Tuxtops

A few months ago I had the pleasure of reviewing Sandisk's second generation mp3 player, the e130. The third generation player ftom Sandisk, the m240 1 GB player, was released a few weeks ago and we have it with us today to give it a whirl.

The m240 features 1 GB of flash-based storage and it adheres to the USB 2.0 mass storage standard. The player comes in four capacity flavors, from 512 MBs to 4 GBs. Copying songs is as easy as dragging-n-dropping for those who don't want to use Windows Media Player. The player supports both the mp3 and WMA formats and also supports Microsoft's PlaysForSure DRM'ed downloads and subscriptions. OGG is still not supported though. I was pleasantly surprised by the great sound quality found on this model and with the volume now being loud enough for... my random "dancy moments". Additionally, playing WMA songs at 64kbps yielded no distinct hearing differences than playing the same song at 128kbps. Mp3 tag attribute information was precise and much better than in the previous model. The user can create playlists too, while you can also play music sorted by artist or song.

The m240 US model features an FM tuner allowing the user to preset 20 stations while voice recording with a built-in microphone is also present. Quality of both the FM tuner (in stereo or mono modes) and voice recording were very good. Unfortunately, there is no support for FM recording (which is present on the brand new, unreleased yet, models though). FM reception is so-so. When I touch the player with my hand a lot of static is added to the playback stream, even for "strong" local radio stations.

The look of the mp3 player has changed over the e130 but it is still a recognisable Sansa. The same LCD screen is now placed next to the main buttons instead of above. The "Menu" and "Volume" buttons are situated above the (kinda dark in my opinion) LCD screen and I had a bit of a problem changing the volume using only one hand, as I have small hands. Overall, the size of the player has decreased compared to the e-series and it's very easy to fit on any pocket (the SD card slot the e-series used to carry is now removed). The product comes with an armband by default, which is great, 'cause it means that you don't have to buy extra accessories for your mp3 player. Additionally, there are some trial coupons to try out Audible books and the Rhapsody music service.

By pressing the "menu" button the user is presented with the main menu of the player. On the "Settings" menu one can adjust preferences for repeat/shuffle, equalizer settings (presets and custom EQ are supported), power settings (auto-off/sleep), contrast and backlight, language (choose from 8 languages), the FM presets/region and stereo-mono tongle support. The overall user interface might take a few minutes to learn, but overall is easy and intuitive.

One of my gripes from the previous model was the slow "Next Song" feature. This problem is completely resolved in this new model. By keep pressing the >> button it will go very fast to the next song, without delays! The other great thing is battery life. Sandisk has managed to increase battery life by two hours, it achieved 17 hours in our tests, on a single AAA battery!

One thing that could be done better though is the firmware upgrade. While it's nice to have firmware that can be upgraded, having all your files deleted in the process is not ideal.

Overall, this is an amazing, affordable, player. It does all the basic things one would expect from an mp3 player of this class, and it does them well. Could it be even better? Sure it could. But overall this is a great product and worth every dime.

Rating: 9.5/10

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