SanDisk Outdoes themselves; the Sansa m260 is 4GB of media playin' heaven!
Written: May 09 '06
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Pros: Strong capacity with Flash-based stability
Cons: Setting up playlists requires WMP 10; not clearly explained in directions
The Bottom Line: Need 4GB of capacity on the cheap? Take a look at the m260
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| ivplay's Full Review: SanDisk Sansa m260 (4 GB) MP3 Player |
If you have read my reviews religiously (yeah, right!) you know that a while ago I was given a 1 GB SanDisk SDMX1 media player for my use. You will also know that I subsequently lost it on an airplane trip, requiring me to ‘trade up’. Next on the list was the Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra with 30GB of storage. While I loved the Xtra space that this afforded me, I truly missed the small form factor of the SanDisk as well as the FM tuner capability. Add the fact that the Jukebox could only transfer music via the proprietary software and I was left with something that had a lot of capacity but wasn't exactly what I wanted. My wife heard me bemoan the problems of the Xtra and bought me a new toy, the 4GB SanDisk Sansa m260. Thanks, Honey!
The SanDisk Sansa m260 is a flash-based media player similar to the SDMX1 that I loved so much, but with four times the capacity. The player is versatile in that it can play back files varying formats including MP3, WMA, secure WMA and Audible Audio. The stability of the flash-based player is paired with great sound and an FM tuner to make this a truly versatile media experience. The m260 lacks any type of photo or video capability, but for the person using this for audio and audio only this is a very economical alternative to the bulkier hard-drive based media players.
The Sansa m260 comes in a hard-to-open blister pack with the following:
SanDisk Sansa m260
Ear bud style headphones
Arm Strap and plastic case
USB 2.0 connector cable
Starter manual
(1) AAA alkaline starter battery
Physical appearance
The Sansa m260 is a small and light media player with approximate dimensions of 3" X 1" X 2" weighing a little over an ounce total weight. The unit has an eggshell-white faceplate up front with the five-button keypad and a dark blue case around the other four sides. The rear of the player is rounded, which at first doesn't seem very appealing. However, after using the player a bit it does add some heft for carrying it in your hand, yet the size is still small enough to be unobtrusive when strapped to your arm. This rounded shape also allows the player to set on a flat surface such as a desk with the screen pointing up at the user, making it quite easy to see the LCD screen and manipulate the menus.
The top of the unit contains the jacks, one of which is the 1/8" stereo headphone jack and the other being the USB connector. The left of the unit contains the 'hole' for the microphone which can be used to record conversations and the like as well as a slider button to put the unit on hold. While on hold no amount of button depressing will cause the player to react, so keep this in mind when you think your player is busted! Along the right of the unit is the Power/Menu button which you will use frequently as well as a rocker button for volume. I find that once I get the volume set I don't play with it much, so other than the power/menu button and the five-button keypad on the front there isn't much to the interaction. It is nice to have the button pushing kept to a minimum, as it makes for easy navigation with one hand/finger while working out, biking and the like.
The back of the unit merely contains the AAA battery compartment, while the front contains the LCD screen and keypad. The LCD screen displays the navigational menus as well as track information, and the indigo backlight will light up whenever a button is pushed (assuming that pesky hold button isn't activated!)
Connecting/Transferring files
Connecting the Sansa m260 to a PC is a simple process so long as the PC has a USB port. Plugging the mini-USB port into the media player and the other end into the PC will allow for the connection, and so long as you are using Windows XP the rest is completely automated. Windows will find the drivers and load them, thus allowing you to see the player show up as a drive in Explorer. If you are running older versions of Windows such as 98 you will need to install the drivers from the accompanying CD before the OS will ‘find’ the hardware, but that really isn’t too difficult of an operation either.
Once the m260 is connected, transferring files can be managed via a few easy methods. I find the easiest method is to simply copy and paste my music from the My Music folder on a Networked Storage Device to the Sansa m260. If you really want to you can get crafty and/or creative and setup folders for each artist subdivided by the albums, but since the player uses the metadata and not the folder information to sort the music this isn’t necessary.
If you want to use a software interface to transfer and synchronize your music files, Windows Media Player 10 is a viable alternative. From within the Media Player interface you can choose which titles to transfer, hit the sync button and wait; and wait; and, wait… This method is not my favorite, as you have to hunt and peck to find the music that you are looking for, and then the transfers seem to take quite a bit longer. On the plus side for some, Media Player sets up all of your music on the Sansa in files by artist subdivided into the different albums and finally the individual tracks. Again, this is not important, but for some this method will be the alternative of choice.
The Sansa m260 can act as a regular ol’ flash memory card as well, assuming you didn’t fill it to the gills with Pantera, Korn, Limp Bizkit and the like. Simply connect the unit to your computer and copy and paste files over. Take the unit to another computer, connect it and copy and past the files. It is that simple. The only difference is that with this drive you will need the external USB cable to connect to your PC.
In use/How does it work?
Now that you have your music loaded onto the player, you are ready to experience the sound. The Sansa m260 is at heart a media player with an FM tuner and voice recorder that runs on the ubiquitous AAA battery for up to 19 hours, and the three uses will be explained below
Media playback
The bread and butter of this unit is the media playback, as without that it is essentially an expensive FM tuner. The sound quality is good to very good with the provided earbuds and five band equalizer which comes with four presets settings; Pop, Classical, Jazz, and Rock. The equalizer is also customizable for the particular user, and I have modified this to fit my own listening enjoyment. Assuming that you have ripped your own tracks, be sure to rip to a high quality format of at least 128kb/s or higher. Most of my tracks are 192kb/s with some in the 128k and 96k size as well. The higher the bitrate the better quality and more space each track will take up, but then you have 4 GB of storage capacity to work with, right? I have MP3, WMA and secure WMA on the player and have no problems with any of the formats.
I currently have 432 tracks taking up 2 GB of space total, so I haven't used the player to capacity as of yet. I have approximately 12GB of audio files on my PC so I will probably load more as time allows. However, if we assume that each track is 3-4 minutes in length this equates to over 25 hours of uninterrupted, non-repeating music at the moment. Good enough for a workout of an hour or two, that is for sure!
Using the player for media playback is quite simple, actually. Hitting the menu button will bring up the main menu which allows the user to choose between Music playback, FM tuner and voice recorder. (There is also a stopwatch function, but I have found no pressing need for this yet) From the Music submenu the user can choose to index tracks via the artist, album, genre and year. Also available is a playlist option, but to get this set up requires Windows Media Player 10. Create a playlist of your choice within Windows Media Player and then sync your files and voila, you have preset playlists such as classical music for studying, fast music for workouts, and peppy music for when you are getting ready to go out on the town. Additionally a 30-track Favorites list is essentially an on-player playlist that can be modified while away from the PC and WMP 10. All in all the options are good for customizing your listening experience.
FM tuner
The Sansa m260 comes with an FM tuner which allows for up to twenty preset stations. Normally when I am out and about I do not use the FM tuner, and therefore thought that the Creative hard drive based player I had without the tuner would be no big deal. However, as soon as it got cold outside and I was required to move back into the gym for my workouts, I remembered why I liked this feature so much.
At the gym I haunt they have all of the exercise equipment set up with a bank of televisions in front. Using a close-circuit FM broadcast signal and the Sansa m260 I can pick up the audio from the chosen channel and pipe it right into my inner ear. This works great for those days when I want to catch up on the news or pick up some helpful hints from the Food Network while running a few miles. I tried many times to use the Creative player to just listen to audio tracks, but I soon realized I am the type of person that wants to know what is happening on the TV set in front of me! Picking up the Sansa allowed me to watch and listen to the events on the TV, and this is much more satisfying overall.
The FM quality is fairly good with a mild amount of background noise as is typical from FM stations. At the gym the stations come in loud and clear as the transmitter is all of 15 feet away and within line of sight, and other than that I really don't use it. Anywhere else I frequent seems to have an FM tuner already, so this function of the m260, while important, is used only at the gym.
Voice Recording
The Sansa m260 has a built-in mic for recording sounds. This can be used to record voices, meetings and the like, and it works pretty well. The recordings will save in WMA 32kb/s format, and anything within about 10 feet of the microphone will pick up. There isn't much more to say about this, as for me this is a minor addition that I have used once or twice just to see how it works. I don't really see myself using it anytime soon, although if I needed to record a conversation on the sly I suppose that this would fit the bill.
Headphones
Sandisk includes a set of earbuds with the Sansa m260, and I would call them adequate. The foam protector is comfortable in my ear, and I don't have the problem with dropped buds that I have had with other sets in the past. They seem to stay comfortably in my ear, regardless of the activity I am performing at the time. The sound quality from the earbuds is good, but not phenomenal. Let's face it; Sandisk isn't going to give out a $50 set of earphones with an economically priced player. Like most cheaper earbuds, the low bass and high trebles are not reproduced brilliantly, although the sound quality is certainly good enough that I am not complaining. One good thing about the earbuds is that the cords for each bud are the same length… I am not sure why many of the earbuds I have used have one cord longer than the other, and if anyone can explain that to me I would appreciate it… In any case, the earbuds are passable and will give a good experience without major distortion.
Exercise case
I hated the exercise that accompanied my Sandisk 1GB player, yet it was much better than the option for the Creative. Just having a lightweight player attached to your arm as opposed to a bulky hard drive player is preferable, even if the case is chintzy… The exercise case that comes with the Sansa m260 is a replica of the earlier model, which is to say a flimsy plastic pouch that fits snugly around the player with cutouts for the jack, microphone and buttons. A stretchable grey strap with Velcro allows the user to affix it to their arm, keeping the player out of the way and secure. A more solid affair is much desired, but fortunately not required. The case and strap work, even if they are not all that great looking.
Overall
When I wrote the review of the SDMX1 I said that it was the best money can buy. Well, Sandisk outdid themselves, making a larger capacity player with all the necessary options at an economical price. If you want to watch videos or view pictures on a miniscule color screen, this is not the player for you. However, if you want to listen to quality sound from either audio tracks or an FM feed, the price is right with the Sansa m260. Now I just need to be careful about keeping the player on my person when exiting a plane…
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 149
Recommended for: Athletes - Lightweight and Portable, Perfect for the Gym
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