With the hype for the iPods and Zunes it’s easy to forget that SanDisk is one of the major players in the personal audio field. So it’s good to know there is a decent alternative in the Sansa e200 series, SanDisk’s flagship audio line. Today we’re reviewing the Sansa e260 in particular.

Our review unit, a stylish 4GB device, has the ubiquitous navigation arrangement of the main buttons that’s so common on the Zune and various iPods.

In this write-up we won’t make any specific comparisons with other brands. I feel that is counterproductive. Each model needs to stand on its own merits. So the key aspect we’re looking for at the end of the review is: do you get value for money when you buy the Sansa e200?

We’ve reviewed a fair few SanDisk products over the years on the DigitalReviews Network and SanDisk’s move into Digital Audio Players is as logical as a chipmaker going into full PC production. You are already supplying a key component, in this case flash memory, so it makes sense to expand the market for your memory cards by providing the players as well.

My initial impression when unboxing the e260 (the 4GB model) is that we’re dealing with a well-built, high-quality unit. It feels very comfortable to hold and is smaller than I had anticipated.

Incidentally, the model numbers are not really indicative of how much memory the various units come with. For instance, Sansa e250 comes with 2GB (and sells for AUD199), the e260 holds 4GB (at $289) and the top dog 8GB model seems finally properly labelled as the Sansa e280 and is yours for $379.

However, the built-in flash memory does not have be the limiting factor as – naturally – the Sansa line has a microSD memory card slot for near-unlimited expansion.

From yesteryear’s simple MP3 players to today’s awesome digital media players is quite a transition. What it means is that you can listen to a thousand songs or use some of that memory for photos or videos. And for a change of pace you can always tune in the FM radio and record straight from that.

Versatile? You bet!

So let’s look at all these aspects in more detail.

The Unboxing Continues

This is what you’ll get in the retail box:

Sansa e200 Series Player

Pre-loaded content to sample the various user experiences, including 20 songs, plus photo and video samples

Travel pouch and lanyard

Stereo headphones

Lithium Ion rechargeable battery

USB cable

Quick Start Guide, CD with User Guide and additional flyer inserts

Now this is what you must provide: Windows XP and Windows Media Player 10+ plus of course a CD-ROM drive and USB 2.0 port.

Featuring…

Let’s have a closer look at the various features that really shine in the Sansa line.

We already mentioned the microSD card expansion slot. This also supports SanDisk TrustedFlash content cards that you can use in your mobile phone.

The e200 comes up as USB mass storage, enabling you to just drag-and-drop your music onto the player. That’s the easy and fastest way to populate your player. The Sansa Media Converter can convert your photos and videos to the format the Sansa needs to get it on the screen. It works OK but the screen is just too small to get much pleasure out of doing this regularly. In addition, video playback is limited to 15 fps.

Most DAPs would sport a digital FM tuner and the e260 lets you do on-the-fly FM recording as well as voice recording with the built-in microphone.

The user replaceable and rechargeable Lithium Ion battery is good for up to 20 hours of battery life (battery life based on continuous, standard playback, 128Kbps MP3 file). In practise, because it charges while being connected to the PC, you don’t run out of juice easily. But, the downside is you need to have a charging option handy when you use your audio player a lot while away from a PC.

The sleek, thin design with the brilliant 1.8” TFT colour screen makes you think it was inspired by the nano and that’s not a bad thing. Like what they say about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery… The Sansa line is definitely not a knockoff of the iPod competition though. It’s like saying the Airbus is a knockoff of the Boeing line of airplanes. It’s the generic form that makes sense which ensures that the various brands look very similar.

Scratch resistant alloy metal back casing will ensure a reasonable long and good-looking life and after several weeks of use, the Sansa holds up really well in that department.

The multipin “universal” connector allows for future accessory upgrades, battery charging and USB 2.0 connectivity but I’m not sure if ‘universal’ stretches beyond SanDisk’s own brand.

The Sansa supports Microsoft PlaysForSure subscription services for more choices in how you get and use your music. We did not test this out as we absolute detest DRM’ed music and other reports about the integration of this on the Sansa has also discouraged me from trying it out.

I (and more importantly, my wife also) found the e260 simple to use and whilst changing the menu took a little while to get used to, the interface navigation is reasonably logical.

The backlit scroll wheel is mechanical, rather than touch-sensitive but it has a good tactile feel. The only real issue I have is with the Power On/Off button which also serves to go back to the main menu. This definitely is or can be confusing.

The other issue was that the earphones with their very thin leads easily got tangled.

We quickly exchanged them for better leads from an old Diva DAP we still had.

Conclusion

How does the Sansa e260 (and its siblings in the e200 range) fare in the Value-for-Money stakes? Very well, I would say. There’s isn’t a lot we didn’t like. Sure, a faster start-up time might be one of them, but even that is relative. The price is good, street pricing is even better and 4GB is a decent size. The 4 Gig model seemed plenty at the beginning of our review but you can’t have too much storage! It is chockers with about half the collective music on our PCs…

So do buy the highest capacity player you can afford.

SanDisk at the recent CES came out with a clear direction where the company is heading and we undoubtedly will review more of their products in 2007.