Hands on with SanDisk's Sansa Clip

SanDisk has a new small MP3 player, the Sansa Clip, and it's tiny but rich in features and sound quality. It comes in 1GB ($40) and 2GB ($60).

The obvious competitor to the 2.17 x 1.25 inch clip-on player is Apple's Shuffle, but though the Shuffle is double the price, $80 for 1GB, the Sansa Clip offers more features. 

This small .92-ounce player allows you to choose which songs you play when, as well as opt for a shuffle mode. There's an LCD screen and, yes, an iPod-like scroll wheel and center menu button to allow you to pick playlists and songs. The 1GB comes in black, while the 2GB Clips comes in black, red, hot pink, and ice blue.

I like that it comes with an FM tuner, which I would want in a clip-on music player so I could listen to the radio while exercising or on a train.  

The Sansa Clip works with Windows Media Player 10 or 11, easily syncing playlists to the player from your PC. The sound is very nice. It does what you'd want a very portable MP3 player to do, and is easy to figure out how to use within minutes. The screen and FM tuner are nice add-ons that make the Clip a very good tiny MP3 player and an excellent deal.

Update: To answer some reader questions about the Sansa Clip, here are a few more details. Yes, it works with Vista, Windows XP SP2, and Windows Media Player 10 or 11. You can download MP3 or WMA files onto the player. SanDisk says the 1GB Clip can play about 15 hours or 250 MP3 songs and about 30 hours of music and 500 WMA songs. The 2GB plays up to 30 hours and 500 MP3 songs, and 64 hours and 1,000 WMA files. 

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