The new Sansa Fuze fills the gap between the entry-level Clip and more fully-featured View in SanDisk's line up of MP3 players.

The Fuze is available in three storage capacities: 2GB, 4GB and 8GB. Each is expandable through its built-in microSD slot, and early models of the 8GB player even come packaged with a microSD card filled with DRM-free music. Each Fuze comes in your choice of red, blue, black or blue (silver is available for the 8GB model only). The credit card-sized player sports a 1.9-inch color screen, plays video files and has decent battery charge time -- a stated 24 hours for audio and 5 hours for video per charge.

SanDisk manages to pack a lot into this player, including an FM tuner with the ability to store 40 presets and a voice recorder that can also record audio from the radio. The Fuze also supports Audible.com files and is music subscription-ready.

Controls are easy to use and the scroll wheel lets you navigate through playlists, menus and songs while also adjusting volume. A handy "home" button sits slightly to the right of the scroll wheel and easily takes you back to the main menu without having to navigate backward through multiple options.

Unfortunately, the Fuze falls short on audio quality and the FM tuner isn't as strong as we'd like. You'll want to swap out the included earbuds for a better pair, and the audio settings are pretty average and offer no advanced options to help improve the sound. Frankly, we are more impressed with the sound from Sansa's tiny, barebones Clip than this more advanced model. Although its resolution is fine, the Fuze's screen is on the small side and you probably won't want to watch video of any substantial length.

Overall, though, the Fuze fulfills its purpose as a solid multimedia player that competes with Apple's Nano at a far lower price.


Pros: Compact size, storage expansion, FM tuner, voice recorder
Cons: Mediocre audio, small screen

Warranty
1 year