What is Fuze's Life Span?

You’ve experienced one of the great truisms of MTTF (mean time to failure) for electronic equipment.  You’re more likely to have a mechanical failure before an electronic failure.

From my experience: in order of likelihood

  1. Mechanical failure (switches, pots, connectors, soldering joints, display screen, etc.)

  2. Transducers and sensors (thermal, light, motion, etc.)

  3. Passive component failure or degradation (capacitors (mostly), transformers)

  4. discrete semiconductor (diodes, zeners, rectifiers, transistors, thyristors, etc.)

  5. integrated devices (buffers, op-amps, regulators, etc.)

  6. LSI (CPU, ASICs, DACs, PIA, etc.)

I did not include software or firmware anomalies, which can induce, mask or otherwise produce similar failure symptoms.

Once you get to number 4, your device is pretty much gone from a consumer standpoint.  Notice that large scale integrated devices like a CPU is the least likely to fail.  Most failures occur from the surrounding components.  Power supply failures are due mainly to components in 3 and 4.  In my opinion, if you can get past 1, 2 and 3 in the first two years, your unit will last at least ten years.  Even if 1 or 2 fail, the do-it-yourself’ers can replace/repair, at the very least, the components in 1.

Failure graphs look like a U-shaped boat.  Lots of failures in the beginning, mostly due to faulty assembly/components.  Then it steadies out for a long time during regular usage.  Toward the end, failures begin to crop up due to aging components, corrosion, mechanical stress, electrical stress, dialectric breakdown and semi-conductor junction breakdown (shorts and opens).

ggin1

Message Edited by ggin1 on 02-18-2010 10:34 PM

Is anyone really that worried about the “lifespan” of these players?  With the speed at which technology improves, who is really going to have their player more than 2 to 3 years anyway?  I don’t know about you, but I like to upgrade to bigger and better technology every so often…and if SanDisk stays in this market only safe to say better things are on the horizon.

Ok…I guess there are a few people that stilll have their Zenith portable am transistor radio with the 8 foot telescoping antenna…lol…but really?

1shotoffers wrote:

Is anyone really that worried about the “lifespan” of these players?  With the speed at which technology improves, who is really going to have their player more than 2 to 3 years anyway?  I don’t know about you, but I like to upgrade to bigger and better technology every so often…

Most people have the same attitude as you, I think (not necessarily some that hang out here, but in general). Maybe because of this, or possibly even the driving force behind it, Verizon cell-phone service has for years offered their “New Every 2” program where customers get a credit or discounted upgrade to a new phone every 2 years.

It is indeed the age of obsolescence.  Some of which is built in at the manufacturers.  That’s unfortunate.  Though technology moves forward, good technology is hard to find.  State-of-the-art technology is revered.  A tube ampliflier will run in the tens of thousands.  Most everyone seeks a “warm” sound from their equipment.  Yet, there’s not much warmth in digitizing everything.  This disposable society is what causes mediocre products.  When I find something well built, I keep it.  No matter how many bells and whistles you put in an audio equipment, it is the interface between the sound and your senses that counts.  Some state-of-art equipment sound like ■■■■ (Bose?).  What sounds good is very subjective.  But, the idea that you should toss an audio equipment because there is a better one coming along is ingrained into the consumers by the likes of Apple.  The carrot they dangle is not sound, it is the bells and whistles.  If your ego is large enough and your pocketbook deep enough, then that model is for you.  Audiophiles (an often misused term) stroke not their ego, but their aural sense.  It is an aesthetic satisfaction.

I still have a reel-to-reel deck that I play occasionally because the analog sound coming out of it is unmatched.  No, it does not have the sterile perfection of a CD.  But, it also does not have digital artifacts I hear in CDs.  Listen to a pristine vinyl album through a good analog amplifier with say, a set of B&O Penta tower speakers, and you’ll know what us old fogies mean.  

A Sansa Fuze is by no means a reel-to-reel deck.  But darn it, it produces a pretty good sound for something that is portable and costs less than fifty bucks.  I think I’ll keep it.

ggin1

Message Edited by ggin1 on 02-19-2010 09:32 AM

“Is anyone really that worried about the “lifespan” of these players? With the speed at which technology improves, who is really going to have their player more than 2 to 3 years anyway?”

I like to give away a player I grow tired of, not throw it in the trash. Many people give their old car to a son or daughter when they get a new one. Imagine if cars lasted only 2-3 years and they could only be scrapped after that.

Message Edited by JK98 on 02-25-2010 11:38 AM

ggin1 wrote:

It is indeed the age of obsolescence.  Some of which is built in at the manufacturers.  That’s unfortunate.   Though technology moves forward, good technology is hard to find.   State-of-the-art technology is revered.  A tube ampliflier will run in the tens of thousands.  Most everyone seeks a “warm” sound from their equipment.  Yet, there’s not much warmth in digitizing everything.  This disposable society is what causes mediocre products.  When I find something well built, I keep it.   No matter how many bells and whistles you put in an audio equipment, it is the interface between the sound and your senses that counts.  Some state-of-art equipment sound like ■■■■ (Bose?).  What sounds good is very subjective.  But, the idea that you should toss an audio equipment because there is a better one coming along is ingrained into the consumers by the likes of Apple.  The carrot they dangle is not sound, it is the bells and whistles.   If your ego is large enough and your pocketbook deep enough, then that model is for you.  Audiophiles (an often misused term) stroke not their ego, but their aural sense.  It is an aesthetic satisfaction.

 

I still have a reel-to-reel deck that I play occasionally because the analog sound coming out of it is unmatched.   No, it does not have the sterile perfection of a CD.  But, it also does not have digital artifacts I hear in CDs.  Listen to a pristine vinyl album through a good analog amplifier with say, a set of B&O Penta tower speakers, and you’ll know what us old fogies mean.  

 

A Sansa Fuze is by no means a reel-to-reel deck.  But darn it, it produces a pretty good sound for something that is portable and costs less than fifty bucks.  I think I’ll keep it.

 

 

ggin1

Agreed 100%

@ ggin1

@Tapeworm

Amen to that.

I can’t help think that the future scene at the start of Terminator 2, where suddenly a metal foot scrunches down on a battlefield ankle deep in skulls, would be more believable if instead of skulls the ground is littered with crapped out mp3 players.

I’ve still got my first cassette walkman - and a couple of years back I bought 2 more off ebay to play what’s left of my old tape collection.  They’re all around 30 years old I’d guess and ironically have outlasted most of my tapes.  Flick the dolby switch and they still sound pretty good, not that I use them much and am slowly replacing stuff.  Likewise, my old Phillips personal CD player still works fine, and does get a spin now and then.  They all use 2 AA batteries. 

I’ve had several different mp3 players, and like the sound of Sonys best for photos, navigation and mp3 playback, but for lossless CD-soundquality the Fuze rules.  I don’t agonize over the subtle differences, and ABX’d a bit before settling on lame v2, but I keep the fuze as my equivalent of a hi fi in my pocket.  I stock it with only FLACs.  A nicely mastered CD, ripped to FLAC and played through the Fuze on half decent 'phones=sonic bliss. 

The one thing I look forward to is when we can listen to even higher res audio on our portables  - I’ve no doubt my kids will soon be looking back on the CD/mp3/iPod years as some sort of Audio Dark Age. I think the current reneweed interst in vinyl backs that up (or is it just a way for “the man” to make more money, given the failing CD market and ease of pirating digital recordings?).  By then though I expect my ears will be shot, so I doubt it’ll get much better than the Fuze’s sound for me.  And so I’m angry too -it would be sooooo easy for manufacturers to make digitalplayers that take standardized batteries (maybe not AAAs but say a std flat pack), and just as easy for them to stop using fiddly little switches where the slightest spec of pocket fluff spoils the contacts or a waft of steam shorts the thing out. 

Moan over - the Fuze rocks apart from the nonrenewable battery.  No plans on ever chucking mine.:smiley:

"it would be sooooo easy for manufacturers to make digitalplayers that take standardized batteries (maybe not AAAs but say a std flat pack), and just as easy for them to stop using fiddly little switches where the slightest spec of pocket fluff spoils the contacts or a waft of steam shorts the thing out. "

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/message?board.id=featuresuggestions&thread.id=538

Message Edited by JK98 on 02-22-2010 11:40 AM

My Fuze is about to turn 2 years old. I use it a few times a week for running, but otherwise treat it fairly well.

I expect the battery to die before anything else. This is what happened to my 2003 iPod - around the third year, the battery life quickly went from 12 hours down to three. Within two years it was down to about an hour. I’ve heard the Lithium Polymer batteries have longer shelf-life, though, so maybe it’ll last about five years…anyway even if the Fuze battery has 1/4 the run-time, that’s still more than I’ll usually need.

There is something to be said for the obsolescence argument, but I think its less valid than it once was. My old iPod is huge compared to my Fuze, but only has a few GB more storage; it has a blue-on-blue monochrome screen that is hard to read. The Fuze, however, is about the same size, capacity, and screen quality as new players. Now they’re just adding features like videocam and touch screens that we may or may not want (I have a new iPod touch; very cool toy, but lame music player).

Message Edited by bdb on 02-22-2010 11:10 AM

From my experiences, the Fuze lasts about 6 months, to a year, but that’s just from what I’ve had.  My current Fuze is about to turn 1 year old, and unfortunately, I think the home button is dying.  That’s the bad part.  The good part is that if you do it right, you don’t even need it.  It’s like the center button.  I hardly ever use it, because the left and right works, in my case, better.  Sorry Sandisk, but if this thing dies close after the warranty, I’m going to try to find something that lasts a little longer, although for the price I paid ($87, when these were almost brand new), I don’t  know if I could get a better value.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Sandisk.  These are one the highest quality players for the price.

Message Edited by saxmaster765 on 02-22-2010 02:03 PM

I bought my Fuze the day it was released and it is still going strong and I use it nearly every day.

My E250 still works perfectly still with original battery.

are you sure about replacing the battery?  Just asking because I had an e200 that had a cell phone type battery in the back that was deemed “user replaceable”, but read that the Fuze was not, thus enabling it to be much thinner than the e200’s.

I bought my Fuze in may 2009. It still works perfectly. Today I did a battery test (constantly repeated 128 kbps mp3 file from an internal memory) and in 7 minutes it will hit 24 hours and it is still playing.

I must add that the player is heavily used (~3 hours a day) but I always charge it fully after full discharge.

EDIT: 24 hours. 21% left.

Message Edited by htrz on 02-24-2010 02:54 PM

If I’m correct, they were released March 2008.  I bought one in July of that year.  It messed up almost immediately.  So it was replaced within a few weeks.  This gave me a bad impression on Sandisk.  I then received the replacement and I loved the thing.  That one worked until the end of April 2009, and Sandisk gladly replaced it.  Unfortunately, the screen is crooked, which is very annoying.  That one is still happily going, so I guess I have just gotten all the bad ones.  Good luck to all the people who have the good ones.

Yeah,see the reason i was so  mad about my Fuze v1’s total breakdown was because  i use mine eight hours a night at work (always gently of course)  and i don’t want to be without it.Heaven forbid! Let’s face it both the headphone jack and sliding on/off switch are ■■■■.I think we all only ask that they stand up to normal use.Nothing more. 

@shmincev3 wrote:
Yeah,see the reason i was so  mad about my Fuze v1’s total breakdown was because  i use mine eight hours a night at work (always gently of course)  and i don’t want to be without it.Heaven forbid! Let’s face it both the headphone jack and sliding on/off switch are ■■■■.I think we all only ask that they stand up to normal use.Nothing more. 

Eight hours of daily use isn’t typical use. With 8 hours of daily use, I guess you would be lucky if the player lasts for over a year.

JK98 wrote:

 

Eight hours of daily use isn’t typical use. With 8 hours of daily use, I guess you would be lucky if the player lasts for over a year.

Really! You need to give your ears a rest and get a life.

O.k. that’s fair enough.Maybe you can explain for us what you would consider normal use then.Since apparently,you seem to know…  

8 hours a day for usage?  The Sansa should do just fine.  My devices get heavy use, and are regularly charged up; they are doing very well.  I don’t see any problems with the batteries yet.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

Tapeworm wrote:  Verizon cell-phone service has for years offered their “New Every 2” program where customers get a credit or discounted upgrade to a new phone every 2 years.

There are a few factors playing there.

Verizon was losing customers like crazy because they could get a new phone for “free” from another carrier, so Verizon essentially gives them the same deal to stay.  “Free” of course meaning “commit to 2 more years of service.”

2 years is a good time to get a new phone because your battery is about to ■■■■ out.

Cell phones are changing in ways beyond smart-phone features.  Digital service allows more phones per tower with more privacy and better call quality.  You can’t even buy service now without a GPS in your phone as 911 service wants to know your location.  The last time I got a new phone (4 years ago) was because of the GPS requirement.  SHort version:  Carriers are happier if they don’t have to support old phones on their network.