Sansa E250 - IPod Competition, and More

If your wallet's not quite fat enough for a new iPod, I have a suggestion for you. The SanDisk Sansa E250, with photos, video, FM radio, voice recording and of course MP3 is quite a package, and it's selling for around $140 right now.

For a few years now, SanDisk, a major player in the flash memory card market, has been expanding into the MP3 player market. Their early products, small, almost tubular devices that fit in the palm of your hand and had a crisp, small LCD display, were feature full and reliable, with good sound. Building on initial success, they are offering several new lines, with the E200 series competing directly with iPods.

If you're looking for something out of a design magazine, it's hard to beat an iPod. Apple's technology is advancing, and huge amounts of storage are included with their high end models. SanDisk may be paying more attention to features than fanfare, though. They offer not only MP3 playback and photo display, but video playback, FM radio and recorder, and voice recorder - and all at a price lower than a comparable iPod nano.

Apple does provide a comprehensive package for the iPod, with their iTunes software at the heart of it. With iTunes, you can download podcasts (MP3 files containing radio show-like content), buy music, and manage your media files. Apple tends towards proprietary formats and software, so your decisions are limited.