SanDisk Sansa Fuze 2GB Video Mp3 Player Review

The SanDisk Sansa Fuze 2GB MP3 player is an excellent mp3 player for those new to mp3 players and experienced users alike. Given it's features, which i will get into next, it's definitely useful for those who do not have access to their computer's media collection or want to fuss around with it often. Included in the package is the Fuze itself, earphones, USB cable, software and the quick start guide.

First, the SanDisk Sansa Fuze has and initial two gigabytes of storage which can be expanded up to ten gigabytes with a MicroSD memory card. The two gigabytes of storage will allow you to store thousands of photos, over four-hundred songs and a couple hours of movies. On top of that you can listen to FM radio and record audio on the player's microphone for playback. As for battery life, the Fuze can last up to twenty-four hours for audio playback and six hours of video playback before recharging.

As for the formats supported by the SanDisk Sansa Fuze they include MPEG-4 videos, mp3s, wav files, Windows Media Audio. Supported files also include lesser known formats such as Audible and Overdrive. The Fuze's screen size is 1.9 inches so there are a few specific requirements for the MPEG-4 video files on top of the requirements other files capable of viewing on the Fuze. From SanDisk's website the requirements are as such:

MPEG-4:
Container: Fully Interleaved AVI
Codec: MPEG-4 (Simple Profile level 1 or 2)
Bitrate: Up to 512 Kbps
Resolutions: QCIF+ (224x176)
FPS: Up to 20 frames per second.

Supported Image and Video formats (using Sansa's Media Converter):
BMP, GIF, JPEG, PCX, PNG, TGA, TIFF, ASF, AVI, DAT, DivX(ver 6.0), DVR-MS, MOV, MP4, MPEG 1, QT, WMV and 3gp/3gpp2.

The only real drawbacks is the inability to replace the battery when it's no longer capable of being recharged. Instead you need to send it to SanDisk to have the battery replaced. Lastly, the included earbuds are not the best of quality but that's expected since they're stock.

The SanDisk Sansa Fuze is simpler than the comparable mp3 players, such as the iPod, to load music on. All you need to do is plug the device into your usb port and drag and drop the files onto the Fuze either directly or using Sansa Media Converter. When bought new the Fuze is also less than half the price of an iPod and has many more features. All in all, as with all of SanDisk's mp3 players, if you're looking for a reliable piece of hardware with many features and reliability then the SanDisk Sansa Fuze is perfect for you.