SanDisk 512MB MP3 Player

[Brandon]

The thumbstick was acting up on my iRiver 512MB flash, then the battery died while updating the firmware so it was dead. Lucky me, I bought the bestbuy extended warrenty. I was hoping to get all $300 i spend on the iRiver back, but they made me get another MP3 player. Lucky me, they had the SanDisk in stock (even though it was $40 more then online) so i got it, and got paied $140 too so not bad if you ask me.

Anyways, the SDMX1-512-A18 is 512MB Flash MP3/WMA/WMA-DRM player, and at besbuy costs $120, online it can be found for $90 shipped. It takes 1xAAA battery and is really small, but a large portion is taken up with the nice LCD (ipod shuffle killer) I have an iPod, but I cant run with it so I needed somthing else.

The included carrying case is full clear plastic and fits snuggly around the unit. The armband I found a little hard to get through the hole in the case, but once it was done, I found it very confertable to wear around.

Controls:

The LCD display can be flipped upsidedown if wished, for both lefty and righty users (a huge plus) Like the iRiver, it has a joystick to control the volume and track skip. On the top (or bottom depending on which way you have the screen set) there are 3 buttons and a hold switch. The first button controls the power and pause/play. To turn off the unit, you hold the button for 2-3 seconds. the second button controls shuffle and the third controls repeat when in MP3 mode. When in FM mode, you can record what is being played.

Performance:

Using Windows Media Player 10, WinXP SP2, Athlon 3200+ with 1GB of RAM, copying 268MB of MP3s took roughly 50 seconds, or about 5.5MB/s. Compared the iRiver flash models that are USB2, at 1.5MB/s. I havent gone through a full battery yet, but many have reported around 15-20 hours depending on the volume. I have the equlizer set on rock, and there is a full range of treble and bass that can be heard. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention - It acts as a USB Flash drive meaning that you do not have to use Windows Media Player or the included Musicmatch Jukebox to transfer music if you dont wish to.

Pros:

Price - $90 online and $120 retail - 512MB ($65 online, $90 retail - 256MB / $135 online/ $180 - 1GB)

Transfer rate: 5.5MB/s

Carrying Case

Sound Quality

Size (weighs next to nothing too)

1 year warrenty (vs 90 days for most others)

Cons:

Arm Strap hard to get in

Buttons can take a few minuites to get used to

LCD backlight isnt extremely bright, though longer battery life

Specs:

512MB (about 120 songs at 128kbps)

Digital FM tuner with record function

Microphone for digital recordings

AAA Battery

Blue backlit multi-line LCD display

2.96" x 1.28" x .82" (L x W x H) or 75.2mm x 32.8mm x 20.8mm

28.9g (w/o battery)

39.7g (w/ battery

USB 2.0 High Speed

Whats in the box:

Digital Audio Player

Carrying case with armband

Stereo Earphones

AAA Alkaline Battery

USB 2.0 Cable

Quick Start Guide

CD with Musicmatch Jukebox Software, User Guide, and Windows 98E Driver.

[ZZOOzzoo]

Thanks for this nice review! (Y)

The design could've been more unique in my opinion. :)

[Rappy Veteran]

Thanks for the Review :)

[henryly]

Does it support mp3 bit rates other than 128K? For example, 192K or 320K?

If yes, what is the quality?

Thanks!

[BroChaos Veteran]

yes, it supports other bitrates, not sure what exactly. i just bought one of these for a friend. i set it up for them, so i'm pretty familiar with it.

one feature i really liked was the ability to flip the menu 180 degrees. when i turned it on the first time, the way *I* held, the menu was upside down. so i was like "damn, that sucks" cuz it felt weird to use my other thumb. so definitely good thinking on their part.

next best part is PRICE. i paid $120 after rebate for the **1GB** model.

it feels kinda cheap, but hey for the price, you can't go wrong.

[Brandon]

yeah the only thing that im not not liking now is the slowness of how you scroll through songs... takes awhile, but i have it on random so

[Brandon]

Does it support mp3 bit rates other than 128K? For example, 192K or 320K?

If yes, what is the quality?

Thanks!

585437758[/snapback]

yeah, i have a few songs at 256k on MP3 format... i believe its from 64k-320k on both WMA and MP3

[henryly]

Thanks for your quick reply!

Did you test whether this player supports mp3 in VBR format?

From other place, I find some complaint about the 'pop' problem, i.e. when playing mp3 other than 128k, occassionally it pauses (when the title scrolling reaches the margin of the screen) during the playback. Do you encounter similar problem? (Of course, I hope you have a perfect experience with this player, :-) )

Thanks in advance!

[Brandon]

Thanks for your quick reply!

Did you test whether this player supports mp3 in VBR format?

From other place, I find some complaint about the 'pop' problem, i.e. when playing mp3 other than 128k, occassionally it pauses (when the title scrolling reaches the margin of the screen) during the playback. Do you encounter similar problem? (Of course, I hope you have a perfect experience with this player, :-) )

Thanks in advance!

585437921[/snapback]

Well i havent listened to it for more then 20 minuites (only run with it on weekends when by myself) but i havent heard any popping with my ipod headphones or any pausing

[username]

i have the 256 version, its pretty decent, i use q25 VBR wma files, decent portable quality, the fact that it is detected as a removable device is awesome, no drivers or software

yes, it support vbr mp3 as wma at their perspective max spec bitrates

does not support wma lossless or wma pro (which really does not produce better sounding audio but smaller files actually)

[BroChaos Veteran]

yeah, if you're looking for a cheap, name brand flash based player, with all the features, this is the way to go.

a good idea even if you already own a hdd based player, and you are very active.

it definitely doens't play drm wmas though ;)

my friend apparantly ripped all her music with wmp and had the encryption on by default.

took me a sec to figure out why it wasn't working, and a much longer time to get all the stuff converted :(

[username]

there is a firmware update for these SDMX1 players, don't ask me what it does though...

http://www.sandisk.com/retail/dap-firmware.asp

BroChaos: it will play drm wma's if you import them through WMP (Y), at least thats what the FAQ says

[BroChaos Veteran]

doh, i didn't even think of that...but her computer was running win98 and a really old version of wmp, i prolly would've had to update it.

hmmm, why don't companies put changelogs?

[mstx]

I have this player a week now, it's realy nice! (Y) . I only use it for running though. For everything else I use my iRiver H320. ;) .

[leedogg]

Whats the setting to flip the screen?

oh btw, for those of you who would like to purchase this, I got the 1gb model on mwave.com for $130... :ninja:..

[BroChaos Veteran]

Whats the setting to flip the screen?

oh btw, for those of you who would like to purchase this, I got the 1gb model on mwave.com for $130... :ninja:..

585581984[/snapback]

it's in the display settings, just browse them all, you'll see it :)

(great feature btw)

[JoDaddy]

I have this in the 1 GB model. There was a bug on it - it kept cutting out, but I got the firmware upgrade (http://www.sandisk.com/retail/dap-firmware.asp) and it fixed it. It's a really cool player. You can find more options by holding down the four-way toggle button, and also hold down the play/pause button.

[username]

wow, i didn't know you could flip the screen, nice option, help to read the manual :laugh:

[odd-thoughtz]

ahhhhh help me please...i have the 512mb one and the text on it is all messed up.....its never done this before and I already tried firmware but that didnt do any good...i dont kow what to do!!! please help me!!! what do i do? :cry: