Well I got the little mp3 player from some store. I thought it was pretty neat as it was my first mp3 player. While riding in the car, I glanced over at the sansa while I was listening to it and the screen cracked right in front of my eyes. I don't know how the heck it happened other than it must have been cheap plastic. The crack didn't obstruct the screen too badly so I kept using it. Then after a week, the left ear of the mp3 player stopped working. I tried switching headphones but it stopped outputting music from the left ear. So, I bought a pair of headphones with a mono switch and it worked fine. The quality was worse and it was embarrassing to be seen with a little cracked mp3 player. Then after another week, the sansa screen wouldn't turn on, only the buttons would light up. I tried turning it on while it was in the charger, etc. I used my sansa as a night light for less than a week but then felt so angry that I took a sledge hammer to it. It shattered quite nicely in a wide array of cheap plastic.

Don't get any form of sansa (SanDisk).

I've heard a lot of stories like this one, but I have to take a second here and giggle to myself that I am so lucky. I have a sansa m250 and it has served me wonderfully for over a year now, it has survived being dropped two or three times, unfortunately the headphones it came with are dead, but ear buds usually don't last very long, that's a fact of life. I think, though, that the m250 is pretty good, my friend has an m260 I think (similar model) and hers works well too. in fact, I would actually recommend this player, I think the only thing wrong with it is that you can hear a little "blip" in between songs.

conal, what model did you have?

I believe it was an e250, not sure what an m250 is unless you mean model 250 or still e250
Eh, it's the 2 gig one.

I'm jealous that yours didn't break [sarcasm].
I've never had ear buds before and don't plan on getting a pair. They hurt my ears.

The only reason I bought the sansa and willingly sledged it was because I bought it for $50 on discount.
Plus, I've got a free Zune coming in the mail

I know a few people who got Sandisk players and none of them seem to last very long at all. Something always seems to either physically snap or crack, or the sound just stops completely (not exactly great on an MP3 player ). Still, it provides fun entertainment when people find out they've stopped working. Most end up being thrown across the room or used as a small football.

Personally I would recommend any Creative player as a replacement - they sound perfect, and no-one I know has ever had a manufacturing problem with one. The only problem was someone making their own charger for it and trying it out - the result was a small bang and lots of smoke!

the m250 I got is kinda sturdy.One i sat on it and well it didnt suffer the normal fate any other player would have,but the headphones supplid with any sandisk player is sucky.As dar as the crack thing goes,persoanlly, i think yours was an exceptionally defective piece bloke,hard luck.

Whenever I get CDs in the mail, I toss them across the yard and play frisby with my dog . My sansa's heavy, cheap plastic probably would have hurt my little pup. Then again, CDs can act as papercutters at the right velocity.

Small bang, eh? Maybe I should try that out

Thanks for the sympathy
Not sure about the double post though.

I think the e250 is a bit lousier, the m250, the one I have, works fine, but the e250 has received more negative reviews... in any case, rvalkass' idea is good. I've had a creative player for a while and it is indestructible. You could bang it with a hammer, throw it off a 200 foot cliff and it'd still work.