Music Options vs. Podcast Options

SanDisk MP3 players Sansa® Clip | Sansa® Clip+
1

I only listen to podcast files.  I store them in the PODCASTS folder, and I play them by going through the Music-Folders menu.  Until recently, pressing the bottom button brought up the Podcast Options menu.  Now, the Music Options (Rate Song, etc.) comes up. 

Anyone know why this would happen?

2

Another problem when the Clip+ thinks it’s in “Music” mode is that it doesn’t keep bookmarks.  If I bump the fwd/back buttons (which happens way too often, but that’s a different problem), it switches tracks and I’m unable to return to my previous place.

It does remember where it was if I power off/on.

3

Formatting and resetting has cleared this problem up.

Really was hoping for a less drastic solution.  Nobody has even seen this problem?

4

(Absolute silence …)

5

(Absolute silence …)

I wonder if something in the ID3 tags of the new podcasts somehow screwed matters up; I’ve had that happen in the past.

6

Yes, podcasts are a tricky one.  When they are generated via various sources, I’ve noted that sometimes the requisite data is changed or missing.  This happens when the new podcast is posted to the chosen website.

Some of my podcasts will suddenly have a different file name format, or will display the source as “unknown”, since someone forgot to enter the correct data.

Bob 

7

I don’t listen to podcasts in “podcast mode”.  That is, I don’t select them using ID tags.  I navigate through them in Folders mode, and select by file name.

I think what you’re saying is that the bookmarks use the tag database somehow, and that maybe my tag database got corrupted?  I know that whenever I download new files, the Clip+ does some kind of refresh/rebuild when I disconnect.  I don’t know exactly what it’s doing… it never reported any errors.

For what it’s worth - when I formatted, I took all my data off the Clip+ and restored it after formatting.  Podcast mode works again.  I’d think that if one bad file/tag was to blame, that I’d still have the problem after reloading.

Message Edited by melman on 11-29-2009 09:34 PM

8

Over the weekend (about 1.5 weeks after the re-formatting mentioned above), I started to notice the problem again.  Some files were recognized as podcasts (pressing the down button displayed Podcast Options), and others were not (pressing the down button displayed Music Options).  By last night, every file I had was a “music” file.  So I formatted again.  This time it didn’t help.   All my tracks are still being recognized as music tracks.

Is the file system really that fragile?  This is becoming a serious annoyance.

Message Edited by melman on 12-08-2009 12:48 PM

9

After my last post here on Dec. 8, I restored my podcasts with no hierarchy in the PODCASTS folder.  That is, no subfolders.  Podcast mode came back and it has stable for 3 weeks.

Today, I created a subfolder and moved some of my files into it.  Immediately, it lapsed back into Music mode.  Remove the subfolder, and it went back to Podcast mode.

The thing is, I’m pretty sure I had a folder hierarchy under PODCASTS for the first couple of months that I had the clip+ (before I started having this problem).