My wife took my Fuze 4 GB with 8 GB memory card. She needed one and the color was right (pink). My need is straight music, no audiobook or video. Sound quality is the most important factor to me. Has the market changed since I bought the Fuze a few months back? Or is Fuze still the best bang for money? Thanks.
Pink??? I say let her have it! The Fuze is basically the same, but there was a firmware update just a few days ago, that fixed a couple of bugs and added some cool new features/functions like FLAC & OGG support, wrap-around scrolling, etc!
I’d go for the Uber-cool, chrome-like silver 8GB fuze myself, but you can still get the 4 gig model in basic black (probably the most popular color on the planet).
SanDisk also just came out with a new 16GB Micro-SDHC card for expansion. Totally Rad, Dude! Get back in the game! 
Depending how many songs you want to put on it, is what size you’ll need.
I’ve noticed the 4gb is getting lower in price. RadioShack had some on sale for $79 last week (sorry can’t remember the colors, I think black was one), so keep an eye out on sales unless you’re in a hurry, but the big superstore recently lowered by $12, to just $88.88 and had the Red in stock. So you may want to look around and see what you might want. I didn’t notice if the 8gb is lower now then it was before, but it’s worth checking. I think because it’s not so new anymore.
If you don’t care about video, the new 8GB Clip coming out soon would be another option. Same sound as the Fuze, but no expansion card, so 8GB is the max.
You can get the 8 gig from Amazon for $99.99. I’d go for it.
Guys and Gals, you all seem to be ignoring his question. He asked if the Fuze is still the best bang for buck, or are there any other players out there he should consider? (BTW, I think I paid $69.99 for my Fuze 4GB at Best Buy a while back on sale).
Whether the Fuze is still the best bang for the buck is for the OP to decide for himself. All we’re doing is offering our opinions & suggestions.
A lot depends on how big a bang he wants and how many bucks he’s got to spend!
My comment was that the only suggestion other than getting another fuze was a clip. It may well be that the fuze is the best (it seems to be from my research), but I was just wondering what people thought of other available players.
The Sansa Fuze is still pretty good, as for 49/50 friends of mine said it was cool. The other guy is probably just jealous of the friggin awesome splash screen.
@flyingscool wrote:
My comment was that the only suggestion other than getting another fuze was a clip. It may well be that the fuze is the best (it seems to be from my research), but I was just wondering what people thought of other available players.
If the priority is for a music centric player with high sound quality, there aren’t that many choices:
- Recent Sony mid to high end players - Expensive, but nice. Build quality is pretty much the best. Very nice UI and stable FW, but you’ll never see an enhancement or new feature. Accessories are really expensive.
- Cowon iAudio 6/7 - Before the latest Sony’s and Sansa’s this was pretty much the only game in town for high quality audio. Nice hardware, and great codec support, but Cowon has a lot of trouble with FW. The D2 also has excellent sound quality, but it’s more of a true PMP (great video support, touch screen, etc.), so it’s really in a different category.
- Sansa Fuze/Clip - Sound quality as good as any on the market. Incredible value and great features. Build quality not as high as some others, but still above average for the market in general. One big plus is that all features work in MTP or MSC modes (except DRM of course). Most other players are either MTP only, or have a crippled MSC mode (i.e. Cowon requires MTP for playlists). Aside from the sound quality, the fully functional MSC mode was a big selling point for me.
From a value standpoint, the Clip and Fuze are pretty much untouchable. Great SQ, great features, great price. It’s not perfect, but none of them are.
For other priorities (video, games, wireless, etc.) there are many other choices. But for a high quality music player the Clip and Fuze are tough to beat.
Message Edited by Skinjob on 10-14-2008 10:18 AM
The Sony players are an option - but I’ve heard debate back and forth as to whether they actually have better sound quality than the Fuze. Regardless, when I made my choice I opted away from Sony for two reasons - Cost and the lack of card expansion.
The iaudio 6/7 are options, but I think they’re a generation old and I opted against them for the same reasons as the Sony - cost and cards. I thought long and hard about the Cowon D2, but read their forums - and saw posters admit that the Fuze sounds better flat, when no equalizer settings are used. Apparently the D2 has equalizer options that greatly improve sound - but I didn’t want to be that involved in getting high quality music. Besides - the D2 uses a wolfson audio chip, which is the same as the current ipods. In the end, price, size and audio quality won out in my decision to get a Fuze over the D2.
On a side note, this is the first player I’m really happy with in replacing a dead Cowon X5L. I think that when you consider value in high quality AUDIO - the Fuze is still the best option. If you’re looking for other features like video and games - then you’re better off looking elsewhere.
I recently replaced 2, 1-1/2 yr. old e200’s with 8Gb Fuzes, under an extended warranty…the reasons I bought them in the first place, (over the notorious iPods,(is that a dirty word in here?)), were price, durability, expandability, and a user replaceable battery…All of these seem to apply to the Fuze, although I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t find out about the non-replaceable battery till I got home. The MicroSDHC is a nice new feature, as I use mine as a music reference library in the studio. So far, everyone that I know who initially bough iPods, had them fall apart or malfunction in one way or another. They all bought e200’s or, more recently Fuze’s, and are completely happy with them.
I’d bet that you’d be surprised at the percentage of Sansa owners that came from having an iPod, so it’s not really a “dirty word” here.
The SanDisk product has proven itself on its own merits, and as we’ve seen with firmware updates, cool stuff just keeps on coming!
I am disappointed at the tradeoff in a user-replaceable battery, but the slim design of the Fuze, and higher energy density of the new LiPo battery are worthy considerations.
You’ll be happy with your new Sansas!
Bob :smileyvery-happy:
@neutron_bob wrote:
… and as we’ve seen with firmware updates, cool stuff just keeps on coming!
Man… I really gotta quit coming in here and reading the Fuze forum and seeing how they take care of you guys. 
Yeah, I owned a 4g Photo for three years before buying the Fuze. It worked, but you’d always have to beat it into oblivion before you turn it on, otherwise the “Sad Ipod” icon appears. It’s done this here and there in the past couple of years, but only in the last three months has it become so frequent (every other time you turn it on). Thus, I will never return to an HD-based DAP.
Battery life wasn’t an issue for my ipod. Even after using it for about 20 hours a week, for over 3 years, it still has about the same capacity as when I bought it (8-12 hours…I’m constantly switching from song to song). And the Fuze has a better battery, correct? So I’d estimate that the Fuze would die off from some other cause (most likely obsoletion) before the battery starts to go.
“I’d bet that you’d be surprised at the percentage of Sansa owners that came from having an iPod, so it’s not really a “dirty word” here.”
That is because those who had an ipod are used to navigating by tags, so navigating by tags on the Fuze doesn’t bother them. Many of those used to navigating by folders on their previous player are frustrated by being forced to navigate by tags on the Fuze. The problem with navigating by tags is that it is inflexible, unlike using folders where you can design your own file structure. With tags, the slightest variation in a tag will cause music to be sorted separately. While the Fuze has great sound quality, I miss navigation by folders. I also miss using a AAA battery to power the player. I hate the idea of connecting a player to a pc or wall charger to charge it. With a AA or AAA battery powered player, one could charge up to 4 batteries at a time for it, or else be lazy and use alkaline batteries.
I hope Sandisk will come out with a deluxe version of the Slotmusic player with a display and sound quality equal to the Clip that runs on one AAA battery. I hope Sandisk also comes out with a AA battery powered player, some players with a full sized SD card slot, and some players with both AM and FM radio.
There is one model of mp3 player(not made by Sandisk) with a full sized SD card slot that navigates by folders or by ID3 tags and has very long battery life. I have resisted buying it hoping that Sandisk would come out with a similar player that is both better and cheaper, however so far nothing similar to it has come from Sandisk. When will Sandisk come out with some new models? It is over 6 months since the Fuze came out.
