SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 8GB MP3 Player with Radio and Expandable MicroSD/SDHC Slot - Black

After a long time looking at reviews I decided to go for the Sansa clip+ 8 GB and have not been disappointed. I wanted a player for music (MP3 and WMA) and podcasts, and this does all that I need it to do.

Playing - As other have said, it is very small, but mine has 8 GB of internal and I also got an 8 GB micro SD card. The player allows you to play stuff from either internal or external memory or will show it all together in 1 seamless list - which is quite good. I have nearly filed the MP3 and all the play options seem to work really well. You can play all, by artist, podcast, album, genre and recently added - so even though there can be quite a lot of stuff you can usually easily find that new album or podcast quickly. This player will allow you to turn off through a podcast and return to the same point - which is useful for long recordings.

Sound - I got a pair of Phillips earphones and the sound is pretty good. There is an EQ and the volume is loud enough for me

Usability - I find this quite good and can usually get to where I want to go quickly. The instructions are minimal but you can get a full set on line. But you should be able to work without them. I think this is very easy to use. The screen is simple but tells you all you need. If you have a play around there are interesting features, like if you press the centre button the screen changes to EQ. Press again it tell you the next song. Also, while playing a song, if you press down you can get access to load of features, such as the music list, sound features or track information

Power - this seems good so far. I have used for many hours and not had any problems

The MP3 has an FM radio which works ok. You can record what you are listening to.

All in all I think this is a very good MP3 and a fantastic price.

UPDATE: 1 year later it is still going strong. I refresh the music and podcasts at least weekly and use it for at least 20 hours a week. Battery life is about 15 hours. If anything went wrong I would consider replacing with the same model (because of the specification, the price and the size of the device).

Well, I've just started going to the gym, and I didn't want to take my huge iPod video with me and have to carry it around in my track bottom pocket or in my shorts. So i figured I would go and get an iPod shuffle. Well first of all the new iPod shuffle has bad reviews left right and centre, plus you cant change the headphones, so then I thought I'd get one of the older ones. Well they are simply too small and I cant get enough of a range of music on the damn thing.

I hunted round on Amazon and found this little player, had some good and bad reviews. Well, for the money I figured I'd give it a try as the good reviews said it had good sound quality and it is also expandable in memory size. Well the 8GB version has enough space to put a small selection of my library on specifically for the gym, but also enough for variety (OK you have to bear in mind that my MP3 collection is in excess of 280GB!!). Anyway, if you dont get stupid and try and put the worlds smallest format/quality files in wierd formats so you can squeeze as much music on this thing as possible then you've got yourself a great player. I prefer quality of sound to quantity of music. The quantity lives on my PC, not on my portable!! I use 192kbps usually for ripping CD's, and purchased downloads at 320kbps. I never convert down, I like quality as I said!!

Right enough waffle, heres the important stuff...
Space........... - 8GB much more space than a shuffle, and expandable via a microSD card.
Sound quality... - Very good indeed. There are EQ adjustments, enough to suit me, and make the quality of sound great.
Head/ear phones. - Not so great, I replaced the standard ones with Genius HP-02 Live Headphones. Available on Amazon!
Screen.......... - Excellent for it's size, easily readable, unless you have bad eyes, nice clear text and backlit.
Controls........ - Couldn't be easier. Very straight forward to use.
Size............ - Well... it's about the size of a small matchbox, and thats just brilliant!
Clip............ - It has a handy clip (hense the name) which works well, and doesn't seem flimsy.
Usage........... - Quite easy, but I cant write files directly to the Removable disc in Windows.. Works well with Media Player though.

Features:-
Standard music player selections, i.e. Artist, Albums, Genre etc
Built in FM radio, great reception and easy to use. (No RDS though! So you need to know your channels)
Shuffle feature, works well.
Great little graphic display when music is playing (bars style graphic)
Simple to use control pad.
Downloadable manual (from SanDisk site)
Easy to transfer music via Media Player, couldn't get Windows XP to write to the removable disc though using the "drive". Not sure why!

For the price of this player I would say you could do worse by buying an iPod shuffle, old or new. This player to me seems far better quality and value for money than an iPod shuffle. Don't get me wrong it would never replace my "proper" iPod, but for the type of thing I need it for, i.e. the gym, it is absolutely perfect. I've used it while running, on the cross trainer and while doing weights and not had any grief with it.

I would say if you are planning on getting an iPod, take a look at this first. For me I was sold, even after reading the bad reviews!

There are some drawbacks. Once the rechargeable battery stops holding a charge theres not much you can do other than use it as an external USB disc, but for the money if the thing lasts 3 years it has been well worth it. And also as I understand it, SanDisk support isn't the best in the world.

this product is great. the issue about low volume is easy to solve. when you first get the item it asks you to choose where you are from. i.e. europe, north usa, usa etc.
at this point choose north usa. do not choose europe. if you choose europe it restricts the volume that can be played back. this is due to stupid EU regulations on potential damage to your ears. choosing north usa gets around this and you will find that the volume nearly doubles. if you have already set up, no worries go back to "reset settings" and start again. you too can have pain in your ears again!!!