SanDisk Sansa m250 2 GB MP3 Player (Black)

I bought this one to replace the iRiver T10 that mysteriously stopped working last week. It was okay, but I sent it back the next day because I couldn't turn the sound down low enough. It went from sort-of loud to mute with one click. Not what I wanted. Looked easy to use, which is good because the instruction manual is at the "see spot run" level. Never could figure out how to store FM presets.

This MP3 rocks my son put it throught the washer and dryer 3 times before it died. I totally recomened it.

Overall I like this player. Easy to load files onto it. Takes a while to format the play list. The major drawback is that the instructions say 1 "AAA" size battery gets about 19 hours of playtime - NOT! I'm lucky to get a maximum of 8 hours of use from 1 "AAA" Size Alkaline battery using the FM radio, turning off the back lighting and keeping the volume 1/2 or less. Most of the time I only get +4 hours of playtime playing a mix of MP3 & WMA files. Will have to try either Lithium "AAA" batteries or NiMH rechargeables.

The SanDisk Sansa m250 2GB MP3 Player has 2 great features. The first is it uses 1 AAA battery that does last a long time. I use Energizer Rechargeable batteries. When I ride my Bike E recumbent bicycle for more than 100 miles at a time, you sometimes need to change the battery in mid ride. All I have to do is change battery. With the IPod and other units that use internal batteries the music stops until after the ride is over. So I won't buy an MP3 Player that doesn't use changeable batteries.
The other feature that I really enjoy is that you can put your songs into so many different catagories. When you hit the MENU Button, on the side of the player, Play Music, FM Radio, Recorder appear. Push the >>] button on the front of the player and it goes into the Play Music part. You have Play All - which plays all your songs in alphebetical order. Want to mix them up? Go to Settings > Playback and turn Shuffle ON, pretty cool. After Play All you can go to Artist and play just Beatles or just Hank Williams or just GoldFrapp, just the Artist you want now. After that you can use Album. I use my Windows Media Player to make up my own Albums. An example is all the songs from 1968 to 1974 go in an Album called Hits. I type Hits in the Media Player column for Album for every song 1968 to 1974, hundreds of songs. When I play that Album Those songs play, cool? Next is Songs which only plays one song. Next is Favorites which you can choose any 20 songs to play in Favorites. When a song is playing just push and hold the round button on the front center of the player. The player asks if you want to save? Push that round button again and it's saved in Favorites. Go to Favorites and play just them. Next is Genre which is also found in Windows Media Player, you can call any group of songs anything you want in Genre. Rock & Roll, Dance, Christmas, Stupid, Really Stupid anything you like. Then go to Genre and play your Really Stupid songs in that grouping. Next comes Year, on the Media Player you can find Release Date, that's Year 1999 maybe. Fill in the year the song was originally released on each Song, when you use Year you can play just the songs released in that year. There are features I haven't gotten into yet, Playlist, Spoken Word, Recordings.
It has an FM Radio, Recorder and Stopwatch features also. But I bought it for the MP3 Player part with these features that I really like.

I have 2 of these and when they work they are great... but if you need information from Sandisk, don't waste you time... The only support is via e-mail and the mail handler waited 3 days before it failed delivery. If it works... it's great...else don't look for help from Sandisk.

Nowadays, it is hard to find MP3 players which use replaceable batteries. Experience told me that electronic devices ofter outlasting the built-in rechargeable batteries. When the batteries are used up, we have to throw it away the whole thing that might have been usable had the batteries been replaced.
It is interesting that most MP3 makers try to be "me-too" ipod with tiny screen which to show movie or photos. I do no enjoy seeing the tiny pictures. So this is MP3 player is right for me. Thanks SanDisk for keeping making this useful product.

This MP3 player is excellent for taking on trips because it uses a standard AAA battery. I love that I don't have to recharge it with the USB connected to my computer. This item arrived in it's original packaging therefore like new! Thanks!

So it must have been 2006 when I bought this thing. It was my first MP3 player I ever had. It lasted two years before the screen broke. I used it without the screen for a while (because, at that point I had the interface memorized) and it was only when the screen actually cracked and leaked that I decided to finally throw it in the can and search for a new MP3 player. At the time I moved over to the just-released "fat" iPod Nano, which in many respects was a move forward, and in some a move backward.

As a cheap, disposable MP3 player running on a single standard battery, there's little that it left out of the feature list. It sounded great (even at high MP3 bitrates), was shaped perfectly for my hands and came with a voice recorder and FM radio. I listened to more podcasts on that thing than I care to admit. More headphones broke while wrapped around the neck of this thing than I should ever tell anyone. Music flew from the player, to and from the computer, first in bitty little WMA formats, and then in wonderous, variable bit rate MP3 files once I realized how horrible these files sounded.

The product certainly had flaws. As I recall, the odd shape wasn't exactly pocket friendly - the flat iPods and smaller Sansa Clips fit into a jeans pocket far better than this little, 75% semi-circle-type thing. It looks more like an attachment for the Wii than an MP3 player. The buttons also wore out faster perhaps six months, and fast forwarding through podcasts became a slow, frustrating hassle that would often drop out for a second and then skip entirely to the next track. Transferring music through the USB 1.1 interface was slow and boring, and few pieces of software meshed with it well (Windows Media Player is still a bit annoying, and Winamp or Media Monkey are far worse). And lets not forget that I bought the thing in 2006 - the interfaces of 2006 haven't aged well. SanDisk has done better since then.

If you're in the market for a cheap MP3 player, I see no reason to buy this item, unless you want the consumer-grade batteries instead of a rechargeable one (though rest assured that the player will, in fair use, probably have a far shorter life than most rechargeable batteries inside of them). The Sansa Clip or the Sansa Fuse are both excellent successors to the Sansa legacy, and are just as durable, feature filled, and budget-minded.

Still, this is a dang good product, and SanDisk should be proud of themselves for coming up with my MP3 player of choice for two years. What a great little thing.

My wife uses it every day and I got it at a great price with fast shipping.

I've been using this player for more than a week now. This player is one of the few you will find that actually uses a replaceable battery, and the only one I'd trust the quality of. I noticed quite a few people complaining about the player's case, the shape, the battery life and the fact that you can't categorize the songs, but I think they're simply upset because they didn't get the super-expensive, needlessly feature-heavy iPod they wanted. There's nothing wrong with the player, the case, the shape/size, the battery life (been using the same one for a while now) nor the filing system. One person even complained about not being able to find the pause button, which is just silly.

The player is nothing fancy. It is straightforward and practical with generous storage space (really, who needs more than 2 gigs of music?). It fits my more than 150 songs, 192kbps to 320kbps each, with room to spare. Music is ridiculously easy to load onto it.

I don't much care for the earbuds, though. I get far better sound from my Sennheiser DJ headphones.

I would recommend this player to anyone who is looking to buy a new one.

With my other 2 Sansas, the 4gb models, I was able to copy and paste music to the device. For some reason this one wouldn't allow that and I had to go thru Windows Media Player and it took me a little bit longer. Still, for the price, it's hard to beat. It's the 3rd one I've bought. The other two were an arm and a leg. This one the 2gb model, was a steal. The price keeps coming down. I like this model of Sansa because it uses one AAA Battery and when it gives out, I can slip in another. The rechargeable ones always quit when I can't recharge conveniently. That is why I only buy this kind now. It's worth it to have one just a little bit thicker but always there when I need it to work.

I've owned this Sanza for around a year now and I think I have discovered the problem. I purchase most of my music from Amazon and I've noticed that some tracks sound good and others bad. When it's bad you can hear skips or artifacts that I don't hear when played directly on my laptop. Then I discovered that when you press the round center button to get information on the track, if the reported bit rate is greater than about 256K these are the tracks that have problems. I suspect the decoder hardware in the m250 just can not support the throughput of MP3 greater that 256K continuously, so the skips are portions that can not be decoded in real time, and distortion is heard. I'm hoping newer offerings have better, faster hardware that will decode reliably at high bit rates.

I like the Sansa m250. The price was very good. The sound is good. I love the fact you can replace the battery yourself. I am disappointed that I cannot figure out how to have the audiobook I'm listening to start out where I left off. As soon as I figure out if/how to make the mp3 player do that, I will give it all five stars!

Originally I picked this up for my husband. His car stereo was stolen and we lived a few hours apart. I picked it for its long battery life and the easy-access buttons. I later got one for myself when my old CD-style MP3 player failed on me in Iraq. I found it very comfortable to carry in my hand while running. The shape fits nicely and the buttons are in quick and easy reach. It's quite durable and has lasted a good two years and counting.

I've also used it on our motorcycle trips. Even tucked in my pocket the buttons were easy to access and use if I wanted to skip or replay songs. It has even survived a motorcycle wreck. The clip that holds in the battery cover is the only thing that broke (It's now got packing tape on it :D )

My only grumble about this is it's hard to find that one song you want to hear out of the hundred or so you've got stashed on it. :) but that'd require a larger screen and I like the size the MP3 player is now.

This is a great little player. If you need something that just plays music without hassle; this is the player for you. It has fair storage and no ability to add more space, but 2GB is a fair amount of space. The player is really easy to use. I like the ease of use because I can do it all with only one hand and not looking (for the most part). One of the other things I really like about this device is that it uses the mini USB cord for connecting to the computer.

Some have complained about the fact that this uses a AAA battery...who cares? If you added a lithium ion battery, the cost would be too much for a 2GB MP3 player. Plus, I like knowing I can get a battery almost anywhere if the battery is running low. It's not like the battery life stinks, it's decent. I use mine in the office for hours on end. If you are traveling somewhere, just toss an AAA battery in your luggage. If you are worried about carrying an extra AAA battery around with you when you travel...you have bigger problems.

If you need a little MP3 player for working out (or something). If you are new to MP3 players. If you want to get your kids an MP3 player. This is a great entry level player or one for carrying around for working out or just want something small...this is the player for you.

Great product. Before you buy here, look around at your box stores...these are on sale all over for A LOT less.

I love the shape of this mp3 player. It fits well in my hand so I can change music while I am driving and I'm not distracted. I use this while I do house work, garden, drive in the car, and while at work. I never have any problems with it. I use rechargeable Duracell batteries and always have back up ones charged. I've accidently left this player on in my car while I was at work and when I was driving home, there was plenty of battery life left, I thought it would have died. This is well worth the very low price, I only listen to music and this serves the purpose. Sound quality is great, I use sound blocking headphones that block out noise, so get great music quality. I've dropped it many times and it doesn't have a scratch on it. It would be great for kids too, the screen is easy to see and lights up well. The menu is very easy to navigate. I highly recommend this mp3 player. I like it much better than the Sansa Clip and it's cheaper.

Why, in this day and age, would I want to buy something that runs on a AAA battery when there are many a more user friendly Mp3 players on the market. Don't get me wrong, 2GBs of memory is quite good, it's just that why wouldn't Sandisk make a rechargable internal battery when all, ALL, of the other Mp3 players on the market have one.
I've owned what you could call its sister device (a smaller 1GB device) that worked exeedingly well, it even had a rechargable battery. It works as well as the 1GB device, but the use of a AAA battery is what kills the potential for this device in my mind. There is no, absoloutly no excuse for the need for batteries in an Mp3 player.

IT IS SO NICE WHEN YOU GET WHAT YOU ORDERED, WHEN YOU EXPECT IT AND IT WORKS PERFECT.

We bought 2 of these for our daughters for Christmas a couple of years ago. Shortly after the warranty expired one of them froze on the boot up screen never the function again. Customer Service said it was fried and there was nothing they could do. Felt bad and bought our daughter a new one. About 9 months later the exact same thing happened to the other original player. We're obviously NOT replacing it with another. Just waiting for the one we bought about a year ago to fry up!

I was looking specifically for a player that used ordinary replacable batteries. From what I found, the Sansa m250 is the best bet.

Navigating through files is the only sore spot. Navigation basically works just like on CD players of old, track-at-once. From what I've found, there isn't any playing by folders and what-not, which means trying to find a specific file or even genre is a chore if you have a lot of files on it.

The upside? My computer recognizes the player like a flash drive, so adding and removing files is just drag and drop. No iGimmick software you're forced to use. Of course, you can synchronize it with a media player if you wish, which might even simplify the process of organizing your files on the device. I don't know, I haven't tried it that way.

The bottom line is: if you're looking for an on-the-go gadget to have your entire audio library at your fingertips, look elsewhere. If you want a simple player to drop in your pocket while running errands or exercising, or wanted the dependability of replacable batteries (especially for long trips or camping) this player is the way to go.

We've had three of these players in different memory sizes over the yrs. I really want to like them because they're great players, especially for the $, but only when they decide to work- they are definitely NOT reliable. The ~5 yr old original 512mb one we have is still going although it will occasionally get flakey and not fire up unless you remove the batteries and then you can put the same back in and it'll work. And then it will sometimes have no sound output and fix itself after a few minutes (it's not the earbuds). I had a 1gb one that, for no reason, died after about a month of use- it wasn't dropped. It will turn on but it will not allow you to see it via PC and it will not play- just fires up and "idles". The latest, a 2gb, has music loaded, and plays, but it will no longer let you see it via PC to add more songs. It is not full.

In short, this could be a great player, especially for the $, but they definitely have major hardware issues.

this is the second mp3 player i have had and it exceeded my expectations. the sound is dynamic and i can honestly recommend it to anyone interested in a cheap alternative to the more expensive brands.

This player is can be found for about $29 USD on clearance racks. It is a decent player/Fm Radio for those who prefer a somewhat disposable player for work or exercise. It is pretty average in every sense of the word with only one glaring weakness. Occasionally, odd bumps or jars will cause this to reset. I think this is due to the battery losing contact with the points.

It did have a software bug in the original software but I would assume that anything in the shelves nowadays have the upgraded firmware as this was a problem 2 years ago. It was an easy upgrade if not.

If you find one at bottom bottom price ad are interested, do not be scared off. It is just and older model in a world focused on big drives and big LCD screens.

In regard to the specifics provided by other reviewers I have nothing to add. I would simply like to remind the potential purchasers that the AAA battery option that this product offers is fading quickly.... Best Buy has no AAA battery MP3 options (at my local store). Therefore, if you want freedom from the need to purchase a charger, or freedom from the need to find a computer with which to charge up a MP3 player with new battery technology (using the USB cable), this appears to be among the last of dying breed - the AAA battery powered MP3 player.

I went to Europe a couple of years ago and was delighted to find that this product remained available. No need to track down a power source... No need to buy a converter that the battery charger accessory required for juice. I merely needed to track down AAA batteries (or, in my case I estimated that at 10 hours per battery, I took 5 AAA batteries for my trip).

2 years later, still using my MP3 player.

Battery door breaks after 1 year. Right after warranty expires. I purchased this M250 slightly over a year ago and haven't use it often, nor has it been abused about the door to the battery broke. There is a small clip holding the battery door which is poorly designed. The clip on the battery door is a thin plastic clip that flex allowing the door to be open or close; unfortunately, the plastic is thin and it breaks off leaving nothing to hold the battery in place. Therefore the unit will not be good. Since the M250 uses only one small battery, the battery have to be replace in a day or two with a few hours of usage. This stress the clip every time it is use to open the door so it breaks. It seem to be a common breaking problem because two support person tells me to purchase a case from Amazon to hold the battery in, thats what they do since they have the similar problem. To me this is the cheap solution which the customer have to pay for San Disk's common defect problem from a poor design. Sandisk does not have a door which they can send you nor that you can purchase so your M250 would be dead soon after purchase since there won't be anything keeping the battery in. I have never abuse the product and have not use it often since I own three mp3 players, (all different models). 2 of my 3 mp3 players are San Disk brands and both have quality issues that are unbelievable. I would not recommend this unless it is intended as a temporarily unit intended for traveling if you worry about losing your better mp3 player and want a cheap one which you can later discard. Nano mp3 players are better made and seem more solid .

Bought this to use while working out at the gym. The small size seemed convenient and my previous Sansa e140 worked well (still does). This one failed after only four months. Would not reset, my PC could not longer "see" it via USB port. Display said the storage memory (2 GB) was full even though I only had 1 GB of songs on it.

This may not be sharpest looking audio player but for $26 I can take 2 GB worth of audio with me camping, boating, or anyplace where replaceable alkaline batteries make more sense than disposable devices such as ipods.

It's a great deal, and it does what it's supposed to. Get them now before alkaline players are completely discontinued!!

I have owned this mp3 player for over a year now. The $30 I spent for this product was so ridiculously worth it. The player is easy to use, perfect for listening to audiobooks and music, and works for about 13-16 hours with one AA battery...

Only drawback is I've had some compatibility issues with my Mac, but it works perfectly with my PC. If you own a Mac, you're probably better off getting an Apple mp3 player, but those tend to be a little more expensive.

If you're looking for bang for your buck in the mp3 player category, this is it.

I got this a few years back and have had no problems with it. It runs well, has a decent sound recorder, and uploads songs quickly. This thing even came out of the washing machine and recovered with in a couple of days!

I liked the price and the simplicity of it (no need for iTunes or other software), but mine also quit working after about 6 months. It has a brand new battery and it just won't turn on. On the rare occasion it does turn on, it just stops after a few songs. I guess I'll try to spend a bit more on a higher quality product next time.

For those of us who don't need 1000gb of memory or the ability to play videos or surf the internet, or whatever other miraculous things mp3 players are doing these days, the SanDisk 2gb is perfect. It does what it's supposed to - play your mp3s. The sound quality is above average, setup is a breeze, there's no hassling software, it's perfect.

You can play tracks randomly or alphabetically, there's a "hold" on and off slide that keeps you from accidentally pushing buttons while running or whatever. It shuts itself off when not in use and the battery seems to last forever.

The only "issue" I've noticed is that sometimes the battery life-meter doesn't always seem accurate. Many times it said I had a bar or two left but would turn itself off. Putting in a new battery fixes the problem and it continues to work in perfect order.

Overall, I'm sure one day mp3 players will be even cheaper than this one, but just as a novice bargain shopper looking for something simple to play my tunes while working out, this seems like the player to beat as far as quality and being a bargain goes. Highly recommended.

The MP3 player arrived in the mail a lot sooner than I expected. A battery came with it, and the instructions were easy to understand. I wasn't able to download the music the way the instructions explained it to me, but I was able to use "sync" to load the music to my MP3. It's convenient to have a built-in FM radio in addition to the MP3 player. This is a great product!

I needed to replace a MP3 player and found this one. It works well and holds a lot of music. The FM works well also. Two things I don't like about it, first, it won't hold an SD media card. Second, it is not easy to set the order of the songs once they have been transferred into it. Their website (SANDISK) is not easy to navigate to find instructions on how to accomplish this task. Good points are that it takes an AAA battery, found all over the world, and has plenty of power to drive headphones.

For the price you cannot go wrong with the SANSA!!!

My oldest 1 is 3 years old and it has been dropped, sat on, left in a steaming hot car for days at a time, left in a FREEZING cold car for multiple days as well. For the money its a GREAT BUY!!

When I first got this product it worked as advertised. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles but with electronics of this kind one gets what one pays for.

roughly four months after purchase the item just stopped working. After looking on several websites and attempting to contact their customer service several times I found no real assistance.

From what I was able to gather this is a known issue with the product and there is no known way to fix it as yet.

I moved on to a different style although from the same company.

I really liked the first one I bought, but after 6mo it died. It would only work with a USB plugged into my car radio. Would not work w/ headphones. Wouldn't even play. Blue screen wouldn't even come on. I thought it was a fluke....bought another...same prob after 4mo.
Spend more or buy a different product!

I have to say, this product doesn't appear half as glamorous as the Ipod or another high end MP3 gadget, but it works.

Ok, granted, having to buy a gazillion AAA batteries over the years makes me wonder if the batteries themselves end up costing more than the thing itself, but after 3.5 years and its still working, I'm darn impressed by it.

If all you want is a steady music player that won't break on you even if you drop it about 100 times, this is the one.

Simple, relatively elegant given its entry level status, and easy to use, the Sansa makes a great gift. It may lack the intuitive ergonomics of the iPod, but it also lacks the PRICE. For that reason this unit is easy to recommend for casual users, those new to mp3 players, or young people (i.e., kids).

The 2GB of storage is too small for a real music aficionado - that works out to only 30 something albums or so, far too little for heavy use - but for most listeners it should suit them fine. Just enough room to keep all their favorites, but not much else. The integrated FM radio will never see any use, but as a writer I found the built-in mic pretty handy to record notes and thoughts on the fly.

Best of all, it's light and sturdy. You can give this to your 10-year-old son or 80-year-old grandmother and not worry about them trashing a fragile and expensive piece of hardware.

After a couple of years in use, mine is still chugging along fine. No complaints. A solid recommendation. GREAT stocking stuffer or way to get your older relative into digital music.

I purchased one for myself. liked it so well I bought one for my wife. Works great and a great price.

This product stopped initializing after using it twice. The logo comes on and that is it. I have tried everything I have found on the internet and the sansa website. It is a well known problem without an answer. DON'T BUY THIS!

Just what I wanted. Works great with Rhapsody subscription. The first battery seemed to go for about 15 hours.

I needed something for work (warehouse) but didn't want something that would be heavy and hard drive based (like an ipod). this is light-weight and sounds fine. the menu panel is a little small but that's my only down side. I also like being able to pop a fresh battery in and not having to recharge/replace a fixed battery. the fm radio is a plus too.

I LOVE this little gadget. I used to have a larger clunkier MP3 player (an iRiver) which was awful!!! I finally replaced it with the Sansa M250. The most important thing that I was looking for was compatibility with Yahoo music (now Rhapsody) since I have my subscription. This gadget makes it SO EASY... just plug it into the computer and Rhapsody sincs the playlist in no time. It's light weight and fits snugly either in your palm or in your pocket. I can plug it into my car for the full stereo sound, plug it into my home surround sound system for an instant party, or take it to the gym or on a walk. I ended up buying the 1gb version for both of my kids. I highly recommend this!!!

I really enjoy this mp3 player. I like the fact that it has a radio. I was wondering though how many songs can be downloaded on it?
Thank you,
Michelle

I was excited to get a small and inexpensive mp3 player for the gym, since I was using my Samsung SCH-i730 phone as my mp3 player (which is quite bulky). However, much to my dismay, this thing cannot read folders AT ALL. No matter how you place your files on the thing, it dumps everything into one ridiculously huge list. And scrolling through 500-600 songs is a pain in the butt.

I tried making playlists as well, but some of them wouldn't read correctly, and I am a computer engineering student, so technology is no difficulty for me. As well, I often listen to music randomly, so not being able to listen to my music except for pre-set playlists is extremely annoying. (Even worse: the shuffle feature can't shuffle a certain selection of songs or a playlist, so you have to manually create a "random" playlist on your PC, and then transfer it over.)

Not being able to listen to music by folders was *definitely* a deal-breaker and I am no longer using this device. I went back to using my Samsung SCH-i730 phone as my mp3 player. I gave it two stars because the armband is great, and the headphones weren't too bad either. I am using the Sansa headphones with my phone.

This is my 1st. Mp3 player. I ordered it because it is one of 4 models left in the world that still use regular batteries.I'am old school 49 yrs.It was time to bury the portable cd player.People want so much,all the bells and whistles with everything they buy,just to break down on them soon after.$$$ down the toilet.All i wanted was something with good sound and 1/8 the size of a CD player.I received this simple as 1,2,3 mp3 player, (I HAVE VISTA)DID NOT have to insert the CD instructions, Just plugged it in the back of the computer, windows media opened up, and I dragged 30 songs(at a time) over to the right download box, and downloaded 420 CD Quality songs from my CD collection that was already on the computer.And of course it will download your mp3 music left in windows media also.I did not worry about a play list.If I didn't want to hear a certain song, I just pressed the forward arrows, or reverse if I wanted to hear it again.Since I only have the songs on there I love to hear at anytime, who needs a play list?The sound is quite loud, and is CD quality.I'am a happy camper!

We have had numerous Sansa players in this line. Could not beat the price of this one. My parents got it as well to listen to music in their car. Replaceable batteries, easy to use and pocket size all make this a good buy. Get the protective silicone case as the one that comes with this is cheap. Headphones are fair, but upgrade is worth it.

The Sansa Disk 2 GB arrived at the end of June 2008. By the end of February 2009, the on off switch stopped working. That is; the MP3 player simply stopped working. In addition, before then it repeated recorded segments in a pattern that defied explanation. This is not a good item and you should not consider it.

Works great! Figuring out the controls is not the easiest, but everything is as advertised. A great value.

The device works very well. The menu navigation is a bit difficult to figure out, but for the price, it's a great deal!