Sandisk Sansa Clip+ 4GB MP3 Player (Red) $24.99 + Free Shipping

hey, I just noticed Amazon will have this for a gold box item in Black in 1 hour. Lets see what their price is. No tax for me on Amazon!

Can someone recommend a good and cheap FM transmitter to use along with this?

I got one over 3 years ago and it still works just fine. The UI is pretty good and the player is pretty reliable. The only issues I see is that the battery indicator will stay 'full' for a long time then when it hits halfway it's basically like a 30 minute warning. Total play time is really long, at least 5-6 hrs at this point (haven't really measured it).

Will be picking one up as a backup for work. Red will be nice because I can distinguish the color!

I had one of these and the volume button disconnected from the circuit board...then fell inside the player.

I'm surprised to see all the comments about durability, since it feels chincy and is made of easily breakable plastic.

Quote from Buckeyefan 1 : I completely agree with this statement. Everyone's cell phone can play songs, and many take mSD cards which you can load up music on. Save the $25 and buy an armband or strap for your cell phone - that is unless you are toting around something with a massive screen.

Call me old-fashioned, but I think, even in age of smartphones and tablets, that dedicated mp3 players still have their place.

• No way you can forget to mute your phone and have it interrupt your music.
• Physical buttons mean you can actually navigate music while driving without causing a pile-up.
• Similarly, don't need to disconnect the player from your car's 3.5mm AUX port/FM transmitter to take a call. If you have a nice car that you can stream music via Bluetooth then this isn't a concern I guess, but most people probably don't.
• No damn armband for working out because the thing is so tiny and light to begin with.
• The OLED display is easy to read in direct sunlight (though phones have gotten much brighter so this is less of a concern.)
• Similarly, SQ on phones is good now, but I've found that the volume steps aren't so granular, and I still haven't found a solidly-designed music app that can also do folder navigation on Android.
• But anyway, and this may come as a shock to some people - not everybody can afford a data plan. I don't know if people remember the bad old days of trying to play media on 'dumb'/'feature' phones, but it was for most part a very unpleasant experience. This might have gotten better in recent years, but somehow I wouldn't count on it.

As for the price - may not be the cheapest ever, but it's about what refurbs go for on eBay. It's reasonable even if it's not super-slick.

I mean, look, to each his/her own. I don't particularly like getting in ideological battles over justifying purchases on SD, and am just this once trying to explain the other side of the story. If all those bullet-points doesn't matter to you, stick with your phone. But if you're in the market for a dedicated player, I would recommend this particular one over any other, especially an iPod shuffle or nano.

bought 2 before. lost both. these things are so tiny

There is a newer model of this device, got it last year for the same or close to this price from Amazon.
Great little player, http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-San...ords=sansa

i have one. Good battery life.

Quote from Wicasawakan : only an mp3 player..4gb...no deal. Everyone today just uses your cell for your music and they have more memory than 4gb. .

The advantage here is it is small, and it dedicated, and it works! The best were the Sansa Disks which aren't made anymore, and believe it or not, go for about $50 USED on e-bay..

These are solid players where you can keep your music, audio books...best gadget out there...

As for durability - I've experienced lockups with this thing every few months, that required me to hold the power button or reboot into the original firmware, but the screen and buttons are as stiff as ever. It definitely feels cheap - well, because it is - and is a maddening thing to misplace. Especially when you buy a big card.

i recently bought the evo from cowboom for $37. dropped in an old uSD card, and now it's all this and more. just another option out there. it's not my phone; it's a separate music/movie/camera/gps/app/browser/email device for my wife. wifi only (no phone/data contract, but it works great with freedompop).

I've had 2 of these and they've both died within a month. Maybe I just have bad luck though, other people here seem to be fine.

Quote from Damocles : i recently bought the evo from cowboom for $37. dropped in an old uSD card, and now it's all this and more. just another option out there. it's not my phone; it's a separate music/movie/camera/gps/app/browser/email device for my wife. wifi only (no phone/data contract, but it works great with freedompop).

Hmm, that's pretty impressive. Definitely something to think about depending on your needs...

One other thing you could say for phones: you can attach an external DAC via USB OTG, depending on your phone and its firmware...as long as the DAC doesn't need that much power to run or you have another power source for it. The DAC on the Clip+ I think is pretty solid already but if you need something higher end, that option is there for you by using a smartphone.