Home > Consumer Reviews > SanDisk Sansa m230 512 MB MP3 Player (Blue)

Alright, so mp3 players, yeah there's so many to choose from, it gets really annoyin, especially when all of your trendy friends are telling you to get an ipod. Don't get me wrong, ipods are great, i have one in fact, and i love it. But i rollerblade (not recreational, like the kind where you go to skateparks and grind handrails and various other things). So the the ipod's size makes it more prone to be broken, which is why I love this thing. I'm going to skip all the candy coating and get straight to the tootsie roll filling:

pros:
-Most other mp3 players are a little bit thinner, but the sansa has a flat control panel and the back is round to fit in your hand, i know, i know, you're going to put it in your pocket, well just put the interface on the inside of the pocket and none of the buttons have a chance of breaking, or the screen.

-The sansa has an extremely long battery life for one little AAA, around 20 hours, which is awesome since i hate buying batteries, but that's not a problem because i have rechargable AAA, but it's gets extremely aggrivating having to recharge batteries everytime you go out.

- The buttons are perfect, they're big, they're bold, what more do you want, and i noticed most mp3 players put these tiny little pin size buttons on their players, what's the point of that.

-The menu is really straightforward and simple. You just press the menu button on top of the player, and then use the 4 buttons (play/pause, previous track, next track, and stop) as the directional buttons on the menu.

-I used to have the older version of the sandisk mp3 players (256mb) and it was never loud enough, like i would be on the bus or in a busy area and not even be able to hear my music! Thankfully they enabled it to become louder and have a better sound quality.

-It's very inexpensive, i payed 40$ for mine from a seller on amazon. And that's about how much it goes for retail everywhere else.

Cons:

-The only problem i have is that the earbuds that they come with aren't the best in the world, but i still use them, they're the only earbuds i have ever found that have fit my ears without a 2 billion dollar price tag. Or i would get new ones.

-The fm tuner that comes with this is junk, i get a good signal every once in a while, but it really shouldn't be used as a marketing gimmick, considering most flash mp3 players have one now.

Ok, well thanks for reading my review of the sandisk sansa 512mb. I forgot to mention that it has a decent voice recorder for notes and such, but i always have mine filled to the the rim with music, so i've never really had the oppurtunity to really try it out.

Sandisk's MP3 players have really come into their own. Not only are they packed with features, but the price is reasonable. Sandisk has come a long way from their original Digital Audio Player.

This model has tons of things going for it.
- great sound, nothing not to like there
- light-weight
- FM tuner
- voice recording
- ergonomic design
- great navigation and sorting features
- Microsoft PlaysForSure compatible (for those who are into that)
- USB 2.0 connectivity
- replaceable battery!!!

The cons are minor in my opinion
- limited shuffle features
- built-in microphone could have been improved
- mediocre backlight
- slower transfer speed on older computers

For those needing more space, the Sansa M240 and M250 offer more space in the same form factor. This unit is not ideal for those who primarily want to use it for recording. Sony's various models are all superior in that regard.

One thing I have to wonder is why Sandisk didn't include an SD slot in this bad boy. I've already seen a few similar players with them.

I took a test drive and I liked it so much, I bought it as a holiday gift for a friend. I would definitely recommend it. I wanted to keep it myself, but I'm gonna get my own instead. :)

Enjoy!

The Sandisk Sansa is a small flash-based mp3 player that runs for many hours on a single AAA battery available wherever. It is so easy to use I did not and have not even looked at the instruction manual. The sound quality is really good and the price can't be beat.
As others have noted, the array of mp3 devices is really bewildering. Basically, there is iPod and everything else. Ultimately, this product seems to be the best of the "everything else" category - and there are some significant reasons why I think people are better off with this than with iPods. Firstly, and most importantly for me, the Sandisk player functions as a drag and drop drive into which you can just put your music files and they play right away. There is no proprietary interface such as iTunes required. This is a huge advantage for anyone who does not use or like iTunes, as I do not. Loading and unloading files can be done easily and seamlessly through the regular windows desktop interface. This results in a device that is considerably more useful and robust than iPods which require the use of the stupid and childlike, yet strangely frusterating, iTunes software - one of the biggest problems of which is that you can only use one computer at a time to sync to your music library. This is really not cool. If, however, you want to use a designated piece of software to sync to the Sandisk, you can use musicmatch or a number of others and it works without any of the hassle of iTunes. In fact, with one click, you can sync whatever is playing on your Musicmatch playlist to the player... something that I never really figured out how to do with iTunes. Furthermore, you can easily use the flash memory to hold any other kind of file just like a pen drive.
In the end, I can only attribute the success of iPods to their marketing blitz and to their kind of catchy designs. But these are not really good reasons to buy a music player. I had an iPod for a while before I spilled coffee all over it and I don't miss it one bit. I only wish I had gotten one of these sooner and had given away my iPod to someone who likes them instead of the unfortunate end that it met. I think if you buy one of these you won't regret it. It's not quite as tiny as the iPod shuffle and it does require AAA batteries but it is a much more useful piece of equipment.

I love the quality of the Sansa M230. My only regret is that I didn't spend the extra on the next model up. Although the advertisement and manual say 120-240 songs, realistically I've only got about 100-110 on it and it's full. It's possible I'm ripping at too high a quality...128-160 kbs. In all fairness though, I knew going into it that I only needed 11 or 12 CDs on the player at a time. After a week or two I get tired of them and re-sync using Windows Media Player v10. The sync process was the hardest part to figure out but once I got that down it's great. You can also drag and drop to and from the player through Windows Explorer. Windows sees the player as just another drive but you cannot create playlists with this method. As far as quality, sound and features go it's simple and fantastic.

Update May 1, 2006 - Ripping from CDs at 96kbs is very adequate. The quality is still very good and you can fit significantly more music on this device....that is 150-200 tunes.

I have had this product since it was introduced. It is a sturdy, strong device.

OK, first of all I would like to ask, Why does everyone need an 80 GB Ipod? This Mp3 Player holds at least 99 songs, or at least mine does. An 80 GB Ipod might have the photo features, but who cares? The Mp3 player is for songs. This Mp3 player has long battery life for using 1 AAA battery.

This Mp3 player is a modern marvel. It's small, it works, it has all an Mp3 player needs, and it's sturdy.

This Mp3 player is approx. 2 inches long, 1.5 cm tall, and 1.5 cm wide. Its small enough to fit in you pocket without creating a prominent(odd looking) bulge. It looks good on your arm if your wearing it, and has good default earplugs.

I also see that some people put the tag "defective" on this player. I ask those people, "What are you talking about?" This Sansa is all you really need. Of course the microphone isn't all that great, but that's not what you got the Mp3 player for anyway. This Mp3 player plays songs, shuffles them, and can skip around through them. What more do you want? A lot of people have the most expensive Mp3 player out there, and have a whole lot of extra gadgets. Why do you need a calender on your Mp3 player?

This Mp3 player has a flash memory, which means it has no moving parts, so it's durable, and you can have it bouncing around your pocket all day. This is an ideal Mp3 player for kids, and clumsy adults. I have dropped my Sansa on the floor at least 300 times, and even when I was playing songs, the Sansa didn't skip a beat. It still works after 2 or 3 years of playing and dropping.

So..., let me wrap it up:

Pros/Pluses:
* Long lasting battery
* A type of battery where you don't need a charger
* Durable
* OK looking.
* Enough memory to last for 4 hours of songs.
* An easy to understand control system.

Neither:

The power doesn't go on directly, you have to hold in the menu button, but this is obvious, otherwise it would turn on or off without your will in your pocket, and your batteries will go empty.

Cons/ Negatives:
- The installation software is not needed, yet they send it with it still.

To close, The Sandisk Sansa M230 is an excellent player, with limited features, but with a low price tag, and a great player, I would recommend it to family and friends.

PS: Currently 3 of my friends, and my father has this player.