SanDisk Sansa Clip MP3 player
Molecule-sized micro MP3 player
Review Come September, a version of the Sansa Clip with revised firmware will hit the streets in the UK, giving us an excuse to rustle one up and have a retrospective shoofty.
Much of the revised firmware is actually already available from SanDisk, including support for Ogg files, but come September all new Clips will also support Flac and come with FM radios as standard.
An entry level player with a decent amount of functionality
Currently you can get a Clip either with or without the radio, but the transfer of Sansa's manufacturing centre to the Czech Republic from the Fast East has sidestepped the EU tax on FM equipped kit. We are assuming this means that Clips with radios will then cost the same as Clips currently without.
Lacking official specs for the Clip our trusty Register ruler made it 34 x 54 x 10mm in size and we'd say it weighs about as much as a half empty box of matches or 25g...ish. Build wise its a little on the plastic side, but it doesn't creak, flex or groan no matter how you abuse it.
For an entry level micro-player Sansa have bundled a decent amount of functionality into the Clip so as well as support for the usual MP3, WMA, WAV and Audible formats you also get a voice recorder, an FM radio and a handy “sleep” function that powers the device down after anything from 10 to 120 minutes of play. You also get an on-the-hoof playlist facility, just hold down the centre button and the playing track is added to the GoList.
COMMENTS
@USB mass storage device
"Loading the Clip is a straightforward operation as either an MTP or MSC device and it picked up ID3 tags with 100% accuracy."
MTP: Media Transfer Protocol (access with a sync protocol or application)
MSC: Media Storage Class (access as a removable disk)
So you can sync with a crappy software stync tool or by drag & drop as an external hard drive.
Lurk Moar...
USB mass storage device?
That's all very nice, but can you access it as a USB mass storage device? I hate having to use crappy proprietary Windows only applications to manage my music.
Ooooh I have one of these!
It's my 'workout' mp3 player (actually my only one, but that's all I use it for) - it's small, light, cheap & gets the job done. I'm not that bothered about sound quality - it seems fine to me. I think there *may* be a 'increase volume' option somewhere as there was with a previous Sansa mp3 player I had.
Works both with Linux & Windows - can plug it in & it's recognised as removable device. Also, you can create your own playlists (m3u files) under either OS & have them appear in addition to the 'Go list' - useful if you have some tracks that you have to listen to in a specific order (i.e. live albums, etc).
Once complaint is that outside (in the sun) it can be extremely difficult to see the display. Which makes it hard to switch tracks, etc, while running. Aside from that, I love it. I use my own (el cheapo) headphones, so can't comment on the quality of the included ones..
Scale
It seems to me that the small scale of the device could have been illustrated a lot better than putting it next to a golf ball and a coin. I'm thinking... I'm thinking of the Eee lady. If she has any sense, she should hire herself out to companies as a means of illustrating the small size of their devices.
Unless she herself is only three feet tall, in which case I understand her reticence. But Photoshop can work magic.
Re: Where can I buy?
I only want one if it is marked out in the official Register units of measurement.
