Review of the Sandisk SDMX4-4096 Sansa E260 4 GB MP3 Player

A nice flash mp3 player, a real alternative to the iPod Mini.

The Sandisk SDMX4 achieves something that not many generic mp3 players do, being stylish, functional, and cheap. Like the iPod Mini, the Sandisk SDMX4 is about three and a half inches tall, features a 1.8 inch color screen, and a scroll system, which, while making a valiant attempt at copying the iPod, fails to do so. The player holds 4 GB, but has an SD card slot, making it expandable to 6 GB. The Sandisk SDMX4 uses flash memory to hold its music and video.

The flash memory, I would say, is the chief advantage of the SDMX4. While flash mp3 players have a record of being tiny, seemingly disposable things that play songs on shuffle and lack a screen, the SDMX4 applies the technology to an mp3 player more along the lines of a hard disk based player. However, without a hard disk, the Sandisk SDMX4 has no moving parts, and thus is much more durable. And, at 4 GB, it is not much smaller than the 6 GB iPod nano. Although it does not have the 30 or 40 GB of memory that a slightly larger player might have, it offers a reasonable amount of storage in a nice, aesthetically pleasing package. The SD card slot is also a rare and helpful feature. With it, you can easily put music onto the player, and take it off when you're done. Considering that 4 GB may not be sufficient to hold your entire music library, this is a nice feature. Make sure you have an SD card slot on your computer, though, or else this feature won't be much good to you. Figure in the price of a one or two GB SD card too, when buying the player. It will most likely cost another $40 or $50.

As for its features, the Sandisk SDMX4 shows fairly well. It has a user-replaceable battery, which runs for a nominal 20 hours and a realistic 12. It is capable of showing video, which is certainly nice, but its limited memory space and lack of format compatibility limit the usefulness of this feature. It should also be noted that it only supports a maximum playback rate of 15 FPS, half of what ordinary television is.

In terms of its mechanism for scrolling around and picking out what you want to listen to, the SDMX4 has a button surrounded with a circle of directional arrows, which, while desperately trying to make the thing look like an iPod, fail in delivering the iPod's ease of use. The scroll feature isn't bad, though, considering, and certainly could be a lot worse.

Drawbacks include the fact that the Sandisk SDMX4 can only charge via USB, (meaning only when your computer is on) which is a nuisance, and its lack of format compatibility.