SanDisk Sansa View (16GB)
Manufacturer: SanDisk Corp. Part number: SDMX10R-016GK-A70
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Product series
- Accessories
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- If you value features and price over a flashy interface and excellent sound quality, the SanDisk Sansa View digital media player is definitely worth a look. It's easy to use and offers a relatively large screen and a memory expansion option.
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CNET editors' review
SanDisk Sansa View (16GB) price range: $139.95 - $168.95
- Reviewed by: Jasmine France
- Reviewed on: 10/26/2007
The good: The Sansa View digital media player is an incredible value considering its features, which include photo and video support, a microSD card slot, an FM radio, and a voice recorder. The screen is relatively large, and there's a separate podcast menu for easy sorting of such content. It works with Mac and Windows and supports WMA subscription services and Audible.
The bad: The Sansa View is large for a flash player, and the onscreen interface is somewhat uninspiring. The small center select button may present a problem for some users.
The bottom line: If you value features and price over a flashy interface and excellent sound quality, the SanDisk Sansa View digital media player is definitely worth a look. It's easy to use and offers a relatively large screen and a memory expansion option.
You may recognize the name Sansa View, but that's about all SanDisk's new video MP3 player has in common with the original View announced at CES. SanDisk essentially went back to the drawing board, which is why it's taken so long for the official View to surface. Rather than a screen-dominated PVP, you get an e200 with a sleeker design, a beefed-up screen, and a larger body. It's a smart move, since more users are inclined toward compact players than dedicated PVPs. Even smarter is the price: The 8GB View goes for just $149.99, and the 16GB for only $199.99. By comparison, the Creative Zen in 8GB and 16GB capacities goes for $199.99 and $249.99, respectively. However, it must be said: The Sansa's sound does not stack up to the Zen's.
We're a bit torn on the Sansa View's design. On the one hand, it's pretty large for a flash MP3 player (4.3 inches by 1.9 inches by 0.4 inch), but it also has an ample (2.4-inch) screen. And we're taken with the mechanical scroll wheel that sits below the screen and the nifty backlit control indicators that switch their orientation depending on whether the screen is in landscape mode (for photo and video viewing) or portrait mode (for navigation and music playback). In addition to the wheel, there's a home button that alternates between the top menu and the playback screen, and a small center select button. The size of this key may present a problem for the less dexterous, though the fact that it's slightly raised helps things. Sadly, there's no dedicated volume, and the syncing port (located on the bottom) is proprietary. On the plus side, you get a hold switch on the lower-left spine, while the lower-right edge contains a microSD card slot capable of accepting SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) cards. At the time of this writing, these went up to 8GB, meaning you could potentially have a View with up to 24GB--definitely a good thing for a video player.
Style-wise, the Sansa View definitely falls into the understated category; its shiny black face isn't unattractive, but neither is it eye-catching. The clear coat should do a reasonable job at protecting the player from scratches, but it also creates a dimming effect on the LCD, almost as if you're looking through a very fine-mesh screen. Luckily, the display gets very bright, so visibility is not really an issue. However, I should note that, although the text for all the menus is black, the lettering on the playback screen is white, which may present a problem for certain people. Along with track info (title, artist, album), this screen also displays album art and can be set to show one of the following: time elapsed/remaining, a graphic equalizer, full-screen cover art, or the song that's on deck.
Although the playback screen offers all the info you'd want, most of the Sansa View's interface is fairly uninspiring. You can set different wallpaper colors, but they all appear a bit washed out, and there's no option to set a photo as your backdrop. And although the main menu with its magnifying icons is graphically pleasing, the inner menus feature small font and a rather blah overall feel. That said, music organization is good, sorting by artist, album, and so on; and we're keen on the photo thumbnails in that respective menu. Also, we're happy to see a separate podcast sort, which allows for easy organization of that content. Another bonus: Although SanDisk's documentation calls only for Windows support, we had no trouble attaching the View to a MacBook (running only Mac OS) and transferring audio files.
In addition to standard MP3 files, the Sansa View can play back a healthy array of other digital media files. There's direct support for JPEG photos and MPEG4, WMV, and H.264 videos. This player can even take videos purchased from services such as Amazon Unboxed and TiVoToGo, and it should have no problem with video podcasts acquired through iTunes. The Sansa Media Converter, available as a download, can transcode other (unprotected) formats for View. On the audio side, you get support for WAV, AAC (unprotected), Audible, and both protected and unprotected WMA. The player will work with any Windows Media-based audio service, such as Napster or Rhapsody. If you get tired of digital audio, switch over to the onboard FM tuner, which features autoscan and 20 preset slots.
The Sansa View's tested battery life of 32.3 hours for audio is certainly formidable, and the video battery life of 5 hours should satisfy most power users--though we'd be more impressed if it matched the 7-hour rating. Audio quality isn't quite as inspiring, though this player certainly doesn't sound bad. The downside is that--other than electronica--music tends to be lacking in bass, and we get a lot of low-end distortion when we adjust to compensate via the five-band user EQ. And this is despite using test earbuds (Shure SE310s) and headphones (Ultrasone HFi-700s) that offer great low-end response. However, music in general sounds pretty good, with nice high-end clarity and warm mids. It's not as sparkly as the Sony NWZ-A810, but the average listener should be satisfied. Despite the aforementioned dimming effect of the screen, photos look sharp and bright with good color saturation. Videos, however, did suffer a bit from the dimness, and we noticed some slight pixelation at points, but they still looked passable.
User reviews
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Pretty good for what it does, small learning curve
by Bluepig45 on October 3, 2008
Pros: Radio tuner, Micro SD expansion, navagation wheel, screen, battery life, recognized as a drive letter and folder structure.
Cons: I found it hard to believe the case had a noticable gap, and it is not that it was not properly pressed, as no amount of gentle manipulation will get it to seal. I think this is what has most people worked up. I also got several "bad track" notices.
Summary: Some of the disgruntled 1 star ratings are laughable and wreak of moronic Global Warming hyperbole/lie. People pay $150 for a toy and want it to paint their houses. ...
Summary: Some of the disgruntled 1 star ratings are laughable and wreak of moronic Global Warming hyperbole/lie. People pay $150 for a toy and want it to paint their houses. This is a fantastic device for the money (I just purchased the 32Gb version), and aside from the case design and import problems, I could not be happier. Yes, it could have been better built, and yes they could have worked out the import issues before release, but that has been resolved with the FREE patch.
http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1376
We all want the best for the cheapest, and we want it now, but freak out when the first revision is not exactly perfect. Give me a break. Everyone tries to compare all MP3 players to the Apple product line, but they are not comparing apples. Apple locks their devices out from their owners, and tags all imported MP3's or AAC's thusly corrupting the file for proprietary use. Apple does not have and never will have a tuner. Apple does not and again, will never have memory expansion. I use a MacBook Pro 15.4 and a 24" iMac, but I am not ignorant enough to portray Apple as the end all do all, and yes both have done time away from home at the Genius Bar for repairs. Please go back and remember that Sony was the first in this market, Apple just improved on what was there at the time. If you relegate yourself to the belief that ONLY APPLE OR DEATH model, please choose death.
Ps. A $4 protective housing not only closes the case, but protects it from simple morons.3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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A decent sucessor for the e200 series
by Conquistador64 on November 9, 2007
Pros: Wonderful display, nice images, great storage, SD slot
Cons: Occasionally freezes, mediocre sound quality
Summary: This player is not a nano killer. However, it is a hybrid between an MP3 player and a Portable Media Player that makes it fairly unique. With 16gb of flash ...
Summary: This player is not a nano killer. However, it is a hybrid between an MP3 player and a Portable Media Player that makes it fairly unique. With 16gb of flash memory for only $200 ,I think it is a great deal. Putting videos on it is a breeze (as long as you can find the media converter) and the photos,
radio and voice recordings are of better quality than that of the Sansa e260.
Unfortunately, all mp3 players have their flaws. It has mediocre sound quality and on one occasion, a movie that I was watching on the nice, colourful 2.4 inch screen froze. I simply held on the power switch located at the left side of the player to restart the player. I was quite disappointed when I did not find any fast forward button. Perhaps it is a hidden feature that I have yet to find but otherwise, the feature is lacking from the player.
The player is a great deal for its money and people who are interested in a small PMP with a decent amount of space should think about buying it.2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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case gap allows debris under screen
by jeffcorbett on November 25, 2007
Pros: easy to use.
Cons: case is faulty.
Summary: case is faulty not sealed properly first time i took it out i got debris under the screen later realized that the case (on the side with the mike hole) ...
Summary: case is faulty not sealed properly first time i took it out i got debris under the screen later realized that the case (on the side with the mike hole) is not sealed big gap took it back and got another but it had the same problem. I made them open 5 more and all had the same fault some worse than others so 7 0f 7 were put together like s&*t check your player if you have one or buy one soon.
2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Very slick and well built
by banuu2 on October 23, 2007
Pros: easy to use. New scroll whell very nice and easier to use than the e280
Cons: media converter is not compatible
Summary: so far i can only listen to music from Rhapsody to go. Media converter does not recognize the View. The Sansa Website says that Amazon unbox is supported but my ...
Summary: so far i can only listen to music from Rhapsody to go. Media converter does not recognize the View. The Sansa Website says that Amazon unbox is supported but my player does not recognize downloaded movies. This player is very promising assuming sandisk works out software kinks.
2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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$180 price for $40 functionality
by merelyjim on May 31, 2008
Pros: nice MP3 playback, slick interface
Cons: video locks-up, clueless tech support
Summary: Bought this 4 months ago, and from the start, video would play fine for 29 minutes... and then lock-up. Works fine as an MP3 player, but you'd get the ...
Summary: Bought this 4 months ago, and from the start, video would play fine for 29 minutes... and then lock-up. Works fine as an MP3 player, but you'd get the same performance out of a $40 player. Tech Support's only fix is for me to turn it on and off endlessly in the hopes that the device will magically fix itself.
If you're looking for video, loo to Apple instead. (And yeah, it hurts me to say that that!)1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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6000 songs but no sorting or easy playlists?!
by rickrecord on December 17, 2007
Pros: High capacity, nice size and feel, MicroSD chips
Cons: Terrible music software; no music folders; need to use USB to charge or buy adapter
Summary: Yes, it's great to have 16gb (plus more with chips), but the only way to listen to all this music more than one song at a time is by ...
Summary: Yes, it's great to have 16gb (plus more with chips), but the only way to listen to all this music more than one song at a time is by Album title or Artist (or Genre--who uses that?)--there is no ability to quickly play a group of songs--and the only way to make a playlist is by clicking on one song at a time! Are they crazy? No way to sort by year or filename (I have my songs with a date code at the beginning of each song's filename--works fine in nearly all players like WMP and Winamp and portable players).
No way to search for one song! No searching at all! I also like to have my songs in folders, for specific GROUPS of songs. No, this player doesn't allow folders. No ID3 tag information from what I could see. No lyrics capability.
If this was a 520mb or 1gb player, such a limited choice of playback might be acceptable, but with 16gb of songs, it's insane.
If you want to spend your time clicking on one album at a time, or one artist at a time, I suppose you'll like this. But not me.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Best low capacity video player
by Goade on November 23, 2007
Pros: large screen, tons of features, low price
Cons: Software isn't soo good
Summary: This player is so great! It's the best low capacity video player out there- way better than the iPod nano and the 4/8 GB Zune. Fist of all ...
Summary: This player is so great! It's the best low capacity video player out there- way better than the iPod nano and the 4/8 GB Zune. Fist of all it is cheaper. You can get a 16GB Sansa View for $200, which is the same price as a 8GB Zune and iPod nano. That is twice as much memory for the same price!
Also it has a 2.4 in. screen as oppossed to the iPod nano's 2 in. screen and the Zune's 1.8 in screen. In my opinion, the only thing the nano and zune trump the Sansa View on is audio quality. It's audio quality is good, but not quite as good as the nano's and zune's. It's not too much of a set back.
I didn't really like the Rhapsody software it came with. But you can always just use a different music management software if you don't like it. Also, if the videos aren't MPEG-4 of WMV you will have to use the Sansa Media Converter, which I didn't like either. Also only a minor set back.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Don't Buy It
by cardelld on December 11, 2007
Pros: Sleek design and look, easy to drag and drop songs, technical support
Cons: Case is built poorly, freezes constantly, computer doesn't recognize it
Summary: I bought the Sandisk Sansa View 16gb yesterday. When I first opened it up and turned it on, I noticed a gap in the seam of the case where I ...
Summary: I bought the Sandisk Sansa View 16gb yesterday. When I first opened it up and turned it on, I noticed a gap in the seam of the case where I could see into the player and the light from the screen was showing through. I then plugged the player into my computer and my computer recognized and "found new hardware" but when I went into "My Computer" the player was no where to be found. After installing Windows Media Player 11, and after leaving the player connected to my computer for 10 minutes, it all of a sudden came up in "My Computer." I then dragged a few songs into the player which worked very easily. The songs came up, I disconnected the player, and started listening to the songs. They sounded pretty good, but I noticed it didn't recognize the name, artist, or album names. They were all "unknown." I then plugged it back into my computer, and this time Windows Media Player came up and asked if I wanted to sync the player. I said yes. During this process, something happened that caused the player to freeze. The screen turned lit up completly white and none of the buttons worked. I couldn't turn it off, I tried plugging it back into the computer, nothing would unfreeze it (at this time I didn't know you could slide the power switch on for 10 seconds to reset it). Instead, I left it on all night for the battery to die. I plugged it in the next morning on a different computer and started to charge the battery. I then unplugged it, but it was still frozen. I then reset it and it started working normally. I plugged in back into the new computer, and the new computer wouldn't recognize it. I installed Media Player 11, and reset the computer, I tried unplugging and plugging the player back into the computer, but nothing would work, except it froze up a few more times where I had to reset it. I contacted Sandisk technical support, which after going through several automated menu options, I was quickly connected to a friendly person who was happy to help me and answer my questions. He suggested I exchange it for a new one from where I bought it for the gap in the seam. As for the computers not recognizing it, he suggested I download the MTP kit from Microsoft, which was already installed on the computer though. As for it freezing, he mentioned that the player freezes when it gets a bad connection to the computer, although he said it could freeze if a file that wasn't supported by the player was added (when Media Player 11 tried to sync to it). I am going to return this product today and look at another flash drive mp3 player with 16gb.
2 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Sturdy design great screen lots of room for audio/video
by Anysia on February 25, 2009
Pros: Good screen size improvement from the e200 series. Screen is also crystal clear and crisp even through a screen protector.
Cons: Battery not user replaceable, Headphone jack placement on the bottom of unit.
Summary: When I got this unit, I thought I would be making a leap to a better mp3 player by Sansa. The sound is great, even the video on the small ...
Summary: When I got this unit, I thought I would be making a leap to a better mp3 player by Sansa. The sound is great, even the video on the small screen is crisp and clear, but then I found out that unlike the e2xx series, this was made as a 'throwaway' item, rather like the original iPods. When the battery no longer hold a charge, you can't easily swap out the battery (There are websites that show you how to change it, but if you don't have the tools, and aren't technically adroit, it will give you problems). The e2xx series might have a smaller screen, but you can replace a dead battery.
The headphone jack on the bottom of the unit is awkward when you try to put the player into a pocket, even with the L shape on the plug. -
Not Worth the Aggrivation
by ryan.g.jones on February 18, 2009
Pros: Excellent Sound Quality, Wide Screen, Easy Functionality, Compact
Cons: Locks-up While Completing Simple Functions, Interface is Unremarkable, Requires USB Car Adapter to Charge
Summary: While this player is compelling for the features it has to offer it's tendency to become unresponsive during simple tasks makes the price tag unreasonable. Similarly priced players meet ...
Summary: While this player is compelling for the features it has to offer it's tendency to become unresponsive during simple tasks makes the price tag unreasonable. Similarly priced players meet the low expectation of consistent functionality with a more inspired interface. Bottom Line: In a thinning MP3 player market this member of the heard should be next to the slaughter house.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: SanDisk Corp.
- Part number: SDMX10R-016GK-A70
- Description: The Sansa View is a sleek yet simple MP3 player with video capabilities, perfect for consumers to enjoy their favorite movies and shows while on the go.
General
- Product type Digital player / radio
- PC interface(s) supported Hi-Speed USB
- Flash memory installed 16 GB Integrated
- Digital storage None
Digital Player / Recorder
- Supported digital audio standards MP3
- Additional features JPEG photo playback
Built-in Display
- Diagonal size 2.4 in
- Resolution 240 x 320
Audio Features
- Sound output mode Stereo
- Additional features Voice recording, Built-in FM radio, USB 2.0 compatibility
Radio
- Tuner type Digital Radio tuner
- Tuner bands FM
Remote Control
- Remote control None
Microphone
- Microphone type Built-in
Connectivity
- Cable(s) included 1 x USB cable - External
- Connector type 1 x USB 2.0 4 pin USB Type A, 1 x Headphones Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
- Slot(s) provided 1 x microSDHC
Battery / Power
- Battery 1 x Lithium polymer Rechargeable Player batteryInternal
- Battery capacity Internal - Rechargeable - Lithium polymer
- Power device type None
System Requirements
- Peripheral / Interface devices CD-ROM, Hi-Speed USB port
- Operating system Microsoft Windows XP
Sustainability
- CNET Labs: Battery drain test / Video playback 300.4 min
- CNET Labs: Battery drain test / audio playback 1938.945 min
Product series
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Manufacturer: SanDisk Corp.
Specs: Digital player / radio, 8 GB, MP3, 1 x Lithium polymer Rechargeable Player batteryInternal
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Manufacturer: SanDisk Corp.
Specs: Digital player / radio, 16 GB, MP3, 1 x Lithium polymer Rechargeable Player batteryInternal
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Manufacturer: SanDisk Corp.
Specs: Digital player / radio, 32 GB, AAC, MP3, WAV, WMA, 1 x Lithium polymer Rechargeable Player battery
Accessories
Manufacturer info
- SanDisk Corp.
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse SanDisk Corp. products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.sandisk.com/
- Address:
140 Caspian Ct.
Sunnyvale, CA 94089 - Phone: 408-542-0500
- Email: support@sandisk.com
- Fax: 408-542-0503
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