It’s amazing how much I learn about SanDisk’s MP3 player’s product range - and its differences - just by reading the replies on this thread. I’m not fond of some of the entries here, but at least they are informative. And that brings me to my original complaint, namely that SanDisk does not explicitely advertise the limitations of the SanDisk Clip Sport. I just payed a visit to the SanDisk website and I still cannot find any information about the player’s limited capabilites, e.g the maximum of 4000 songs (with the added memory card). Here’s one sentence from the advertisement that I still find very misleading:
“The SanDisk Clip Sport MP3 Player is available in a wide range of bright colors with file storage capacities of 4GB and 8GB**, and it also contains a memory card slot for additional storage**.”
Mind the double asterisks. I was hoping the first pair would warn me about the limitation of 2000 songs on the player itself, and the second pair would do the same for the extended memory card. Unfortunately, that is still not the case. The first pair gives me information on how much a gigabyte really is (as if no one knows that already), and the second one says that the card is sold separately. And that, in my opinion, is the real reason for the existence of this low spec’d MP3 player. SanDisk produces memory devices in the first place. But a memory device by itself is worthless, unless you can put it in a computer, or any other device, like an MP3 player. By producing these devices, SanDisk really is creating a market for itself to sell more microSDHC memory cards. The MP3 player, and its capabilities, are subordinate. From a sales point perspective, SanDisk couldn’t care less about how this MP3 player is perceived by its consumers. And Apple does or at least did the same, where the cheaper ipods really are meant to trick consumers into using itunes (and spend real bucks there).
Anyway, I could go on and on about how I feel cheated having bought this MP3 player, but I guess it won’t make any difference. My only hope is that people considering to buy this MP3 player will pay a visit to the SanDisk fora first, before making their decision. At least, SanDisk is keeping these threads with complaining consumers alive. I guess that’s a start…
