Sandisk Sansa Express

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It may be an unfashionable thing to say, but sometimes it seems like MP3 players have too many features. After all, if you want to listen to music while you’re out and about, do you need to look at photos and videos as well? And do you have to carry your entire music collection around with you or would a few hundred tracks suffice?

If you’re in the camp that says a music player should be for music and nothing more, SanDisk’s Sansa Express offers a good balance between features and price.

Features
This device is well and truly focused on audio content. Plugging straight into a USB port, it synchronises your tracks and playlists with Windows Media Player (WMP) without the need to install any software. A short extension cable is included, just in case your USB slots aren’t particularly accessible. The device will play MP3, WMA and WAV files, and also has an FM radio, in case you get bored with your own music. If the 1 or 2GB memory options on offer don’t sound big enough, you can expand the device with MicroSD memory cards. There’s also a screen so you can easily select the tracks, albums or playlists you want hear.

Performance
The MP3 player synchronises quickly with WMP, and sounds perfectly adequate through the supplied earbud headphones. The battery should last you about 15 hours from a full charge, which isn’t bad for a device that’s about the size of a cigarette lighter.

Ease of use
As well as being very quick, synchronising music with WMP is also extremely simple, especially if that’s the music player you happen to use anyway. Most of the hard work – like building playlists and organising tracks – is done in the software. It’s then a drag-and-drop process to copy it across on to your Sansa Express. The device itself has a four-way keypad with a button in the centre, which is understandably small due to the size of the device, but makes operations a little fiddly.

Value for money
The value for money is great. To compare its features to Apple’s iPod range, for example, the 1GB version has the same capacity as Apple’s Shuffle but comes with a screen, so you can see what you’re playing. It’s also a good £15 cheaper. The 2GB version may not have the large, colour screen of an iPod Nano but it’s half the price. The fact that both can be expanded with relatively cheap MicroSD cards (SanDisk’s own 2GB card is available on Amazon for less than £10) is an added bonus.