Full featured flash MP3 player--works with Linux

Author's Rating:

Pros: small, affordable, high capacity for a flash player, Linux-compatible

Cons: slow startup time

The Bottom Line: 
This is arguably the best 8GB MP3 player at any price. I recommend it for users seeking fairly high capacity in a compact, portable player.

Author's Review
After using my father-in-law's Sansa e280, I bought this MP3 player for myself for $180 from Amazon.com and have used it for a few days since it arrived.

I have seen that this player works well with Windows Media Player 10. My experience using the e280 on a computer running Linux is at the end of this review.

Things I like about the player:
-relatively small, simple design
-metal case back
-thumbwheel navigation
-the battery: rechargeable, good life, replaceable for ~$20
-compatible: the player can be used essentially anywhere a USB drive works
-auto shutoff (if no music is playing)
-a variety of accessories are available: docks for home/car, protective cases, armbands. An official "made for sansa" endorsement exists to ensure compatibility.
-it has an FM radio

Things that aren't so great:
-the display becomes unresponsive when connected to a computer
-slow startup (over 10 seconds)
-it's easy to hit the "record" button by mistake
-must use computer to delete files
-buttons are slightly small, moderately hard to press
-volume is reset to 50% after each startup

Overall, I would recommend this player.


Use under Linux:
After upgrading the Firmware in Windows using the firmware updater downloaded from SanDisk, I set out to see if the device would work under Linux (Suse 10.1). With the USB mode on the player set to "MSC", the e280 appeared as an ~8GB storage drive, to which .mp3 files could be added. Music could also be added easily using Amarok (version 1.44). Artist and title tags used by Amarok were recognized by the e280. Currently, only MSC mode appears to be useful--when the USB mode on the e280 was set to "MTP" the device would not work with Amarok. The lack of MTP function is not critical--the device in MSC mode works very smoothly with Amarok, and I would still recommend this player to Linux/Amarok users.