Customer Reviews
Nice player but beware the preloaded music! 
2008-06-11
The package says it's for "Ages 8 and up!" and on the back under "Features" it says "SD Card preloaded with children's music." Call me old fashioned, but I wonder whether "Magic City"--a song featuring a boy and girl discussing hooking up for the night--is children's music. Use this sample verse to judge for yourself:
"Shortys hard, I gotta make her mine for the night.
She got an apple bottom, my momma feed her right.
I'm like, My name is Royal City girl,
And I was wonderin' if you would take me to your world.
Heard that there's a place you got,
That both me and you could go.
I won't let my momma know,
We could keep it on the low.
So it's on bring me to your city girl,
I could be your volunteer, you'll be my magician girl.
Back to the room, she put me on the chair.
Just a touch of magic her jeans disappear."
I like it so much! 
2008-06-08
I bought 3 from a store in order to use my gift card ( it will expire very soon). I open one. It is great! The 512M card can hold around 10 hours music. And the pre-installed 8 songs are very good.
This is a very good product with very great design.
great hope 2008-06-04
I bought this for my 6 1/2 year old. It took me a while to figure out how to download songs (but I'm not that tech savy). I love the way she can listen to it without the headphones. Her 4 year old brother threw it on the ground and it now doesn't work. I have purchased another because I believe the product is perfect for my 6 year old, and want to try again. The price is unbeatable.
Annoying design quirks 2008-06-03
There's no new ground that I can tread when compared to the excellent reviews by others. So let me focus on the two issues that seem like product killers:
1) It is next to impossible to figure out how to open the cover at the bottom of the player to access the battery and SD card. I'm not tech-illiterate, but I still had to work before I figured this one out. The user manual is pitiful in this regard. The reason for the dilemma is that the twisting force should really be applied to the thin blue/pink area just *below* the Next/Previous track band. Better instructions or finger grips carved into the plastic would have helped. You can see a number of users here who had this very same issue.
2) Once the battery cover comes off, it is perversely impossible to get it to stay in place again. Now, every time you twist the next/previous band, the battery cover is just waiting to jump off the end cap. For now, I seem to have fixed this by throwing my shoulder behind the twisting action required to keep the cover in place. The helpful advice I got from Sandisk support was to return this device to Amazon. The device is quite usable without the battery cover (though it would look unfinished), so I came very close to getting rid of the cover.
3) Another interesting issue is that the supplied earphones can be too large for small ears. Luckily I had a pair of ear plugs that were appropriate and so we switched to those quickly and that saved the day :)
That said, I can't fault the user interface of this product in all other respects - the shaking action is fun, the auditory feedback is great, the volume on the speaker is much louder than I'd suspected, the two headphones jack is a nice touch, and the use of bands rather than buttons makes it a joy to use for kids.
You also cannot argue with the pricing of this device. It comes with a 512MB SD card - so increasing this to 1G is a snap.
The design overall is very kid friendly and I expect this will be a hit with its target segment.
Great for visually impaired 2008-06-01
My daughter loved the the player and it arrived within the stated shipping time.
She is visually impaired and was looking for an mp3 player that had a screen she could see. This player works great for her since it doesn't need you to look at it to use it. She and her husband had a little trouble finding the battery compartment but once they did they liked the way it worked.
So far so good 
2008-07-09
I bought two of these Sansa Players for my younger sisters, and they are happy with them. The fact that they have a removable SD card is great, and the uploading of the songs is not complicated. Besides, for the price, the player is really cute and functional.
Brings out smiles! 2008-07-05
We purchased this product because my daughter loves hearing music. And this allows her to take her music anywhere she wants to go! With a shake or a twist, she can navigate to the song she wants to hear....on her demand. And it's compact so it's perfect for little hands. The speaker on the unit produces clear sound and there are plugs for earphones for 2! Since my son wanted to take his sister's all the time, we purchased another for him. And they have dropped this music player on the ground many times and it seems to take the abuse. I would recommend this product to anyone.
Excellent Little MP3 Player! 2008-06-20
We bought this for our 5-year old daughter. Even though the reviews were pretty good; we didn't expect much because it seemed so cheap. Well, we more than love the SanDisk Sansa Shaker! My daughter has carried it around everywhere since we bought it. One bonus feature, that we didn't know, is the top of the Shaker is a speaker, so you can use the player without the headphones. My daughter has dropped it twice, including ceramic tile floor, and it still works. There was no x-rated music preloaded as one person indicated. I did have some problems with bottom staying closed as some people indicated. However, my husband came home and figured out that it needs click on and we haven't had any problems since.
So all the negative remarks that I read I have found are not the case...at least with our player! This thing is absolutely perfect!!!
A Great Gift For My Grandson! 2008-06-16
I bought this little player for my 2 year old Grandson because it has an external speaker. I downloaded about 100 children's songs for him. He loves it! When his Mom is stuck in traffic he listens to it and has a happy ride home instead of getting fussy because of boredom. He has recently started enjoying music and this was the best gift for him.
Great for the money 2008-06-16
I bought this for my 3 yr. old who loves music. Easy to use, pretty easy to load music especially from a CD. Couldn't upload an mp3 song - don't know if I'm doing it correctly so I'm not sure if it's me or the sansa shaker. As for other reviews where the bottom doesn't stay on, you have to turn it until it clicks. To open, you press down & turn (like a prescription bottle), insert your battery, & close by turning with a little pressure until it clicks. Head phones are good - they actually stay in my son's ears and I love that it has a speaker so he doesn't have to use the headphones. Very easy to use, has been dropped once & it still works so it's sturdy. I would recommend this item - in fact I have. I'm also getting one for my 6 yr. old
