty 4
- Equalizer factory presets Pop, Jazz, Rock, Classic
- Equalizer user preset qty 1
Radio
- Tuner type Digital Radio tuner
- Station preset qty 20
- FM station preset qty 20
- Tuner bands FM
- Tuning display LCD display
Microphone
- Microphone type Built-in
Headphones
- Headphones type Binaural Ear-bud
- Sound output mode Stereo
- Connectivity technology Wired
Connectivity
- Cable(s) included 1 x USB cable -
- Connector type 1 x USB, 1 x Headphones Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
Battery / Power
- Battery 1 x Alkaline AAA type Standard battery
- Mfr estimated battery life 19 hour(s)
System Requirements
- Operating system Microsoft Windows XP
Product series
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SanDisk Sansa m240 (1GB, silver)
Manufacturer: SanDisk Corp.
Specs: Digital player / radio, 1 GB, MP3, WMA, Audible, Protected WMA (DRM), 1 x Alkaline AAA type Standard battery
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Manufacturer: SanDisk Corp.
Specs: Digital player / radio, 512 MB, MP3, WMA, Audible, Protected WMA (DRM), 1 x Alkaline AAA type Standard battery
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Manufacturer: SanDisk Corp.
Specs: Digital player / radio, 2 GB, MP3, WMA, Audible, Protected WMA (DRM), 1 x Alkaline AAA type Standard battery
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SanDisk Sansa m260 (4GB, slate blue)
Manufacturer: SanDisk Corp.
Specs: Digital player / radio, 4 GB, MP3, WMA, Audible, Protected WMA (DRM), 1 x Alkaline AAA type Standard battery
Accessories
Manufacturer info
- SanDisk Corp.
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse SanDisk Corp. products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.sandisk.com/consumer-products/
- Address:
601 McCarthy Boulevard, Milpitas, CA 95035 - Phone: 1-866-726-3475
- Email: support@sandisk.com
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