Sansa e200 series

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (May 2008)

Sansa e200 series

Manufacturer	SanDisk
Type	Portable media player Digital audio player
Release date	January 5, 2006
Retail availability	since 2006
Media	JPEG(v2 only), bitmap, MP3, QuickTime, WMA
Power	Lithium ion battery
CPU	v1-2x80 MHz PortalPlayer PP5024 (ARM7TDMI) v2-250MHz AMS3525 (ARM9TDMI)
Storage capacity	2/4/6/8 GB flash memory
Display	1.8-inch TFT LCD 220x176 px by VPtech BEJING API
Input	Scroll ring
Connectivity	USB 2.0 by Foxconn
Online services	Microsoft PlaysForSure, Rhapsody
Dimensions	3.5" x 1.7" x 0.6" in.
Weight	2.7 oz.
Predecessor	Sansa e100 series
Successor	Sansa Fuze

The Sansa e200 series is a portable media player developed by SanDisk, and released on January 5, 2006.^[1] The device is available in four capacities of Flash memory: 2 GB (e250), 4 GB (e260), 6 GB (e270), and 8 GB (e280). All players have a 1.8-inch, TFT LCD display with a resolution of 176 by 220 pixels. Pictures and videos must first be converted with the Sansa Media Converter Windows software. This will convert images to bitmap format (.bmp) and videos to MJPEG (in a .mov container), for v1 models. On v2 players it will convert videos to DivX and simply resize images. It is not possible to simply copy videos to the device, even if they seem to be in the correct format; trying to access them displays an error message.

Features

The Sansa e200 series can display album art and display song information, thanks to the audio files' ID3 content. The players are powered by a user-replaceable(offered as replacement set by Sandisk and some competitors) lithium ion battery that is also rechargeable, and come with a built-in expansion slot for microSD cards, an FM tuner with a recording function (only available in North America, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and some other countries), and microphone for voice recording. However, it lacks Asian text support when displaying song names and artists, ^[2] but users can patch the firmware to add support. Rockbox firmware also supports the e200 series just as it supports the c200 series, and adds the same features.

The SanDisk firmware is not compatible with the newer micro SDHC format (generally 4GB and higher). Rockbox firmware, however, is compatible with the SDHC format, and the newest versions of Rockbox can recognize SDHC cards when the device is connected to a computer over USB, and can read/write with the card inserted, eliminating the need for the original firmware.

SanDisk released a version 2 of the e200 series in December 2007 with internal hardware different from the first version. Version 2 changes include support for Rhapsody channels through RhapPFS DRM (Plays For Sure enhanced to support Rhapsody channels), support for Audible audio books, microSDHC, and DivX, and also has a different boot screen and adds the ability to format the device, among other minor improvements. Rockbox does not yet fully support Sansa e200 models with the version 2 hardware, however there is now a branch for version 2 e200 Sansas^[3]. Version 2 units with early firmware (Under Settings >> Info is firmware version) also removes the ability for unsupported operating systems (Linux, FreeBSD, and etc) to see the internal storage as a standard flash drive when plugged in via the USB port. Version 1 players had a menu option under the Settings menu for storage mode that could be toggled to show up as standard USB flash drive. For V2 Sansa players with firmware version V03.01.11, this option has been completely removed from the settings menu. Upgrading to later firmware versions, V03.01.14 or V03.01.16 will restore the USB Mode menu option under the Settings menu. Under the USB Mode menu will be three choices - Auto Detect, MTP, and MSC. MSC is Mass Storage Class where the computer would see the Sansa as a regular flash drive. MTP is Media Transfer Protocol which is a Microsoft special mode needed to deal with media files that include DRM - Digital Rights Management.

A number of bugs in the firmware cause problems. One introduces a 0.2 second delay between tracks, even those that are consecutive to a given album. This is most noticeable on musical tracks where the song does not fade completely out before the next begins. Artists whose names begin with "The" are listed incorrectly as well. For unknown reasons, the order of tracks on a given album play in alphabetical order, seriously disrupting the continuity of the listening experience. ^[4]

e200 mods

The e200 series is very popular for mods. For example, enthusiasts can change the LED lights under the scrollwheel; on the internet are manuals on how to make the scrollwheel smooth, Rockbox uses many plugins, for example games, but also useful utillities, so the player can fully use its capacity. Of course, the cons/pros comparison is here too.

e200R series

The Sansa e200R was released in October 2006. Physically identical to the regular Sansa e200, this player is sold exclusively at Best Buy, or directly through Rhapsody, the RealNetworks digital music store. The main differences in the e200R is the firmware and bootloader, which are not easily interchangeable with the e200. The player has a feature called "Rhapsody Channels", which is the online service's brand of podcasting, and also comes with pre-loaded content. Models with smaller capacities will receive about 1 GB of pre-loaded content, while bigger ones will have approximately 2 GB. It also anti-aliases the text displayed, and has different names for the USB modes. The open source Rockbox firmware has also been ported to the Rhapsody series.

See also

• SanDisk
• SanDisk Sansa
• Comparison of portable media players

References

External links

• SanDisk Sansa Micro Site