In the ongoing quest to find the best sub-$100 media player with a built-in voice recorder, I’ve just spent some time looking at Sandisk’s new offerings, and I like them.
The reason I haven’t liked Sandisk’s low- to mid-range players in the past was that they required AAA batteries. Now, most of their new devices are rechargeable.
I’ve done some recording with the Sansa c250, and the quality is cleaner than most devices I’ve used in the past. (Hear a comparison here.) This device also supports photos and video (though on a pretty small screen) and has a micro SD slot to add memory. This is the first device under $100 that I’ve seen with these features.
The Sansa Express is even cheaper. It has voice recording and expansion, but has no color screen.
On the high end, Sandisk also has the Sansa Connect which has a wireless connection that can be used for Internet radio or downloading music. It’s also integrated with flickr for photo downloading. On their podcast, Engadget recently speculated that all media players will have integrated wireless of some kind (cell or WiFi) in a couple years.
Then there’s the new Sansa Shaker. You shake it to change songs. I have to say that I don’t really get that one.:)
New media player/recorder options