Sansa e270 and audio books?

SanDisk MP3 players User guides | Firmware | Software
1

I have a Sansa e270 and was wondering if I could download audio books from places like audible.com.  I checked with their tech department and they said I need an e270v2 or higher.  I am assuming that, since mine just shows “e270” for the model on the back that it is a version 1.

Is there any kind of firmware upgrade that would give me the capability to download the audible.com files and listen to them?  I saw something about a firmware upgrade but it said it was for the e200 and I’m not sure if that was for a specific model or for the e200 series of players.  Also, it didn’t say anything about expanding capabilities but looked more like it was just to fix a few bugs in the original software.

Thanks to anyone that can share some expertise on this!

TG

2
  • There are 2 hardware version of the e200 series player.
  • V2’s have Audible support; v1’s do not.
  • Go to Settings > Info and read the top line (which is the firmware version). If it starts with a V01, you have a v1 model. If it starts with a V03, you have a v2 model.
  • No, you cannot ‘upgrade’ from a v1 to a v2.
3

The e270 is a unique designation device, the 6GB machines were all PortalPlayer powered devices, or v1 designated.

When the v2 device debuted, Audible compatibility was one of the features I was happiest to see implemented. Well, the cool fonts and channels function for Rhapsody were nice too…

Hey, back to Audible!  The 270 s cannot decode Audible format directly, but there is a handy workaround.  If you download your Audible books, burn a backup copy to CD / DVD, and you can transfer this to the player via Windows Media Player.  The v1 can play back MP3 or Windows Media Audio (WMA) format just fine.  As it’s speech, you can conserve plenty of space (as Audible formats do) by using a low bit rate, like 32 or 64kb/s.  WMA does a bit better at these rates, sounding like FM radio.

The e200 series has the advantage of still handling the more compact Audible formats; the current line requires formats 4 or “enhanced”.

I had this exact quandry when the v2 model was in the pipeline, before if “morphed” into the Fuze later, with the “transfer from audio CD” being the simplest option for the v1.

Otherwise, the Clip Plus or Clip Zip are a simple solution for Audible books, saving the e200 for music.

Bob  :wink:

4

@neutron_bob wrote:

 

The e270 is a unique designation device, the 6GB machines were all PortalPlayer powered devices, or v1 designated.

 

Oh, that’s right! All e270’s were v1 units. Forgot about that.

Good catch, Bob!