Sansa Fuze+

SANDISK INTRODUCES THE SANSA FUZE+ MP3 PLAYER—OFFERING A BEST-IN-CLASS COMBINATION OF FEATURES, EASE OF USE AND VALUE

New Player’s Touchpad, Large LCD Screen, microSDHC Card Slot and Innovative “Film Strip” GUI Deliver a One-Of-A-Kind User Experience

Milpitas, Calif., August 31, 2010-SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), the global leader in flash memory cards, today announced that it has set a new standard for sub-$100 portable media players. The Sansa® Fuze™+ (plus) MP3 player is available now, delivering a best-in-class combination of features, ease of use and value.

The Sansa Fuze+ portable media player, successor to the popular Sansa Fuze MP3 player, offers consumers the quality and flexibility they demand at a price that’s hard to beat. The completely redesigned media player delivers a hassle-free and satisfying user experience that enables unparalleled freedom in how consumers access their favorite digital content. Music and video lovers can expand the player’s storage capacity according to their needs, quickly navigate their libraries of files and enjoy high-quality audio and video playback.

“The Sansa Fuze+ is the most versatile portable media player available for under $100,” said Tom Bailey, senior director, AV retail, SanDisk. “We developed an entirely new product to provide consumers with a stylish, affordable device that performs exactly as a sophisticated yet easy to use player should.”

Feature-rich Form Factor

The Sansa Fuze+ portable media player offers a sleek and thin styling that fits comfortably in the palm of a hand, and its new capacitive touchpad provides the sensation of using a touch-screen without obscuring the device’s viewable area. The player’s bright, colorful and large 2.4" QVGA LCD screen produces sharp, vibrant images when viewing videos or photos.

Consumer-friendly “Film Strip” GUI

The player’s unique GUI operates like a film strip, enabling intuitive screen navigation that creates a more natural, crisp and satisfying user experience. Left to right finger sweeps select functions such as Music, Video, Podcasts, FM Radio and Photos, while up and down sweeps or double taps on the touch-pad let users explore and select individual categories and files.

Easy Compatibility

The Sansa Fuze+ portable media player’s broad audio and video CODEC pack ensures easy compatibility with most major media formats.

Audio: MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC/M4A (DRM-free iTunes songs), FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Audible, Secure WMA, Podcasts

Video: H.264, MPEG-4, WMV, Flip Video*

Photos: JPEG, BMP, TIFF*, GIF*, PNG*

The Sansa Fuze+ portable media player is compatible with Windows, Mac OS and Linux operating systems. The media player is also preconfigured for seamless synchronization with Rhapsody, eMusic and Napster.

microSDHC Card Slot

The Sansa Fuze+ portable media player is fully compatible with SanDisk slotRadio™ cards or any microSD™ card loaded with music, photos or videos**. Consumers can slide these cards into the player’s microSDHC™ memory card slot to instantly expand their music, photo or video libraries without consuming any onboard storage.

SanDisk slotRadio cards give consumers immediate access to some of their favorite styles of music, including Rock, Country, Oldies, Classical and Hip Hop/R&B. Most slotRadio cards contain 1,000 songs**** featuring top artists from the Billboard® charts, and are available for only $39.99.

microSDHC™ cards let consumers fill the player with additional content-up to 4,000 songs1 or 64 hours of video (H264 video @ 384 kbps)1 per 16GB card. This feature creates interoperability with compatible devices such as mobile phones with microSD card slots.

Additional Features

The Sansa Fuze+ media player’s rechargeable battery lasts up to 24 hours of audio playback or up to five hours of video playback2. For enhanced versatility, the device also includes a recordable FM radio, gapless playback and a microphone for audio capture.

Pricing and Availability

The Sansa Fuze+ is available in red, white, black, blue and purple. The player is available now at major retailers and at sandisk.com in 4, 8 and 16 gigabyte (GB)*** capacities carrying MSRPs of $79, $89 and $119 respectively, although in-store pricing will be set by retailers.

SANDISK INTRODUCES THE SANSA FUZE+ MP3 PLAYER—OFFERING A BEST-IN-CLASS COMBINATION OF FEATURES, EASE OF USE AND VALUENew Player’s Touchpad, Large LCD Screen, microSDHC Card Slot and Innovative “Film Strip” GUI Deliver a One-Of-A-Kind User Experience

Milpitas, Calif., August 31, 2010-SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), the global leader in flash memory cards, today announced that it has set a new standard for sub-$100 portable media players. The Sansa® Fuze™+ (plus) MP3 player is available now, delivering a best-in-class combination of features, ease of use and value.

The Sansa Fuze+ portable media player, successor to the popular Sansa Fuze MP3 player, offers consumers the quality and flexibility they demand at a price that’s hard to beat. The completely redesigned media player delivers a hassle-free and satisfying user experience that enables unparalleled freedom in how consumers access their favorite digital content. Music and video lovers can expand the player’s storage capacity according to their needs, quickly navigate their libraries of files and enjoy high-quality audio and video playback.

“The Sansa Fuze+ is the most versatile portable media player available for under $100,” said Tom Bailey, senior director, AV retail, SanDisk. “We developed an entirely new product to provide consumers with a stylish, affordable device that performs exactly as a sophisticated yet easy to use player should.”

Feature-rich Form FactorThe Sansa Fuze+ portable media player offers a sleek and thin styling that fits comfortably in the palm of a hand, and its new capacitive touchpad provides the sensation of using a touch-screen without obscuring the device’s viewable area. The player’s bright, colorful and large 2.4" QVGA LCD screen produces sharp, vibrant images when viewing videos or photos.

Consumer-friendly “Film Strip” GUIThe player’s unique GUI operates like a film strip, enabling intuitive screen navigation that creates a more natural, crisp and satisfying user experience. Left to right finger sweeps select functions such as Music, Video, Podcasts, FM Radio and Photos, while up and down sweeps or double taps on the touch-pad let users explore and select individual categories and files.

Easy CompatibilityThe Sansa Fuze+ portable media player’s broad audio and video CODEC pack ensures easy compatibility with most major media formats.

Audio: MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC/M4A (DRM-free iTunes songs), FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Audible, Secure WMA, PodcastsVideo: H.264, MPEG-4, WMV, Flip Video*Photos: JPEG, BMP, TIFF*, GIF*, PNG*The Sansa Fuze+ portable media player is compatible with Windows, Mac OS and Linux operating systems. The media player is also preconfigured for seamless synchronization with Rhapsody, eMusic and Napster.

microSDHC Card SlotThe Sansa Fuze+ portable media player is fully compatible with SanDisk slotRadio™ cards or any microSD™ card loaded with music, photos or videos**. Consumers can slide these cards into the player’s microSDHC™ memory card slot to instantly expand their music, photo or video libraries without consuming any onboard storage.
SanDisk slotRadio cards give consumers immediate access to some of their favorite styles of music, including Rock, Country, Oldies, Classical and Hip Hop/R&B. Most slotRadio cards contain 1,000 songs**** featuring top artists from the Billboard® charts, and are available for only $39.99.microSDHC™ cards let consumers fill the player with additional content-up to 4,000 songs1 or 64 hours of video (H264 video @ 384 kbps)1 per 16GB card. This feature creates interoperability with compatible devices such as mobile phones with microSD card slots.Additional FeaturesThe Sansa Fuze+ media player’s rechargeable battery lasts up to 24 hours of audio playback or up to five hours of video playback2. For enhanced versatility, the device also includes a recordable FM radio, gapless playback and a microphone for audio capture.
Pricing and AvailabilityThe Sansa Fuze+ is available in red, white, black, blue and purple. The player is available now at major retailers and at sandisk.com in 4, 8 and 16 gigabyte (GB)*** capacities carrying MSRPs of $79, $89 and $119 respectively, although in-store pricing will be set by retailers.

Finally! Just as I was about to buy a new Fuze! 

Thanks a Lot!

Now on to read Reviews!

The design looks nice, but I’m still not really a fan of the name.

BTW, the reviews could probably more accurately be call “previews”, as there’s really not yet a lot of information beyond what’s in the press release.

The Fuze+ looks promising. Can’t wait to get one.

Looks like an iSomething-or-other, especially with that cover-flow crapola & finger-swiping action. But it does have a larger screen for those wanting to watch videos. I like the fact that it comes in a larger 16GB internal memory size. Unfortunately, there will be those who want it in colors other than black.

Hmmmm . . . . with 16GB on-board + the new 32GB Micro-SDHC card allowing 48GB total storage, does that mean SanDisk has finally broke the 8,000 track database limit?

Inquiring minds want to know . . .

:smiley:

Edit: I see the headphone jack is still on the bottom of the unit. Personally I don’t like it there, but I guess no matter where you put it, someone’s bound to not care for it.

Did anybody else try to order one off the Sandisk site today and get a Out of Stock/Backordered email?  I thought these were supposed to be available “immediately” from the Sandisk website, according to the press release.

The first run is a limited supply and 4GB Black and Red will not be available until mid September. All other capacities and colors will be available later tonight or tomorrow.

Forum Admin

slotmonsta

Does the button on top also function as a play/pause button, or is it only for power(and perhaps locking the touchpad?)?If it works for play and pause, and the player has an easy way to lock and unlock the touchpad, then the player would be easier to use if kept in a shirt pocket. Of course a player like the Clip+ or Fuze that has more buttons would be much easier to use while being kept in a shirt pocket.

The top button is used for power only. The play/pause touch zone is located on the touch pad. To enable the key lock you will press and hold the play/pause button for 3 sec.

Forum Admin

slotmonsta

Does it have gapless playback?

@njones wrote:

Does it have gapless playback?

I knew that one would come up sooner or later . . . I’m actually surprised it took this long (8 hours). :smileyvery-happy:

Given that the last player, the Clip+ supports gapless playback, one can probably assume the Fuze+ does too.

I just got home from MN.  and found the news of a release date and was surprised that the question of gapless had not come up yet.

One website I saw earlier today with info on the Fuze+ said that it does have gapless playback, which was one of the few annoyances I had with my Fuze.  I think this will be a solid upgrade.  I’m not nearly as concerned about the touch controls as everyone else is around here.  Judging by the demo videos on the product page, it looks like a decently fluid UI with touch controls. 

@deathmetalred wrote:

Judging by the demo videos on the product page, it looks like a decently fluid UI with touch controls. 

I saw those too, and thought the response was awful sluggish though. I would have thought it would have been a bit snappier.

@deathmetalred wrote:

Judging by the demo videos on the product page, it looks like a decently fluid UI with touch controls. 

I saw those too, and thought the screen response was awful sluggish though. I would have thought it would have been a bit snappier.

I did like the alpha letter displayed iin the upper right corner when scrolling (accelerated) through long artist or song lists. Nice touch!

A reviewer mentioned that the main menu background is a “custom” one made up of the user’s album art.  Does this mean that we’ll be able to personalize the background?

@mags1230 wrote:

A reviewer mentioned that the main menu background is a “custom” one made up of the user’s album art.  Does this mean that we’ll be able to personalize the background?

I’m guessing no.:wink:

Yes, The Fuze+ support gapless playback

Yes, you can set your own pictures as the background. If no picture is set as the background it will use the album art to stitch together a background image. 

Forum Admin

slotmonsta

1 Like

Why wasn’t the battery life increased?  If it’s due to pricing, then I would have been willing to pay a little more for more hours.

If we add a 16Gb or 32Gb uSDHC card to the Fuze+ 16Gb version,

  • Will it smoothly handle 10,000+ song titles?

  • Will the uSDHC card integrate with onboard memory to form a single playback-library space, as does the current Fuze?

Thanks for any solid info.