10 years ago I bought a Microsoft Sidewinder Mouse along with a Sansa Fuze 1.G.

[virgilcole]

One year later, while enjoying the greatness of the Sidewinder Mouse, it dawned on me:
I will never find a better mouse, which fits my big palm that perfectly, while also being extremely accurate, no matter the surface it is used on. Nothing lasts for ever, so I tried to get my hands on some replacement mouses of this model. But Microsoft stopped producing them! Panic stage 1!
Thank god, some month later Microsoft released a stripped down budget version of this mouse: the Sidewinder X5 Mouse. I immediately bought 4!, hoping they would last until the end of my days.  Since then I cycle through them. I care for them gently and carefully. I refurbish and clean them regularly. The unused ones are nicely stashed in a dark and dry place. It is a great feeling not having to care about mouse research anymore.

I should have done the same with my slowly dying Sandisk Sansa Fuze 1st Gen. I am refurbishing the shit out of this thing, but deep down in my gut, a numbing feeling intensifies. My Sansa wants to go. Soon I will not be able to do anything about it! :'(

[Zakalwe]

Hmm, what is the actual problem? I am using an even older Sansa e280, and I am not too worried. There are plenty around on Ebay if I need parts, or even a whole new one. And I just got a 400GB card for it to keep up with my collection. Is the situation more difficult with the Fuze?

[virgilcole]

The screw threads on the intestines, especially those fixing the controls on the front cover, are long gone. Also the power on/off button broke off a couple of times and has been glued back in. The jack for the earbuds is heavily glued. The ribbon cable for the wheel is giving me the biggest headache. It must have been damaged last month during the second battery replacement.

[codyteam]

Well,you could try buying a broken one with the screen messed up,the battery completely dead or some motherboard problem and just switch out the guts and transfer em. Look on ebay or some other site that sells used stuff,in the end it is COMPLETELY worth it!