In 2007 we bought a Sansa Clip for my teen daughter. I wasn’t familiar with the brand, but the model offered all of the specs that we were looking for and it was reasonably priced. We were amazed! That MP3 player went through the washer and dryer at least 5 times and worked like new after each time. It was taken on the bus to and from school, thrown in backpacks, dropped, scratched and even chewed on by our dog. Even though the case was punctured and scratched, it still worked great. Three years later our beloved Sansa Clip died. We were sad, but very strongly attached to the quality that Sansa had provided through this MP3 player. Our oldest daughter was 17 by now and we figured she deserved a new model anyway.
We went out and bought a Fuze to replace the Clip. It has lasted three months. It has come apart at the headphone jack. I easily paid three times as much for the Fuze, and have gotten a tiny fraction of the use we had from the Clip. I was a huge cheerleader for Sansa, and now I feel that I may have recommended something to friends and family that is a lemon of a product. My youngest daughter is in the market for an MP3 player now. I guess I’ll have to buy 2 new MP3 players…when I should only have to be buying one.
What happened Sansa? How can these products vary in quality in such extreme ways?