quantamm wrote:As someone who has used a ton of mp3 players, I find these to be the best. I really, really like the physical scroll wheel (as opposed to the touch version on the iPods).
What he said.
I am so tempted to buy another one of these, but my wife would kill me.
It's great that there's another opportunity for people to get these -- this is IMO the best player Sansa has ever built (and arguably without equal from any vendor), and, very sadly, they recently discontinued production.
They replaced it with what they call the "Fuze+" which is not being welcomed with open arms by a lot of people, if the posts on the Sansa-stuff fora are any indication. The "replacement" is nothing like THIS device -- it's bigger, it lacks the docking port, and the very ergonomic click-wheel that this player uses. (The "Fuze+" uses a touch panel -- oh so trendy, oh so difficult to use (can't use it in your pocket, can't even keep it from messing up while in your pocket -- brushing against your pocket makes it think you're telling it to do stuff, including unlocking it, if you tried locking the settings before putting it into your pocket.)
The new player is in the opinion of many a revamped incarnation of the Sansa "View" -- it has similar form factor, screen size, video codec support, and do forth (but, lacks the Fuze-type click-wheel that the View has).
For quite some time people have been pleading for a firmware update to address issues with the View (another discontinued device), and it doesn't take a particularly cynical person to wonder if they addressed this by rolling out a replacement, sans the "View" moniker (and thus, sans its baggage), instead, giving it the very popular "Fuze" branding.
In short, if you want a very nice COMPACT device that's amazingly flexible, powerful, and versatile (unlike the "Fuze+" THIS player can run Rockbox), with incredible audio quality, then grab this thing while you can.
If you're a gambling type, you might want to wait and see if they list the 8GB version in a few days. If you're the prudent type, you'll say, "Well, if they DO list the 8GB version in a few days, I'll get THAT one too, but I am NOT gonna pass up THIS opportunity, which may never come around again!"
(And, my money IS where my mouth is -- last time they sold these, they listed the 8GB version -- I bought one -- and a few days later, they listed the 4GB version, and I bought one of those too. I now have about a half-dozen of these, and I intend to take very good care of them, since there does not appear to be any way to replace them later on once the supply has dried up completely.)
If you do get one (or two, or three), I suggest getting a "Best Skins Ever" to apply to the screen. (Do a web search for the company, offhand I think it's their name, minus spaces, plus ".com") They sell a pre-cut set of Fuze skins, but lately I've been buying the "large" sheet (about a third of a letter-size sheet) and trimming rectangles to apply over the screen-only. The rest of the player doesn't need the protection, whereas the screen itself definitely does, and, it's a lot less expensive, especially if you're protecting a lot of players.
That material is unbelievably strong -- it's NOT like any kind of clear plastic adhesive you've seen -- it's NOTHING like clear packing tape (DON'T do that to your players! It's weak, it yellows, the adhesive goes cruddy on you... ugh!) -- this material was developed for application to leading edge of helicopter rotor blades. It's as close to bulletproof as it gets (it IS pretty much knife-proof -- you can cut it with a SHARP scissors, but don't bother trying to slice it with a knife). It adheres well, and it protects the screen, without obscuring the display. That's what you need.
If you're using the standard firmware, download "video4fuze" which beats the hell out of the "official" video conversion program.
If you're using Rockbox, get "WinFF" which has presets for the Sansa e200 screen (same dimensions as the Fuze).
I've tweaked the settings to give more accurate aspect ratio. After looking at various settings people were using, I concluded that these are (for me, at least) optimum:
For full-screen, I use 220x166
And for wide-screen, I use 224x126
(You can either edit the actual settings using WinFF, or, just paste them in at the bottom of the screen before converting -- anything you put there will override the stored settings.)
If you've been thinking of getting one of these, now's your chance!
