Audiobook problems: Clip Jam database technical details?

[oy1]

My wife has a Clip Jam that she uses for audiobooks. She has been having an issue that has been baffling me. Note that she uses MP3 files.

She loads up a bunch of books and then some of the discs don’t show up. They are visible from Windows Explorer when I hook up the Jam to the PC. But not from the Jam itself.

I just discovered that there is a 2000 song/file limit for the Clip Jam internal memory.

Also saw this, from SanDisk:

• Deeply nested folders (many folders within folders) and long file names can use more than one entry in the database. Due to this if you have deeply nested folders or long file names the actual number of songs may be less than the database limitation.

There are no long nested folders for her, but the filenames… That could be an issue. But how long is “long” here?

My question:
Does anybody know the details of this? How exactly do long file names affect this, beyond just guessing? Does anyone know how to pull the database up and view its structure? As a programmer that’s what I’d like to be able to do. Or is this so propriety in design that I’m wishing on the moon?

Another related question:

Does having a lot of other tags in the metadata affect the database size? She does have that. Title, artist, album, even comments on who the reader is, etc.

I haven’t yet counted the number of files she has on her Clip Jams–she has them and isn’t around at the moment. But I’m guessing this may be the problem, because she just bought a new one thinking the old one had a hardware problem.

Thanks for any insights.

[dfeld2005]

I have been reading most of the messages posted on this SanDisk Forum for the past 2.5 years. I have not seen any detailed analysis that properly answers your questions.  Here are my current work-arounds for the 2000 file limit for the Clip Jam.

 Audiobooks Mode (with resume feature)

Try to carefully curate the ID3 tags of the mp3 files (v2.3, delete v2.1). Need to display unique specificity within first 12 characters of “Album” and “Title” fields. Use 2-digit track numbering (00-99).  Maybe limit the total number of audio files to less than 1500 ??

Folder Mode (no resume feature)

Need to maintain linear ascending Folder name and File name ordering using Fat Sorter software.

    explanation -> https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/sort-files-alphabetically-usb-stick-or-mp3-player.htm

    working download -> http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/FAT-Sorter.shtml

Need to display unique specificity of Folder names and File names within first 12 characters.

These efforts take a bit of patience & experimentation to arrive at a working solution that achieves your desired results.

[oy1]

Thanks very much for your input.

Try to carefully curate the ID3 tags of the mp3 files (v2.3, delete v2.1). Need to display unique specificity within first 12 characters of “Album” and “Title” fields. Use 2-digit track numbering (00-99).  Maybe limit the total number of audio files to less than 1500 ??

Have you determined whether using other tags in the metadata beyond Album and Title will affect the database size?

I read on this forum that these devices prefer ID3v.2.3 ISO-8859-1. I looked and all the audiobooks my wife has are v.2.3 UTF-16. Do know if that can create issues?

Thanks again for your help. Much appreciated.

[dfeld2005]

Hopefully a few other SanDisk users will provide direct answers to your questions?

Have you determined whether using other tags in the metadata beyond Album and Title will affect the database size?

   -> I do not know the answer. But I suspect the Sport & Jam simply ignore many of the metadata fields in the ID3 tag.

I read on this forum that these devices prefer ID3v.2.3 ISO-8859-1. I looked and all the audiobooks my wife has are v.2.3 UTF-16. Do know if that can create issues?

    -> I do not know the answer. But I have learned alot from a few rounds of trial & error to achieve functional results.

Since you are asking about ID3 tag metadata for the Clip Jam, I recommend using the software “mp3tag”.

     https://www.mp3tag.de/en/

  This software has a amazing variety of “macro” commands that can apply specific, desired changes with the click of one button.

[oy1]

Thanks! I already use MP3tag and I completely agree with you–extremely useful program.

[tapeworm]

@oy1 wrote:

 

I read on this forum that these devices prefer ID3v.2.3 ISO-8859-1. I looked and all the audiobooks my wife has are v.2.3 UTF-16. Do know if that can create issues?

 

Yes. I would use MP3Tag to change. You can do ‘en masse’ by selecting all first.