Wanted I had a small, Linux-compatible mp3 player with good sound quality and that's what he also offers. Solid performance without unnecessary bells and whistles.
The Clip Zip is wonderfully small, even smaller than the often used for comparison matchbox. It fits into any pocket (I keep it with my headphones in a 9.5 cm by 6 cm large chocolate jars on), but also can easily be simply clipped on shirt or belt loops and stops there even during sports activities. That I'm going to use the clip, I have doubts when ordering, but it turns out to be extremely practical in use. Processing appears for my needs robust enough so that I will not go swimming.
My Clip Zip takes about five seconds until it finishes starting up. But then everything works immediately and I do not have to wait a few seconds, as that often was the case with its predecessor, the iPod Nano for full functionality.
The menu is very intuitive and allows you to control with correct keys without touch or Wheel elements even when wearing gloves, and blind (clipped behind the back) a very good operability.
The display 5 text lines are housed legible. If you have a large number of lines (eg. For very many artists), it may take possibly a few seconds until it has navigated through the rows, but the Clip Zip react even more quickly and accurately when the rocker button holds.
The music can be displayed and selected by many aspects: Play all (Shuffle is selected via the settings), reproduced as the last songs recently added, artist, album, songs, genres, favorites, playlists, and finally by folder so how the Music has packed to the player. Otherwise the player arranges the files by tags, so you have to pay attention even to order in your own music collection.
Can also be accessed separately to the external memory on the Micro SD card.
The player can check out the micro USB attached to your computer and then fill OS independent - I think is a huge advantage over the Apple products. He works very well with all tested Linux and Windows distributions.
The function for podcasts and audiobooks is absolutely satisfactory. The player remembers where you have paused the audio book and asks for the next call if you wish to resume playback or to start from scratch, and with multiple files simultaneously and independently of how much music you've heard in between.
For the correct order of audiobook files the correct tags or playlists are particularly important, the Clip Zip assigns not by file name.
DRM files are reliably reproduced and are combined with a library card or another Hörbüch SUBSCRIPTION a nice affair, provided you have a Windows Media Player, on which you can drag files onto the Zip Clip via MTP.
Edit (2014): Even with Audible files is the clip-zip to tidy: the device You have to initially via a Windows or Apple computers with the Audible program register, after which new Audible audio books as well as on the Pull file management with Linux on the player.
The voice recording and stopwatch are not necessary but nice. Both work and if you have the functions it uses them well now and then. And if not, you can adjust the menu and make the two menu items visible.
For sound quality, there is already much more detailed reviews, so at this point only the short notice that I can agree with the positive reviews absolutely with my Phonak Audeo in-ears. After my subjective feeling worlds better than cell phone and a bit better than my iPod Nano.
The volume settings for Europe are really low, but with the usual changes to the "rest of the world" I also remain on your computer speakers or an amplifier still plenty of room for improvement.
It is important that you inform yourself in regular intervals about firmware updates and install them. Here already some slight error (eg the noise during song transition) have been eliminated, which are also criticized here in the reviews. The firmware update itself takes maybe five minutes.
If the player is dependent times, everything is after a reset back to normal.
How long the battery is running, I can not say because my Cliz Zip actually never run out if I want to use it straight. I use the player almost every day, but lowered energy saving as well as sleep mode in use and the screen brightness. If the battery indicator is red, I hang it on the power and he invites my impression also quite fast again. How full the battery is still, you can have a look at the settings, and charge again before long journeys.
The Sansa Clip Zip is connected via a now common for mobile phones Micro-USB cable to the computer and loaded so that you only need one cable.
Conclusion: I would highly recommend the Sansa Clip Zip unrestricted. Who just a small MP3 player for music and podcasts investigated with high compatibility and good sound quality and is not afraid of firmware updates, is right here.
