iPod Nano 2 vs SansaRhapsody MP3 Player Comparison

I’ve been an ipod fan for years and even started my own ipod site (www.saveonipods.com). I’ve also been a huge Rhapsody fan but was always pissed at the way Rhapsody worked with the “Breaks for Sure” Microsoft technology that the services like Rhapsody and Napster were forced to use to get subscription or Digital Rights Management (DRM) software onto portable players. Well, I’ve been beta testing the new SansaRhapsody MP3 Player and while it’s not perfect - it has become my go to mp3 player over the new ipod nano (yes I own both). Here’s the breakdown:

Look and Feel
The iPod is still the shiny darling of the mp3 set. The 4 GB nano comes in fun colors like Pink, Green, Blue, Silver & Black. It has a better, more steelish feel than the SansaRhapsody and is a bit thinner. The SansaRhapsody comes in black (just like the iPod Nano 8GB), is the same width and height but has a bigger color screen which is easier to read. It is also important because the SansaRhapsody will hold and play video which the iPod Nano does not.

The SansaRhapsody has a different wheel than the iPod nano. The wheel is a mechanical spin vs a touch wheel. It is raised up and has ridges which makes it easier to spin, backlights in blue which is kind of cool and is more mechanical feeling. The downside is that it feels a little more fragile than the iPod and the buttons on either side are below the ridge of the wheel making them a little harder to hit.

The SansaRhapsody user interface is really nice once you get used to it. Since the screen is bigger (1.8” vs 1.5”), you scroll through images to get the content you want. I find it easier to read and like the size of the album art that can scroll through if interested in seeing it. The resolution feels right to me.

The Music
The biggest plus of the SansaRhapsody player over the iPod Nano is the way that Rhapsody has been integrated into the hardware. Much the same way that iTunes is baked into the iPod, Rhapsody To Go is baked into the SansaRhapsody player. What this means is that I can take any song, album, playlist or channel in Rhapsody with me on the MP3 player. I currently have R.E.M. – And I Feel Fine – The best of the IRS Years, the new Tom Petty, G. Love and Special Sauce – Lemonade and Billy Joel Songs in the Attic on the player and can listen to them as much as I want. Yet, I have not purchased the CDs. This is because the RhapsodyDNA (which is build off the RealNetworks Helix DNA) gives me the “right” to listen to this music on my mp3 player as long as my Rhapsody subscription is current. At $15 per month – it’s a total deal if you love new, different, interesting music.

The other very cool thing I like is the Rhapsody Channels feature. Basically, you can get a fresh mix of music by genre (blues, jazz, classic rock, hip-hop, country, etc.) everytime you plug the mp3 player into your computer. With Rhapsody’s catalog of 3,000,000 plus songs – the service will refresh the mix so you’ve got new artists/songs/art in the different channels. You can add or delete the channels on the mp3 player easy enough in the Rhapsody client so if you don’t like sweatin’ to the oldies, you don’t have to have that on your mp3 player. You can also put custom channels on the device that you build by selecting up to 10 artists. The size of the channels (number of songs) decreases as you put more of your own/Rhapsody music on the player.
The Bottom Line
While I love my iPod and prefer the look and feel, I really love music and would much rather have access to the Rhapsody catalog, fresh music updates and fun custom channel mixes. At the end of the day – it’s more about the music than the style.

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