SanDisk Sansa e260 4 GB MP3 Player with MicroSD Expansion Slot (Black

Worked great at first. But after about six months, the hard drive started having serious errors. I contacted Sandisk, who tried several "fixes" to get it running again, but it was frozen and totally unusable. Since the warranty wasn't up yet, they sent a replacement.

A week after the warranty expired on the replacement Sansa, it did the same thing. I spent a week trying every fix I could find online. Nothing worked. It's gone. A little research (Google "Sansa" "refresh database" and "error" to see what I mean) showed that Sansa MP3 players have a terrible reputation for freezing up permanently, so beware! My brother received a Sansa for Christmas, and it died within 24 hours of him ripping off the wrapping paper.

According to reviews, and asking sales reps which players get returned the most (the Sansas, they said), I recommend a Sony Walkman MP3 player instead. Some are compatible with Rhapsody, work with audiobooks, and have a terrific sound and beautiful display for a fraction of the price of a Sansa (just buy it at Walmart... it is $30-40 cheaper than Amazon.)

My son has an Ipod Nano. I found very little difference between the it and the e260. Both were easy to use. The e260is a bit heavier and thicker but still fits easily into a pocket. I picked up a 2 gig microSD on ebay for about $10. So for under $100 I have a pretty decent 6 GB player.

I managed to sync with WMP ONCE before neither my laptop or desktop would recognize the device. I spent hours trying to fix the problem until the e260 suddenly and completely died. I sent it to Sansa but I don't expect any help . . .

This product does not work with Windows XP. It crashes all of the media plans (Windows Media Player, WINAMP,...). So there is no way to synchronize your play lists. There are a lot of complaints on the Sansa forums about this, but Sansa support ignores customers. I am repeating this review for the same players with different memory sizes, hopefully to help some poor person that buys this thing.

This thing survived the washing machine. After a day left out to dry, it's as good as new - and clean too!