8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Not a good iPod alternative
Date of Review: Dec 31, 2006
The Bottom Line: Get an iPod. iTunes is easier to use.
Not that great
Someone gave this to me as a present because I am anti-iPod. I do not like the iPod because it is very restrictive on the transfer of files to and from a PC and other devices; I wanted something less proprietary that would allow me to use it without having to install any additional software like iTunes.
After using this for a while, honestly, I would probably just get a darn iPod next time. I do not understand how it can be so difficult to make a user-friendly MP3 player. Some issues with this device include:
1) Unless one uses Windows Media Player (WMP), only one playlist can be created on this device.
2) WMP is not very user-friendly. SanDisk has very little user documentation on how to use this device with WMP. Even searching Microsoft for help on using WMP with these types of devices did not yield much. One will have to fiddle around with WMP for a bit to figure out how to get playlists created and synched up. So part of the issue is WMP itself. I have used the device with both WMP 10 and 11, and neither is particularly any better.
Note that one does have an option to not use WMP and just transfer MP3s directly to the device by just using drag or drop or copy and paste in Windows. But using the device without synching it to WMP only limits the user to one playlist, which is pathetic considering that this is a 4 GB device!
As for watching videos or pictures, one will have to use the software that came with the player to convert pictures and video to a specific format for the player. So I have not even bothered with using that feature.
One would figure that since these players have been around for a few years that someone could come up with a design that is as easy to use as the iPod/iTunes. And one wonders why iPods dominate this market?
