why did you mess up the sansa fuze???

So i literally registered and came on here just so i can fully complain about the new Sansa Fuze Plus. It is literally that bad. I used to own the previous sansa fuze with the scroll wheel and the small size. So it breaks accidentally I go to get a new one and i see this new “iphone” looking contraption with touch front. First off, the sensors on the front arrows are so incredablly sensitive that whenever it bumps my hand the songs stops, changes or something irritating. then the sansa takes fforever to turn on or to switch screens because of the amount of new design in it its not strong enough to change as quickly as the previous. on top of that scrolling is a ■■■■■. I would scroll up or down and accidentally slightly touch the side and the entire screen changes, then when i go back it resets back to the top of my artist list and i am in a bad mood. The charger is different and the size is different so i cannot use any of my previous sansa equiptment. LAME. Another irritating quality is the fact the LOCK feature isnt a switch on the side but you hold down the touch pad. WTF? to unlock you slide up. so when its locked and in my hand and my hand happens to “slide up” it unlocks and the song changes in the middle cus it hit my palm. i have never been so irritated with an mp3 player ever except this one ■■■■■. Please go back to the original sansa fuze when it was actually handy. thanks.

Sorry to say, but you didn’t even need to bother registering to make your lengthy complaint/rant, as every single one of your points have been made by numerous users.  I have had the Fuze+ since early September, and I have not been shy about registering my complaints, many of which match some of your own including overly sensitive controls, the annoying lock feature, sluggish UI, etc.  But I still use it and enjoy it, even more than the original Fuze, which was great, but is no more, I have moved on.  There is plenty of room for complaints and suggestions, but why bother wasting your time coming on here and trashing it completely?  I hope the crew continually working to update the Fuze+ listen to some of our complaints and suggestions, but coming on here to say how much you hate the Fuze+ and how much you want the Fuze back is not helpful at all.  There are still Fuze’s everywhere to be found on the internet and even in a number of retail stores that still sell them–they’ve got your name all over it. 

I agree!! I really hate the new sans fuzz plus!! I mostly use the sans because i listen to audiobooks. i get 90% of my audiobooks from my online library system. they are wma format. i had a heck of a problem with trying to get the audiobook in the audiobook file and when i did, it saw each section as a new book! and it wont save your place in any book unless its from audible!!! i’m sooooo angry!! i loved the old fuze and i’m returning this plus one tomorrow and going to find and buy the old one. i don’t know what im going to do when they can’t be found anymore!!! sometimes i hate it when they come out with new stuff cause its sometimes ■■■■!!!

THE new sansa fuze plus design is awesome and very attractive. Keep it up sandisk, it loooks great. and the screen is waaay better and looks more modern and very updated. im very pleased!!

The reason people (like myself) get on here to complain is 1) to alert other consumers that this new version is a major step backward and should be avoided and 2) to try to get the desperate need for changes through the apparently thick skulls of Sansa software developers, who should have produced a better design from the get go.

I confess I am amused at the people who think that consumers should be happy with a half-baked product, which may, just may get better in the future. 

@hammett wrote:

The reason people (like myself) get on here to complain is 1) to alert other consumers that this new version is a major step backward and should be avoided and 2) to try to get the desperate need for changes through the apparently thick skulls of Sansa software developers, who should have produced a better design from the get go.

 

I confess I am amused at the people who think that consumers should be happy with a half-baked product, which may, just may get better in the future. 

 

  And I’m amused at people that think I shouldn’t like the fuze+ just because they don’t… :stuck_out_tongue:

The best solution is to have a little of both worlds.

For a wee handy machine that travels about anywhere, the Clip+ is great.  If I feel like a bigger machine, the Fuze or e200v2 come along, and most recently, the Fuze+ has been a lot of fun.

Every machine has both its advantages- and its faults, depending upon the situation I’m in.  The touch sensitive control pad is really fun to navigate, but it is very sensitive.  You can’t just plop the machine in your pocket unless you lock the control, as it responds to your fingers while you reach into that pocket.

Overall, the form factor and big screen of the Fuze+ are great, I love video on the device.  The Fuze+ is very new, and it’s my hope that refinements will make it even better.  We have seen this with about every previous Sansa device, as they evolved into favorites for many users.

Bob  :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ve had a Fuze+ since November. This is the 2nd MP3 player I’ve owned in the last 8 years. My 1st came with an 8MB compact flash and took AA batteries and I’ve only just stopped using it because my eyesight means I can’t read the screen in the dark (allthough I could turn it on, and resume with my eyes closed).

In terms of basic functionality, pause,lock,power on and navigation my ancient model beats the Fuze+ hands down. Yes when the Fuze+ is locked (you can’t really move at all with it unlocked!!!) the sound quality is great. However day to day usability is pretty terrible.

Yes we all hope that Sandisk do sort out the problems, but it’s pretty pathetic that a product can actually be launched with all these issues. I spent 20 years in Software development and most of these problems are bugs pure and simple which should have been caught in testing/QA.

It’s a product which has been overtaken by it’s marketing hype and a desire to appear flash/sexy rather than work.

I defy anyone to state that they can get the touchpad to do _ exactly _ what they want even 95% of the time. (my hit rate is about 25%).

I can’t quite equate the random behaviour I associate with the touchpad as “fun”. Maybe if you like it to pick the album you want to listen to rather than you.

I have yet to write my review on Amazon(.co.uk) but it’s only had 6 reviews and is averaging 3.5/5 and has received no 5s yet.

If it needs us disillusioned customers to start writing accurate reviews to prompt Sansa to actually fix the problems then lets do it.

Oh yes. We have a Clip+, which is better for many things - but I can’t read the small screen in the dark otherwise the Fuze+

I am getting used to the Fuze+; had the Fuze before.  I use it mostly for audiobooks. I mostly like it; sensitivity requires learning, but is a skill you can master. 

My Q: Is there a trick to using resume in an audiobook chapter so it doesn’t go back to the beginning of the chapter?  I have to note the counter location so when it resumes but at the beginning I have to ff to the correct position in chapter; this was easier to do in the Fuze.

Why has no one informed this poster that some of the issues mentioned have been fixed by newer firmware releases?  Please update the firmware before deciding how much you really dislike the product.  The newer firmware will not address all of your concerns but it will fix some.  There is a feedback and feature request thread that you should also mention your problems on.

My ex brother in law has the click wheele fuze and it’s awsome.  I have the touch pad one and I hate it.  I will have to say that   the sound is good.  Way better than the Sansa Clip which does NOT have “big sound”.  In the clip I had to bump up everything in the equalizer to the highest point for the sound to be “full”.  Oh well maybe it’s just me and what did I expect from something tiny? 

Anyways the touch pad takes forever.  If I want to listen to Van Halen I gotta do all this scrolling down and when I attempt to speed scroll I may accidently hit the “next” part on the pad and then find I’m in “genres” instead of “artists”.  Even if speed scolling doesn’t veer off path it still takes forever.  Looks like I’m going to have to use my computer to group my favorite songs into “albums” on here to make accessing them faster on the MP3 player.

I’m a very impulsive music consumer.  I might be listening to listen to Van Halen then suddenly listen to Cher.  This doesn’t allow me to be too impulsive.  The other thing I hate about this is that I can’t bump up backwards to the Zs section from the A section by scrolling up like most MP3 players let you.  Know what I mean? 

The other bad thing about a touch pad?  It ISNT energy efficient.  My battery drains too fast. 

I think Sansa is good but they need to bring back the click wheel.  Otherwise I’m sticking with Phillips. 

@aquagirl wrote:

My ex brother in law has the click wheele fuze and it’s awsome.  I have the touch pad one and I hate it.  I will have to say that   the sound is good.  Way better than the Sansa Clip which does NOT have “big sound”.  In the clip I had to bump up everything in the equalizer to the highest point for the sound to be “full”.  Oh well maybe it’s just me and what did I expect from something tiny? 

 

The Clip and Clip+ both put out  awesome “full” sound . . . provided your ear/head phones are of decent quality.

@aquagirl wrote:

 

I’m a very impulsive music consumer.  I might be listening to listen to Van Halen then suddenly listen to Cher.  This doesn’t allow me to be too impulsive.  The other thing I hate about this is that I can’t bump up backwards to the Zs section from the A section by scrolling up like most MP3 players let you.  Know what I mean? 

 

Yep, and wrap-around scrolling is likely to be added in a firmware update. It was on the original Fuze.

@aquagirl wrote:

 

I think Sansa is good but they need to bring back the click wheel.  Otherwise I’m sticking with Phillips

 

I have only one comment . . .

Really?

:smiley:

absolutely agree…it’s awful and a waste of money…did sansa do any user testing on this?..WTF! I knew I should’ve bought another sansa mini mp3 player…

LAME! you probably work for the company!

@neutron_bob wrote:

.  The touch sensitive control pad is really fun to navigate, but it is very sensitive.  

 

 

no, sadly it is not fun.

 

I want to jump forward. Hitting the area again and again and again. Suddenly it reacts! Yay! I move my finger to hold the player wihle locking it, get close to the area - it jumps forward. Wtf? 

And then ‘hit the navigational areas, but the fuze+ sees it as pause or back to root button presses’ yeah, great fun.

 

Hopefully .37 will make that bit more bearable.

 

And watching videos? They claim that the device can play all kinds of videos. It also has a 30fps screen!

Sadly, it can only play 20fps avi.

 

Are you kidding me? Sandisk should be ashamed.

Yes the new Sansa fuze has to be handled as though it’s an explosive device with a dozen triggers.  Sound is good, looks nice, terrible handling.  I think it’s helpful to let the engineers know they have produced an Edsel and that they need to restore the functionality of the old model, I wouldn’t buy another like this fuze plus.

I read the posts and was fearful about the new fuse after trying to use it without any instructions first.  It felt  a bit quirky (compared to my old fuses) but figured it out, it helped to search sandisk and open the manual.  Considering I don’t want a high learning curve to any tech devise, I can say  it is actually quite nice. 

 I have 3 regular fuses and this new one. Regarding the lock comments. They fixed it.  It is easy to do, just search sandisk site…mine you just press the top button for .5 seconds and it locks.  

Also the book can resume where it left off.   I am an avid audio book user so have it going all the time, and can really beat them up.    

Overall, the Fuze+ is my favorite device for video, as it takes anything I throw at it with aplomb.  The touchpad makes scrolling through video very nice.

For audiobooks and podcasts, I love it, especially the cool pitch-corrected variable speed playback.  No more “chipmunk” high speed playback, very nice.

On the downside, podcast sort order is a bit of a pickle: with the Clip Zip, e200, and Clip+, I can poke the sort order exactly as I like it using Windows Media Player or Windows Explorer, and the files are arranged in sequence.  The Fuze+ likes to pidgeonhole some podcasts into the wrong location, a bug still to be addressed.

In any case, you’ll find that tapping the lock on is a necessity to prevent inadvertent touchpad commands, of course.

Bob  :stuck_out_tongue:

That is because when a company announce a new product, it means, without any doubt, that the new product is better than its predecessor, or at the worst case has improvements upon its already poor features. That’s why we are complaining. The reason complaining on here is good ? Because if someone at Sandisk is reading all this,perhaps they will pull their finger out and create a FIRMWARE upgrade to solve the frustrations of its many loyal customers, who by the way, are the very people which keep these sorts of business alive in the first place. So there , do I  or we need say anymore ?

@beirutbomber wrote:

That is because when a company announce a new product, it means, without any doubt, that the new product is better than its predecessor, or at the worst case has improvements upon its already poor features.

I can think of numerous instances where this is simply not true. There is no guarantee from anyone (stated, assumed or implied) that a product or service will be better than whatever predecessor may have come before it.

Case in point, Windows Vista vs. its predecessor, XP. People couldn’t bail off of Vista fast enough, yet millions of people are still using XP. Or (staying with MicroSoft) how 'bout Windows 2000 or ME vs. Windows 3.1?