SanDisk Sansa e260

Reviews: Multimedia

SanDisk Sansa e260

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Bradford Day
Kurtis
SanDisk
Aug. 15, 2006

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First Looks

As much as I would like to pretend that I am a man of pure substance and little flash, I have to admit one of the first things that attracted me to the Sansa e260 was its appearance. I was skimming the Best Buy website looking for a player that would be handy to use in my new road-tripping vehicle, a 2006 Astro Black MINI Cooper. The e260 was practically made for my car, visually speaking anyway. But more than looks, it had substance.

When I brought the Sansa e260 home, I carefully freed it from its clear plastic shell. I was greeted with a simple and well designed product package that was easy to open and held all the e260's components neatly in place. Contained within were the player, a USB 2.0 transfer cable, a set of earbuds with replacement ear covers, a cloth protective case, a lanyard attachment, quick start guide, installation guide and user guide.

The sleek black player bears more than a passing resemblance to the iPod mini and the nano. A thin scroll wheel surrounds a center button and both are circumscribed by four quarter circle buttons. A small, round power button resides in the lower left-hand corner of the player's face. The 1.8" TFT screen occupies the upper half of the player. At 3.5" L x 1.73" W and .49" D the e260 is practically the same size as the iPod mini, but do I dare say that I find it more attractive than the Easter-egg colored mini? Yes, I dare. Along the right side of the player there is a microSD expansion card slot, a feature I was quite surprised to find. This player is actually expandable. And with the rapidly increasing capacities of flash cards, doubling the e260s 4Gb storage might not be that difficult or expensive in the near future. The one touch recording button is along the left side.

The Sansa e260's proprietary connection port is located along the bottom of the unit. The headphone port and hold button are found on the top edge. The back of the player is constructed from a material called "Liquidmetal." Sandisk claims this material, that feels pretty much like hard, matte-finish plastic, is durable and scratch resistant. The Liquidmetal helps to protect the 4Gb flash-drive innards, which should be more resistant to shock than the spinning micro drive storage disks some other players utilize. Also contained within the protective shell is a user-replaceable Lithium Ion rechargeable battery. Obviously Sandisk hopes to avoid any issues with deadbeat batteries. While the backside of the player is a matte-finished gray Liquidmetal, the front sports an attractive black glossy sheen. And even if the included protective case is little more than a slip cover, it should serve to keep that glossy screen scratch-free.

Now, let's get to testing this little puppy. Luckily, after having purchased my own unit, Sandisk was kind enough to offer to send along a second unit just for back up. So I will be able to compare my store bought version with the hot-off-the-press sample version and update with any findings I come across in the future, once it arrives.

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Looks
Page 3: Testing & Features
Page 4: Testing & Features, cont'd...
Page 5: Conclusion

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11 User Comments

1 - Posted by andrea on December 1, 2006 - 4:28 pm

This is a really great review! Im getting this for Christmas. My mom and I were at Best Buy and it was either this or a 4 gig Ipod nano and the sales guy (there and at circuit city) suggested this one. Im worried though because Ive seen a number of reviews saying they're player froze up a lot. Have you had anymore problems with it? What is firmware?
If you could email me (wishfulthinker37@aol.com) that'd be great! Thanks!

Andrea

2 - Posted by EmoMakesMeCry on December 1, 2006 - 5:38 pm

Personally, if you're not going to go the iPod route, I'd go with a Samsung YP-Z5AB. After playing around with various 2-4gb mp3 players, I much prefer what Samsung has to offer.
Then if you want to go the smaller storage space route (512mb-2gb), iRiver's are awesome.

But I'd still purchase an iPod over anything else. I heart Apple :)

3 - Posted by Kurtis on December 2, 2006 - 1:51 pm

I believe all you need to do is go to SanDisk's website, under Downloads, then download the Firmware Updater: http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1...

After installation of Sansa Firmware Updater
* Please make sure your Sansa player is in MSC mode before plugging it in.
* Plug in your Sansa player and it will automatically check for updates.

Common questions about the Sansa Updater

Q: What does the Sansa Firmware Updater do?
A: The Sansa Updater is an application that checks for the latest firmware updates then downloads and installs the firmware to your Sansa device. The Sansa Updater is NOT a firmware.

Q: Why do I need to install the Sansa Firmware Updater to download "firmwares"?
A: Once you install the Sansa Updater, you don't have to worry about which firmware to download for your device. Sansa Updater downloads and installs the right firmware for your Sansa device.

Q: Do I need to install the Sansa Firmware Updater everytime there's a new firmware?
A: No, once the Sansa Firmware Updater is installed, future firmware updates are done by just plugging in your device.

Q: What does a "firmware" do?
A: Firmwares contain miscelleneous bug fixes and enhancements.

Q: Which Sansa players is the Sansa Updater compatible with?
A: The e200, c200 and m200 series

Q: Should I "Open","Run" or "Save" when i click on "Download Sansa Firmware Updater"?
A: "Open" and "Run" would automatically start installing the software,. "Save" would save it to your computer and you can run it in the future. We suggest you "Open" or "Run" the installer.

Q: How to change to MSC mode:
A: On your Sansa device, press "menu" and go to "Settings" then "USB" choose "MSC"

Q: How to check for firmware version?:
A: On the e200 and c200, press "menu" and go to "Settings" then "Info"/ "System Info". For m200, press "menu" then "Information".

4 - Posted by handrail on December 4, 2006 - 12:34 pm

i've been using the e260 about every day since the review was posted and it hasn't locked up on me since. i think it locked up 2 times when i first had it. i did use the firmware installer/updater and everything seems to be good so far.

that said, iriver does make good stuff too. it depends on your personal preference. iriver tends to have more aftermarket stuff like car chargers, FM transmitters and the like. the sansas have a few cases and aftermarket chargers and FM transmitters on the way, but they aren't available just yet.

i like the e260 just fine. i don't use windows media player to sync the player though...i found that to be too annoying. i just drag and drop my songs using the windows explorer file tree.

5 - Posted by EmoMakesMeCry on December 5, 2006 - 3:25 am

I just bought an iPod Shuffle, and I must say...they're pretty friggin' sweet!

For only $79, I love this little thing. It works great for when I just want to take a single playlist with me instead of my big ol' 60G iPod. The clip is a pretty cool idea as well.

6 - Posted by Radiobob on February 5, 2008 - 9:21 pm

I have had my Sana e260 for about a week now and have not experienced any lockups yet. It works fine. I do disagree with one of your comments. You said it only works with Windows. WRONG. I and running Ubuntu Linux and it works and integrates perfectly. I have loaded 450 songs and a bunch of pictures on it. The only thing I cannot do from Linux is video but I don't care.
I have one issue. I installed a 2GB micro SD card and cannot access it. In info it says it is there but no access.

7 - Posted by Dilbeert on March 22, 2008 - 7:33 pm

To Radiobob: I was having the same issue. I read some fragment in an old CNet review that clued me in to something that may help you, too. The unit has to be in MSC mode to access the storage slot. Having said that, I can only say I have gotten far enough to add content to the microSD card, but am still playing around to see if there is anything special you have to do to use the content.

8 - Posted by Evan Glueck on June 18, 2008 - 12:06 am

Pros:

Well priced
Long battery life

Cons:

Unit freezes
Difficult to delete multiple songs
Weak secondary market for add-ons

Evan Glueck

9 - Posted by SanDisk on September 24, 2008 - 12:38 am

Sansa players are quite good. Though there's always space for improvement. I've Sansa e260. I like it because I can store lots of music and my videos

10 - Posted by klaus on September 24, 2008 - 12:56 pm

Thanks for the USB MSC mode hint to upload files to the microSD card !
I couldn't find my additional 2GB memory.

11 - Posted by feathermonkey on October 2, 2008 - 9:28 pm

I have a Sansa e260. It is giving me a lot of trouble lately. I bought it refurbished, but I have not had any problems until now...

A couple days ago it started not letting me delete certain songs even when I reformat the songs are still there, but they are not when I try to listen to them. I can only access them through my computer. Then, I decided to leave those there and I tried to readd the music that I wanted on my MP3. I spent 30 minutes. When I tried to listen to the music that took forever to sync, my MP3 said there was no music on it. But again I can see it when I look at the device using my computer. Then today I tried to reformat it and readd the songs. Again it seemed to have "ghost" files. Then when I tried to add my music again the screen went black with white vertical lines through it and stayed that way until the battery went dead.

I got on to try maybe update the firmware to see if that would help. Apparently my MP3 is in MTP mode, but there is not a "USB" option under settings to change it.

Please Help!

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