To be a little geekier, the Sansa works in MSC mode–the universal connection. MSC means that to your computer, the Sansa looks like a basic flash drive or hard drive–actually two of them, one for the internal memory and one for the microSD card in the slot. So when it’s connected, you can drag and drop or copy over music just as you could with any folders on your computer.
The Sansa also works in MTP mode, which lets it be controlled by Windows Media Player, similar to the way iPods work with iTunes. But unlike iTunes/iPod, it is NOT required because you can use MSC mode instead. The only thing you absolutely need MTP for is for files with digital rights codes (DRM)–like library audiobooks–because Windows Media Player can send them over in MTP mode.
There’s a USB Mode Setting under Settings/System Settings/USB Mode. It has MSC, MTP and Auto Detect. Auto Detect will detect whether Windows Media Player is on your computer. If yes, it goes to MTP. If no (like for Mac or Linux) it goes to MSC.
I leave mine on MSC, since I don’t use any DRM files. You can make playlists, etc. with Windows Media Player in MSC mode as well, or use other software like Winamp or Media Monkey, or just drag-and-drop like I do.
Here’s the catch: Your computer can only see files from one mode at a time. So if you send some files over in MSC and some in MTP, your Sansa will see them all, but your computer will only see the ones from a single mode. That’s why I don’t use Auto Detect.
