Product Review: Sansa Connect 4GB
I got this little gem in the worst of circumstances: I had acquired for very little money its more expensive cousin, the Sansa View 8GB, and one day, the hold switch (which is built into the power switch, a rotten engineering choice) decided to stick in the locked position.? So I couldn’t turn the unit on, couldn’t reset the unit, couldn’t transfer any information in or out, and certainly couldn’t play any podcasts.? The unit was refurbished, so as of today, weeks later, customer service still hasn’t contacted me.
So, still having an hour-long commute in the mornings each way, I went ahead and ordered a replacement, something less costly lest this one peter out as well.? (I know I could just lay down two hundred bucks for an iPod, but that wouldn’t be my style.? Thirty bucks or less, I say.)? I’ve been pleasantly surprised.? Unlike its 8GB cousin, the Sansa Connect allows me to play files while I’m deleting other files, bookmarks the last spot played in multiple tracks, and actually puts all my podcasts in the podcast folder.? The unit actually lacks the feature for which Sansa named it, namely the Internet radio feature, and it doesn’t receive FM signals, but since I usually listen to my podcasts in the car anyway, that doesn’t matter much.? What more than makes up for those features are the price (less than forty bucks new at most online sellers), durability (it’s got flexible plastic casing that’s already absorbed a couple good hits without so much as a hiccup), and switches that govern one function apiece.? I like that part a great deal.
The last surprise came to me when I accidentally knocked the plug loose grabbing for it in the car: it actually has a built-in speaker so that it can put out not a great volume of sound but certainly enough for those moments when I’m not in the car and don’t have headphones handy.
Overall, I think this is really the unit I should have bought in the first place back in March when I picked up the View.? Ah, well.? Better a frozen unit and a few months late than never.
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