SanDisk Sansa e260

SanDisk, best known for flash drives and memory cards, may just have one of the better MP3 players on the market in the SanDisk Sansa e200 series. Reviewers insist that if you are looking for alternative to the iPod and have not been enamored by models from the likes of Creative, Samsung, etc., then you should give this little unit a thorough look-see. Featuring an FM tuner with recording options, the SanDisk Sansa e200 series offers all forms of audio and video playback. The unit offers voice recording capabilities as well as both photo and video playback features. Compact and durable, the SanDisk series offers a tactile navigating wheel and a solidly designed user interface system. It also comes with a user-removable battery.

As with other purchases, the base package is a tad short of complete. Once again, the SanDisk Sansa e200 series offers no AC adapter in the base package. Reviewers indicate that some of the buttons surrounding the unit’s scrollwheel are not all that tactile friendly. Other issues include the loading of photos and video - you must go through a conversion using the accompanying bundled software to do so. Moreover, recordings are made only in WAV formats. In addition, the scrollwheel is considered a tad below the performance of the iPod equivalent. The unit also produces some system noise that can be heard through the headphones at low volume. Overall, the SanDisk Sansa e200 series offers superb features, decent sound quality and processing performance, all for a reasonable price. Offering an FM tuner and recording possibilities for both the radio and voice options and you have a step up over the iPod. Throw in an excellent battery life, the unit’s compact size, its skip-free MP3/WMA player capabilities and you have the perfect alternative to the iPod market.