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Why I Love My Sandisk Sansa e200

 

I had an iPod Nano for years. I loved it. It was so small it fit in my wallet. But last week it died, and you can't replace the battery on a Nano.

Now I have a Sandisk Sansa e200, and it blows the Nano out of the water.

Sure, it's a bit thicker, but you get so much for that extra girth:

  • User-replaceable battery.
  • Lit-up scroll wheel with tactile feedback.
  • FM radio tuner and recorder.
  • Voice recording.
  • Video playback.
  • Micro SD slot for extra storage, up to 16GB extra!
  • Tons of available accessories.

Note that by "e200" I mean that whole series. There are four versions, identical but for capacity: 2 GB (e250), 4 GB (e260), 6 GB (e270), and 8 GB (e280). So with the e280 you can get up to 24GB of space on this tiny bad-boy!

How to make your Sansa e200 totally awesome

First, change to MSC mode. The e200 has two modes: MTP and MSC. Use MTP if you need to transfer DRM-ed music from Yahoo Music Unlimited To Go, Rhapsody To Go, and Napster To Go. But you don't use those shitty services, right? So switch to MSC mode and then when you plug your player into your computer it will just show up like another hard drive. On the e200, go to

Second, install the latest firmware. This fixes a few problems, gives you custom EQ options, and allows support for the larger MicroSD cards (MicroSDHC).

Third, if you want more features, install Rockbox. Rockbox replaces the default Sansa interface with a different one that (1) lets you change themes, (2) lets you play games like Chess and Doom, (3) lets you play music in 15 file formats, including ogg and flac, (4) advanced playback features like high-resolution EQ and ReplayGain, (5) lets you put the interface in one of 30 languages, (6) and use a spoken interface if you want to. And you can always boot to the original interface by holding down Left while powering on the e200. Just plug in your e200, run the automatic installer, and use all the default settings.

Fourth, use WinFF to encode your videos for Rockbox. Add your videos. Click Options. In the drop-down box, choose Rockbox. In the second, select your model of media player. Click Encode. When it has finished, drag and drop those files onto your e200 (or your microSD card). If you're using the default Sansa interface instead of Rockbox, you can encode your videos with the Sansa Media Converter.

Fifth, if the e200 battery ever dies, just buy a new one, unscrew the four screws on the back, pop the new battery in, and replace the cover!

See the Sandisk Sansa e200 manual and the Rockbox for Sansa e200 manual for more details.

So yeah, I really love my Sansa e200. If you want a tiny player with tons of power, give it a spin: 2 GB (e250) | 4 GB (e260) | 6 GB (e270) | 8 GB (e280) | 16GB microSDHC card.