After giving it a lot of thought and doing quite a bit of research, I finally purchased my very first MP3 player.   Yea, yea….I know it’s 2007 and almost everyone on the planet has one, but I haven’t felt the need until now.  After having to break out the big-ass laptop on the train just to listen to music, I decided I should bite the bullet and get one.

I looked at the iPod (both the full size and the Nano) and the Zune, but after reading reviews on NewEgg.com, I settled on the SanDisk Sansa e260.  The biggest factor for me was the price.  Since this would be my first MP3 player, I didn’t want to drop almost $300 to have it gather dust on a shelf somewhere.  With shipping, the Sansa cost me around $150.  Beyond the price, I liked the fact that I can simply connect using USB and then drag-and-drop music using Explorer instead of some special interface. 

The size and weight surprised me.  I guess I knew it was going to be small, I just didn’t realize how small.   Along with the player itself, I purchased a clear, hard plastic protective case (since I’m sure the kids will want to check it out at some point).

The only downside I’ve seen so far is its inability to play music while it’s plugged into my PC.  It’s not a showstopper, but it does kinda suck.