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General discussion

New 2GB players & Removable memory Flash Players.

May 13, 2005 2:52PM PDT

I've always favored flash players for their non-skip design which fits my life style. (extreme sports; moto-cross, mountain biking, snowboarding, sportbikes {wheelies} etc etc). But they do lack memory capacity. Now we have 2GB players out iAudio's and the new iAudio U2 in white and new players with removable memory; New Sandisk & the super pimpy Lexar LDP-800 if it ever decides to hit the market?? Most online dealers have it in there items for sale, but of course, 'Not Yet Available'.
Memory these days is exploding in size with SD cards etc, we're now at 2GB cards... Give it a year or so and they'll have 5GB cards especially since the digital camera market is exploding. The new Lexar (when it debuts) will have 1GB which may arrive with 2GB standard memory, PLUS removable SD in a compact size and built in FM transmitter. This would obviously be a better purchase vs. a Micro Disc player (RIO Carbon, iPOd mini). Opinions??

Discussion is locked

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If you are in to extreme sports..... YES!
May 13, 2005 5:10PM PDT

Not only for the sheer fact flash players will never skip and are much less likely to get damaged(since there are no moving parts/read heads) but perhaps more importantly because the flash players use STANDARD batteries!

When you are out mountain biking or up snowboarding just how convenient is it to find an AC adapter and recharge? My guess would be not nearly as easy as it would be to simply swap in a fresh AAA battery.

At the moment the Sandisk Sensa seems like the best deal going(I'm always leary of "vaporware" in the mp3 world... waited far too long for products that should be released anytime now). My advice would be to buy the 1gb version now @$133 and get a dirt cheap 512mb SD card for just over $20 until the 2gb versions drop some more. Recently Dell had them for under $125(after rebate) but we both know they will drop like a rock soon. They always do.

I hope the Lexar product does arrive soon and live up to the hype but in my experience after having owned at least a dozen mp3 players... an mp3 player in the hand is a great deal better than one on waiting list. I'm happy with my Sensa for now.

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More info about the Sandisk Sensa please
May 14, 2005 2:39PM PDT

Cool...you own one of the Sandisk Sensa players? After tons and tons of research into flash players, I've more or less decided on the Sensa, as Sandisk players seem to attract fewer complaints than others by creative, RCA, etc.

I'd like some more info on it though. I'm planning to get the 512 MB version, and wanted to know whether there it had a DC out jack that i could use in my car. Also, have you used a SD card with it yet? other players always seem to have problems with SD cards, either that the card's not recognized, or limits on the number of songs, no matter what the capacity. I know hard disk players can easily malfunction, so I like the upgradeability feature of the Sandisk player. Does the current firmware for the player work OK? In future, do you think the company will update the firmware so that the player can support cards with higher capacities? I plan to use the player while working out, and heard that the SD card can fall out easily. Is it true? shouldnt there be some safety feature in that case? And finally, can you suggest a place where SD cards can be had cheaply? Happy

Other Sansa owners, please feel free to chime in with your experience with the player.

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Sensa: Thumbnail review...
May 14, 2005 4:38PM PDT

Not the perfect player, but probably the closest I've had thus far and I have some other pretty good players. I'm surprised you mentioned poor feedback about RCA players, I was poised to pull the trigger on the RCA Lyra RD1072. Great reviews and can be bought at Circuit City for a reasonable price so it can be returned easily.... not to muddy the waters.


PRO's
-----
USB 2.0(must have on my list)

Drag-and-drop(another must have)

incredibly light

very good battery life(as advertised, around 20 hours)

stated clearly that is DOES SUPPORT 2gb SD cards right now without any firmware upgrade needed(I've only tried a 1gb Lexar and 512mb Sandisk, but they work perfectly)

Interface on the player works perfectly(I was worried about this since Sandisk is pretty new to the mp3 arena and entered at such a low price point).

No problems playing any of my songs thus far(all encoded with WMA using VBR) I've had nearly a thousand songs with the built-in 512mb+1gb Lexar and no problems recognizing all of them.

No DC jack(wasn't one of my concerns)

Above average FM radio... COMPARED TO OTHER MP3 PLAYERS(not a big concern to me)


CONS
----
Does not support folder navigation, so it's pretty important to have songs with good ID3 tags unless you are the type to simply shuffle all your music.

The USB cord is so incredibly short it would drive me crazy if my only USB port was in the back of my computer.

It's recognized by XP drag and drop as advertised BUT it recognizes the players internal memory as one external drive and the SD card in the player as a completely seperate drive. Doesn't effect playback at all once you disconnect it from the computer, but still kind of strange.

Belt clip is trash and should be discarded immediatly, I make the mistake of putting my player inside once.... and had to CUT my player free it was so tight! lol


Conclusion
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Sandisk is so new to mp3 I'm not sure if they'll be upgrading the firmware or not, but it works so well now and already supports 2gb SD cards so I was willing to gamble. Most of the complaints I hear don't bother me much. The card has no chance of falling out on you, unless you squeeze the side of the player right where the card is while you are working out. There is no cover and if you press on it the disk pops up(but still not out). I don't use my player squeezing it while I play it but some runner might if they carry it tightly I suppose. I actually ended up with the 512mb player because they can be had for under $100 and at the time the 1gb was either unavailable or over $170. Now that the 1gb Sensa is available for around $135 I wish I would have waited. It's better than I had expected. Hope that helps!


PS Newegg.com has the Sandisk 1gb SD cards for $67 and both have an awfully good reputation so you can't go wrong there. The Dell deal @$123 for a 2gb card expired a day or two ago but it's bound to come around again.

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Info appreciated
May 14, 2005 11:37PM PDT

Excellent review. Thanks for all the info. Yeah, I think I've settled on the Sensa. I just hope that when the time comes, they upgrade the firmware.One question though: if the belt clip shouldn't be used, how would one use it while working out? I'd rather not keep it my shorts pocket as I'd be running. I thought they sold the unit with an arm band, but oh well.

A word about the RCA Lyra RD1072. It was one of the players i was considering, since it had the SD card slot and everything. I decided to avoid it because I've read from more than one owner that the unit has a built-in limit on the number of songs that can be loaded on the player, regardless of capacity. On one RCA player, it was 200, and on the one you mention, it's apparently 238. Check reviews for it on pricegrabber.com. The song limit was apparently confirmed by tech support at RCA.

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2 late...
May 15, 2005 1:09PM PDT

Good News: They have a great armband and the Sensa fits in it perfectly. The armband is made by CaseLogic out of neoprene so it's weather resistant. It could have easily been made specifically for the Sensa.... about 5 years before the Sensa even came out.

Bad News: They don't make it anymore!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004TZG8/104-7145081-0475904?v=glance

They make a version that's a little bigger(I own that one too that I use to protect my compact digital camera when I travel) but the case in the link is PERFECT for the sensa. The larger cases are made in black/red and the small case that's perfect for the Sensa is in blue. Haven't seen any for a few years but you may be able to find one on Ebay or something. It's worth the effort!

Happy Hunting!


Thanks for the info on the RCA Lyra RD1072 bye the way. Good to know. I nearly pulled the trigger on that player but it only supports 1gb SD cards to the best of my knowledge(and built in memory is only 256mb) so I opted for Sensa instead. I would have been pretty disappointed to find that small limit on the # of songs.

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2 GREAT deals!!
May 16, 2005 1:52PM PDT

Ughhh! I should have waited...

"Sandisk Sansa E130 1GB MP3 player with SD slot $114, May 16

Buy.com has the Sandisk Sansa E130 1GB MP3 player with SD slot for expansion for a low $114.71 after rebate, $3 shipping. Tax in AZ. $20 rebate Exp 5/19/05"

...and this...

"NY 512MB SD Secure Digital Card $19.94, May 16

Staples has the PNY 512MB Secure Digital SD Card for a low $19.94 after rebates. Free shipping $50+. $10 rebate and "Up to a $30 Mail in Rebate with Purchase of select PNY memory products from Staples." is good for $10. $20 rebate Exp 5/21/05"

... give you a pretty good 1.5gb flash player for $135 that can be upgraded to a 3gb flash player when prices fall on the 2gb SD cards. I should have waited a few months.... isn't that always the case?

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Woah, that's great...guess i'll have to get a move on
May 16, 2005 2:44PM PDT

i've been eyeing buy.com's sub-$100 price tag for the 512 meg sensa for a while now, and it's free shipping too. Didn't notice the tag on the 1 gb player. hmm, that gives me 24 hrs to make a decision. I think i'll take it. Thanks for the tip dude.

PS- have you considered selling your Sansa? since it's a new product, and you've barely used it, you might be able to get 80% or so of the purchase price back, don't you think? Ebay is full of suckers.

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eh? the price still says $138
May 16, 2005 2:55PM PDT
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GOTO
May 16, 2005 5:35PM PDT

techbargains.com


Right there on the front page mid-way down you will see mention of the player and the link.

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aniym addition
May 18, 2005 5:04AM PDT

i was checking nub4now's info and I thought a small addition might be helpful. once at techbargain website check "rebate" and then you will be led to the discounted sansdick

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(NT) (NT) sanswhat?
May 18, 2005 5:19AM PDT
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delayed reaction
May 18, 2005 10:46AM PDT

took me a few seconds....funny, but embarrassing.

i meant to refer to a product that was without a hard drive, not something that was incapable of driving...

i hope none were offended

tim

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Just ordered my Sansa
May 19, 2005 2:30AM PDT

It should get here in about 10 days or so. I took your advice and got the 1 gig model. Thanks to everyone who contributed. It's my first flash mp3 player, so I'm hoping things go well.

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Flash players, 2gig please :D
Jun 14, 2005 3:51AM PDT

I love the flash players, obviously since the hd players can't match them. I think it is around 2 years ago I bought the biggest Iriver I could find and that was 512 at the time. Still like it, the only thing is I don't like that I have to use their software. Other than that I need more memory right away!!
So I did a search and found:

http://www.suntecint.com/detail.php?cat=&catid=22&prodid=89

This looks great! 2 gb, its a bit pricy but I love stuff like this Happy Could anyone recommend this or anyone know of reviews or have opinions?`


Thanks!!

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hahaha
Jun 14, 2005 5:42PM PDT

My friend has just bought an ipod mini with a screwed up harddrive from ebay. His gonna salvage it and put a compact flash card in it, preferably 2gb or 4. so wonder if u ppl have ne takers. Also his putting linux for ipod on it so it can play ogg how cool is that?

hahahaha, self moded mp3 players rock!