SanDisk Sansa Fuze

Lots of reviewers have published their take on the SanDisk Sansa Fuze. CNet.com, PC Magazine and PC World all provide testing-backed commentary. Consumer Reports also delivers sound testing, but falls short in the commentary department. Go to Amazon.com if you want to see how owners react to the Fuze once they get it home.

For those searching for a less expensive or more feature-packed alternative to the Apple iPod nano (*est. $140 for 8 GB), reports say that the SanDisk Sansa Fuze delivers on both scores. The nano is certainly a better performer than the Fuze when it comes to video quality, and that's even ignoring the fact that video files (and photo files) need to be converted using included software before viewing on the Fuse. On all other scores, however, the Fuze holds its own and sometimes even excels. Audio quality is excellent -- so much so that better-quality headphones are a worthwhile investment. Battery life is good. The feature lineup includes an FM tuner and voice recording. You can expand the player's memory via the memory card slot, and tunes stored on external cards are integrated into the player's library. While all reviewers still rate the iPod nano as a superior MP3 player, they also say that the Fuze's value and performance is hard to ignore.