Available in 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB sizes that come in black, pink, red, blue, and silver, the Fuze has a stylish, easy to use navigation menu which reminds me of the Xbox navigation scheme, where new items slide into view as you scroll. And I love the start-up and shut-down animations, which are just plain cool.

It has a scroll wheel that, instead of being touch-sensitive, simply spins on a central axis like a record. The north, south, east, and west positions are clickable, allowing you to navigate through the machine or albums. It may not be as clever as Apple’s click wheel, but it’s just as functional.

The Fuze has a nice, solid feel when you hold it in your hand, weighing 2.1 ounces. And since it uses Flash memory, it can be shaken all you want — while exercising, for example — with no damage done. I also like that it has a skid-resistant rubber back, which helps the device to stay in place wherever you place it.

The screen is nice and bright, and while it won’t provide high-def viewing at just 1.9″ in size, it’s very close to the Nano’s screen quality. The overall device measures 3.1″ x 1.9″ x .3″.

There’s a port for connecting the Fuze to your computer via an included USB cord and plug-in for your earbuds (a pair are also included), both on the bottom of the device. The right side has the on/off switch, and the left is where your MicroSDHC card is inserted. Charging the device is done through the USB cord, and takes about three hours; no wall outlet plug is needed. Battery power lasts for an impressive 24 hours of music playback, and five hours of video.

Storage is where the Sansa Fuze really excels. Rather than being stuck with a single internal drive, the Fuze sets itself apart by accepting Sandisk’s MicroSDHC cards, which can hold thousands upon thousands of songs and pictures, and hundreds of videos. (How Sandisk manages to squeeze 16GB into a teeny-tiny card the size of your thumb nail is something I’ll never comprehend.) Since you can change out the MicroSDHC cards with ease, your library has the potential to be significantly bigger than what any iPod can hold, depending on how many cards you have. I could see even organizing cards by content type — one card for music, another for photos, etc.

Like most modern multimedia players, it can handle music, video, and images. One particularly nice touch is the inclusion of a built-in FM radio, which I found to get surprisingly strong reception for such a small device with no external antenna. You can program the radio tuner with up to 40 preset stations.

There’s a voice recorder as well, if you like to make simple audio recordings, like voice notes.

The only main downside I could find to the Fuze is nothing new or unique; it’s the same issue that afflicts many portable MP3 players. It’s just not easy to export anything from iTunes to the device, which means that unless you’re comfortable with some mild tweaking, Mac users are kinda screwed. You can change your iTunes settings to import music from your CDs in MP3 format, but the Fuze won’t play your existing library of AAC files, not to mention any music you’ve downloaded from the iTunes Store. (There are several third-party AAC to MP3 encoders available out there, but none of them are free.)

Any MP3 files you do have on your Mac are easy enough to export — just drag and drop over to your device or your MicroSD card. Same goes for Windows, where you can also use Windows Media Player, or you can download Sansa’s very easy-to-use media converter program,. Unfortunately, right now the program is only available for Windows users. No Mac or Linux versions yet.

As if there wasn’t enough value for your money, the Sansa Fuze ships with a free 14-day subscription to Rhapsody, and a 30-day subscription to Audible.com, which includes one free audio book download.

With incredible ease of use, a robust feature set, and a fabulous price, the Sansa Fuze is a great iPod alternative and an easy recommendation.

Images: Sandisk Corporation.

Post from: EveryJoe

Review: Sansa Fuze mp3 player by Sandisk

It’s called “slotRadio,” and the technology that makes it work is smartly utilized to create a very attractive package for consumers. The slotRadio player is bundled with a 1,000 song slotRadio Mix card, which plays in your slotRadio player or SanDisk’s Sansa Fuze player. The Mix cards are preloaded with 1,000 full songs from Billboard’s charts, prearranged into genre-themed playlists.

Under other circumstances, 1,000 full-length singles would cost you a dollar a track. That’s $1,000, so getting that many songs along with a mobile device to play them on for less than $100 is an unheard-of deal. Additional slotRadio Mix cards — each with 1,000 preloaded top Billboard songs — are available for just $49.99. The idea is that it’s like having a personalized radio station in your own pocket.

The player is aluminum die-cast, and it comes with a 1.5″ OLED screen that displays artist/song info. The player includes a built-in FM radio and a belt clip.

SanDisk is also marketing its own “slotMusic” cards, which operate under the same technology, but are basically MicroSD cards with a single album preloaded. The remaining space you can use to fill up with your own favorite songs.

If the tech works as well as it claims… Color me impressed. I’m still picking my jaw up off the floor over that price point.

Images: SanDisk.

Post from: EveryJoe

Portable player + 1,000 MP3s =$99 slotRadio

Some of my current favorite mobile apps have been PocketTwit, Google Maps, YouTube, Evernote and others. Some of these apps I’ve been able to install successfully to my 2GB MicroSD card and some won’t let me install to that location.

Anyone know of a reason why? Is this a problem with the application itself, the phone, or the storage card? Has anyone else successfully installed these apps on their storage cards? Let me know.

Image: SanDisk product images

Post from: EveryJoe

Problems Installing Mobile Apps on Phone

I’ve run into some challenges lately thought that have become really irritating and I’m trying to figure out some solutions.

• New SanDisk 4GB SD HC (High-capacity): I mistakenly purchased this card instead of the MiniSD card I actually needed. I was hoping I’d still be able to basically leave it in the card reader on my laptop and use it for some extra storage. No luck.
• Lexar 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo: I got a new Sony digital camera for Christmas and got this large card to store plenty of photos. It came with a Memory Stick adapter, which fits my multi-card reader with no problems.

The problem is my computer doesn’t recognize the cards when I insert them into the multi-card reader. I would have thought a driver update would have been what I needed but nothing I’ve found seems to be working.

Anyone have an idea for me.

Post from: EveryJoe

Toshiba Reading 4GB Memory Stick DUO Card