Clip+ 4GB - 16GB microSDHC - Audiobook Question

Have copied over several audiobooks in MP3 format to a Sandisk 16GB microSDHC card and for some reason when attempting to browse the listings via the Music —> Audiobook menu, they fail to show up, instead at the bottom of the listing of audiobooks there is an “i” folder type option that then lists a whole bunch of “i” entries with an SD card icon on the right of each entry, when selected it starts to play one of the audiobook files that I copied over. It only lists the Artist name when playing. I do not have these problems with audiobooks stored in the internal Clip+ memory.

I have the USB mode set to auto (same thing happen when set to MTP mode), using Windows 7 to drag and drop the files to the External uSD Card AUDIOBOOKS folder. When going via the Music —> Folders –>External uSD Card —> MUSIC —> AUDIOBOOKS the audiobooks are listed like the they are in the Audiobook menu.

Is there special mp3 tagging that needs to be done on the MP3 files so they can be seen in the Audiobook menu? Or does the files need to be copied to the root of the SD card rather than the AUDIOBOOKS folder? Does this problem go away if using the MSC mode? I also noticed that while there is a PODCASTS folder there is no music folder. Is this normal? Where does one copy music, when in auto/MTP mode, when putting albums on the SD card, in the root folder?

Candidly, I’ve found MSC mode to be less problematic than MTP (or, heaven forbid, the Auto setting). I’d try MSC mode and see if all the issues go away.

Miikerman, thanks for the suggestion unfortunately changing things over to the MSC mode and recopying the media hasn’t fixed this audiobook issue on the SD card. Audiobook files on the SD card don’t show up in the Audiobook list like the internal files do. Rather there is an “i” entry at the end of the audiobook name list, when selected it shows all of the audiobook files together (doesn’t group them by album/disc number/title or the like and labels them all “i” and when selected plays the audio with the author name displayed.

I’ve been using MP3Tag v2.48 to retag the MP3 audiobook files. Are there any special setting for tagging that could cause the Clip+ to misread the tags? Currently the MP3Tag program set the tags for the audio book files (including the internally saved files) to ID3V2.3 (ID3v1 ID3v2.3).

Is there a default MP3 Tag list, other than the tags Artist, Album, Song Title, Track Number, Genre, and Year, that someone can point me too that the Clip+ utilizes to read the audio file and what tags the Clip uses to sort and display at each of the menu screens? And Is there a character limit on the tags when the Clip reads them? It seems strange that when saved internally these files display without issue, but when saved to the Sandisk 16 GB microSDHC card things change and they are no longer displayed properly. Or is it perhaps the card itself that is at fault? Unfortunately I don’t have immediate access (or funds) to replace this card at the moment.

An update that may help others if they run into this strange problem. Check the tags for your MP3 files. Turns out when the files were ripped the wrong fields got filled out (somehow) and the Clip pulled the information from the wrong/empty fields. The second problem was with the MP3Tag program. Turns out if your using the MP3Tag program put the artist name in the Album Artist field not the Artist field, in addition make sure there’s a title in the Title field. Several of my MP3’s were either missing data for the Title and or Album Artist fields and that’s what appears to cause the Clip to misread the tags and cause the missing album names in the Audiobook list. Also in one case all of the MP3’s for one ripped audio book defaulted to the album title being in the Title field and not the in the Album field. The Album field is for the album title and the Title field is for the individual track/chapter/song name when using MP3Tag.

Thanks for the info.  Very timely as I was planning to add a “book on CD” to the ext uSC of my Clip+.  Thought that I could rip the book in mp3 format and copy to either Audiobook or Podcast folder.

I regularly copy mp3 podcasts with no problem, using mp3tag to specify Album and Title fields.  These are the only fields Clip looks at.  All other tags are ignored…

Thought it would work the same way for Audiobook folder. Are their other tags I need to be concerned about?   If  problem with Audiobook,  I don’t see any reason why saving book as a Podcast would not work.

Your view on this ?

After much experimenting with audiobook tags over the last 24 hours in an effort to get them to appear properly in the Clip+ when loaded to the Audiobook folder in the internal memory or to the microSD card, it appears that the Clip+ reads the Title, Album, Track, Genre, and Album Artist fields when using MP3Tag.

Title: The unique name for the track/chapter/file

Album: The name of the audiobook

Track: The number of the track/chapter/file to allow the Clip to play the files in numerical order

Genre: Should be set to “Audiobook” in MP3Tag

Album Artist: The book author (or if one desires, the person who is performing the reading of the book) 

If one’s audiobook has multiple files (and are copied to the Audiobook folder on the Clip+/microSD card) its advisable to go to the Settings –> Audiobook Options –> Ch. Mode and set it to “On”. This will allow one to advance to the next/previous audiobook chapter/file (if the audiobook has multiple files) with the I<< and >>I navigation controls/buttons.

Thanks for the update.  I’ll give it a try.

Didn’t realize that tag useage was more extensive in Audiobooks than in Podcasts

I just got a Sansa Clip+ for audiobooks, and I’m having a terrible time. I don’t know how to do Tags. I don’t know about sync and am now seemingly locked in to Windows Media Player. Files and folders don’t show up in the player, and some won’t even copy over (from Librivox). I am so frustrated! I hope someone will be kind to an old lady getting overwhelmed with fun but frustrating gadgets.

I wonder if it might be helpful to you to telephone SanDisk’s customer service, where someone can walk you through the various aspects in real time? 

In the U.S.:  1-866-SANDISK (726-3475).  And other SanDisk contact information:  http://www.sandisk.com/sandisk-support/contact-us

I have a sansa xpress usb mp3 player sandisk I have 3 books on my player - when I try to play the new book it always goes back to te first book - do I have to delete the books as they are read?

@campbell wrote:

I have a sansa xpress usb mp3 player sandisk I have 3 books on my player - when I try to play the new book it always goes back to te first book - do I have to delete the books as they are read?

No, but this is the Clip+ board. You have an Express. You should post your question in the

All Other MP3 Players board

The Clip+ doesn’t support album artist. I suggest that you get rid of the album artist tags. also don’t edit tags on the player. Edit the tags on the copy on your pc, delete the files on the player, then copy them to the player again. I had problems when I tried editing tags directly on the player.

I have the same problem with audiobooks and also with my music. When it first happened, I thought I was doing something wrong, so I reformatted the Clip+ and started again. Strangely, reformatting didn’t erase all the data on the Clip+. Now my memory is getting full and only about one quarter of the files actually show up on the clip. When I’m plugged into the computer, I see an entirely different set of files. For instance, I deleted one folder while plugged into the computer, but it still shows up on the player when I disconnect from the computer. This little player, while full of great features, is a total pain in the ass to use. Perhaps Sandisk should hire some useability experts to try to make the experience a little more user friendly. At this point, I’m ready to throw the thing out and buy an iPod!

Ted, format the player using the the player’s menu(settings, system settings, format). Set the USB mode on the player to MSC(settings, system settings, USB mode) if you don’t use protected files, or to MTP if you do use protected files. Copy your files to the player. The problems you are having is due to the player being in autodetect mode. You need to choose either MSC or MTP for the USB mode and stick with it.

And expanding a bit, when the player is connected under USB MSC mode, the computer only shows the files that were transferred under MSC mode.  Same as to MTP mode,  And in the USB Auto setting, the player tries to use MTP mode but will fall back to MSC mode, if MTP mode can’t work–hence, a possible mess in what the computer later can see. 

I actually don’t have it in Autodetect mode, and I did format it using the Settings tab. That’s why it’s confusing to me.

If at first you don’t succeed . . . . (I am convinced that electronics deliberately play tricks on us human beings and taunt us.)