While Apple remains the portable digital music behemoth, the competition, particularly in the budget flash player space, continues to thrive. iPod prices leave room for competitors to sweep in on the low end with less-expensive products that attempt to match or improve upon comparable iPod models. SanDisk's Sansa Clip is a prime example; it costs just $39.99 (1GB) and $59.99 (2GB). Both of those prices beat the iPod shuffle's $79.99 for 1GB of storage. SanDisk also adds a two-color OLED screen, an FM radio with 40 presets, and a voice recorder. The Sansa Clip isn't perfect, but at this price, I don't have many complaints.

The 1GB model is available in black, while the 2GB comes in a choice of colors: black, candy apple red (my test unit), hot pink, and ice blue. All models can play MP3, WMA, PlaysForSure-protected WMA, and Audible file formats, and include an FM tuner. The unit gets its name from its built-in shirt or belt clip, which fortunately adds little bulk to the tiny player. It also makes it $10 cheaper than Creative's tiny flash-based Zen Stone, once you add the Zen Stone's optional clip.

The Sansa Clip is a little bigger than the iPod shuffle, and it's made of cheap plastic—not surprising, given the price of the device. On the bright side (literally), the two-color OLED screen is bright and crisp. Though it's not true color, it beats monochrome by a mile. The faux click wheel (it's really a five-way control pad) lights up in blue. The screen shows artist and track names, time elapsed, and the name of the FM station that's currently playing, and it provides access to the player's numerous configuration options. When a song is playing, you can press the center of the control pad to see a neat, ultra-responsive 16-band spectrum analyzer.

I wasn't expecting much from the included earbuds, and that's pretty much what they delivered in terms of sound quality: They were seriously poor. I swapped them out for a set of Creative Zen Aurvanas, which improved sound quality considerably. In fact, it was difficult to tell the difference in sound between the Sansa Clip and a second-generation 8GB iPod nano.

The Sansa Clip comes with a bunch of EQ presets, most of which decimate the unit's sound quality. The Clip's FM tuner had good reception and sounded fine. The unit also comes with a built-in voice recorder, which, along with the FM tuner, is a welcome feature that is notably absent on Apple players. Like the Samsung YP-U3 (our current Editors' Choice for budget flash players), it does not have FM recording. SanDisk's Sansa Express earned our Editors' Choice earlier this year because of its low price and bundle of features. Although the 1GB model is $20 more expensive than the Clip, it holds two distinct advantages: The Express has a microSD slot for storage expansion, and it doesn't require a separate cable; the device plugs directly into your PC's USB port. In addition, it offers FM recording.

Conveniently, the Clip charges via USB; all you need is the included short cable, which is notable because some less expensive players I've seen come with branched, tangle-prone USB combination cables that take up lots of space in a travel bag. SanDisk claims that listeners can expect up to 15 hours of continuous playback on the built-in rechargeable battery, but that's only with 128-–kilobit-per-second MP3 files. WMA or higher bit-rate files eat more battery life. On a test suite filled with MP3 and WMA tracks of various bit rates, the Sansa Clip lasted for 12 hours 23 minutes on a single charge—still not bad.

SanDisk also throws in a 30-day free trial at the Best Buy Digital Music Store. And signing up for the trial doesn't require a credit card —a boon since there's no chance of forgetting to end the trial and incurring charges, which is a real hassle. I installed the software, connected the Sansa Clip, authorized the device, and began downloading "subscription-ready" tracks. Unfortunately, none of them worked. I racked up a total of 91 transfer errors, according to the player's status bar. I was told I couldn't add certain tracks to My Library, such as songs from the new Kanye West Graduation album, despite their subscription-ready status. I was able to add other tracks, but later, when attempting to transfer those to the Clip, the program spat out a list of errors that all read "A problem has occurred in obtaining the device's certificate," even though the Clip was properly authorized. Maybe this is why Microsoft abandoned PlaysForSure with the Zune?

Is the 2GB Sansa Clip worth 59 bucks? Absolutely. If you're playing unprotected MP3 or WMA files, or want to listen to FM radio, podcasts, or Audible downloads on the go, the Clip is a viable shuffle alternative. If you're not into the shuffle's lack of LCD, or just want an extra MP3 player that's dedicated for use in the gym, the Sansa Clip rocks. Just be sure to upgrade the earbuds with the money you save.

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