Enter the Sandisk, Sansa Clip 1G MP3 Player. At $40.00 I get all of the above, plus a large-enough-for-me capacity for storing plenty of music. Techware Labs has a detailed review with pictures of the Sansa Clip player, so there’s no need for me to rehash the basics. There were a couple of observations I wanted to pass along to anyone having purchased, or is about to purchase, this player. Here we go, starting with charging the player:

There were no details in the instructions about charging the battery, specifically the duration needed for a full charge. While plugged in, there is a flashing battery indicator on the unit but there was no way for me to know how much of a charge it had, out-of-the-box. And I had to find out online how many hours of playback a full charge would give me (15).

• Fix: While the player is plugged in, via the included USB cable, navigate to Windows Explorer (keyboard shortcut: Win key + ‘E’). You will find a new Drive labeled “Sansa Clip 1 GB”. Right click this and choose ‘Properties‘. At the bottom of the Properties window that opens you will find a battery indicator icon showing the percentage of battery life left [see below]. I had to charge mine for about 2.5 hours before I was at 100%. Although the Sansa’s on-screen battery icon will stop blinking when complete, many people might not wait long enough to enable a full charge.

Included Software:

I installed the included software (Rhapsody) thinking it was essential for ‘added functionality’ of the device. It is not. I uninstalled this immediately and RealNetworks (real.com) left an ugly trail of 334 registry entries and 15 files behind. I hate programs that don’t fully uninstall. Note: You do not need the included software to install or download MP3′s to your Sansa (listening Apple?).

• Fix: You will need a third party encoding program like BonkEnc! to convert your CD tracks to MP3′s. Again, non of this is detailed in the included instructions. It’s as easy as pie to convert your songs and then drag and drop them into the Sansa Clip 1Gig drive – and FAST too.

Mz. Geakz was so impressed with this player that she bought one for herself. I showed her the ropes of using BonkEnc and left the house to run errands, only to return two and a half hours later, finding her still at the computer – a stack of CD’s a foot high on the desk beside her. She was hooked and she had mobile music to jam with.

What do you use to make MP3’s and what player are you using?  More importantly, what obstacles have you encountered in the process?