The colour fiasco again!

[TheConciseStatement]

So let me guess this straight.

The 4 gig is in black, blue and red - but not white and purple.
The 8 gig is in black, blue, white and purple - essentially everything but red.
And you can have the 16 gig in black - but nothing else.

Stop being annoying!

Just like the Clip+, it's probably a great player but this irritating restriction is so unnecessary.

Some suggestions :
- Make all capacities available in all colours.
- If that's too dear for Sandisk, increase the colour range on the expensive models.
- If you don't think you can sell all capacities, don't make so many of them.
- If no one here cares about the colours, don't have as many as five different ones!

In any case, you shouldn't be punishing the customers willing to spend the most money. Limit the options of those who just want a bargain - they're less likely to care. Reward those spending more with extra flexibility. As much as I hate upselling, downselling is even worse.

[CrowdAds]

[Marvin the Martian]

Just buy a colored case when they become available, if it's that big a deal to you.

[TheConciseStatement]

Thanks, but I was never interested in the Fuze anyway. I didn't know they bothered to make cases for the Sansa line. Suppose that's something.

[EggyCuppy]

first I agree with your OP but if your not interested in sansa players like the fuze why post about them?

and sansa players have the 2nd highest sales numbers in this market, its iPood, then sandisk/sansa of course they have cases and accessories it would be stupid not to have them.

I really would love a 16gb in white or prpl over a black one, black shows finger prints way to easy >.<

[FreeZ5]

In case Sandisk's colour guys are reading this...I would like red or blue.

Steve

[TheConciseStatement]

Originally Posted by EggyCuppy

first I agree with your OP but if your not interested in sansa players like the fuze why post about them?

and sansa players have the 2nd highest sales numbers in this market, its iPood, then sandisk/sansa of course they have cases and accessories it would be stupid not to have them.

I really would love a 16gb in white or prpl over a black one, black shows finger prints way to easy >.<

Not interested in buying the Fuze specifically, but I'm not against Sandisk's players at all. I really like the fact they offer a low cost alternative to iPods and I've always been hugely impressed by their Clip/Clip+ range, which put the iPod Shuffle to shame in terms of price, features and sound quality.

I was aware that Sandisk was the second leading MP3 manufacturer, but in the UK I must say I never really come across cases and the like for their players - not on the net and definitely not in the shops. Indeed, the fact that they're the best placed competitor to the Nano, makes it doubly, triply, quadruply important to make the colour options simple and plentiful, in response to Apple's rainbow of offerings (I think their 5th generation Nano had nine in total) and that little chart on their product pages detailing the nuances, should be the first sign that's it's just a bit too complicated.

Anyway, the main thrust of my post was really this last part : "In any case, you shouldn't be punishing the customers willing to spend the most money. Limit the options of those who just want a bargain - they're less likely to care. Reward those spending more with extra flexibility. As much as I hate upselling, downselling is even worse." Since there's always so much discussion over Apple's business decisions, I figured Sandisk should be scrutinised also, with what I consider the only real flaw in their players so far.

[EggyCuppy]

ah, yeah i got a few buddies in the UK and they all say its pretty much ipod or nothing over there, and if you dont have an ipod your not "kool", here its not quite that bad, i mean alot of the kids want ipods, but sansa's and others sell very well to, hell, there was a run on fuze's a while back because they became cool for a while, no bestbuy within 20miles of my office(like 6-8 are in driving distance) had a fuze in stock for weeks...it was weird....kinda kool tho, talking to the sales guys and them saying the ipod and zune where less popular then samsung, sony and sansa in our area this year!!!

and I really do wish i could have gotten a blue 8gb fuze, the white and prpl jjust look better in the fuze+ to me then the blue or red, the blue just dosnt look as vibrent...

[TheConciseStatement]

Originally Posted by FreeZ5

In case Sandisk's colour guys are reading this...I would like red or blue.

Steve

Well FreeZ5, Sandisk say you can have :
- the red in 4 GB only
- and the blue in 4 GB and 8 GB but not 16 GB.

Hope one of those options covers you but I guess if it doesn't, you could always post a request on the forums, since it's entirely possible Sandisk read them. It would appear many of our ABI suggestions made it into their Clip+.

[EggyCuppy]

alot of people that are sandisk fans are also members at the sandisk forums, I know I am

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by EggyCuppy

alot of people that are sandisk fans are also members at the sandisk forums, I know I am

There's quite a few of us that are members at both sites, I think.

[EggyCuppy]

im glad they changed forum software but the breaking of saved links sucks, i wanted to share the threads i had saved about id3 tags but they are all broken(and thus deleted)

[TheConciseStatement]

Originally Posted by EggyCuppy

ah, yeah i got a few buddies in the UK and they all say its pretty much ipod or nothing over there, and if you dont have an ipod your not "kool", here its not quite that bad, i mean alot of the kids want ipods, but sansa's and others sell very well to, hell, there was a run on fuze's a while back because they became cool for a while, no bestbuy within 20miles of my office(like 6-8 are in driving distance) had a fuze in stock for weeks...it was weird....kinda kool tho, talking to the sales guys and them saying the ipod and zune where less popular then samsung, sony and sansa in our area this year!!!

and I really do wish i could have gotten a blue 8gb fuze, the white and prpl jjust look better in the fuze+ to me then the blue or red, the blue just dosnt look as vibrent...

Yeah, if you want those in 4 GB or 16 GB, you should have them. I found myself in a similar situation with the charmingly unusual burgundy Clip+ which was a 4 GB exclusive. Again, it's just an avoidable annoyance as I was willing to pay more money for an 8 gig one. But I'm trying not to post just out of self interest, because it's unreasonable to think a company's entire line up should revolve around one's particular requests (cough cough AppleInsider forum). Even although I'm not looking for a Vuze-like player, as CNET have already recognised, this should have a lot of appeal. Just seems silly to push people away by failing to add a lick of paint.

With regards to the cool factor, my understanding in the States was that it used to be a case of 'You're iPod or iNoone' too. But now that it's been around for nearly a decade, the iPod has reached a saturation point and like an attractive toaster, nobody really cares whether you've got one or not. This might also be in part be due to the sad obsolescence of the dedicated MP3/media player driven by the phone market. Since phones come in all shapes in sizes, it's entirely possible people would just mistake a Fuze+ for one.

I've got to declare my hand here. Although it might be somewhat sacrilegious to say it on this particular forum, I actually really like the iPod styling and I can see why this would capture buyers. One of the reasons I've never owned one since they came out in 2001 is because of the sadistic manner in which they gut their products of features. I came this close [narrows thumb and forefinger] to buying a Touch as a do-all device (while still disinterested in the the rubbish MP3 player part) and I was willing to part with quite a bit of cash for a high capacity model, but was completely insulted by the 0.7 megapixel camera that they wanted to charge me an extra 20 quid/$30 for. As an editor on Trusted Reviews nicely put it : "Dissatisfaction with the iPod touch stems from what appears to be Apple's deliberate sabotaging. There is no such thing as a 960 x 720, 0.7 megapixel camera." (TR's a good site by the way.) Do we need cameras in media players? Probably not. But they dangled the carrot first with their Nano, and now they've castrated that carrot while upping the price.

[lestatar]

@OP: While I understand and do agree with the main thrust of your point, I gotta say, for me, the color of my DAP is a secondary consideration.

Yes, a consideration for sure [e.g. hot pink wouldn't do it for me unless the player in question was the most-est perfect-est best-est DAP ever made], but provided the colors are relatively generic, I really don't care.

The sound/performance/functionality/form factor matter most for me...

[FreeZ5]

Originally Posted by lestatar

@OP: While I understand and do agree with the main thrust of your point, I gotta say, for me, the color of my DAP is a secondary consideration.

Yes, a consideration for sure [e.g. hot pink wouldn't do it for me unless the player in question was the most-est perfect-est best-est DAP ever made], but provided the colors are relatively generic, I really don't care.

The sound/performance/functionality/form factor matter most for me...

Yeah, but we have two Clips. One red, one blue. Makes it VERY easy to tell them apart. Red is Barb's, blue is mine. or the red one needs charging, etc etc.

Steve

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by FreeZ5

Yeah, but we have two Clips. One red, one blue. Makes it VERY easy to tell them apart. Red is Barb's, blue is mine. or the red one needs charging, etc etc.

Steve

That's why I kept the silicone skin that was on my second Clip+ when I got it, on there.....because they are both black, and I needed to tell them apart.

[TheConciseStatement]

Originally Posted by lestatar

@OP: While I understand and do agree with the main thrust of your point, I gotta say, for me, the color of my DAP is a secondary consideration.

Yes, a consideration for sure [e.g. hot pink wouldn't do it for me unless the player in question was the most-est perfect-est best-est DAP ever made], but provided the colors are relatively generic, I really don't care.

The sound/performance/functionality/form factor matter most for me...

It's an interesting question : Would I buy my dream-spec media player if it only came in electric pink with stars? (Obviously the person who made that business decision would be promptly fired.) I was about to say, 'Sorry, no, I'm probably too shallow for that.' But I'm gonna revise my answer to, 'I'm still shallow but if I could find a decent case then sure, why not?'

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by FreeZ5

Yeah, but we have two Clips. One red, one blue. Makes it VERY easy to tell them apart. Red is Barb's, blue is mine. or the red one needs charging, etc etc.

Steve

Maybe Dymo labels on the back? Gold/silver permanent marker inscriptions?

Or maybe just be surprised when you listen to your partner's music

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by TheConciseStatement

It's an interesting question : Would I buy my dream-spec media player if it only came in electric pink with stars? (Obviously the person who made that business decision would be promptly fired.) I was about to say, 'Sorry, no, I'm probably too shallow for that.' But I'm gonna revise my answer to, 'I'm still shallow but if I could find a decent case then sure, why not?'

roflmao! Well played! Touche.... I love the way you think

[JK98]

3 sizes and 5 colors would be 15 combinations. Even with 8 combinations, many retailers might decide to only stock some of those. I wouldn't be surprised if many dealers only stock black, and perhaps don't even stock the 4GB. So just stocking the 8 GB black and 16 GB black will satisfy many people, and is only 2 SKUs they need to keep track of.

[ZeroCorpse]

I think it would make more sense to sell ONE color (off-white), and then just sell an official tight-fitting plastic case that comes in a variety of colors.

We'll need a case anyway, right? Why not shift the color decision to the case instead of tying it to the technology? That way, if you want to change your mind later, you can do it for a decent price. Sandisk sells cases, we get whatever color we want, and everybody wins.