Audible/playback Issues

I have been a long time user of Sandisk products.  However, I have been dissapointed in certain features of the new Sport Version and Jam version.   First,  I have found that each of these versions have been cutting off the last 2-3 minutes of audio on all of the audible books that I have downloaded.  This did not happen on the previous versions of clip players.  Secondly, for these same two players, there is a long lag time before the playback responds when fast forwarding, skipping forward or backward between chapters, or pausing the player.  This is very frustrating, the response time was very quick in the earlier versions of sandisk Mp3 products (E series, Fuze, clip, clip+). 

Overall, I have become resigned to some of the changes that have occurred with the new firmware, like not being able to download DRM protected .wma files from Overdrive.  But when the end of a book gets cut off and I have to download the book to my phone to hear the last couple of minutes of book, it gets old.  

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I can totally relate to your frustration. 

I previously owned 6 Sansa Clip+s and decided I’d try the Sport since I didn’t need all the “extras” the clip+ offered.  (NOTE:  I’ve had so many clips because they eventually stop working or break).    All I use my player for is to listen to my Audible books.  I at least expected the Sport to be somewhat comparable to the Clip+.  Boy, was I wrong!  When you press a button (either the pause, fast forward, rewind, etc.), it takes sometimes 30 seconds for the device to respond.  You can’t tell if it took your command, so you press it again, and it counteracts the command you originally made.   SOOOOO FRUSTRATING.  And… the last parts of my books are cut off.  How annoying is that?!?!?!??

Unfortunately, I’ve already thrown away the packaging from my sport clip, or I’d return it immediately.  Now it’s just wasted $$$, because I wont use it.  I’ll go back to the more expensive Clip+ with features I don’t need just to get some basic functionally back - and be a fairly unhappy customer.  Or maybe I’ll just switch to an Apple product and be done with this…

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Sell your Sport on eBay.  Some people like it . . . .

I own a Clip Sport, and Rockboxed Clip+ and Clip Zip players. I am thinking about buying another Clip Sport as its battery life is much greater than that of the Clip+ and Clip Zip. I do miss Rockbox when using the Clip Sport. 

I don’t have that much favorite music that I would want to have with me in a portable player, so an 8GB Clip sport with a 16GB card in it holds it. Yes it is a nuisance having to remember which music is in card memory and which is in main memory. If they would come out with a new firmware that has a 4,000 song limit for card memory, it would make the Sport much more enjoyable for me to use. i would even be happy if they release a new firmware that has no database for the internal memory, but allows a 4,000(or more) song  database for card memory.

@jk98 wrote:

If they would come out with a new firmware that has a 4,000 song limit for card memory, it would make the Sport much more enjoyable for me to use. i would even be happy if they release a new firmware that has no database for the internal memory, but allows a 4,000(or more) song  database for card memory.

The Sport as it comes from the factory, has a 4,000 song limit for the internal memory and a 4,000 song limit for the external card memory. If you never update the firmware, you would have what you want. Unfortunately, the 1st firmware update required dropping the database limits to make room for the improvements/adjustments SanDisk made.

Also unfortunately, is that updating the firmware is a one-way street. The original firmware is not available for download, so once you update there’s no going back.

“he Sport as it comes from the factory, has a 4,000 song limit for the internal memory and a 4,000 song limit for the external card memory.”

The first firmware has issues though, and doesn’t seem to work properly with track number tags.

See my post of today on a newer thread.  Sport does not accept Audibles Enhanced mode. You will have to use Mode 4 to avoid the annoyances of trying to used Enhanced on a player they did not set up to use it.  A step back for Sansa!  I had both of your problems til I figured it out.

Also, I never had a problem loading anything from Overdrive.

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Dose anyone know if sansa is planning on fixing the long delay when using the sport clip for Audiobooks and Audible. I had the old fuze before, and it was great. Why is a product 10 years newer even having this issue. I’m wondering if I should return to store and switch to a different manufacturer.    Please    H E L P   ! ! !

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Don’t use the Enhanced mode when you download your book from Audible.  Use Mode 4.  No more delay.   I also found that if I use Ehanced mode, it chops the last few minutes of my book off every time.

Why a new player like Sport can’t use Enhanced mode is beyond me.  A big step backward from the Clips.

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@masterjoop wrote:

Don’t use the Enhanced mode when you download your book from Audible.  Use Mode 4.  No more delay.   I also found that if I use Ehanced mode, it chops the last few minutes of my book off every time.

 

Why a new player like Sport can’t use Enhanced mode is beyond me.  A big step backward from the Clips.

Just to confirm, Clip Sport with a Mode 4 Audible audiobook download has: 1) no lag in playback response regardless of how far into the book you are (I find with Enhanced Mode, the lag increases the further into the playback you are); and 2) the last several minutes of the audiobook are NOT cut off.

True and True?

I agree with a major step backward. I bought the Sport for the longer battery life with a screen large enough to report both current and total length including seconds.

That is right.  The no cut off and no lag.  

But the downside is that you get your book in parts again, not in one nice big file.  But who could go along with missing the end of the book?  So I am back to books in parts once more. 

Still, I don’t see how a new model like the Sport can go backwards and have so many less features.

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I am going to try this right now and report back when I finish the book.  We loved the Clip+ for Audible books and the blasted Clip Sport and Clip Jam (I have 1 of each, trying to find something to replace the Clip+) lags and chops off the end of the books. 

The delay is much better with the new Firmware (1.27).  Delay is now only 3-5 seconds on pause/playback.

The 2-3 minutes of loss at the end of enhanced format Audible audiobooks is still there.

Sandisk Please FIX!

Issue seems to be resolved by using Format 4 instead of the Enhanced format.  No more LONG delays before the book starts and it also is not cutting off the last 20 or so seconds.  I agree that Sandisk seems to have taken a huge step backward with this.  Really prefer the old Clip+.

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Just bought a Sandisk clip sport to replace a zip clip I have had for a long time with no complaints until I plashed milk on it. Who says there is no sense in crying over spilled milk. Now I have the sport and it has a terrible delay when I push pause … especially when I UNpause it. Sometimes I don’t think it will ever come on and I wonder if I really pushed the button and try to push it again and then that really causes trouble. I was considering taking it back to the store but If I’m understanding these posts correctly I would have the same problem if I exchanged it. I haven’t even finished the first book yet. It says it has firmware 1.29. But I read it was better since 1.27 … I guess not?

How do you choose mode 4 vs. enhanced? Is enhanced default? Do you choose this in Audible or on the Sandisk?

You do it on your Audible page, while you are in your Library.  It’s above the Search Your Library box, on the right hand side.  There is a box that says Audio Quality and you should change it from Enhanced to Format 4.

The downside is that longer books will come in multiple parts, not in one piece.  But it is SO much better than losing the endings of all your books.  Plus, the annoying lag times go away.

Hope this works for you!

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One issue that does arise with Mode 4 occurs with multiple files. The Clip Sport has a cut-off in terms of title length. If the audiobook has a long title, and may have the additional listing  if part of a series (“Book X”), and you listen to the unabridged version so that is listed in the title, then the audiobook Part number comes at the very end of the title and may be cut-off by the Clip Sport. The only way to tell the various parts apart is by their total length.

If you copy them over from last to first, they will end up in the right order.

If Sandisk would make a player speciifc for audiobooks, they could avoid alot of other useless stuff (just Settings and Books). The slightly larger size of the Sport makes showing the runing time and toal length even when >10 hours each. The longer battery is a major plus.

I was really hoping this device could be my dedicated audiobook player.

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