Sport playlist problem persists 2 years on

SanDisk MP3 players SanDisk® Clip Sport
1

Hi all!

It’s been just over 2 years since I posted about the playlist problems I had after buying a Sport. I basically abandoned the unit to a drawer and carried on using the Clip+ running Rockbox but now I am so tired of the small screen I decided to look at the Sport again.

I updated the firmware to v1.29 and synced a few playlists. Once again songs were missing from the playlist even though the songs were copied on to the player and I could play them via the folder.

I removed the card, put it in the Clip+ and the playlists show all songs. I removed the card, put it in my mobile phone and all the songs are shown. I tried a few different playlist formats, relative paths, different folder options and nothing works.

I returned to this forum and saw a few other people with a similar problem. How can this still be a problem after 2 years? How can Sandisk screw up something so simple?

I would continue with the Clip+ with Sandisk firmware but it takes too **bleep** long to refresh the library because of the large memory card I have. Just connecting it to sync a podcast takes almost 30 minutes after disconnecting to refresh the library. At least the Sport is a little faster.

Sure, I could play songs from folders on the Sport but that isn’t why I bought the **bleep** thing.

I like the Sandisk range, the sound is good and until I got my hands on a Sport I didn’t have a bad word to say. Now I have a choice to make and it looks like my choice is going to be a Fiio X1. I already own a couple of their portable amps which are superb.

I looked at the Fiio M3 but I read that it uses the same chip as the Sport so has the 4000 song limit. That isn’t a problem but the worry that the playlist problem will come with it scares me off even though I have not read any complaints about it anywhere.

So now, I’ll sell the two Sandisk units and it makes me a little sad because I doubt I’ll return any time soon as I tend to stay brand loyal unless there is a major issue.

I really miss iRiver! :frowning:

2

Well written, as to many of your points.  From your mouth to SanDisk’s engineers’ ears . . . .

3

Firmware 1.29 allows for 2000 objects in each Music database (internal and mico SD card). This capacity should be good for a 16 gb SD card.  Firmware 1.28 allowed for 4000 objects in each Music database (internal and mico SD card). This capacity should be good for a 32 gb micro SD card.  What size micro SD card are you hoping to use with your Clip Sport?   
    Personally, I do not mind swapping out 16 gb cards every month or so for my music listening variety, etc etc.

Maybe you can read the entire message trail in this link to a discussion of FW 1.28 in this forum?

    http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/SanDisk-Clip-Sport/The-1-28-firmwhare-with-the-4-000-file-limit/td-p/351835

4

Thanks for your reply.

It really makes me sad how many good companies or companies with good products screw themselves be it Commodore, iRiver, Ericsson, Nokia, Sandisk (who probably care more about memory cards and SDDs) or whoever.

Ultimately we, the consumer lose out and the market is ripe for a player to finally put the iPod range in their place.

5

Thanks for your reply.

My problem isn’t with the file limit. It is with copying a 12 song playlist and only 2 songs appear in the playlist. The songs are on the device and the playlist shows correctly if I put it in my Clip+.

I dream of the day where I can get to even 500 songs on the device! :slight_smile:

6

Maybe read my recent post in this forum about using VLC Media Player (free PC software) to easily create music playlists for the Clip Sport and Clip Jam.

      http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/SanDisk-Clip-Jam/How-About-a-Utility-to-Create-a-Play-List/m-p/354457#M449

Also, “mp3tag” (free PC software) creates exellent multi-subfolder playlists that work on the Clip Sport and Clip Jam

      http://www.mp3tag.de/en/download.html

7

Thanks for your reply.

I did read 2 threads that contained a proceedure involving copying files to the device and then using VLC to create playlists. To be perfectly honest, I don’t like VLC software and I shouldn’t have to go through a convaluted proceedure to get an MP3 player to do something simple. I am not interested in using the Sandisk Sport that much! :neutral_face:

I have about 50,000 audio files, just under 800GB, so I need to manage them in a media library. I currently use Media Monkey and occasionally, if I need to, WinAmp.

For as long as I can remember I have always used a media library, even in the dark days when I used iTunes and before that WinAmp but for the last 4 years Media Monkey.

MP3 Tag is a good piece of software for rewriting tags and so on but it isn’t pheasible to use, in my situation, for creating playlists. To have to load my music library in it’s entirity would take an age or go hunting through directories isn’t worth it. That’s why I write tags! :smiley:

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate your post and your suggestion but to go to such lengths isn’t worth it in order to use the media player. I can and have synced my old iPod Nano in Media Monkey until the Fiio arrives.

Sandisk need to make their units user friendly and not expect use to work to get what we paid for.

Once again, thanks for your suggestion. Would you like an almost new Sansa Sport? :wink:

8

I have not used MediaMonkey.  But I have learned a few things while testing VLC and Mp3Tag software to create playlists on my Clip Sport.

    1. My working playlists must include the specific subfolder locations of my music files inside the Music folder on my Clip Sport.

    2. If I first create a playlist of music subfolders  & files that are saved on my PC and then simply copy these subfolders and related playlists into my Clip Sport, the device is not able to correctly interpret the location of all the subfolders & files.  I always save the m3u playlist inside one subfolder that contains all  the other cited music files. 

    3. The required structure of one entry in a working playlist looks like this:

        #EXTINF:nnn,ArtistName - SongTitle[LF]SubfolderName\Filename.mp3

AND, I make a decent effort to curate my ID3 tags so I can use my Clip Sport to play Albums, Artists, Song Titles and Shuffle All.

I started “small” until I was confident in my increasing enjoyment of this device. The learning curve is way more than I ever needed using my iPod Nano. And recently, I now enjoy making a few suggestions on this Forum to assist new Clip Sport owners.   

Best Wishes in your decision process !!

9

Thanks again for your reply.

Like yourself I am meticulous with my tagging and after taking back control of everything from iTunes (never again) I sorted everything in music/artist/album (or audiobook, podcasts,etc.)

My main gripe is that everything works like a dream with my Clip+ but not with the Sport. Swapping cards works with one and then not the other and it is frustrating as hell.

Tomorrow, after a nights sleep, I’ll take another look with your suggestion and write a follow up.

Thanks again! :confounded:

10

@ceitiinn wrote:

I have about 50,000 audio files, just under 800GB, so I need to manage them in a media library.

Wow!   ???    I wonder how many hours it would take to listen to all of that–perhaps a full year of waking hours, or getting close to it? 

And I feel so inadequate.   ???

11

@ceitiinn wrote:

Thanks for your reply.

 

It really makes me sad how many good companies or companies with good products screw themselves be it Commodore, iRiver, Ericsson, Nokia, Sandisk (who probably care more about memory cards and SDDs) or whoever.

 

Ultimately we, the consumer lose out and the market is ripe for a player to finally put the iPod range in their place.

I concur, and, in fact, still have an iRiver HP-140, an original hard drive jukebox player competitor to the early iPod.  Plus, of course, having a variety of flavors of SanDisk Clips.

“In defense of” the Clip, at least part of what occurred here is that the manufacturer of the chip used in the Clip, Clip+ and Clip Zip line discontinued that chip, leading to a different architecture for the Sport and Jam with a different chip–unfortunately, that chip is far from, um, robust.  I know that at least one other DAP company also is using that newer chip, and likewise is facing its limitations–one can’t but wonder, isn’t a more robust chip available at an attractive pricing, especially given that it’s been 9 years since the Clip was introduced?

Me, I keep on waiting for the Uber Clip to come out.   ??? 

12

I’m one of *those* people who back in the day would buy 8 different 12" versions of songs, such as Depeche Mode. Frankie was (I think) the ones who started with the ‘bring a new mix out every week’ to stay in the charts.

Then when CDs came along the albums on that could be different to the vinyl that could be different to the tape. Paul Young was guilty of this but so too were Depeche Mode. The album version of a single would differ to the single and so on.

If I really went through my music I guess I could strip away 20,000 easily because they are either duplicates, album tracks I don’t want and so on. However I am a completist so it goes against my nature! :slight_smile:

Over the last 5 years I got in to a lot of 70s music, like Pink Floyd. Jesus Christ, do they like to produce different versions. Back before the 90s when everything was on tape they kept the demos and different versions so, as I said, a lot of my music is more for archive value and, being 46, I’d hate to see how many records and CDs I’d have if digital didn’t stumble along when it did. :slight_smile:

But, nothing will ever replace the satisfaction I got from making a mix tape for a car trip or dog walk. You really put effort in to it and was dependend on your mood. The nearest I got was MiniDisc before they made USB linked versions that could record at 10x or whatever. :slight_smile:

I know, I’m a sad old duffer but if analogue was so bad why is there so much effort to replicate it. :slight_smile:

13

I’m aware that Fiio has the same chip as the Sport in their M3 player, which is why I wanted to steer clear of that player. However, from what I’ve read they don’t have the playlist problem and their update their firmware on a regular basis. Almost monthly.

However, though it is a little larger, the X1 was the player I opted for though it is a little too large to hang around the neck but it does with with mobile phone style in-line remote controls.

The sound chip on it has received good reviews but then I have never had any complaints about Sandisk, you get what you pay for so I don’t expect a £30 player to be audiophile friendly. :slight_smile:

That said, I remember when I upgraded my Sennheiser CX 300 II to a pair of Sennheiser IE 6. Not a massive difference in price but wow! It was the same when I bought some decent speakers, Mission, to replace the speakers that came with my Pioneer amp.

Makes me wonder what all those kids with Dre earphones would think if they were exposed to something decent. :slight_smile:

14

I’ve had a chance to play around with the Sport with v1.29 of the firmware. I completely formatted the intermal, external and restored default settings.

Media Monkey lets you define the folder structure and file name when copying to the destination device. For example, I have mine set up like this:

\Music\<Album Artist>\<Album>\<Track#:2> - <Title>

Media Monkey has a number of options when dealing with the playlist. You can select where they are stored, be it the root folder or a subfolder of your choice. You can choose if the playlist if written with relative paths or exact paths. It also supports a number of playlist formats such as M3U, M3U8, PLA, PLS and so on. In the absence of being able to find a list of compatible types I stuck with M3U, stored the playlist in the root folder and used exact paths so the playlist looked like this:

\Music\Bryan Adams\Get Up\01 - You Belong To Me.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Anthology\104 - Cuts Like a Knife.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Anthology\106 - Run to You.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Anthology\107 - Somebody.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Anthology\108 - Heaven.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Reckless (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)\106 - Summer of 69.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Anthology\103 - Straight from the Heart.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Anthology\110 - One Night Love Affair.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Reckless (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)\108 - It’s Only Love.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Anthology\115 - Can’t Stop This Thing We Started.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Anthology\116 - There Will Never Be Another Tonight.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Anthology\117 - Thought I’d Died and Gone to Heaven.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Anthology\205 - The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Miscellaneous Songs\00 - When You’re Gone.mp3
\Music\Bryan Adams\Anthology\114 - (Everything I Do) I Do It for You.mp3

However, in the Sport playlist there are only two entries listed, which are It’s Only Love and The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You.

I have tried saving the playlist to ‘\playlists’ as well as in the ‘\music’ folders with the same result.

I have also tried moving the music to artists in the root folder, all songs in ‘music’ with no subfolders… Just about every combination imaginable.

I have done the same in WinAmp, re-written the ID tags, converted the files to wav and back to MP3 just for the hell of it. I even gave the files completely generic text such as just numbers for titles, artist and album.

The songs are on the player and I can play them if I navigate using the folder menu. It’s just mind boggling.

This is just one example. If I sync 30 playlists then most of the time it is the odd song here and there which is missing and unless it is an album or you are expecting a song it would be easy to not notice a sing is missing from the playlist.

But the BIGGEST mystery is that I can put the SDCard into my Clip+ and the playlist displays all tracks.

15

Thank you for sharing some of your music collecting tastes and personal history. I can see you are passionate and careful about your music collecting hobby. I am  a few decades older than you and I still enjoy curating and digitizing my collection of new & used LPs and CDs.  I also enjoyed MinDisc for 5 years until I started accumulating various MP3 players. (Creative Zen Xtra, Cowon A2, etc)

I looked at the description of the Fiio X1 on Amazon and I looked at a Fiio User Forum.  Seems like there is an active group of users and several issues & improvements under disccussion.  I guess I am not ready to move beyond my current fascination with the Clip Sport. And still trying to collect all the colors (ha ha).

Once your new Fiio X1 arrives, I imagine you will enjoy a different learning curve with a device that is more sophisticated than the Clip Sport.  Maybe you could reply here at least once more time and tell us how your Media Monkey based library behaves on the Fiio X1 ???

Best Wishes 

16

I will let you know how things go when the X1 turns up.

One more piece of info about the Sport. I made a Depeche Mode playlist and the first track is missing so I wondered what would happen if I added the same track, from the same album, to the same playlist a second time.

So the track, Behind The Wheel, was missing but when I added it a 2nd time the track then shows up, but just the once. It is as if the Sport selectively misses the first track in some playlists.

I remember 2 years ago I made an MP3 which consisted of 1 second of silence which I added to every playlist to ensure all tracks appeared.

I know I am sounding like a broken record but how f’ed up is that?

17

You are helping us to learn the Clip Sport (and Clip Jam) are only accepting a minimal variety of m3u playlists even though these are produced by a wide variety of popular media player software programs. 

    I continue to experience excellent results using Mp3Tag software to quickly export m3u playlists that work on my Clip Sport players. 

18

I understand but using that system is too much work. I just want my media in a librart, pick the songs and sync the list. I change my music quite often and I can use my mobile phone, or clip+ without problems.

I find it quite strange that a player can miss a song off of a playlist because it is the first song but show it is you add it again as the 2nd song.

That is a problem Sanddisk need to correct though it is too late to keep me. :frowning: