[neoufo51]

My Samsung P2 died on me a couple weeks ago out of warranty, so I've been using my 2gig Sansa Clip instead. The SQ is superb, but the tiny screen and mere 14 hour battery life makes for a pretty weak companion when I'm on the go.

I've used a Fuze before, which I bought as a present for somebody else and filled up with music and loved the SQ as I do on my Clip, but can't bring myself to pay even only 70-80 bucks for a player with a REALLY mediocre screen, squeaky, flexy build quality and a humble 24 hour battery life.

I'm waiting for Sandisk to roll out their upgrade to the Fuze. I've been looking at the Sony S639f but it doesn't have the featureset and codec support that the Fuze has.

I'm counting on Sandisk to step up and address the issues with their Fuze before I buy anything from them. Anybody share the same sentiment?

 

[Navyblue]

Me too.

If Fuze were made of metal like some iPods or Walkmans I'd have bought one already.

You could say that I am shallow but I love the feel good factor of metal casing.

Haven't actually used one though.

 

[Signal2Noise]

Yup. I would buy one if it met those criteria.

 

[neoufo51]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif Me too. If Fuze were made of metal like some iPods or Walkmans I'd have bought one already. You could say that I am shallow but I love the feel good factor of metal casing. Haven't actually used one though.

Sandisk has done a great job making their players very feature-rich. However, they need to do what Sony does with their players. Make them solid, include a nice screen, and ramp up the battery life to the max.

 

[Navyblue]

Agreed. I ended up with a Zune, I sacrificed FLAC support and non-proprietary software for transfer, and lately found out that I also sacrificed the option to use an LOD. Still, I'm not sure if I want to trade the Zune for the Fuze. I guess there is something wrong with me.

If we can merge the Fuze and Walkman A series (with their good points of course) that would be the king of Flash player IMO.

Somehow my wife who isn't an audiophile is especially resistant to the idea that I get a Sansa. She didn't care that much when I said I want an iPod or a Sony or a Zune eventhough they all cost more than the Sansa. I guess that says a lot about the general consumer's perception.

 

[neoufo51]

Now that the economy is a huge mess, it's a perfect opportunity for Sandisk to try and steal the non-touchscreen, flash-based mp3 player market away from Apple completely. They can easily sell a 16 or 32GB mp3 player at 3/4 the cost of the current Nano, but with comparable build quality (or even better since the current Nano is just a sliver of metal) and far superior SQ.

 

[Relinquished]

if fuze could use SD cards....i would buy it

 

[Navyblue]

SD card is the cheapest card right now. But micro SD is not that much more expensive IMO and a couple of 8GB doesn't cost too much. If more than a few of these is needed one probably should look into harddrive based player. Once digital cameras started to use micro SD, SD would walk the path of CF card, which is reserved for high end equipment only and becoming harder to find. Though I wouldn't expect it to happen in a few years time.

 

[darkswordsman17]

After using a Fuze, the only real knock I have against it is the interface, its not that pretty and makes me want to spend as little time as possible actually doing anything with it. The screen isn't the best, but it doesn't bother me (might would if the UI was prettied up). The build quality is plenty good in my opinion, it feels solid to me (is a tiny bit of a gap between the two shell pieces but its not an issue at all really). I really like the rolling wheel (I miss it on the clip).

 

[shigzeo]

i don't care about storage size but if it met all the above criteria AND

had gapless playback
AAC

I would seriously consider it. it would also be nice if sansa had a nice channel separation for us trance heads like the ipod has. every player i try outside of an ipod is just not quite there.

but if this met these criteria, i would seriously consider it.

 

[montell]

I would seriously consider the fuze if it had an ipod nano like user interface. I have to admit that I've never used the fuze before but I think that the interface isnt as fast and efficient as that of the nano. I dont really care about the design as I consider portable audio players as a throw away gadget anyway. Funny that I have used a walkman for probally 8 years and a minidisc for 4 years but when it comes to mp3 players they are just throw away tech.

But I have an ipod touch right now and I probally cannot go back to a regular dap again. Yes, in my opinion 99% of the apps are gimmicks. I only use like 2 apps (safari and a notepad) and 1 game. But I believe its a very versatile device with podcasts, an occasional video, games and music. I also have a couple of dictionaries on it. Its a great time waster, convenient and is easy to flash in public for some quick entertainment wether its in the form of music, games, videos or apps. Hard to beat by any portable device on the market

 

[Earwax]

As far as build quality, the main thing I wish Sansa would improve is scratch resistance, especially over the display.

 

[yukihiro]

I have no complaints about the build quality, but a longer battery life and better display/menu would be nice. I would definitely rather have the player be a little bigger with a higher capacity battery. SanDisk already has the Clip for a "small player." The screen is okay for a dedicated DAP IMO. I don't need to have a fancy screen that will bring up the price. I think the bigger weakness is in their menu and how it looks and functions.

 

[yeahx]

I was thinking about a Fuze recently and its lack of gapless is what made me pass it up. Being in a metal case would be a plus too though yes.

 

[LFC_SL]

Not necessarily a question of dumping plastic for metal, but more finish and styling imo

4G Nano and Clip owner