Clip+ failure rate

Hello!

I’m planning on getting a Clip+, but unexpectedly i’ve come upon a large number of posts describing dead players - problem being the on/off button and whatnot.

Is the failure rate of Clip+ really higher than other players or are all the complaints just so concentrated here?

hope it’s not discussed before and thanks in advance,

paul

@paulk wrote:

Hello!

 

I’m planning on getting a Clip+, but unexpectedly i’ve come upon a large number of posts describing dead players - problem being the on/off button and whatnot.

Is the failure rate of Clip+ really higher than other players or are all the complaints just so concentrated here?

 

hope it’s not discussed before and thanks in advance,

paul

They’re all just concentrated here. My one I have been using daily for about a year now, and it is still in perfect working order…and my other one I’ve been using almost daily for months since I got it and it also is fine. If they are dying on people then people simply aren’t taking care of their gear.:wink:

Getting a few, select responses in a forum (or forums) isn’t a very scientific approach in my view; to get an accurate (or somewhat accurate) idea of Clip+'s failure rate.

Getting some return data from either an established retailer or an independent testing firm may offer some better insight.

I dunno.  But getting a few responses here isn’t going to give you an a precise idea of the unit’s actual failure rate.

If you are that worried about it, don’t buy one.  In my view, as cheap as they are; they are a pretty good value even if they fail right after the warranty expires…but that’s me.

My guess is that at least half the time someone posts about their player failing, it is either due to the player being used improperly, or else the problem is easily solvable by formatting the player and reloading(or updating) the firmware, and perhaps scanning their songs for corrupted files and eliminating the corrupted files before reloading the player.

When you go to a hospital and see that all the people staying there are sick, do you get the feeling that all people are sick? When you go to a support forum you should expect to see posts from people who have problems. The thousands of problem posts here are just a  fraction of a percent  of the millions of players that have been sold.

Indeed, the Achilles’ Heel of the Sansa is that a corrupted file can really gum up the works during that initial database refresh, or playing a file with a mid-file corruption can lock up the player, making it play possum.

The customer assumes, since it will no longer respond, that the player is dead.  in reality, most often, it’s just stuck.  In these cases, the soft reset is your friend!  Hold the switch up in the ON position, or with the Clip+, hold the ON button depressed, for 20 seconds to reset the device, release, then try again.

I am sure that many other brands of portable players can do the same thing, as a browse of their forums yields similar complaints.

Murphy’s Law applies well to electronics.  Typically, if a device is going to fail, it will do so early in its service lifetime.  If a device has been functioning for a while in the field, odds are that it will fare well.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

I have had a Sansa Clip+ for 2 days and it already died(non responsive) on me. I learned online how to do a hard reset and that worked. But my question is why did it malfunction so soon? Is battery not charging in MSC mode? (I only use MSC mode due to not wanting to use WiMP 11, My PC detects it in MSC, but hasn’t successfully completed the hardware detect process due to wanting to install with WMP. I’m using a 8gb sandisk micro SDHC card to load music.  Any Idea why this would happen so soon? It’s working currently, But if it is a dud, I want to know before the 90 day warranty is up.

What could be causing it to just QUIT?

It didn’t die, but merely froze up and became unresponsive. Why? Could be any number of reasons, but it’s not something that known to happen all the time so I wouldn’t be concerned.

The reset procedure is even described in the User’s Guide, so don’t be afraid to use it whenever necessary:

Reset
If the Sansa® Clip+ MP3 player freezes up for any reasons, press the Power button
and hold it for approximately 15 seconds. This is similar a power down of the player.
However, be aware that once you perform the reset, any adjustments you made
during the last operation will be lost.

And don’t worry about MSC mode; I think you’ll find it less idiosyncratic than MTP. Also, the Clip+'s warranty is 1 year (2 years I hear in Europe), so don’t fret over the 90 day thing . . . unless you bought a re-furb somewhere in which case the SanDisk mfg. warranty doesn’t apply.

I have a ReCertified Sansa

@frugalfreak wrote:

I have a ReCertified Sansa

That another word for re-furbished so yes, your 90-day warranty from the seller would be your only protection. SanDisk will not honor claims except on “new” units.

Actually, if you got a 90-day warrantuy of a re-furb, your’e doing pretty good. They’re not usually that generous.

I have been using Sansa Clip+ 8gb for a year now. So far it has been in a washing machine, but it still works (the battery life is couple hours shorter though ;( ). The “next” button also stopped working for me couple weeks ago, but im still able to change songs through the menu, not a big problem for me actually. Of course there’s the problem that I can’t fast forward the songs now. But I have been using this player almost every day for a year now, so :slight_smile:

But all in all, i had my doubts when i bought my Clip+, but i have been more than happy about this player, because i have been using it A LOT and it still works. I just ordered 16gb MicroSDHC card for this, hopefully it works so this will be even greater music player :slight_smile:

Hello Frugal. The player might have frozen due to a corrupted file. Do you remember what was playing when it froze up? If it freezes up again, try to remember what you were playing or trying to play when it froze. Sometimes the firmware in the player becomes corrupted, so if it freezes up a few more times you might want to download the firmware and reinstall it on the player.

Also remember not to insert or remove a card while the player is on.

HEY EVERYBODY: PLEASE READ THIS !!!

I have had three SanDisk Clip MP3 Players, and ALL THREE have failed prematurely.

After reading these posts, I took my third player, which was DOA, and tried holding the power button on top down for 30 seconds. There was no indication of life. After releasing the power button, I plugged it into the charging adapter, pressed the power button, and bingo, the unit powered up and functioned normally. 

DO NOT THROW AWAY YOUR PLAYER WITHOUT TRYING THESE STEPS!!! They worked for me and I hope they will work for you.

Good Luck, and Good Night.

You DO know don’t you, that after holding down the power button to perform a reset you have to press the power button again to turn it on? Plugging it into the charger had nothing to do with it.