The Apple iPod became the most popular digital music player because both the hardware and software were easy to install and easy to use. Unfortunately, Sansa did not follow Apple’s lead in the software area. For an uninitiated user, getting started with the Fuze can be a bit of a nightmare. The Fuze comes with a small set of cards labeled “Let’s get playing”. The first thing these cards tell you to do is to connect your Fuze to the computer to charge it. Yet when you do this, you get a pop up message with several choices including asking if you want to Sync this device using Windows Media Player. There is no mention of this on the cards, so you are left scratching your head as to what to do. On top of that, the trifold card labeled “Getting Music on Your SanDisk Sansa Fuze” gives you different instructions which tell you to install the included Rhapsody Software before you connect your Fuze to the PC.

In another faux pas, the installation card explains that you must create an account on a paid-service called Rhapsody to activate all of the features on the Fuze. Although this is true, you are not told until the small print at the bottom of the last page that a 14-day free trial to Rhapsody is included with your Fuze purchase. And you are never told which features are not available without a monthly Rhapsody subscription, which we assumed to be the use of the Rhapsody channels which provides constantly updated music of different genres. On top of that, unlike the free trial that comes with the Microsoft Zune digital music player, you must give a credit card to register for the free trial and you will be charged for future months unless you cancel within 14 days.

Like the Microsoft Zune software, Rhapsody is a digital music service that lets you listen to a large variety of different music on a monthly fee basis. Rhapsody currently charges $12.99 a month and all the music you collect will disappear if you cancel your membership. In comparison, the Microsoft Zune subscription is a better deal. They charge $9.99 a month and give you three free MP3s a month to keep, even if you cancel.

In our testing, the Rhapsody software was a disaster. Although we had signed up and were already logged in, the software made us register again and enter our credit card information a second time to access the Rhapsody channels. The channels seem very good. You can choose different genres of music which are updated regularly. We chose several and they played perfectly on our PC, but when we tried to sync them with the Fuze, we got error after error. The Rhapsody folks never answered our email call for help, so we simply gave up on the Rhapsody service.

However, you don’t really need Rhapsody to use the Fuze. You can simply use your computer to drag and drop music to the device. You can also use the Windows Media Player that is included in Windows to sync your music. However, none of these methods is as seamless as synching an iPod with iTunes, a Zune with the Zune software or a Creative Zen with the Creative software. In Rhapsody and in Windows Media Player you need to create playlists to sync with your device. While most advanced digital music users are quite used to creating playlists, this is an added step that neophytes might find confusing. It is not, however, necessary if you just want to drag and drop your music onto the player.

Although not mentioned in the documentation, you can also use the Fuze with music subscription served other than Rhapsody. It can easily be used with Napster and eMusic.

The Fuze supports several transfer protocols including MSC and MTP but it comes set to “Auto Detect” which is good for the average user. This choice can be reset by accessing the Settings in the player. Although Sansa only provides support for Windows, the ability to use MSC lets the player act like a thumb drive which allows it to be used with the Mac and Linux operating systems. MTP is the protocol used by most players. It allows you to take advantage of subscription services such as Napster or Rhapsody and lets you create playlists with software like Windows Media Player. This protocol is limited to use by Windows XP SP 2/3 and Vista computers.

The Fuze is one of the few players that lets you choose the transfer protocol that suits your needs.