Office Depot Sandisk Sansa 512M MP3 Player $29.99 AR

[Kato]

$79.99 - $50 in rebates. Sale starts 2/19.

Sandisk Player

 

[philipx99]

This is a great player. I have it and enjoying ....About the review on the poor sound quality, it is actually cause by the earphone provided by the manufacturer and not the player. Try getting a good quality earphone and see the difference......

 

[jitspoe]

"We are sorry. No stores exist. Please try again later."

Haha, sounds like quite a problem for OD.

Ok, now it works. I guess their stores came back into existance.

 

[insename2]

lol, i got this for 15 dollars with no rebate a while back...

 

[videopho]

That beats the $59.99 from Staples this week (No rebate). Yeah I saw this in my email today. Great price and great little player. Hmm, buying a 2nd?

 

[ParatoOptimal]

Originally posted by: insename2
lol, i got this for 15 dollars with no rebate a while back...

Where did you get it?
Got a link?

 

[biggiesmallz]

good post

 

[brucekatz]

Wait, wait, don't buy it yet; you have not seen the 1GB version.

1GB version for $59.99, link to OfficeDepot.

 

[tallman45]

Originally posted by: brucekatz
Wait, wait, don't buy it yet; you have not seen the 1GB version.

1GB version for $59.99, link to OfficeDepot.

Since these both accept up to a 2gb SD card it is not cost effective to spend another $30 to get just 512mb extra memory.

 

[Nick5324]

Originally posted by: insename2
lol, i got this for 15 dollars with no rebate a while back...

First of all, shens. If not, then I really doubt it was new when you bought it. Beyond that, without a time machine, telling us about this is worthless.

OP, nice find.

 

[ttown]

can you have music on the built-in memory and swap cards in/out with other songs -- such that all songs are accessible at the same time without having to reload the songs that were on the built-in memory?

Having never used one, I'm imagining that you'd have to have all the memory you'll use installed before you start putting songs on -- like 1 single storage device.

What I think would be cool is if you could load the device (internal-memory) with a base set of songs, and pop in cards with the type of music I want to listen to that day. That would make it easy to share the device with someone that has different musical tastes.

I'll probably try for this tomorrow regardless -- but if this doesn't work that way and some other brand/model does -- please let me know. (either here or via pm)

thanks
and good post, OP

 

[brucekatz]

According my friend:
Yes, you can swap SD card. However, it takes a bit longer to read a larger SD card, and battery life seems sligtly shorter. It maybe worth $30 more for the 1GB version. Anyone has different experience, please share.

 

[videopho]

I've got both the 1gb sd & the player itself. Here is my take:
This little player is a bit buggy when it comes to use the external 1gb. You have to use the pc to add/delete tracks on both the player and the sd (this is not a big deal at least to me). Sometimes the player sees the SD, other times it may not and I do not understand why. I've even checked into Sandisk site for latest firmware and mine has the latest version.
When using the external SD, make sure you have one or two spare aaa laying around somewhere near so they will last you at least through the day whether you're at work or school. Because the SD card will drain the battery power so fast...like Dracula thirsty for blood if you know what I mean
Bottomline:
This is a great little player that plays music from your library or your favorite stations (FM only) with great sound via a great pair of headsets. You'll love it as much as I do. In fact I may buy another one for my S.O.

 

[ParatoOptimal]

The manager told me that they've had this on sale at great prices repeatedly since Christmas.

A salesman told me Sandisk is trying to gain presence in the market after coming late to the game behind Creative, iRiver and iPod.

This thing is small! I thought it was going to be bigger and clunkier than an iPod.
It's smaller than an iPod.

The B&M (brick & mortar) stores near me are OOS (Out Of Stock) before the sale even started. They're substituting the M230 for the OOS e130. It's not a compareable substitiute. The m230 does NOT take SD media. The e130 may or may not be available online.

The m230 is shaped more like a Muvo with the keypad to the right of the screen.
I'm not sure, but I think the screen is larger on the e130.
The m230 is deeper front to back.
See Sandisk's pages on the two models below:

e130

m230m230

According to this page the m200 series is replacing the e100 series.
m200 series

In eliminating the option to add SD media, they lose SD sales but force you to buy another player if you find that you need more storage space.

I suppose if you start with an m230 and upgrade to an m240 or m250 and pass your 512MB m230 on to someone else, they gain word of mouth advertising and soon your friend who got the hand-me-down will be looking to upgrade.

Does anyone have any experience with the m230?
Unless it's in someway better than the e130, I'm thinking of returning the m230 and buying the e130 online if it's available.

Thanks OP. Thanks all.

 

[ParatoOptimal]

Does anyone know of a very cheap 612MB or 1GB SD for this?

 

[unclebabar]

they were giving out the crappy m230s at the norfolk virginia store, too.
#$<%#$%

Compusa has 512MB SD card for $20 today and monday

 

[ttown]

ya... I stopped by my store yesterday and they had 1 of the e130's

I figured I wouldn't be first in line, so I didn't even bother going today.
Might swing by later in the week -- in hopes of more stock -- but it looks like a big YMMV.

edit: and rebate is no good for online orders, even for in-store pick up -- so good luck

 

[ParatoOptimal]

It seems that they don't sell online so I'm SOL.
Only m230's in my local store.

The m230 isn't a compareable substitute item.

I worked retail for many years.
My state required a certain number of sale pieces available at every location for a retailer to feature an item in an advertisement.

The Attorney General intervened once to tell us that our substitute wasn't a compareable item and we had to come up with a same or better item.
We ended-up selling a superior item at the inferior item's sale price.

OD should be substituting the e140.
They should at least offer the same rebate amounts off the e140.

 

[ParatoOptimal]

The e130 comes up on their site when you click through the ad.

If you go to their site without going through the ad, it doesn't come up if you search for e130, e140 or sandisk.

Staples carries the e140 but not the e130.

CUSA caries both.
I wonder if they'd do an after rebates price match out the door.

My local OD's inventory shows 2 available but they actually have none.
An OD 20 miles away shows a few more on hand but I'm told it's probably an error.

I recall most places require an item to be in-stock for a price match and they only PM OTD prices and NOT rebates.

If it wasin-stock, I wouldn't need a price match.

Laws that require minimum amounts of sale items on hand prevent one retailer from advertising a crazy sale price for OOS merchandise as to bleed a competitor's inventory at a crazy low price.

just groussing here

 

[brucekatz]

Sansa 4GB m260$160 at CircuitCity.
4GB for $160? This is cheaper than SD card. Check it out.

 

[Crackabot]

GRRR I just spent much more than this for the Staples deal.