I’ll preface this by saying that I am by no means a tech guy.
I just relocated to Crete, Greece for my wife’s job. During the process of travel we lost a laptog bag containing my usb cable for loading music, the cd software/firmware that came with my Sansa e280, and of course my older laptop and external hd with all of my music and video from the past 3 years on it. It pretty much blows. All I have is my player and charger now, and I have a couple questions.
Can I use the usb cable that comes with the charger to plug into my other laptop’s usb to load music? Currently I’m plugged into the wall outlet and for some reason when I plug it in it says that there’s too much power going to it, but I’m assuming after we get a transformer that this will remedy it.
My player is fully loaded with music. Is there a way to copy the music off of there onto my other laptop? I am aware that I need to install the software that came with it to do anything, but I’m having trouble locating it for download. I’m on a little Asus netbook that doesn’t have a cd drive so downloading is my only option.
1- Power in Greece is Probably 220v. USA power is 110v. DO NOT plug anything from the USA in unless you have a transformer. Your best bet though is to buy 220v stuff, Transformers use a lot of power just changing to 110v. Your stuff will wear out quicker on a transformer, even with a good surge protector.
–PLUS USA power is 60hz and most other countries are running 50hz. Our USA microwave didn’t work well in Germany anyway. A plug-in alarm clock will run 10minutes slow per hour. Your TV etc… will fry faster there than just buying 220v stuff.
2- IF the cable you’re talking about was designed only for the Sansa, it will work to plug into your computer. IF it was for iPod, DO NOT USE IT ON A SANSA, it will RUIN the Sansa!!
3- You should be able to copy the music from the Sansa to a PC IF it was tranferred with MSC mode. If it was via MTP mode you can probably do it, but it will be trickier. (MSC Mode= the Sansa thinks it’s a disc drive when it’s plugged into a PC. MTP mode is more like “ipod” mode so you can use copy-protected (DRM) files. I NEVER use MTP mode. It blows.)
4- You won’t need any software to tranfer music in either mode: the Netbook will need Windows Media Player 10 or newer (go to microsoft.com to download it,) for MTP mode. Nothing is necessary for MSC mode, if you have Windows XP on that netbook. (If you have linux it will be a little trickier.)
So, off the subject I have a nice lcd coming over. I intended to put that, a surround sound system and a couple of gaming systems on a surge protector coming out of a transformer. Is there anything I can do to avoid not having to buy new stuff?
Besides buying 220v stuff? (Which only makes sense if you plan on living there a long time. We were in Germany almost 4yrs, had to cut it short because of my son’s medical issues…)
You should Find a good Uninterruptible Power Supply. (UPS) Generally they have a battery backup inside, with a charger and voltage regulator.
You could find one with a 220v Input and 110v Output, including the right herz (Hz). It might be more expensive that way, but would eliminate your need for a transformer for all that stuff, and the power output is much much more stable than even a good surge protector. You don’t need much battery backup but the better circuitry is probably on the bigger ones…
If that’s too hard (expensive) to get, find a good 110v to 110v UPS, put it on the end of the transformer.
(The shipping will be the ugly part: UPS are HEAVY.) Here are a few examples:
