Cheap Gadget: Sandisk Sansa m230

I’ve been trying to get back into exercising at the gym more, which is always a time of intense boredom. I’ve brought my Axim x50v to the gym and used it to listen to podcasts, and my relatively new LG CU500 also works as a pretty good MP3 player, but I thought it might be nice to have a cheap, even lighter device to satisfy my need for amusement while I’m cranking out the mileage on the treadmill.

Sandisk Sansa m230

A quick trip to Best Buy revealed a $40 MP3 player with 512M of memory (enough for my rather modest needs). It’s the Sandisk Sansa m230, a not overly cute but reasonable mp3 player at a near disposeable price. Even at this price point, I wanted a couple of features:

  • Display, with backlight. My wife has an iPod Shuffle, which is fine as far as it goes, but the lack of display (as well as the increased price) made it a deal breaker for me.
  • Reasonable amount of storage (512M is reasonable).
  • Easy “hard disk” interface. I don’t use iTunes, don’t care to use iTunes. I just want to drag music files onto it, and have it work. It does.
  • Fast USB 2.0 interface. Life is too short for USB 1.1
  • Powered by a single AAA battery

The long and the short of it? It’s got all those features. It even throws in a voice recorder and an FM radio (the FM radio doesn’t appear to be very sensitive, but it’s a nice bonus). The build quality isn’t stellar, but it’s pretty reasonable. At $40, it’s a pretty neat gadget.

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5 thoughts on “Cheap Gadget: Sandisk Sansa m230

  1. Pingback: MP3 FM Player Guide

  2. metamerist

    Nice price. I really wish more of these players would support removeable CF or SD cards. Big cards are getting so cheap. I scored a 6 gig microdrive for $100 a while back, 1 gig cards are going for $30. Ideally, I’d like a car stereo that supports SD/CF as well.

  3. Jenn

    do you know how to delets songs from it? I can’t figure it out and its really making me mad.

  4. Mark Post author

    Ummm. Just plug it into your computer, and delete them using the ordinary file management commands.

  5. Jenn

    It won’t work. I have tried it many times and the songs won’t come off.

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