Music plays an important part in my everyday life. No matter if I’m in the car, cooking in the kitchen, working outdoors, striving to get the last few hard minutes in during my workout on my treadmill or Total Gym, I’m grooving along to tunes. Sometimes I will even listen to music while doing my shopping! Why? Because music motivates and stimulates me to move faster, dulls the pain during my workout, regulates my mood, and at times when I need it the most—soothes me! Music has an AMAZING power over my mind plus body and I couldn’t live without it. Even though music on the go is a daily essential, I don’t necessarily want to spend hundreds of dollars on a portable gadget and music subscription. The great news is—–I don’t have too! With the SanDisk’s Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player and slotRadio card, I can get premium entertainment without the high cost that usually accompanies it.
About SanDisk’s Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player
The Sansa Fuze+ MP3 portable digital audio/video player packs a high performance punch at a low cost. You get all the bells and whistles you would want and expect out of an MP3 player for a price tag of under $100! The Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player is equipped with a large and vibrant 2.4” color screen great for watching videos and viewing photos, a digital FM tuner to listen to your favorite stations, plus a built-in microphone for voice or FM radio broadcasts recordings. Additionally, the players has a microSDHC card slot which allows you to expand your memory up to 40GB! Here is more information about the Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player features.
Features
• Vibrant 2.4” QVGA LCD screen (320×240) for brilliant views of your videos, photos, and album art.
• Capacitive touch control pad provides easy navigation through the bright graphical user interface menus.
• Supports the following music file formats: MP3, WMA, secure WMA, FLAC, AAC/M4A (DRM-free iTunes® music files), WAV, and OGG-Vorbis. In addition, the device supports Audible and audiobook formats.
• Displays embedded album art and other song metadata.
• Native video file support of H.264, MPEG4, and WMV file types (320 x 240). Additional file formats including 3gp/3gpp2, ASF, AVI, DAT, DivX(ver 6.0), DVR-MS, MOV, MP4, MPEG 1, MPEG 2, MJPEG, FLV, and Flip® file formats can be added to the player easily using the optional free downloadable Sansa Media Converter (SMC) software available via the Sansa Updater. See www.sandisk.com/smc for more information. This application can also be used to optimize viewing of native file types on the Sansa Fuze+ screen (i.e., aspect ratios, frame rate, bit rate, and resolution).
• Native photo file support of JPG and BMP file formats. Additional file formats including TIFF, GIF, PCX, TGA, and PNG can be added to the player easily using the optional free downloadable Sansa Media Converter software available via the Sansa Updater. See www.sandisk.com/smc for more information. This application can also be used to optimize viewing of native file type on the Sansa Fuze+ screen (i.e.,
aspect ratios and resolution).
• Includes an integrated FM radio for listening to and recording of live-broadcast FM radio stations with up to 40 pre-set channels. Enables pausing of FM radio broadcasts during recording, for instance to filter out commercials or other unwanted portions of a broadcast.
• Supports voice recording function with a built-in microphone.
• microSD/microSDHC card slot supports additional higher capacities, up to 40GB* of total device content including internal memory (e.g., 8GB player with a 32GB card).
• Allows users to read data directly from the card on the player (in the supported music, photo, and video formats detailed above) which are stored on a microSD/microSDHC card in the card slot (card not included).
• Rechargeable battery lasts up to 24 hours of audio playback or 5 hours of video playback
Colors and GB Sizes
SanDisk offers the Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player in five fashionable colors including purple, red, white, blue, and black. Additionally the device is available in three different capacities: 4 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB. It also has a has a microSDHC card slot allowing you to expand your storage possibilities up to approximately 40 GB of total data storage capacity which is approximately equal to 10,000 songs!
Taking A Closer Look At The Sansa Fuze+ MP3 Player
SanDisk’s Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player has a sleek industrial design with “invisible” capacitive touch control and highly intuitive graphical user interface. Unlike most MP3 players which use a traditional “home” screen, the Sansa Fuze+ interface is organized similar to a film strip or digital book shelf with the various features listed horizontally.
To navigate through the 8 features (music,videos,photos, radio, podcasts, voice,card, settings) you simply swipe the touch pad left-to-right to select the desired feature or or by swiping top-to-bottom within features. You can also navigate by lightly tapping the end points of the markings on the device. When you want to make a selection tap the center of the cross markings. The interface takes getting use to, especially if your accustomed to a flywheel and vertical scrolling menus. However, once you play with the sensitivity navigation will be a breeze.
Transfering music files, photos, and videos from your computer to your Sansa Fuze+ player
Sansa Fuze+ player comes with an open file platform enabling you three ways to load content: transfer your own files using a computer; obtain music files from one of the supported media subscription services such as Rhapsody or eMusic, or side-load content to the Sansa Fuze+ player using a microSD/microSDHC memory card or slotRadio card which are sold separately.
slotRadio Cards
SanDisk slotRadio cards consist of premium pre-loaded playlists of music containing 1000 songs! The cards are a way to beat the hassles of downloads, generating playlists, and expensive music subscriptions. These cards provide commercial free music from the leading music labels, and enable skipping of songs you do not want to listen to. They are a great way to keep costs down and avoid having to manage your own content. SlotRadio cards can be purchased for just $39.99 ! That is a whopping savings compared to purchasing songs individually which usually run 99 cents a piece! Do the math! Buying 1000 songs at 99 cents would be $990! You would be saving a total of $950.01! The cards are a GREAT value and turn your MP3 player into a personal jukebox.
The current slotRadio cards that can be found at SanDisk.com are…
VH1-Classic – 1000 Songs
R&B / Hip-Hop – 1,000 Songs
DailyMix – 1,000 Songs
Classical – 60 Hours
Motown – 500 Songs ($29.99)
Country – 1,000 Songs
Health & Fitness – 1,000 Songs
Card – Christmas – 500 Songs ($29.99)
Oldies – 1,000 Songs
Rock – 1,000 Songs
80s & 90s – 1,000 Songs
Latin – 500 Songs
What comes in the box?
Thinking about purchasing a SanDisk’s Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player for the holidays , but want to know what comes in the box first? Here is what you will receive.
Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player
micro-USB charge/transfer cable for connecting to a computer
Earphones
Quick Start Guide
eMusic free trial offer insert (Americas only)
Rhapsody free trial offer insert, including software CD (Americas only)
My Thoughts
SanDisk through Mom Central sent me a 4GB red Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player and VH1 SlotRadio Card to try. The MP3 player combined with the slotRadio card preloaded with the 1000 VH1 songs was a superlative duo! The Sansa Fuze+ is a slick compact music machine offering the best features for the fraction of the cost of other gadgets that have half the playback capabilities and the VH1 SlotRadio Card contained songs from favorite artists like Elton John, Janet Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Pat Benatar, Aerosmith, and more! The card featured Classic Rock, Classic Pop, 80s, 90s, One hit Wonders, Workout, and Chillout playlists! I grooved along with songs I haven’t heard in YEARS!
To be honest I haven’t tried downloading music yet, so I can’t comment on the ease of transferring the content to the MP3 player. However, the software platform looks fairly simple to figure out.
Here is a few reasons I like the SanDisk’s Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player and some things I would change.
LIKES
1. The Sansa Fuze+ MP3 4GB player only costs $79.99 and offers more features than my iPod Nano.
2. Sound quality is excellent.
3. Contains a voice recorder great for students looking to record lectures or notes.
4. The large and vibrant 2.4” color screen is awesome!
5. Perfect tween/teen friendly device! The slotRadio cards provide quality music for a set price without having to buy and download songs which can become expensive. Plus, you won’t have to worry if your kiddo is illegally downloading songs off the internet.
6. LOVE the FM radio! I was able to tune into my favorite stations.
7. Sansa Fuze+ MP3 is lightweight and comes in 5 fantastic colors.
8. No need to backup your music if your only using the slotRadio cards. I have lost $100s of dollars before by forgetting to backup my purchased songs from iTunes and having to format my PC.
I Would Change
1. The earphones are rather generic and too large for my ears.
2. The slotRadio card doesn’t allow you to scroll through the list of songs available. There is 1000 songs, but it’s a guessing game to find the song you want. You have to skip through EACH song.
3. The touch pad can be difficult to control compared to a flywheel.
BUY IT!
The SanDisk’s Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player and slotRadio cards make an awesome holiday gift for the music lover on your shopping list! With a price tag under $100, its a pocketbook saver too! Get it now for only $79.99!
Check out my Holiday Gift Guide for other HOT gift ideas!
“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of SanDisk and received the SanDisk Sansa Fuze+ and VH1 slotRadio Card to facilitate my review.”
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I’m like you – I gotta have my music with me, everywhere! This would be a great gift for sure, especially for teens.
SOunds great for teens i agree OR MYSELF ACTUALLY during workouts and such but if you have to fidget to much with the screen im not to good with gadgets i think id just prefer a good old fashion walkman..lol i know you old schoolers are laughing ..walkmans are distinct.