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Sandisk’s Sansa Clip+ MP3 player isn’t much bigger than a matchbox, but it has 4GB of storage and a built-in FM radio. It even has a microSD slot so you can plug in memory cards. Thanks to the built-in clip, it fastens securely to your clothing so you’re unlikely to lose it. The Clip+ lasted an impressive 17 hours and 36 minutes in our battery life tests. The integrated FM radio uses the earphone cable as an antenna, and we got clear, static-free reception in our central London offices. Finding stations using the small buttons is fiddly and time consuming, though. The Clip+ has a logically organised menu. The controls are small but easy to press, although the small 1in screen can only display four lines of text at a time, so scrolling through long lists of songs is a little tedious. The Home button, which takes you back to the top level of the menu structure, also locks the Clip+ when held down for a few seconds, preventing accidental button presses. The Down button doubles as an Options button when a song is playing, giving easy access to settings such as the equaliser and play modes such as repeat and shuffle. For the best audio quality, you’ll need a better set of earphones than those provided. They sound far too muddy, especially when playing pop and jazz tracks. The bass is very weak, so bass-heavy rock and dance tracks sound limp and unsatisfying. Audio quality greatly improved using a third-party pair of earphones, although it still wasn’t as rich and detailed as the best players.
Sandisk’s Sansa Clip+ is a great little MP3 player. There are small players with better battery life, the controls and screen are a bit small, and its audio quality isn’t as rich as we’d like. However, its built-in clip, microSD slot, FM radio and low price all help it to win a Budget Buy award.
