Mp3 players- is this one of the best for under £50?

Clotilde

Thanks, everyone!

Going to get the Sansa Clip+ from Amazon as I've saved up some gift vouchers there from doing online surveys, so it'll be a wee treat.

Yorkie1

Inspired by OP's thread, I am hovering over the 'buy' button on Amazon but hoped you could answer some questions about the sandisk before I commit!

1. Is it advisable to get a separate charger?

2. I've never used an MP3 player before. If, for example, I wanted to hear a BBC radio programme after the event, do I download it to my PC from the web and then just transfer it to the MP3 player?

3. How do you actually do the transfer - is it straightforward?

4. Is the 8GB memory on the MP3 player built in, and how does the additional optional memory card work?

Sorry if these seem basic questions!

Dreamnine

You won't need a separate charger, it will charge fine over usb but those usb wall warts are pretty common nowadays and a good idea if you're away from your PC.

Yes, you can transfer any content ie. your radio programme by dragging and dropping to the Sansa.

It's easy to transfer - open My Computer on your PC and you will see the Sansa listed as a drive - or 2 drives if you have a microSD installed.

The Clip+ comes in 2, 4 or 8GB models and you just slot in a microSD to complement this - up to 32Gb at the moment, but 64Gb cards should work, also.

You might want to consider the Sansa Clip Zip which is an updated model with a colour screen for album art - basically the same as the Clip+ apart from that, slightly modernised.

fwor

1. Depends how/where you're going to use it. I use mine when away from home, so I bought a car cigar lighter USB charger - they are ridiculously cheap on eBay.

3. You can either "drag and drop" or copy/paste into an appropriate folder on the device, or you can use something like Windows Media Player to sync it with your own library. By default it will be in "Auto" mode, but you may need to explicitly set it to either MSC or MTP mode, depending how you want to use it.

4. Yes - any extra memory card appears as another "drive" in Windows.

Yorkie1

Thanks a lot Dreamnine & fwor!

One final question - do you know whether the radio can only play the presets, or whether you can search for other stations too?

fwor

It's just a standard FM radio. When you first use it, it autoscans and finds all available strong enough channels.

You can select whether to switch from channel to channel either through saved presets or by scanning again.

Yorkie1

Really helpful, thanks.

I don't think I'll need the added features of the zip for the extra £11; so am looking at the standard 8GB clip+. Plus 8GB or 16GB card and new earphones. I like treating myself

Excellent - just in time for the train journey to visit parents in a couple of weeks' time!

Edit: The deed is done and I'm really excited!

Clotilde

Thanks for asking all those extra questions, Yorkie1. The answers were very helpful for me too! Am very slow on the uptake when it comes to technology....

I've ordered mine and can't wait to try it out.

bob_a_builder

Some questions about the Clip if I may

When you plug in the extra SD card, is there any (significant) delay in those files being available on the Clip
I have Creative Zen which can be expanded in the same, except the function is almost unusable due to the inordinate delay while it 'indexes' the new card - take so long you forget why you plugged the card in.

Does it have a 'sleep' mode i.e. switch off after a preset time ?
EDIT: It does ! manual here

How is the 'random' play
I'm sure my Zen only ever plays the same set of tracks and misses many more

Nilrem

IIRC when I put a new SD card in my Clip+ it takes a minute or two for it to refresh the media list (it's a 16gb card about half full).
I'm not sure about the random play as I tend to listen to it for maybe an hour or so at a time at most, it does seem to favor some tracks but I'm not sure if that's because I've got them loaded 2+ times with different versions and I'm not spotting the difference (for example I've got 4-5 meatloaf albums on it with some duplicated tracks, and some very similar ones), or because it weights some tracks based on the rating I've given them:)