Why a Sansa MP3 player might be the best alternative to an iPod

Author's Rating:

Pros: Micro-SD slot EXPANDABILITY FM Tuner Colorful Display Ease Of Use Sleek Design 8GB (~1,000 Songs)

Cons: Honestly, none that come to mind.  Really that great of a product.

The Bottom Line: 
This MP3 player absolutely provides you with more of a bang for your buck.  The ability to expand it's memory is a huge perk.  And it's easy to use!

Author's Review
Actually working around this product provided me the ability to experience the advantages in using a Sansa MP3 player versus something a bit pricier like an iPod.  Granted Apple's iPods do offer some things the Sansa player does not but if you really assessed what you were getting out of each product, the sansa fuze packs a better bang for the buck.  The Fuze is definitely a quality product, with both price and features in mind.  To elaborate, i'll note some of the key features of the Sansa Fuze which distinguish it, at least in my mind, as one of the best MP3 player brands out there. 

Up until recently, the Sansa Fuze's were only made to hold up to 4GB (roughly 1,000 songs).  What's great, is now they've upped that number to 8GB, which makes it a more competitive MP3 player to Apple's iPod Nano's whos basic models are 8gb as well.  The BIGGEST PERK in my mind, when using a Sansa Fuze, is that you have the ability to expand on it's internal memory if you ever run out of room on your MP3 player with all those audio clips, and videos you store on it.  This is simply done by purchasing a Micro-SD or Micro-SDHC card which is a small chip (smaller, compatible versions of an SD card and SDHC cards used in cameras, camcorders, cellphones, and photo printers).  The great thing about Micro-SD cards is that they sell for roughly $10-$15 for a 1GB card, and as this technology becomes more and more standard, odds are prices will drop a bit lower.  To my knowledge, Micro-SD cards are produced in a variation of sizes ranging from 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB & 32GB.  This enables the consumer to expand on a 8GB Sansa Fuze all the way up to 40GB of space.  Micro-SD cards 4GB and up are considered Micro-SDHC cards.  The only thing you really need to know about that is the HC at the end of SD stands for High Capacity.  It's just a term they pretty much throw out there to indicate cards exceeding 2GB in capacity.  The major perk of using a Micro-SD or Micro-SDHC card within your Sansa Fuze is the added ability to transfer content such as music, video, and pictures to and from compatible devices as previously mentioned such as a camera, camcorder, cellphone, photo printer, etc...  making this MP3 player multi-faceted.  This is done via the most simple process you'll ever come by, by simply popping in/out the Micro SD/Micro SDHC card, placing it in a regular SD adapter (has a little slot for the Micro card) and BAM, you've just transferred all your data from one device to another, provided the devices compatability. 

Aside from the Micro-SD expansion slot in the Sansa Fuze, i will say that i'm a fan of the wheel on the outside, which reminds me a lot of my old iPod MP3 player so for any previous iPod MP3 owners, you get to keep that similar feel of using an Apple product.  Though, the interfaces on the MP3 players are completely different.  The menu on a Sansa Fuze is bright, colorful, and at the same time basic, letting you scroll through all the different options you have when using the MP3 player.  Additionally, unlike Apple's iPod's, the Sansa Fuze DOES have an FM Tuner built in.  So if you're soemone who likes to listen to FM radio from time to time, this MP3 player is geared more towards you. 

All in all, comparatively to almost any MP3 player out there, even aside from Apple's iPod product line, i feel as though the Sansa Fuze offers a more comparable, cost effective MP3 player with some features inclusively which differentiate it and distinguish it from that of its competitor's.