Player to buy w/ physical buttons, fall 2016 edition?

My lovely Clip died. Sandisk only seems to sell two models lately, the Clip Jam and Clip Sport, both have crappy reviews on Amazon. What company policy is this, by the way, which dictates them to discontinue their products with all the good reviws, and only sell the ones with the crappy ones instead?

I need a player with physical buttons, so I can operate it in the winder without special equipment (normal gloves, without a lanyard), and I need it to have a display of time, for my podcasts and audiobooks. So, the iPod Shuffle, Nano is out. I wonder if the Chinese have come up with something competitive? Seeing Amazon reviews, maybe they didn’t.

I am still enjoying using all my ClipSports since buying my 1st in Sept 2015.

This player has physical buttons that I can easily locate and use while not looking at the device. The volume buttons are a bit tiny for use while wearing gloves (?)

The display screen shows the elapsed time and time remaining. The current time and date are only displayed in the Settings Menu.

The current FirmWare (1.36) and the previous version (1.29) allow only 2000 objects to be managed in each of the two databases (internal and external).  This restriction makes the device a bit challenging to use with micro SD cards larger than 16 gb.

     A few SanDisk Forum users will assist you to locate FirmWare 1.28 that allowed 4000 objects to be managed in the two databases.

      http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/SanDisk-Clip-Sport/The-1-28-firmwhare-with-the-4-000-file-limit/td-p/351835/page/2

In my opinion, the various complaints by new owners on Amazon are mainly due to unreasonable high expectations and minimal effort to consult all the helpful solutions available within this user forum.  Maybe read through the last several months of this forum and see if your concerns can be resolved?

1 Like

@dfeld2005 wrote:

This player has physical buttons that I can easily locate and use while not looking at the device. The volume buttons are a bit tiny for use while wearing gloves (?) 

I don’t need to constantly adjust the volume while wearing gloves, don’t worry about that. :wink:

@dfeld2005 wrote:

In my opinion, the various complaints by new owners on Amazon are mainly due to unreasonable high expectations and minimal effort to consult all the helpful solutions available within this user forum.  Maybe read through the last several months of this forum and see if your concerns can be resolved?

With respect to your opinion, I don’t buy your whole argument. The average user, consumer doesn’t have to, even shouldn’t read obscured forums like this, let alone know of their existence!

As far as overall review scores on Amazon are fair (it’s debatable, but that’s a separate discussion), products which are intuitive to use end up having higher consumer satisfaction, a higher overall review score by most customers. The iPod Shuffle scores high. The Sandisk Sansa Clip/Clip+ scored high. The Clip Sport doesn’t score high. Personally, I would’t really buy anything below a 4/5 score, a 3.5/5 is a good sign for a highly probable no buy from me. A 4/5 score may represent an overall very good product, which is just not for everyone’s taste, the iPod Shuffle is a case in point. (At some listing it’s a 4/5, while at other listings it’s a 4.5/5, so, who knows?) I have the same experience with books and music rated as 4/5 as well. It’s about taste.

I mean, did SanDisk made its new players specifically for nerds who read and contribute to the Sandisk Forums? I don’t think so. If it had a nerdy, niche audience in mind, it certainly updated the Clip/Clip+, if you just see the number of post, thread counts for the forums of each player, the Clip/Clip+ is still far the most popular one.

   Thank you for your excellent comments. Your analysis of Amazon review scores is very inciteful. For the tech products I have been researching I seem to find extreme scores (love or hate).

   I am very amused by your  “nerdy, niche audience” comment.   Ouch !!    I imagine if I abandoned my Apple fanboy obsession a few years sooner, I would have bought several Clip+ players while they were still in production.   I guess we could label the Clip Sport as a poor cousin to the Clip+, but I am finding it to be an amusing and pleasant challenge.  

@market wrote:

. . . if you just see the number of post, thread counts for the forums of each player, the Clip/Clip+ is still far the most popular one.

True, but keep in mind that the original Clip has been around for 10 years, now  (!!), the Clip Sport not so much.  Wish that the Clip/Clip+ still were in active development and sale . . . .    :frowning:

@dfeld2005 wrote:

   Thank you for your excellent comments. Your analysis of Amazon review scores is very inciteful. For the tech products I have been researching I seem to find extreme scores (love or hate).

 

Merely applying some common sense.

True, but keep in mind that the original Clip has been around for 10 years, now  (!!), the Clip Sport not so much.  Wish that the Clip/Clip+ still were in active development and sale . . . .    :frowning:

That’s the bottom line. Oh, and not everyone prefers the “Sport” version of things.

Players with physical buttons: Look up the Xduoo X2 and X3.

And if you don’t even want a screen, there is the very peculiar Shozy Alien.

Sandisk employees do read these forums, and products are designed with the wishes of those participating here taken into account. I have used the Clip+ and Clip Zip for a number of years, and also have the Clip Sport. People were complaining the Clip+ and Clip Zip didn’t have long enough battery life, and that they wanted a player with a larger screen. I also had the Fuze. The problem with the Fuze was that the wheel would occasionally stick, and the headphones needed to be detached to release the USB cable. If they would have made the Fuze+ with buttons like the Clip+ had, and use a standard usb connector, imo it would have been a great success. 

What those here didn’t realize was that to get more battery life Sandisk would switch to a less capable processor, rather than switching to a processor that was equally cable and more efficient, or increasing the capacity of the battery used. I miss not having Rockbox on the Clip Sport. For 7 years I bought only Sandisk players, however last year while I did buy a Sandisk Clip Sport, I also bought two players made by another brand. We  aren’t allowed to mention other brands and models of players here, however I will say the two other players bought last year also didn’t completely satify me. One is too bulky and heavy and gets only around 10 hours of battery life, while the other gets around the battery life of the Clip Sport,however its firmware still can’t properly play the songs in an album in order by track number and has terrible buttons. There is no perfect portable DAP… Players are either too bulky and heavy and get around 10 hours of battery life,  or they are smaller and lighter with better battery life but have less power output and some quirks. Some don’t seem to mind carrying around a bulky player that is 100 grams( 3.5 ounces) or more, however I don’t like to carry around such a heavy player. 

@jk98 wrote:

We  aren’t allowed to mention other brands and models of players here . . .

There are no restrictions about mentioning or even discussing another brand of player here.

Forum Rules & Guidelines

“Advertising” of a competitor’s productor services IS not allowed, but that differs considerably from mentioning or discussing. :wink:

@tapeworm wrote:


@jk98 wrote:

We  aren’t allowed to mention other brands and models of players here . . .


 

There are no restrictions about mentioning or even discussing another brand of player here.

 

Forum Rules & Guidelines

 

“Advertising” of a competitor’s productor services IS not allowed, but that differs considerably from mentioning or discussing. :wink:

Perhaps true, but I still remember a retail store owner friend of the family mentioning customers in his store talking loudly of the good sales that could be found at a competitor’s store . . . not cool . . . .

@miikerman wrote:





 

 

Perhaps true, but I still remember a retail store owner friend of the family mentioning customers in his store talking loudly of the good sales that could be found at a competitor’s store . . . not cool . . . .

Yeah, certainly rude but again, totally different than discussions here on the forum.

@tapeworm wrote:


@miikerman wrote:





 

 

Perhaps true, but I still remember a retail store owner friend of the family mentioning customers in his store talking loudly of the good sales that could be found at a competitor’s store . . . not cool . . . .


 

Yeah, certainly rude but again, totally different than discussions here on the forum.

 

Personally, I don’t know that it is, including where SanDisk is paying for the forum and it is a manufacturer’s forum.  IMHO.