Is it really THAT bad???

MP3 players All other MP3 players
1

I have owned Sansa MP3 players for several years so I have a certain brand loyalty. Would love for my next player to be a Fuze+ but I am discouraged by all the negative reviews.

Still, it seems to be the only player on the market that fits a lot of my needs: Affordability, microSD, Rockbox capability and etc.  So, I guess my questions are:

-Putting the navigation issues aside, is this a good player?

-Does Rockbox improve the navigation?

-Build quality, i.e. does it feel solid and well-put together?

-How is the screen resolution as compared to the old Fuze? (memories of blurry album art)

At this point, I’m very much leaning towards buying one. I can always return it if I hate it,  but the original Fuzes are becoming really hard to find anymore.

2

No, it is not that bad. I have one, bought it a week ago to replace my old Sony NWZ-A816 which start to lose its battery life, and I compare those two. Saying that, I just bought to my girlfriend Sony NWZ-E463 player, she trust only Sony :slight_smile:

After week of comparing my verdict is: Sony is better. Fuze+ is not bad at all. Sony has much simpler and more intuitive GUI, Fuze+ has more memory for less money and micro SD slot. I prefer Sony tactile (button) commands, but I got used to Fuze+ touch pad I have no problems with it. Sound quality is good with Fuze+, great with Sony, but that should not be reason for decision. After all, portable MP3 players are designed to be used outside with noisy surrounding and in that situation you can’t have full potential of any player, even if you use it with AKG K3003 headphones. Inside you will probably listen music on real HiFi equipment, not on PMP player.

Saying that sound is no reason for not to buy Fuze+. Sony come with option to chose music to search by browsing directories by default, with Fuze+ you must to upgrade firmware to newest version. If not, you have to search for song by tags, not by files.

I will happily use my Fuze+ for some time,  but if Sandisk don’t change something with their PMP players (simpler and more intuitive GUI, music search by files as default, playlists which can contain songs from different directories, shortcut which let you to go to music options like equalizer by pressing one button while song is played, video options while video is played… and some other minor things) my next player will most likely be Sony again.

About Rockbox. I didn’t put Rockbox on my Fuze+ because Rockbox for it is not 100% compatibile (see on Rockbox web site what have to be done to be 100% compatibile). So I can’t help you about that.

Conclusion: Having in mind price, and if you are loyal Sansa user, I don’t see any reason not to buy Fuze+. Sony is better, but also more expensive (and do not forget, you will give more money for less GB) and don’t have micro SD slot.

I will not tell you to buy it or not, by I didn’t regret buying mine.

3

I like Sony players too, I have an older 4 GB Walkman that sounds amazing. But they don’t do gapless playback and no card slot. Otherwise I would spend three times the amount they’re selling for to get one.

4

I went ahead and took the plunge…Best Buy has the 8 GB version on sale for $49. I’ve only played with it a few minutes. Controls are a minor irritant but I don’t see myself getting too frustrated with it. FLAC music sounds amazing (and completely gapless, woo-hoo!) and with a 32 GB card added I can put around 100 entire FLAC albums on there.

Pretty happy with my purchase, although the Samsung Galaxy player sitting next to it was tempting at 100 bucks.

5

@roboturner913 wrote:

I went ahead and took the plunge…Best Buy has the 8 GB version on sale for $49. I’ve only played with it a few minutes. Controls are a minor irritant but I don’t see myself getting too frustrated with it. FLAC music sounds amazing (and completely gapless, woo-hoo!) and with a 32 GB card added I can put around 100 entire FLAC albums on there.

 

Pretty happy with my purchase, although the Samsung Galaxy player sitting next to it was tempting at 100 bucks.

I wish you luck with it. The controls make me want to throw it against a wall, and Rockbox didn’t really help with that.

6

Really? I find Rockbox was a major, major improvement for the controls.

7

@roboturner913 wrote:

Really? I find Rockbox was a major, major improvement for the controls.

Maybe the newer updates have changed things for the better then. If I am bored one day I might pull the thing out and put a newer build on it, and see if it works better.

8

Yeah, it’s fast and super responsive. Still has the obvious problems of a touchpad, you can’t see it in the dark and it’s worthless if you’re running, biking, etc. and like to change tracks. But that’s why I have a Clip too. :slight_smile:

9

@roboturner913 wrote:

Yeah, it’s fast and super responsive. Still has the obvious problems of a touchpad, you can’t see it in the dark and it’s worthless if you’re running, biking, etc. and like to change tracks. But that’s why I have a Clip too. :slight_smile:

Well, I just updated it, and it is better than it was. I don’t see it ever becoming my everyday player, but now I could see actually using it once in a while…lol

10

For running and like, that is for use player in situations where it can be rain, mud, etc, I have bought Chinese 4 USD worh player. And it even has FM radio, Audio recording, and more :slight_smile: