Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

SanDisk Releases New iPod rival

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the fighting-fire-with-fire dept.

codemachine writes "SanDisk has released its new iPod rival: the new Sansa e280 music player. It has twice the capacity of the iPod nano at a similar price. Even better, it can be expanded through its mini-SD slot, and comes with an FM tuner. The device is said to work well with both Windows and Linux, without adding any drivers. Some work on reverse engineering this product line has already begun. Might this be a great alternative MP3 player for Linux users?"

8 of 401 comments (clear)

  1. Linux users? by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There is so much to comment on here - I have no idea where to start!

    First - FTFA:

    Includes the Sansa Media Converter to support all picture and video formats

    All video formats? (raises eyebrow?) I f#cking doubt it. How about DRMd WMV9? I doubt it can handle HD content too!

    Minimum System Requirements

            * Windows XP
            * Windows Media Player 10+

    Uh-huh. Good linux support there!

    Lastly, FTFS:

    Might this be a great alternative MP3 player for Linux users?

    Linux users have better support for iPods than windows itunes users do - they can copy songs off the iPod to another computer (without stupid third party addons, weird hacks, or scary warnings). They can also use iPods that with HFS filesystems. All seamlessly.

    I guess it could be argued that most linux users would prefer a music player from a company that doesn't push DRM heavily (but sandisk pushes DRM as much as Apple does.

    Still, twice the space & lighter than the equivilant ipod. Sounds if not good, then less crap. Let's hope their rockbox strategy works - that would really make a difference.

    --
    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
    1. Re:Linux users? by alienw · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually, the only apple product I own is an ipod. And I didn't even buy it new. I don't own a sandisk player, although I've looked at a couple of reviews. Most of them conclude that it was a generally mediocre ipod imitator with a couple of nifty features.

      Music player reviews are generally meaningless since most reviewers do not know what to listen for and do not even have a good pair of headphones. In fact, almost every review is gushing with excitement even if the product has serious flaw. This happens because review sites get free products and advertising from manufacturers. They almost never say "this product sucks", they just give it a lukewarm review.

      While I haven't listened to the sandisk player, I have a pretty good idea how they get it to have an FM tuner and 20 hours of battery life -- by cutting every corner they can on the DAC and analog section. I am an electrical engineer, and I have a pretty good idea of what all the compromises are. A craptastic DAC will have very low power consumption, but it will also sound rather mediocre on a hi-fi system or a pair of good headphones. If you want an FM tuner, you also need an analog switch and a separate headphone amp chip, which further reduces sound quality (all of these components are bottom-shelf to keep cost down). By eliminating useless features, Apple can significantly improve the sound quality while maintaining low cost.

      The iPod is the only portable player I've used that is good enough to plug into a good stereo system. This includes a fairly large number of portable CD and MP3 players that I've been unfortunate enough to own. I know why this is the case -- unlike many no-name players, they actually use fairly decent DAC chips from Wolfson Microelectronics. Most other players use much cheaper DACs that are far inferior, to say nothing of the rest of the analog circuitry.

  2. A feature I wish my iPod had... by A.+Bosch · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...Interestingly, the battery is user-replacable. Apple, please take note!

    --
    Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains.
    1. Re:A feature I wish my iPod had... by Random+Destruction · · Score: 5, Interesting

      So I'm on a roadtrip and after a few hours the battery goes dead. You're suggesting I call up apple and get them to give me roadside assistance to recharge my battery? Wouldn't it be easier if I could just put in my spare that I charged up earlier?

      --
      :x
  3. Again, Rockbox by bleaked · · Score: 5, Interesting
    In case you're still not aware, Rockbox enables my nano to seamlessly play ogg, flac, mp3, and several other formats. Not only that, but the playback is gapless, has beautiful cross-fading, and quite a few additional features.

    I highly recommend it. :D

    .:bleaked

  4. MiniSD? I think you mean MicroSD by Redbaran · · Score: 5, Interesting
    This player uses microSD, not miniSD. The max capacity for a microSD chip last I checked was 1gb.

    Pros of this player over a nano:
    • Twice the capacity
    • Memory expansion (although limited)
    • No hacks to play video
    • larger screen
    • battery cam be replaced
    • FM Radio and recording
    • microphone (though I could care less)
    • competition for the nano

    Cons:
    • a little thicker
    • not as slick (ie the mechanical scroll wheel)
    • not as many accessories (just try to find an arm strap and case!)
    • I'm told the video compression it uses when stored on the player isn't that good.
    • can only store music on the microSD card, not pictures or movies
    All the user reviews I've read seem positive on the whole and a lot of people like it better then nano's they've owned or bought for the wife/girlfriend, etc.

    Looks worth a look though.
  5. Re:Does it have the horsepower for Ogg? by cbhacking · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I just bought an iRiver T30. It's tiny and light; much of its weight is the replacable AAA battery (up to 24 hours per charge). One reason to choose iRiver: Ogg Vorbis support. I don't think it does FLAC, but might (I don't have any files to test it) and it should support WMA Lossless. Don't know about AAC or M4A. Many iRiver players have FM tuners too.

    I also like the audio quality, not that I'm any kind of audiophile. Pretty good equalizer options, including SRS WOW support and user-customizable EQ. I have not yet tested its microphone (built in audio recording, automatically compressed to MP3 I think) but that's another nice feature.

    Cost me $38 for 1GB. No SD expansion port, but it works as a simple USB device (like most DAPs). WMP is an easy way to organize, make playlists, and sync (well, WMP11 is) but completely unneeded. I haven't hooked it up to my Linux box yet (JUST got it) but I would be very surprised if I couldn't copy audio on and off. Windows identifies its partition as standard FAT 16.

    --
    There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
  6. SanDisk to audiobook/podcast listeners: drop dead! by Creosote · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm one of those odd folks who uses a portable audio device almost solely for listening to podcasts and audiobooks. And it's clear that SanDisk has basically written us off.

    I've owned two versions of SanDisk's Digital Audio Player, the original 256MB version and the version 2 1GB model. Ironically, audiobook support decreased between the two versions. Version 1 supported Audible formats 2 through 4 (4 being the highest quality), Version 2 supports only 2 and 3. Version 1 would save your place in a file when you switched to the radio and back, Version 2 doesn't. Version 1 let you increase playback speed up to 130%, version 2 has no speed options. In other words, all of the spoken-word-friendly features were dropped.

    Now the e280 appears to have no support for Audible format (though it may be undocumented; I did check the full PDF User's Manual), no bookmarking or other features designed for long spoken-word files.

    My next MP3 device purchase is going to be an iPod Nano. Sorry, SanDisk, you've lost me.