Digital Trends

SanDisk Sansa Connect (4GB)

June 11th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Can Mac Users Play?

According to Sandisk product packaging and tech support website, the Sansa Connect is only meant to be used with Windows XP and Vista computers. Most people know that iTunes doesn't play nice with DAPs other than iPods. This generally means that Mac users are out of luck when it comes to using other MP3 players, especially if they want an actual interface for buying, playing and syncing songs. Of course, the Sansa Connect is really designed to be used with the Yahoo! Music service. That said, Yahoo! doesn't provide a Mac-friendly version of its software. That adds another nail in the coffin, so to speak. Of course, Mac users can always get around this whole inbred proprietary mess by simply moving non-DRM MP3 files to the Sansa Connect's microSD card and playing music from the memory expansion slot. In short, it takes a whole lot of sidestepping to get the Sansa Connect working well on a Mac.

As a side note, it looks as though the new iTunes Plus songs are not yet compatible with the Sansa Connect, even when burned to MP3. Shucks.

Flickr

The Sansa Connect allows you to access flickr.com photo galleries wirelessly. Whether you're at home, in school or at any accessible 802.11b/g network anywhere in the country, you'll be able to browse a collection of flickr images on the bright LCD screen. While most of the images looked awesome, some of them were mega-saturated when compared directly with their online counterparts.

Friends

If you have friends on the Yahoo! network, you're in luck! The Sansa Connect has a nifty feature that allows you to receive music suggestions that you can then preview or download. You can also see other Sansa Connect users on your WiFi network and recommend tunes to each other.

Yahoo! Music Recommendations

Similar to the movie recommendations you'd get at Netflix or intelligent TV recording from TiVo, Yahoo! Music can push music recommendations based on the ratings you give your own music. This seems like a pretty cool feature - one that would hopefully open the doors to new music. When I tried it, however, I got a creepy set of results that I'm sure I won't follow up on. After rating some Jack Johnson, Tori Amos, Beach Boys and Beck songs, Yahoo! pushed the following my way: Cher, Avril Lavigne and Janis Joplin - three singers that absolutely make my skin crawl. Music recommendation is an emerging technology that still needs a few tweaks.

Battery Life

Battery life on the Sansa Connect is somewhat in line with other similar sized DAPs. With screen brightness settings optimized, the Sansa Connect can get upwards of 11 hours of play time. At default settings (brighter screen) you may find that the Sansa Connect gets closer to 9 hours of play time. If you're using the built-in WiFi connection to access some of Yahoo!'s many Internet radio stations, you'll want to bring the charging adapter with you. Don't expect much more than 5 hours of play time.

After having run the battery all the way down, I charged the Sansa Connect via the wall adapter in about 3 hours 5 minutes.