Say hello to Sansa Fuze !!!

apperantly they are trying to limit the spread, im suprised amazon got it down so quick.

Interesting… I guess someone let the cat out of the bag :stuck_out_tongue:

It looks quite interesting, especially the photo with the MicroSDHC card next to the port.  She’s a wee little beastie isn’t she??

I remember Clip fans asking about the Micro SD port on future models.

Plus, a TFT display instead of the OLED?  Most interesting!

Bob  :wink:

The Fuze looks nice in a lot of ways. I wish they had gone with the Click volume control. For that matter I like all of the Clip controls better than the View type wheel, but I guess that the wheel is the only way to control their awkward scrolling icon UI. Do you think Sandisk has heard how many people don’t like their UI? Anyway, the Fuze looks like a nice blend of Clip & View features & I hope the audio ckt. is from the Clip??? I have been entertaining the idea of getting a e200 v2 just for the size & SD slot, but the wheel & buttons on the e200 are awful! The Fuze has a better wheel (if it’s the View wheel), & smaller than the View with (I hope) better audio.

I assume Sansa did not intend the news to leak this way. Amazon’s page indicated a shipping time of 1 to 3 months.
That’s a long time during which some potential Clip & View buyers might have second thoughts, hurting Sansa sales.
I’m not surprised they’re trying to re-hide it.

What would make this thing better than, say, the e260?  Smaller?

functionality that actually works? in regards to video playback (not that i use it that much, but its always a pain). Smoother (less laggy) user interface. Bookmarking.

Im sure others can think of more.

@promisedplanet wrote:

What would make this thing better than, say, the e260?  Smaller?

Smaller, thinner, better video support. More convenient click wheel. It may have better sound quality if they borrow the Clip’s technology. It may come out in higher capacities (16gb?).

Nothing too big that would warrant replacing a e200 that you already have, but it makes them more competitive against newer products. In fact, wouldn’t this be a View killer? Sandisk may artificially keep the capacities for the Fuze lower than the View’s so that both products are viable.

I agree!  It makes sense to keep the Fuze on the simpler side, especially in light of how well the Clip interface works.  The trade in size makes for a nice model niche, I would think.  One needn’t mess with video on the wee Fuze, but integrating the possibility of album art is a great improvement.

Bob  :smiley:

If we use that 1.9inch screen as a measurement guide, we can calculate the size of this little guy. Looks almost identical to a Nano fatty, though not quite as fat.

http://www.sizeasy.com/page/size\_comparison/11108-view-vs-iPod-Nano-3G-vs-Fuze-1-vs-clip

Pehaps there’s a connection:  Office Dept is selling the 8 gb Sansa View for $99.99 after $50 rebate.  Wow.

Annnnnnnnnnd … it’s back again.  Buildin’ the buzz!

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board?board.id=sansafuse

Not on Amazon.com, though.  :wink:

Looks nice, however, that proprietary USB cable will be a complete show stopper for me.

I like being able to plug my clip and/or shuffle into my PS3 and play through the stereo.  The clip uses the same cable as the PS3 controllers (USB-mini B) so there’s always one hanging there, and the shuffle just plugs right in.

Not to mention my wall charger, car charger and external battery pack won’t work as is.

Robert

Correct me if im wrong, but doesn’t making the player mini-USB limit your options with speaker docks and such? Due to the fact of not being able to control it as well.

Can you output sound/video and control a device with a remote when it is just mini-B? I dont think you can. Would explain why the companies are taking this route.

You can’t put analog signals on USB, and the USB spec doesn’t have any variation of the connectors that handle it as far as I can find.  Mini-USB B/ USB B/USB A/micro USB, etc, they are all the same electrically: 4 conductors: power, ground and 2 signal lines.  But any manufacturer could use USB signalling in a proprietary connector, with other signal types, if they want, as it appears Sandisk is doing in the Fuze.

So any speaker dock that uses the “USB connector” for analog signals must have some proprietary thing going on.  I connect to my speakers using the headphone plug.  When I plug into my PS3, the PS3 is just seeing an MSC device, recognizes the music and has it’s own decoders for the files, i.e., it uses it’s own internal mp3 player for mp3s.

As for remotes, well, AFAIK, all modern remotes are digital controllers (any one here remember the old high frequency audio TV clicker type remotes?).  They generate a unique digital data stream for each button in the Infrared (and you gotta have an IR receiver).  I’ve written a number of IR remote receivers for microcontrollers (CD players, DVD players, etc.).  Some even use proprietary radio or bluetooth and there may be a wireless USB spec coming someday.  A device can certainly support control through the USB, which the Clip doesn’t, at least not in MSC mode (it may well in MTP, but I have never used any MTP device and I am unfamiliar with the protocol).  All depends on having the right drivers, of course.

You can do a lot of things through the USB with the right software.  Stream digital audio and video, act like a disk drive, network adapter, mouse keyboard, etc.  See the device classes section of this article: USB - Wikipedia All of those functions are implemented using digital data through the 2 USB data signals.

Robert

Fuze info. and pics:

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/index.jsp?epi_menuItemID=887566059a3aedb6efaaa9e27a808a0c&ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1000017&newsId=20080311005603&newsLang=en

http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/Default.aspx?CatID=1655

SanDisk seems to be taking the $20 approach through the Clips and the Fuzes:  plunk down another $20 and get an upgrade in memory or a switch to another model …

Message Edited by Miikerman on 03-11-2008 02:06 PM

I won’t be getting one anytime soon, but 24 hrs of battery life is awesome! I’ll definitely be interested sometime in the future, so hopefully the reviews will be good! Nice to see they’ve added Linux to the system requirements :slight_smile:

@miikerman wrote:

Fuze info. and pics:

 

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/index.jsp?epi_menuItemID=887566059a3aedb6efaaa9e27a808a0c&ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1000017&newsId=20080311005603&newsLang=en

 

SanDisk SD Card, Memory Cards, and Flash Drives for PC & Mac | Western Digital

 

http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/Default.aspx?CatID=1655

 

SanDisk seems to be taking the $20 approach through the Clips and the Fuzes:  plunk down another $20 and get an upgrade in memory or a switch to another model …

Message Edited by Miikerman on 03-11-2008 02:06 PM

IMHO, the Clip is much cuter.

:wink:

@miikerman wrote:

IMHO, the Clip is much cuter.

:wink:

What about the Sansa Shaker?

:wink:

Well, perhaps when I was 3 …

:wink: