Sorry, No help in your MP3/WMA rate inquiry.
Butbefore buying, I recommend that you check epinions.com and dapreview.net for posts about quality in Sandisk Sansa.
If you want expandable memory MP3 on the cheap, you might check Surplus Computers. No name no memory no display (like Shuffle) player for SD memory at $17 + $0shipping.
I have been informed by Sandisk's technical support that the Sansa mp3 players only support mp3 files with bitrates of up to 128 kbps, and wma files with bitrates of up to 64 kbps.
I was so blown away by this seemingly impossible limitation that I had them confirm this in writing, which they did. They went as far as stating that if I attempted to play back an mp3 file with a bitrate higher than 128 kbps, "the player would not play the file".
Can anyone out there with a Sansa (preferably the 1GB E140 I've had my eyes on) share their experiences with regards to playing back mp3 files with bitrates higher than 128 kbps (or WMA files with bitrates higher than 64)?
I just find it hard to believe that the player behaves like this, and no one is screaming about it in on-line forums (Google turns up nothing!).
Please, anyone... let me know. If this limitation truly does exist, I will finally bury my hopes of buying one of these and move on to another manufacturer (though, deep down, I sort of hope Sandisk's tech reps are simply clueless...).
Thanks.

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