Kweef wrote:I bought one off the last Woot.com sale and I love it.. It's really good for the gym and my truck; especially good for my "iPod" dock at work that just connects through the headphone jack. Not to mention that I can fit my extra storage in it as well as the 4G.

I'm afraid to try the Fuze on my iPod dock. I read somewhere that the plug fits (the data transfer plug) but will immediately cause malfunction - potentially permanent damage to the Fuze... Does anybody know about this?

I bought one of these when they had them up in August. It was a red one, and it had "Refurb" stamped on the back. It was a V2.

I bought two more the last time they had them up. They were both black, and they were NEW. They were both V1s.

I think I'll buy another one of them today.

They're great little players. If you're on the fence about it, just go ahead and buy 1...or 3....you'll thank me later

I got one of these about a month ago. it works great and has great battery life. one thing I noticed though is that sometimes it refuses to pause music.

Howler81 wrote:ROCKBOX - This hasn't come up yet, so I'll go ahead and tell you. For the Fuze v1, rockbox has made a lot of progress. It's currently an unstable but kind-of usable port. For the Fuze v2, that's likely a LONG way off. I don't know which version these will be. http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SansaAMS

The problem with Rockbox is that all the folks on the forum are psychotic lunatics! Don't go there if you scare easily. I tried it on my old Archos Jukebox but it wouldn't install so I tried the forum. When I asked what could be wrong with Rockbox that would keep it from installing instead of getting any help I got all sorts of hate mail saying
there couldn't possibly be anything wrong with Rockbox, it had to be my fault and they hope I die!

I have an E240 and like it. I got this one for my 8 year old daughter for a xmas present.

Kweef wrote:I bought one off the last Woot.com sale and I love it.. It's really good for the gym and my truck; especially good for my "iPod" dock at work that just connects through the headphone jack. Not to mention that I can fit my extra storage in it as well as the 4G.

"Kweef" - nice screen name! (couldn't help myself... too F'n funny.. isn't this supposed to be a family show?)

I've been considering how I can buy a ipod for my grand daughter for Christmas without spending ipod prices. It looks like this Fuze is the winner. Right price, right time of year, and definitely the right color. She'll be thrilled to have her own big-girl player.

The player supports MPEG-4 Part 2 Simple Profile, which is sometimes known as DIVX and XVID.
It does not support h.264 which some other web sites have said.

pnixon wrote:I'm afraid to try the Fuze on my iPod dock. I read somewhere that the plug fits (the data transfer plug) but will immediately cause malfunction - potentially permanent damage to the Fuze... Does anybody know about this?

Yes, it will kill your Fuze. You can only connect through non-Fuze docks through the headphone port.

buzzbuzz wrote:I ended up receiving a (Red) Fuze v2 last time. It can't be Rockbox'ed. Most people seemed to have received v1.

My other Fuze v1 was Rockbox'ed, and it was very stable and sounded great.

It's a bit of a lottery. I got two red 4GB Fuzes here -- both V1 -- and one silver 8GB, a V2. Ya pays yer money and takes yer chances.

The good thing about the Fuze is that unlike the e200 series. the video player software built in to the native firmware IS usable (the e200 player does not do bookmarking or allow you to easily find your place again if you pause and do something else with the player).

And while the official conversion program (the vile Sansa Media Converter) is ugly and worthless as ever, there is now a third party free/open source application, "video4fuze" that works GREAT.

So, even though you cannot put Rockbox on a V2 Fuze, you CAN use video on it without any major headaches.

Also, recent firmware drops for the Fuze enable a fairly decent implementation of folder browsing. It's not perfect, it's not Rockbox, but, it DOES let you navigate to audio files on the player OR the SD card (tagged or untagged) via browsing the folders.

One caveat -- the most recent firmware is somewhat problematic. First thing people hate about it is the spammage -- they are pushing HARD for people to use ("use" = "buy") their "slot radio" crappage, which for some odd reason no one seems to want to buy (go figure, eh?) -- so, to encourage people to hate it even MORE, they put a big red icon into the main menu FOR the slot-stuff.

Someone found a workaround, though -- when you first configure your player, when it asks where you are located, pick some location OTHER than the USA, and it will NOT show you that stupid big red icon. Then, tell it that you DO want to use USA-settings for the FM radio, and you'll be all set.

The other caveat is that there are some nontrivial bugs in the firmware that mainly afflict the V2 players. They are SO noxious that the company finally conceded, and provides directions for people to roll back to the previous version firmware for their V2 players.

All in all, in my opinion the Fuze is the BEST device that company has ever released. It is compact, has a nice form factor, easy to use, does decent video, better than decent audio, does NOT require you to use proprietary/DRM nonsense for audiobooks (it DOES let you use standard audio files for audiobooks and podcasts, it DOES handle them properly (separate from music, so they don't drop into music shuffles), does bookmarking for them, etc., and, it lets you easily navigate to audio files via the directory/folder tree.

It'd be niceer if you could tree-nav to video files too, like Rockbox, but, it's good enough, especially at this price. (Lots of people have paid a LOT more for this item, and considered it a bargain even at those prices.)

I have NOT installed Rockbox on my V1 Fuzes (OR my V1 Clips OR my V2 e200 players) because it is still in "unstable" pre-release form, and I DON'T want to risk bricking my players.

The e200 V2 series CAN be unbricked if you are willing to go to herculean lengths (short out two solder pads while saying the magic incantation), but the Fuze, once bricked, is forever bricked. (I suspect there is SOME way to unbrick it, but if so, it's NOT known by any mere mortals, and there is no assurance that this situation will change in the forseeable future).

So, I'll hold off on Rockboxing these players until the software reaches release status. At the current rate of progress I expect this to happen any time now.

Unfortunately, from what I've read on the Rockbox site, there is no serious hope of ever seeing an implementation for the V2 Fuze (or V2 Clip), but, given the decent usability of the Fuze's standard firmware, this is NOT all that much of an issue (as compared to the e200 situation).

So, in short. if you need a decent little player, I don't think you can go wrong with this sale. I'd suggest buying am couple of years of SquareTrade coverage for it, but that's just me. (If you do decide to do so, do a web search for coupons, there are usually 20 to 30 percent off SquareTrade deals being offered.)

I bought this when it was offered about 10 weeks ago. I was lucky to get a v1 device and I have successfully installed Rockbox on it. While there have been occasional very minor glitches, Rockbox is so fantastic, I have stopped using the Sansa firmware after a few days. I would highly recommend this.

Rockbox gets pushed a lot on these forums...while installing that app, got a bluescreen and bricked my beloved Sansa e260. Yes, tried all the hold-the-power-button-and-rub-its-tummy tips on all the different forums.

I'm sure you'll hear a lot of works-on-my-machine stories...just sayin' - YMMV. Use at your own risk.

n2imagination wrote:And now you can even rockbox it! Just released rockbox for fuze. Loaded it on mine. No win media player for sync needed. Drag and drop, w video, and games also.(oops just read that this is v2) sorry maybe not on rockbox for v2 yet. soon hopefully.

NNick476 wrote:I got one of these about a month ago. it works great and has great battery life. one thing I noticed though is that sometimes it refuses to pause music.

That's because you're pushing play too quickly when it starts up. If you don't let it do its little start up video you'll run into that problem.

wow. my own mp3 player just crapped out on me last night. i may just order one of these..

pnixon wrote:I'm afraid to try the Fuze on my iPod dock. I read somewhere that the plug fits (the data transfer plug) but will immediately cause malfunction - potentially permanent damage to the Fuze... Does anybody know about this?

I believe that he's connecting through the headphone jack and not through the plug. You definately don't want to do that. That will fry it I'm pretty sure.

how does this compare to the ipod? i have i itunes-is it compatable with that?

Can anyone tell me what the battery life of this is while watching video? I realize it says "24 hours playback", but I figure that is when the screen isn't on.

Just in time for Christmas. Return customer, buying three for the nephews. Good deal for 4gb, and good start for the kids.

jobezark wrote:Can anyone tell me what the battery life of this is while watching video? I realize it says "24 hours playback", but I figure that is when the screen isn't on.

I had an eight hour charge on energy saver.

How well does the tuner work?

I have 2 of these, as well as the 8GB version, all purchased from woot. The black 4GB version I received was not stamped with REFURB, which surprised me. Oddly enough, this was the only one that gave me any problems. Basically after playing for a while, the screen would go blank and none of the buttons would work. The music keeps on happily playing along, but I would lose complete control of the player. The display wouldn't even light back up no matter how many buttons I pressed.

The solution was to hard-reset by holding down the power button. Unfortunately, this caused the player to not only lose its spot in the playlist, but also to need a complete media refresh (meaning I had to wait a minute or two for it to re-load all the songs). Quite a pain!

Woot was great about this, immediately giving me an RMA number. Since the other 4GB and the 8GB are both functioning 100% fine (and are both stamped with REFURB I might add), I cannot really complain. These are awesome little players, especially for the price. I watch video, listen to music/radio, and have hundreds of pictures on here to boot.

Well worth the price imo!

GREAT PRICE!!! LogicBUY has the scoop on a leaked BLACK FRIDAY ad for Best Buy at http://logichp.com/files/bb_bf2009.pdf . If you have a hankerin' for this item, you won't find a better price than Woot. As you can see by the ad, Woot's price is 12 bucks cheaper NOW.

Anyone know if these can do anything with text files?

Does anyone know if the screens are glass like the iphone, or are they soft so you could end up making an everlasting impression on the screen from your finger?

Videos are hard to get on using Sansa's converter. even getting them on doesn't guarantee they work. I have not had a problem with music. This link tells how to get videos on the Fuze for any OS.

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/message?board.id=sansafuse&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=31558#M31558

jobezark wrote:Can anyone tell me what the battery life of this is while watching video? I realize it says "24 hours playback", but I figure that is when the screen isn't on.

I can easily get in two full length movies. But I have my brightness turned all the way down.

bought the 8gb one as a gift, should be here monday =]

gridout wrote:Anyone know if these can do anything with text files?

I was curious about that as well.. Apparently it does not let you read text files, but the following link has a complicated method to convert text to images and view them "flash card" style.

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/message?board.id=sansafuse&thread.id=29814&view=by_date_ascending&page=2

Personally, I would just cross my fingers that you'll get the V.1 style that will allow you to install Rockbox, and then you will be able to do this.

lydiamoody wrote:http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Sansa-Video-Player-Black/dp/B0015L0T68

get brand new with car charger and home charger for only $10 more

Next time use a calculator for this kind of "hard" math. It's 15 dollars more at amazon than what's offered here.

Can't seem to find an answer to this question: Is the 4 GB on-board memory flash/solid-state?

brucedoesbms wrote:GREAT PRICE!!! LogicBUY has the scoop on a leaked BLACK FRIDAY ad for Best Buy at http://logichp.com/files/bb_bf2009.pdf . If you have a hankerin' for this item, you won't find a better price than Woot. As you can see by the ad, Woot's price is 12 bucks cheaper NOW.

If I didn't have one I might be tempted to spend what would amount to about $10 more for the brand new one at BB. But I'd refuse to stand in line with the cold crowd at 5am for the chance to grab one of the "minimum of 5 per store."

And to the last question, the memory is flash (you mean as opposed to a micro harddrive, right?) The microSD card storage expandability is great and seamless when you're using it. When on your computer, the internal and external memory come up as separate USB removable storage devices.

Sansa>Apple

BVX wrote:

And to the last question, the memory is flash (you mean as opposed to a micro harddrive, right?) The microSD card storage expandability is great and seamless when you're using it. When on your computer, the internal and external memory come up as separate USB removable storage devices.

Sweet. That's the answer I was looking for. Thanks!

splitk wrote:Does anyone know if the screens are glass like the iphone, or are they soft so you could end up making an everlasting impression on the screen from your finger?

The screen is not glass, but hard plastic like most cell phones & not overly easy to scratch either. Just get a 50 cent screen protector and forget about it

gridout wrote:Anyone know if these can do anything with text files?

I'm curious why someone would want to view text files on one of these. The screen is sharp but too small for more than a few sentences.

"in the face" woot! ? Did you have to go there?

My 12 year old daughter has had one of these for 2 years and it still works great. Needless to say it has not been handled very carefully so these are tough little players.
The woot price is also a good.

pull4jim wrote:How well does the tuner work?

The tuner works great. I'm listening to clean stereo in my basement now. I think the latest firmware upgrade helped the FM tuner feature.

One cool thing is that the recorder can also record an FM broadcast. So if you want to hear the end of that NPR interview or Little Steven's Underground Garage or whatever, you can do it later.

to all who wonder about the port- All Sansa's have the same port, except for the really small ones. It's nice because all you need is 1 cord.

epsalmond wrote:I just got back from a quick 2 mile run with the red one I bought from the previous wooting. I normally don't like anything in my pockets while working out, but this doesn't bother me at all.

I also have the 2gb clip from a previous woot, and I've been using the fuze while working out lately. It's not as microscopic as the clip (and the screen isn't nearly as good) but it's a fine size for exercise for me.

Woot woot...chugga chugga...