iPods are great music players, but there are also other options. The Sansa Fuze is an iPod nano competitor. The Fuze has an FM radio and a built-in voice recorder; two features that the nano lacks, so we decided to take a look and see how the Fuze stacks up against the iPod and other portable music players.

The Fuze comes in a plastic clamshell case with a cardboard enclosure, shown in Figure 1. You will want to get out the scissors to release the Fuze from its plastic entrapment. Once  that is done, you will find  the Fuse, a proprietary USB charging cable, a pair of typical hard, round ear buds, a mini software CD, a small fabric case, a set of “let’s get playing” cards, and a small tri-fold  page entitled “Getting Music on Your SanDisk Sansa Fuze” (shown in Figure 2).

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Figure 1: The Sansa Fuze in its wrapper.

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Figure 2: What’s included.

The Fuze is a fairly small device measuring 3.1" x 1.9" x .3" (78.75 mm x 48.25 mm x 7.62 mm) and weighing in at 2.1 oz (59.5 g). The screen measures 1.9.” The back has a dull, slightly rubberized feel while the front is smooth and shiny. The non-skid finish on the back keeps the Fuze in place on a desk or a pile of papers and gives it a good feel in the hand. The Fuze comes in five colors: blue, red, pink, black or silver. The red Fuze 4 GB that we reviewed is a nice deep rich color. You can choose from three capacities: 2 GB, 4 GB or 8 GB.