First of all, I have a small feature request: if no video and/or photo files are currently in the Fuze’s database, I would prefer there to be no “Video” and/or “Photo” option(s) present in the main menu. Of course, the “Video” and/or “Photo” menu item(s) would automatically re-appear if any videos and/or photos were found at a later refresh of the database.
I like that the Fuze keeps things simple and does what it is supposed to do *well*, instead of trying to do everything that my other gadgets were built to do (e.g. games, phone, microwave, [video?]).
Whilst I realise that a significant portion of the Fuze’s userbase do use the video playback feature, an equally large proportion never do, and probably never will, use it. I believe that my suggestion would hinder no-one, but would improve the UI for the latter of these two groups. An alternative (and quite possibly better) solution would be to have the option of hiding each of the main menu items (other than Music and Settings). This would consist of a small list of checkboxes (one per item: Videos, Photos, FM Radio, Voice) which could be set from within Settings > System Settings > Main Menu Item Visibility.
My other request is that SanDisk seriously consider releasing an open-source version of their firmware. This does not mean that they would have to discontinue their ongoing work on new firmware updates and support, however it would mean that new feature requests could be implemented and tested far more quickly, at least on a personal level, and made available to the rest of the community (including SanDisk of course, who may be able to incorporate specific parts of the open-source code into their official updates).
I do not believe that SanDisk’s current firmware includes anything technically outstanding, or worth “stealing” from other parties’ points of view (i.e. other than perhaps the sound quality, I can’t imagine Apple, Sony, Samsung or Cowon would find anything new for their players here, code-wise). N.B. I am not suggesting that SanDisks code is poor or lacklustre in any way: just that it does not appear to contain anything that is worth keeping secret from anyone. I am very grateful for all of the ongoing work done by the SanDisk team.
This would also attract a significant number of new customers and would significantly increase the product’s life-cycle (of course, if SanDisk were to continue to maintain a similar model (i.e. releasing open-source firmware alongside it’s official updates) for at least one player per generation, this would not negatively affect sales of future hardware (rather it would likely have a positive impact, as described previously)).
I hope that these suggestions will be considered seriously, and would greatly appreciate an official response (especially to the open-sourcing suggestion) from the SanDisk Sansa team. I would also be very interested in hearing about any potential issues that might be anticipated or foreseen if this proposal were to be carried out.
[Message edited for improved legibility.]
Message Edited by Ellipsis on 04-03-2009 06:58 PM
