I have no idea why they send out those stupid little CDs. No one can use them. But you don’t need that software at all.
In fact, you need absolutely no software to handle the Sansa. .If you have a PC that has WIndows Media Player 10 or above, that will connect automatically to the Sansa. (If you have a really old PC you’d have to update Windows Media Player from support.microsoft.com.)
I don’t know if you’ve had a music player before. If you’ve had an iPod, using Windows Media Player and the Sansa is something like using iTunes with an iPod–it makes playlists, synchs, etc. Not quite as seamless, but it does the job.
But you don’t even need that. You can connect the Sansa to your computer and drag-and-drop music onto it. As long as the music is .mp3 or .flac it will play .(If your music is all in iTunes, it may be .m4a, Apple’s own format. Still not a major problem. Using iTunes, you can highlight the files you want, right-click and choose Create Mp3 Version. Then you can drag-and-drop the mp3 versions over–though you do have to find where iTunes has stashed them. Edit/Preferences.)
The Rhapsody disc is just a trial of the Rhapsody music service. If you want to try Rhapsody, you can go to www.rhapsody.com and download the same software.
Here’s some geek talk. If you turn on the Sansa and go to Settings/System Settings/USB Mode you’ll see MTP, MSC and Auto Detect. MTP is the mode WIndows Media Player (10 or above) uses. MSC is the drag-and-drop mode–it just sees the Sansa as two regular disc drives, one for the internal memory and one for the microSD card sot. Auto Detect will choose MTP if it finds WMPlayer on your computer, MSC if not (for Apple and Linux users).
The confusing thing is that your computer can only see one mode at a time. If you connected to Windows, sent music over via MTP or Auto Detect, then connected to a Mac, which would only connect in MSC, the music from Windows wouldn’t be visible to the computer. That’s why a lot of us prefer to get off Auto Detect and pick one mode.
Personally, I hate WIndows Media Player and tend to listen to full albums rather than playlists. So although I’m on Windows, I leave the Sansa on MSC. You do need to be on MTP if, for instance, you get library audiobooks through Overdrive (which uses parts of Windows Media Player to send hidden codes to unlock the files). Otherwise, MSC just lets your computer and your Sansa get all cozy.
