What do I need to hear the Fuze without earbuds AND to charge it without the PC connected?

I don’t want to post this in the ongoing discussion about Fuze accessories because of the wording included in the thread heading that says: “I wouldn’t buy it again”. I am not among those who are unhappy with the Fuze. I THINK I like it a lot, but I am really lost in this world of chargers and tuners and other accessories. I want to be able to charge the Fuze when it’s NOT connected to my computer. I do have the cable that came with the unit that goes into a USB port. When I need to download a file from the PC, it charges the Fuze. But what about when I’m not near a PC and I want to charge it? I don’t understand why the ads for Fuze accessories on the daydeal.com site or on Amazon, etc.,  say that the unit requires a USB connection. Does this mean it HAS to be connected to my computer for me to charge it?? I’m lost. WHAT exactly do I need to buy in order to play the Fuze and then separately to play and hear and charge the Fuze in my car?  What do I buy to HEAR it without earphones? I live 90 miles from a store other than Walmart that sells electronics, so I have to buy online, and I’d like to buy it right the first time. Specific product suggestions are welcome. Thank you for making this stuff clearer for me.

I bought a USB charger from walmart.  It plugged into a wall socket.  It was more then Amazon, but I needed one as my old laptop wouldn’t charge my Fuze anymore and I wasn’t going into work. It charged and I could listen to it with the headset.  Now if I had a speaker set, I could listen to it without my earbuds and charge, I’m sure, since I could listen to it with earbuds.  Walmart does have speakers that plug into the earbud section and might work with a fuze since it is not an iPod or in the usb position of the Fuze, just the jack.  I’m not 100% on those as I haven’t tried it, but since my pillow speaker works with the Fuze (I didn’t try it with the plug charger yet), the ones at walmart with a earbud pug in should too, I would think.  Yes that is 2 separate pieces and not what you were looking for I think… but doable.  Not sure if there is a one piece, but maybe.

Also it came with a car charger.  My car did not support that in playing and charging.  I think somewhere someone said some cars do.  It looked like it could because I tried it and it looked like it played, just nothing came out of the speakers.  Maybe there is another item that works better. 

Amazon - this link is similar to what I bought, without the extra usb cable.  I just use the one that came with my Fuze.

Someone is going to have to help you with a car charger and listen to at the same time.  I currently use a cassette adaptor in my car to listen to my Fuze.

Message Edited by Dalaug234 on 09-03-2008 04:17 PM

You will always need the Sansa cord to charge the Fuze. But that cord can plug into anything that provides the same amount of power as a USB port–including the kind of wall chargers you can find online.There are car USB chargers too.

To play at home without headphones, you need what’s called a dock.  Wal-Mart (or Best Buy if you have one near you) might have one–otherwise, Google for Sansa dock. Don’t get an iPod dock–you can squeeze a Sansa onto the connector, but the connector is different and the power goes through different pins in the plug, so it will FRY the Sansa. 

For what it’s worth, the connector on the Fuze is the same as the connector on the E200. But if the unit itself nestles into a hole, as on MacAlly’s Sansa dock for the E200, the Fuze is shaped differently from the E200. A dock that has the E200 plug sticking up from a flat surface would work. 

Playing through your car stereo is a more difficult question. It depends completely on what kind of input there is for your car stereo. 

The most universal and, unfortunately, worst-sounding way is to get an FM transmitter  (around $25) that plugs into your headphone jack and sends the music to a station on your FM radio. Sounds simple, usually works pretty poorly. The transmitter and/or your radio tend to drift, losing the signal, and your music turns into static. It might be better in your rural area because there’s less competition on the FM dial than there is where I live. If you do get an FM transmitter, get one that you can tune to any frequency, so you can pick the emptiest place on the FM dial. Belkin makes a decent one. Look on Amazon for FM transmitters and check the user reviews. No one loves FM transmitters of any brand, though. 

Some car stereos have a line-in jack on the front. That’s a great option–you get what looks like your headphone plug on both ends of a cord, connect the Sansa to car stereo, and play to your heart’s content. But only if that input is there. I just got one by Pioneer–I was getting by with a cassette player and adapter (see below)–and it was about $130 installed. If you wait around and pounce on a free-installation special, you could probaby get one around $100. It would be a much better investment, in the long run, than an FM transmitter. 

Similarly, if you are old-school enough to have a casette player, you’re also good to go.  There are adapters–pretty cheap–with a headphone plug on one end and a cassette on the other. Not quite as good as line-in, but not bad. 

Then there are some new car stereos with iPod docks. Don’t get one–same problem as home docks. 

Finally, there are new car stereos with USB ports.  They are made to work with thumb drives or flash drives full of music, more so than to work with mp3 players. However, since you can make your Sansa work like a flash drive–put it in MSC mode–a USB stereo would probably be somewhat compatible. However, you might have to move your music around on the Sansa so the car stereo could find it. The car stereo is likely to search for music only in the root directory–the name of the driveletter, like E:/Sansa Fuze–instead of subdirectories like E:/Sansa Fuze/Music/Artist Name/Album.  The Sansa will find music just about anywhere on the unit, though, so you could put all your albums in E:/ if you wanted to. 

Message Edited by c1u31355 on 09-03-2008 09:45 PM

There’s this Griffin Dock that works with the FUZE AND it’s on clearance!!! (Shhhh . . . don’t tell everybody, they’re only 15 bucks) If it looks like something that would work for you, snag one before they’re all gone!

@tapeworm wrote:
There’s this Griffin Dock that works with the FUZE AND it’s on clearance!!! (Shhhh . . . don’t tell everybody, they’re only 15 bucks) If it looks like something that would work for you, snag one before they’re all gone!

 

 

Don’t those plug into the computer though?  

Message Edited by Dalaug234 on 09-04-2008 08:50 AM

The griffin dock looks nice but needs to be pluged into a computer (I think).  And does it charge too?  I didn’t see that in the specifications, but does it?

If you do get a plug in charger, I got the Fashion Speakers last night and they work out of the earbud and seem to work pretty good.  Not great and not loud, but loud enough.  They do not have a volume so it’s all from the player.  I got them because it was the only one that would work without my item being upside down or using batteries (these don’t require batteries).  So now I can charge and listen without earbuds.

@dalaug234 wrote:

The griffin dock looks nice but needs to be pluged into a computer (I think). 

In delving deeper,  it DOES NOT have an AC plug-in, but you can use it in conjunction with a AC-powered USB charger if you want to cut the computer umbilical cord.

@dalaug234 wrote:

And does it charge too?  I didn’t see that in the specifications, but does it?

Uhh . . . did you miss this?

PowerDock for Sansa Charging Dock with Line-Out

Give your Sansa its own place on the desk and free up the original charging cable to go wherever you do.

Message Edited by Tapeworm on 09-04-2008 08:16 AM

If you want to hook it to speakers, the Griffin PowerDock is probably the best choice. It is kind of bulky, though. You can get some low-priced speakers that plug into the headphone jack, and use that with a separate AC adapter.

The AC adapter would have a USB connector (the rectangular thing on the other end of your Sansa cable; it would look the same as the USB connector on your computer).Go to Amazon.com and type USB AC in the search box, and you’ll be provided several examples.

I have three different types of USB power adapters - two AC, and one car. All of them work with the Fuze. If the USB connection only has power (no data connection with a computer), you can still use the Fuze like you normally would.

Message Edited by bdb on 09-04-2008 08:48 AM

I have this and am very pleased:

http://www.alteclansing.com/index.php?file=north_product_detail&iproduct_id=inmotion_im510

It charges while playing and can sync by plugging in a standard USB cable in the back.

It can also jack in any non-Sansa playing with a headphone input jack in the back (it came with a short male to male cable).

It can also operate on batteries if you want to take it portable (though I found that the batteries sit in the compartment a bit loose and that makes battery operation a bit dodgey).

The sound is excellent and can be made very loud.

Thank you for a wonderful summary of a lot of information said in way that I can actually understand. I do appreciate the time you spent on the reply as well as the suggestions. And thank you to the others who posted examples of products they know will work with the Fuze. You are terrific!

Sara

Elkins, West Virginia?

thanks for the heads up on that $15 Griffin dock.

1 less in stock now :slight_smile:

love the free shipping and no tax on it.

if you are near a radioshack, they have chargers that are specific for the sansa fuse. also they have a universal charger that I would get and an Isymphony speaker set. the total might come out to $70 if you want to charge your sansa and listen to music without any batteries for the speaker set. With the universal charger you can get a tip splitter to power both the sansa and the Isymphony. the charger is called Igo and the tips you need are “A00” for the Isymphony and and “A84” for the sansa Fuze. I work at radioshack and I know that these products work good because I go through tests and trials before I buy.

Message Edited by linksrighthand on 09-07-2008 07:57 PM

@linksrighthand wrote:
. . . I work at radioshack and I know that these products work good because I go through tests and trials before I buy.

Ooops! I knew there would be one show up here sooner or later. Linksrighthand , be sure to NOT READ THIS POST ! :smileyvery-happy: 

Message Edited by Tapeworm on 09-08-2008 11:27 AM

@linksrighthand wrote:
. . . I work at radioshack and I know that these products work good because I go through tests and trials before I buy.

Ooops! I knew there would be one show up here sooner or later. Linksrighthand , be sure to NOT READ THIS THREAD ! :smileyvery-happy: