Anyone have a Sansa View?

[Veteropinguis]

My birthday's coming up and I've got to pick fast between the Sansa View and the Cowon iAudio 9. Currently the only thing pushing me towards the View is the SDHC expandability.

If anyone's used a Sansa View recently, could you let me know how it is? Is it buggy, does it sync well with Rhythmbox, etc? Also, what effect does SD card use have on the battery life?

Thanks.

[chessnerd]

Yeah, I've got a Sansa View and have been using it now for a few months.

Answers to your questions:

Is it buggy?

Somewhat. I'm hoping for a firmware update (although there hasn't been one since 07/2008, so that is probably wishful thinking...)
For one thing, it doesn't change song info when moving to the next song unless you change the volume or click a button. That is mainly aesthetic, so it's not a big deal. A bigger problem I've had is that if you try to scroll through songs quickly, it can lag. Sometimes it's just for a couple of seconds, other times it can be for half a minute or more.

Does it sync well with Rhythmbox?

I haven't tried it with Rhythmbox because I sync it on my Windows 7 partition and I don't think I've ever hooked it up to my Linux install (I have a wall adapter from my old e200 series that I use for charging).
However, you can add files to it via any file browser, so if it doesn't play nice with Rhythmbox you can fall back on Nautilus.

What effect does the SD Card have on battery life?

Haven't used it with an SD card, but as far as normal battery life is concerned, it's okay. It can last me a few days with regular music listening. With continuous listening, it could probably last about 10 hours, but I haven't tried it. Videos/movies would obviously cut into that considerably.

Overall:

The View is alright. Is it great? No. Is it terrible? No. For the price that I paid (on sale $100 for a 16 GB) I feel it was worth it.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help with your questions, but I haven't spent much time messing around with the player in Linux.

[Veteropinguis]

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Chessnerd.

[andrewabc]

I have 8gb sansa view.
Mines works fine, although seems that most others have horror stories.

I don't use it with linux much. When on linux battery recharging doesn't seem to work correct (shows it syncing/battery charge and restarts every 30 seconds). Havn't used any linux software to sync or transfer files. When I did a year or two ago it didn't work good.

Works fine with winxp though.

Don't expect any support or firmware updates.

It has good video playback (at least it does for something made years ago).

A good resource for sansa view info is
Anything But iPod forums (http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=74)

[Hwæt]

I've never used a Sansa View, but my Sansa Fuze that I bought a while back works perfectly with Linux ever since I've updated the firmware. I've never tried to play videos on it, though.

[oldos2er]

I have an 8GB Sansa View, but I don't use it very much. Haven't had any luck getting Rhythmbox to see it; instead I just drag and drop music and videos to it using Nautilus.

Vlc seems to see it ok.

Some of the tips here helped me: http://www.micahcarrick.com/05-21-2008/sansa-view-ubuntu.html

[sandyd]

My birthday's coming up and I've got to pick fast between the Sansa View and the Cowon iAudio 9. Currently the only thing pushing me towards the View is the SDHC expandability.

If anyone's used a Sansa View recently, could you let me know how it is? Is it buggy, does it sync well with Rhythmbox, etc? Also, what effect does SD card use have on the battery life?

Thanks.

I **used** to have one... until I dropped it into the crack between the subway platform and the tracks.... its a good player. just be sure you are getting the new model, not the old model, and it should be fine. One of the major things I love about it is its mass-storage-device mode. All the songs are just drag & drop if you use MSC

[dragos240]

I have a sansa fuze. I would say that it is an EXCELLENT mp3 player, sandisk did not disappoint. I have rockbox on mine, however the chances on getting a v1 fuze or view now are slimmer.

[Hwæt]

I have a sansa fuze. I would say that it is an EXCELLENT mp3 player, sandisk did not disappoint. I have rockbox on mine, however the chances on getting a v1 fuze or view now are slimmer.

What's wrong with v2? My v2 works flawlessly with the original firmware updated to the current version.

[dragos240]

What's wrong with v2? My v2 works flawlessly with the original firmware updated to the current version.

No rockbox support.

[hugmenot]

v2 support is coming soon. You can already test it.

[KegHead]

Hi!

I have a Sansa vue and can't access it at all w/10.04.

How do I use nautilus to drag and drop?

Thanks!

KegHead

[LinearBob]

I have an 8 GB Sansa View, and I also have a Gateway LT3114u netbook running Ubuntu 10.04 64 bit with an AMD L110 64 bit processor, 2 GB of RAM, and a 250 GB hard drive. My View and my LT3114u are not on speaking terms, either. I got my View only a few months ago, and it came with version 1.03.02A firmware.

I have tried both "Auto" and "MSC" modes for the USB setting, to no avail. This is very frustrating because I use my LT3114u as a "podcast" client to download audio files in MP3 format for listening later at work. I have been able to see my View with my Ubuntu 9.04 32 bit desktop, but my 64 bit netbook cannot see the Sansa View at all, no matter what I do.

Sometimes, I will get the "Connecting" message on my View, but when I do, the View looks like it is rebooting every 30 seconds or so. About the only thing my netbook is able to do is recharge my View's battery. Other times, I get nothing on the View's screen other than the yellow lightning bolt showing the View's battery is charging. That's better than absolutely nothing happening on the View, but not much. :-(

[interglossa]

Thanks for the replies on this as I am thinking of getting a new mp3 (current is the now vintage Creative Muvo-FM). I wish there were a non-apple equivalent of the ipad touch (mp3/video with wifi for internet radio) - Apple has perfectly good products but I prefer non-apple and more open. Anyone know of anything like this?