SanDisk's Sansa Fuze: An iPod Nano killer?

It's small, stylish, easy to use, and supports music subscriptions, making it a compelling—and bargain-priced—choice for music lovers on a budget. That said, SanDisk's Sansa Fuze falls just short of the new iPod Nano with its so-so video abilities.

I've been playing with this pint-sized Nano competitor for about a week now, and it packs quite a punch for the price: just $80 for the 2GB version, $99 for 4GB, and $129 for 8GB (compared to $149 and $199 for the 4GB and 8GB Nanos, respectively).

Set for release in early April, the Fuze is slightly bigger (3 by 1.9 by 0.24 inches) than the Nano, and at about two ounces, it’s a tiny bit heavier; that said, it's actually easier to handle than the awkwardly stubby Nano, and the Fuze's rubberized back is a welcome change from the Nano's slippery, scratch-prone aluminum back cover.

The Fuze comes loaded with your standard player features, including playback of MP3, WAV, and WMA files (including support for subscription music services like Rhapsody and Napster), a photo viewer, and MPEG4 video playback. The music player comes with plenty of shuffle and repeat modes, along with an equalizer for tweaking the sound (you get nine presets, plus a user-defined mode). I've been listening to tunes over my Shure SE110 earphones, and the Fuze's audio quality sounded pretty good to me, although you can't crank the volume to eardrum-piercing levels (probably a good thing).

The player also comes with a trio of key features missing in the Nano: an FM radio (which programs your presets automatically), voice recording (a tiny, built-in mic sits on the left spine of the Fuze), and a microSD slot for memory expansion. Even better: 8GB Fuze owners can send away for a free, 512MB microSD card packed with about 50 DRM-free tunes.

I liked the Fuze's crisp, colorful 1.9-inch display, which stacks up nicely against the Nano's 2-inch LCD. The Fuze's navigation wheel is a virtual clone of the Nano's, save for the detached Home key that sits just to the left. Spinning the wheel makes the animated main-menu icons whirl in and out of view—a nice touch.

Transferring files to the Fuze is a snap; plug it in via USB to your PC, Mac, or Linux machine, and it'll pop up as a removable drive, good for dragging and dropping. You can also sync tunes, photos, and videos using Windows Media Player.

So far, so good—and indeed, if you care more about tunes than video, the Fuze beats the Nano by a nose, especially given its subscription music support and bargain price.

That said, I was bummed by the Fuze's video abilities. While video playback on the Fuze looks just fine, most MPEG4 video files must converted for the Fuze using Sansa's clunky (and Windows-only) media application, an annoying extra step.

It's also not clear whether the Fuze will support video download services like CinemaNow and Amazon Unbox. The older Sansa View is listed on Amazon as an Unbox-compatible device, but not the Fuze, and my Amazon Unbox application refuses to recognize the Fuze. SanDisk reps said they're looking into it; I'll let you know once I find out more. Update: Just heard back—the Fuze has no DRM video support at all, so no Amazon Unbox or CinemaNow. Bummer.

So, with its access to a wealth of TV shows and movies via iTunes, the Nano gets the edge in the video department. But if you're more interesting in music than video, the bargain-priced Fuze looks like your best bet.

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Product page [SanDisk]