SanDisk Sansa m250 2 GB MP3 Player (Black)

I was shopping for MP3 players for my wife and I. We are new to this technology. After researching a great many players, including those with video capabilities, we decided on the Sansa m250. We would have like a player with greater (than 2 Gb) capacity, but settled on this one for a number of reasons.

First was the fact that it uses an AAA battery, instead of a proprietary one. I found on-line videos and instructions about replacing the battery in i-Pods models, Zune's, and several others. Besides the relatively high costs of such batteries and tools one should have to replace the battery, the operations are so intricate and prone to risk of damage to the units, that we were dissuaded from buying a model with internal, rechargeable batteries.

Second was the price: less than $30 and with free shipping!

Third was the many positive reviews posted here.

I accidentally damaged the mini-CD that contained the manual when I was trying to open the #!%*$#@^ clamshell packaging. I went on line to Sandisk and tried to find the manual but didn't have any luck. I sent an e-mail asking for the url to download it. The first reply was one of those "knowledgebase" auto-replies that didn't address the specifics of my request and didn't help. I sent another request to customer service asking for a human to read my message. I promptly received a reply with the correct information and was able to download the manual. Great customer service is a forth reason to strongly consider this model if it meets your needs.

The player, including the radio, works great, and it was easy for me to figure out its operation and change settings even though I'm a novice and did not have a manual. The Quick-Start guide was adequate to get me started.

A last note is that this model apparently is discontinued. At least I could not find it listed in Sandisk's on-line store or any of their links but I did find some information on it on their website by doing a Google search. So if you want one, buy it sooner rather than later.

This is a really great mp3 player, I have not figured out how to do the play list yet, and I did not like the ear buds that came with it, so I got my own, but it is easy to manage and I like that I can turn it off and when I turn it back on it's right where I left off.

I bought mine more than a year ago and use it almost daily. Lately my husband and son have "discoved" mine and are constantly asking to borrow it. I bought cheaper mp3 players for neices last year and was disapointed in the feel of those. They were lightweight plastic and didn't have a backlight at all. This Sansa is nice weight, with a durable feel. After a year + of use it still functions like new. I'm very pleased with mine and the price is just right. The only down side that I have found is an operational error... when I lend it out, the borrowers don't always hold down the power button for the required 3-5 seconds and the battery is usually dead when I finally track it down and retreive it from them. This is the primary reason I'm getting them their own....

I bought a Sansa 2gb MP3 player for my husband. He was surprised. He plays it all the time. He loves it.

Overall I am pretty pleased with the SanDisk m250 MP3 player. I use it primarily for listening to audio books and the radio while working outdoors. My only significant complaint is that I can't book mark my place when I interrupt listening. Audio books from the library download in parts that span an hour or more of playback and the m250 will only resume at the beginning of a part. This is not a big deal with songs. My m250 cost half as much as another player I was considering which did have book marking capabilities. The FM tuner seems to operate well and hold stations. This is my first experience with a MP3 player and I might upgrade in the future.