A Different Viewpoint: The SanDisk Sansa View [Archive]

Doug Raeburn

05-07-2008, 10:00 AM

<img alt="" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209157212.usr11811.jpg" />Product Category: MP3/Video Player Manufacturer: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sandisk.com/sansa/#/product-4/">Sandisk</a> Where to Buy: <a target="_blank" href="http://astore.amazon.com/digitalhomethoughts-20/detail/B000MQJ19S/102-6979566-0409757">Amazon</a> [Affiliate] Price: Starts at $129 USD for 8GB model Specifications: Please refer to the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sandisk.com/sansa/#/specs-4/">Sandisk website</a>Pros:<ul> <li> <div>Excellent sound quality;</div> </li> <li> <div>Large, bright and crisp screen;</div> </li> <li> <div>Expandable memory;</div> </li> <li> <div>Works with subscription music services like Rhapsody;</div> </li> <li> <div>Great value.</div> </li></ul>Cons:<ul> <li> <div>Not the smallest player out there;</div> </li> <li> <div>Videos have a slight green cast;</div> </li> <li> <div>Supports only .jpg photo format.</div> </li></ul>Summary: In the minds of many people, the name iPod is synonymous with MP3 player. But savvy consumers know that there are many excellent alternatives. One such alternative is the Sansa View by Sandisk. This flash player is designed to provide a good measure of the features of the hard drive-based iPod Classic at prices that compete with the iPod Nano. Can lots of features at an affordable price make up for the lack of the iconic iPod name? <MORE /> Is There Life After iPod? Eponyms. Most of us use them every day. That’s when a particular product of a type becomes so prominent that its name is used to describe all products of that type. Among the most commonly used ones are Kleenex for facial tissue and Band-Aids for bandages. I suppose that it’s a testimony to Apple’s marketing skills that the iPod brand is approaching eponym status among digital audio players. And to be fair, it’s not just marketing hype… iPods in general are well designed, innovative and attractive. But despite their market dominance, iPods aren’t perfect and that leaves some room for other companies to compete. Sandisk is one of those companies. At the time of writing this review, Sandisk is the #2 selling brand of digital audio players… a distant second to Apple, but second nonetheless. Sandisk’s Sansa line competes by offering features not available in iPods, and by pricing players much lower than iPods with similar specs. The Sansa View is one of their most recently introduced players. Let's take a look... An iPod Point of “View” <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209158305.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 1: A View with lots of room... up to 32GB! The View is designed as an all purpose digital media player. It supports music, video, FM radio, podcasts, audiobooks and more. Based on its functionality and specs, the View competes most directly with the the iPod Classic. They’re similar in size, with large screens and larger storage capacity than the Nano 3G. The Classic uses a hard drive as opposed to the View’s flash storage. So the View with the largest built-in capacity (32GB) is just under half of the smallest capacity Classic. But the View compensates by being just over half the weight of the Classic and by offering removable storage (SDHC). <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209158370.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 2: Specs for the View and some of its competition. Pricewise, the View competes more with the Nano 3G. The Nano is shorter and thinner but wider than the View and just over 1 oz. lighter. While both have screens with 320x240 resolution, the View’s is larger with a 2.4” size vs. the Nano’s 2” size. The smallest capacity View (8GB) equals the largest capacity Nano, and the largest View has 4 times the capacity of the largest Nano. The View is similar in design to the second generation Zune flash-based models. The Zune is smaller and lighter but with its largest capacity model being the equal of the smallest capacity View. The Zune also has a 0.6” smaller screen and no removable storage. The View has the candy bar shape of the previous generation iPod Nanos and the current generation Zune 4G/8G. Unlike the iPods and like the Zune, the View sports a display with portrait orientation. This allows the View to have a screen nearly as large as that of the iPod Classic with its landscape screen orientation, while being almost .5” narrower. A mechanical jog wheel is positioned below the screen. <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209158408.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 3: Nothing much on the back... The back of the View has no controls or displays. It has a matte coating that resists fingerprints and makes it less slippery than the shiny plastic or chrome on other units. <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209158445.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 4: Power switch and microphone are on the left side. The left side sports the microphone and the combination power/hold switch. To turn the View on, slide the power switch up and release. To turn it off, slide the power switch up and hold it until the control highlights go out and release. To reset, slide the switch up and hold for about 10 seconds. <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209158476.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 5: One of the View's biggest advantages, the microSD slot, is on the right side. The right side has the slot for the removable storage. The View uses microSD and microSDHC cards, the latter having a maximum capacity of 32GB, or at least they will. At that point, you would be able to have a View with a capacity of 64MB, or 80% of the capacity of the hard drive based 80GB iPod Classic. <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209158506.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 6: The bottom, with the headphone jack and proprietary synch/charge connector. Thin, but not "Nano" thin. The bottom of the View has its charge/synch connector and the headphone jack. The connector is proprietary, but it is the same connector that was used in earlier high end Sansa models like the E200 series. So if you’re upgrading and you’ve purchased extra cables for work, etc., they can be used here. The headphone jack is the widely used 3.5mm. The top has no controls. <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209157497.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 7: Another Nano comparison. Figures 6 & 7 also include a comparison with the iPod Nano 3G. The Nano is certainly thin, although the View is hardly what I’d classify as thick. <PAGE /> Controls <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209157533.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 8: Backlit controls are functional and attractive. The front of the View includes a mechanical jog wheel with an action button in the center, and a Home button to the top right. The operation of the jog wheel is similar to that of the control dial on most iPods, except that it actually moves as opposed to the iPod’s touch sensitive control. The View’s dial has very light detents that correspond with a single unit of menu movement. Spinning the wheel to the left moves up a menu and to the right, down a menu. The action button makes a menu selection. The jog wheel is highlighted with a blue ring when the screen backlight is on. Icons for functions such as play/pause, menu and home are illuminated as well. <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209157606.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 9: The View's controls automatically adjust for landscape use. The View displays movies in landscape mode, which requires setting the player on its side. Sandisk has added a handy feature to go along with this… the jog wheel controls are reoriented along with the screen, and the illuminated menu/home, etc. icons are reoriented along with the wheel functions. The jog wheel works very well, on a par with the iPod control after which it’s patterned. If you’re familiar with the jog wheel on the E200 series, the View is a big improvement. The E200 used a plastic jog ring with function buttons around the perimeter. The jog ring wasn’t particularly smooth and the function buttons were hard to press. With the View, on the other hand, the wheel turns smoothly and functions are easily accessed. Menu movement is responsive, but like with the iPod, it’s a bit too easy to overshoot your desired selection. Overall quality is very good. The unit is solidly constructed and materials have a high end appearance. I compared the View to my 3G Nano and they seem to be of comparable quality. Main and Music Menus <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209158592.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 10: The main menu may lack flash, but it's functional. The Sansa UI graphics are pretty much the same as with the E200 series. Which is to say, not bad, but they fall short of the sophistication of most of the iPods. A series of icons rotate through the screen. Each icon has a text description to the right, along with an arrow. The desired function is selected with the action button. <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209158616.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 11: Lots of options on the Music menu. The Music menu has all of the options that you’d probably expect. You can play all music, list by artists, albums, genres, etc. You can also choose podcasts and audiobooks that you’ve downloaded and recordings that you’ve made. <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209158633.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 12: Sansa's answer to Cover Flow. When listing by album, the View can be set to display album covers. This doesn’t have the showy feel of the much hyped Cover Flow on the Nano, but it works well enough, providing the same information with a bit less glitz. <PAGE /> <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209158655.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 13: No surprises on the "Now Playing" screen... Everything you’d expect is displayed when a song is playing. The display includes the album cover, album name, song name, track number, total tracks for album, current song time and total song time. Names that are too long for display will scroll to display the entire name. Pressing the action button repeatedly will display, in sequence, an output graph, a large view of the album art and the next song to play. Rotating the wheel during play will change the volume. Previous/Next is accomplished via pressing the wheel left or right, while holding the wheel left or right will move backward or forward quickly through the song. One issue with the display is the use of white text in this view. It has poor contrast with the default light blue background and can’t be changed. I did find that the darker Sunset wallpaper improved the contrast. That’s the background used in my screen shots here. <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209158678.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 14: "Now Playing" options. In-play menu options are accessed by pressing the bottom of the wheel. From this menu, you can set repeat and shuffle options, adjust the graphic equalizer, rate a song and add to your to-go list (a portable playlist). The View also allows deleting songs on the fly, a feature not found on the E200. <img alt="" border="1" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/zt/auto/1209158711.usr11811.jpg" /> Figure 15: A custom equalizer helps to fine-tune the sound. Graphic equalizer preset choices are sparse compared to the Nano. If you can’t find a preset that suits you, a custom setting is provided. The View can synch with many popular player applications, including Windows Media Player, Rhapsody and Media Monkey, among others. Playlists created with these applications are also synchronized. The View supports a wide range of music formats, such as .wmv, .mp3, and .wav. I typically use 128-bit .wmv and .m4a files and I found both to provide clear and crisp highs, solid midrange and good lows. To my ears, the View’s sound quality is on a par with the Nano, which I consider high praise. A couple of caveats: this assumes that you’re using decent quality ear buds or headphones (not the crappy ones included); and while I’m fairly fussy about sound quality, I’m not an expert, so YMMV. <PAGE /> Videos Sandisk has made a serious effort to make the View a capable video player. The screen is considerably larger than most audio only players. The View’s removable storage feature gives it the necessary capacity to carry several movies at once, an important advantage since such files can be very large. And Sandisk has supplied an NVIDIA GoForce 6100 multimedia processor, intended to combine high frame rates with low power consumption. With these features, you’d expect the View to fare well as a video player. So does it meet expectations? Well, it’s not perfect, but it does quite well. The 6100 chip is claimed to provide up to 30fps at VGA resolution with H.264 and MPEG-4 files. I created a number of files from DVD’s of TV shows. Through trial and error, I found that I got the best results with MPEG-4 files at 640x480 resolution. Playback is smooth, with just a little stuttering during fast action scenes. The image is crisp and colors are very good, although I found skin tones to display a slight shift towards green. Audio is impressive, with great stereo separation. Controls are identical to those for audio playback. I compared the View’s video performance with my Motorola Q9h Windows Smartphone. Both can use the same files. The main advantage of the Q is more natural skin tones. Beyond that, the View is superior as a video player. The Q will sometimes appear to freeze on a single frame, but it isn’t actually frozen... the sound continues to play and the progress bar advances. In 10 or so seconds, the video jumps ahead to catch up with the audio. To get acceptably smooth operation with the Q, I’d have to dial down the quality to Low (effectively reducing the frame rate). The View, on the other hand, handled videos recorded at 30fps with apparent ease. While I don’t recommend viewing an all day movie marathon on a 2.4” screen, the View should work just fine to kill a few hours between flights. Photos The same features that make the View a capable video player also make it a fine photo viewer. Photos can be viewed as thumbnails or filenames displayed with the associated thumbnail (this is similar to the album cover display in Figure 12). In either mode, press the action button to see a full screen display of the currently selected picture. Photos can also be displayed in a slideshow. You can set the interval between slides and select music to play during the show. The show can be set to loop continuously. Display order is limited to alphabetically by file name or shuffling. The only file format supported is .jpg. Photos can be organized in folders, and each folder is treated as an album by the View. As displayed by the View, photos are sharp with vibrant colors. With the capability to use high capacity storage cards, you can bring all of your vacation shots with you. Other Features FM Radio: This is a popular feature that is unavailable on most iPods. You can set up to 20 presets and cycle through them by pressing the action button. The View can also record what’s currently playing. Sound quality is good, but the headphone cord, which serves as the antenna, must be well extended for best reception. Audiobooks: The View supports audiobooks in the popular Audible format. The books are divided by chapter and the View can jump from chapter to chapter. Fast forward/reverse starts out slowly (about 1 minute of play time every 5 seconds) then accelerates to about 4 minutes per second. A book will resume at the place where you left off, but it would be nice to be able to set a bookmark. Podcasts: The View supports podcasts in common audio formats (.mp3, most commonly). For a podcast to be listed as a podcast, the genre must be set to “Podcast”. Aside from that, podcasts work just like music files. Voice recorder: This works as you'd expect. The microphone is suitably sensitive and sound quality is acceptable. If you need to do a lot of recording, the View's removable storage is a plus here. <PAGE /> Comparing Sansa View and Ipod Nano 3G So let’s compare the Nano and the View in specific key areas. Some of these things have been mentioned already, so this will just summarize them. Unit Size: The Nano 3G is shorter, thinner and lighter than the View. Advantage: Nano Screen Size: The 2 units have the same resolution, but the View has a 2.4” screen vs. the 2.0” screen on the Nano. Both are bright and sharp, but the View’s larger screen gives it a big advantage in viewing video. Advantage: View. Memory: The Nano is available in 4GB and 8GB capacities. The View is available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB capacities. Advantage: View. Memory Expansion: More storage can be added to the View with microSD and microSDHC memory cards. The Nano has no expansion capabilities. Advantage: View. Battery Life: Apple claims 24 hours of battery life for music playback on the Nano, while Sandisk claims 35 hours for the View. Real life performance typically varies, so I’ll call this one a tie. Interface: The Nano provides the elegant interface that we all expect from Apple. The View’s is certainly workable, but lacks the Nano’s sophistication and panache. Advantage: Nano. Controls: While the View’s control setup is heavily inspired by the iPod’s, they both work well. This one’s a tie. Sound Quality: Both among the best available in music players. Another tie. Video Quality: Both are smooth, sharp and colorful. The View has the advantage of the larger screen, while the Nano has slightly more accurate color. Advantage: View. Extras: Beyond the music and video player, the Nano provides a calendar, a contacts list and the ability to play games. The calendar and contacts are read only and populated by synchronization. The View provides an FM radio and voice recorder. Both units provide useful extras, so this one is also a tie. Music Services: This is one of the more controversial aspects of the iPod family. The only service with which iPods work seamlessly is iTunes. iTunes offers samples of music tracks with the option to buy. The View, on the other hand, works with a number of music services (not iTunes, however). I’ve used the Rhapsody service from the RealPlayer people for a couple of years. Rhapsody offers several different types of membership, one similar to iTunes as well as a few subscription services. For a set fee per month, you can download all of the music that you’d like to your player. You must synchronize with Rhapsody once a month to keep your licenses up to date. Of course, if you quit the service, your subscribed music will expire. I prefer this type of membership, because I really like the “try before you buy” aspect of it. And all of us have probably purchased a few albums based on a hit song that we like, only to find that we don’t like any of the other tracks. View wins based on the wider range of options for music services. Advantage: View. Price: iPods tend to be on the high end of the price/feature range and are rarely discounted. On Amazon, the 4GB Nano is selling for $139 at time of writing, while the 8GB unit is selling for $179. On the other hand, the 8GB View is selling for $129 and the 16GB version is selling for $174. So for less money than either Nano, you can get a View with the next higher tier of memory. Advantage: View. Style: Both units seem solid and well constructed. The Nano features brushed aluminum on the front and chrome on the back, giving it a very high end feel. The Nano is also available in a number of colors, including Black, Silver, Pink and Blue. While the View’s materials are of high quality, its plastic front and matte finish back are a notch behind the Nano in appearance. And the View is available in any color you’d like, as long as it’s black. Advantage: Nano. Accessories: As with all iPods, the Nano has a wide array of accessories available, from cases to cables to speakers. And many of these accessories are available at retail stores such as Best Buy and Target, as well as online. As non-iPod music players go, the Sansa line is one of the better supported from an accessories standpoint, but the selection pales next to that of the Nano. And other than a small selection at some retailers, most View accessories are available only online. Advantage: Nano. Image: Does any company epitomize cool as well as Apple? That image has translated into sales success for many of their small tech devices, such as the iPod and iPhone. And that’s despite the fact that the prices for those devices are 25% or more higher than comparable items from well known competitors. Most companies would kill for that kind of image. Advantage: Nano. My Personal “View”-Point I own an 8GB Nano 3G and I just purchased an 8G Sansa View to replace the Nano. So, besides my all-too-common “I need a new toy” behavior, what lead me to make this replacement? First, when I replaced my old Sansa E260 with the Nano, I didn’t realize how much I’d miss having a subscription-based online service (in my case, Rhapsody). Also, I’ve been getting more serious about video on my portable player, and the View’s larger screen and memory expansion are a big advantage. Finally, I was able to get the View on sale for exactly ½ of what I paid for the Nano, so it was a pretty small hit on my wallet. While I appreciate the Nano’s top drawer appearance and sophisticated interface, the View’s capabilities proved to be a higher priority for me. Conclusions The View combines features, performance and price to provide one of the best values in digital media players available today. Compared to the iPod Nano 3G, the View offers comparable audio performance and goes the Nano one better as a video player with a larger screen and removable storage. It also includes features such as an FM radio and voice recorder not found in the Nano. And the frosting on the cake is the price advantage. The Nano has advantages of its own, with its small size, high end brushed metal case and wide array of available accessories. But if performance, features and reasonable price are high on your list, the View should be as well. Doug Raeburn is a data architect specializing in data warehouses. He lives in Pewaukee, WI.

Jason Dunn

05-07-2008, 05:49 PM

Nice review Doug! The View looks like a great player in a lot of ways - but I still like my Zune more I think. :D

Phillip Dyson

05-07-2008, 10:07 PM

Excellent review Doug. I actually just purchased a Zune myself.

One question. How does the microSD integration compare with the Creative Zen? I've read that the latter doesn't integrate the SD content into your library, but it actually appears as a seperate menu item.

Doug Raeburn

05-08-2008, 01:53 AM

Thanks, guys! I came to the conclusion that for a video device, the memory slot was the killer feature that the competition couldn't match. :cool:

The microSD is very well integrated. When you power the View up, it takes a couple of seconds to read the card and update the database, in case the card has been changed. But once it's done so, all of your content is displayed in seamlessly integrated lists... you can't even tell from the lists where the content resides. If you need to know, you can pull up the file's properties.

For those familiar with earlier Sansa models, this is a huge improvement over the E200 series, which would take 30 seconds or more to read the card and update the database when powered on.

David Tucker

05-08-2008, 04:19 AM

I'll take my Zune anyday but I gotta say I love the backlit controls ;)

yslee

05-08-2008, 06:02 AM

What does the Zune have over this? I think the Sansas are nicer players.

Doug Raeburn

05-08-2008, 02:27 PM

What does the Zune have over this? I think the Sansas are nicer players.

I didn't post this review on Zune Thoughts by mistake, did I? ;)

Anyway, each player has its advantages. If you plan to make heavy use of the device as a video player, I think the View's advantages (larger screen, expandable memory) are clear when compared to similarly priced competitors like Nano 3g and Zune 4G/8G. Using the device primarily as a music player, the View's larger size may be considered a disadvantage. But it still has the price advantage over both of those competitors.

For the needs that I was trying to fulfill, I'll be honest and say that I didn't give much consideration to the flash-based Zunes. The Zunes are fine players but, like the Nano, they lack the specific features that drew me to the View. Had I not been looking to get more heavily into video, I would have just stuck with my Nano 3G, since the comparably priced Zunes are similar in features and functionality.

One thing I will add to what I've said about the View... I just read one of Jason's posts from a while back which addressed Microsoft's decision to NOT support PlaysForSure with the Zunes. He outlined his experiences with a Creative Zen and Napster that were quite problematic and, because of that, he supported MS's direction. I will admit that my early experiences with Rhapsody were similarly troublesome, with frequent problems in renewing the licenses for subscription tracks. However, it seems that Sandisk and Rhapsody have worked the bugs out. I have the View and also a really cheap Sansa player (the Express) that I use while biking, working out, etc., and both players work flawlessly with Rhapsody. I perform a synch with Rhapsody once a month, which is a simple matter of logging in to the Rhapsody application and connecting the View, and the licenses are updated with no further action on my part. I've encountered none of the problems that I had earlier. I consider this experience to be how PlaysForSure should work. So if you've had a bad experience with PlaysForSure in the past, I can tell you that the Sansas and Rhapsody work together very well, eliminating the issues with earlier players.

At any rate, it's great to see so many satisfied Zune owners here and no offense to them intended, but for my needs, the View was definitely the better choice.

.

Jason Dunn

05-09-2008, 04:47 PM

One question. How does the microSD integration compare with the Creative Zen? I've read that the latter doesn't integrate the SD content into your library, but it actually appears as a seperate menu item.

Yeah, I bought a Creative Zen just for the purpose of expanding it up to 12 GB (and further in the future), but I was pretty ticked off when I saw how it keeps everything on the memory card separate...which sucks. :mad:

Jason Dunn

05-09-2008, 04:48 PM

But once it's done so, all of your content is displayed in seamlessly integrated lists... you can't even tell from the lists where the content resides. If you need to know, you can pull up the file's properties

That's EXCELLENT, and absolutely the best (and only) way external memory cards should be used.

Jason Dunn

05-09-2008, 04:49 PM

I didn't post this review on Zune Thoughts by mistake, did I?

Welcome to the world of having four sites all tightly interlinked. Isn't it grand? :D

Doug Raeburn

05-09-2008, 06:26 PM

That's EXCELLENT, and absolutely the best (and only) way external memory cards should be used.

Absolutely! It took Sandisk a couple of generations to get it right, but they got it now.

Doug Raeburn

05-09-2008, 06:28 PM

Welcome to the world of having four sites all tightly interlinked. Isn't it grand? :D

Yeah, it'll take some time to adjust... I'm used to my little ol' PPCT island! ;)

Lochraven

09-02-2009, 01:29 AM

thanx very much for the review, really useful...i have just one query.

since im planning on buying this, does this fully support/plays m4a files?
just wanted to know cause i have tons of records in this format...and it would really make my life simpler. i read somewhere on the net that it does read this kind of format but at the sime time it doesnt recognise the track number of the tag...that would be a total bummer.