My new SanDisk Sansa M240… was purchased today at Best Buy, with instant rebate it came to $89.95!! That is for the 1GB version and does MP3, WMA (DRM and subscription). It worked in seconds with Yahoo music like my other two tries. First I tried the IRiver T30, I’m a loyal customer after all. It had issues with Yahoo (I think my fault), no FM, and when I flashed it the USB connection didn’t recognzie it as a MTP compatible player. I gave support a couple of days, after NO response it went back to Best Buy. I’m not a loyal customer anymore. I did some research and really liked the Samsung YP-MT6Z. Too pricey for what it was but I got it. Didn’t read the fine print on this Microsoft “Plays for Sure” logo. That just means it does Microsoft DRM, not subscription based MS DRM. Ugh. After playing with it for 5 minutes packed it up to go back to Target. They refunded even my shipping which was odd. I don’t think the online side and the retail store understand what each other is doing. I go online and find out for flash players that take normal batteries there isn’t a lot of choices. The T10 and T30 IRiver and the Sandisk Sansa. Then I get the paper this morning and it is only $90! Wow. So here is my pro/con list.
Pros
- Works with Yahoo Music Engine (couldn’t find that documented ANYWHERE)
- Great menu system, way easier to figure out then the T30. Great controls, looks dumb but is GREAT.
- 20 hours on a AAA, not bad. The Samsung was 40 hours on a AA 🙁 Still good…
- FM great, easy to handle programming it.
- Does playlists managed ON THE PC! Awesome, none of the others did this. You had to move the music around (yuk)
- Favorites. You can add songs to a Favorites section. I guess if on random it would get played more?
- Decent LCD. One complaint, the backlight isn’t very nice and flickers a bit.
- Did I mention the price? $90?
Cons
- Case is just ugly, look at it.
- Case seems a bit flimsy, but doesn’t scare me.
- Headphones are just aweful, I have 2 better ones so no problem for me.
- The 2GB and 4GB versions are nowhere to be found.
- Arm band is sub-optimal.
If you want flash, good price, playlists, subscription support go to Best Buy fast!