blips and skips

Hi, first post.  Just bought one of these things and am most impressed, but have the following issues:

On most music files there is at least 3 or 4 annoying ‘blips’ and sometimes many. 

On a few files the ‘blip’ is so extensive that the player skips to the next file.

When there are a lot of ‘blips’ or if the music skips to the next selection, reloading the offending selection will not eliminate all the ‘blips’ but will usually reduce their numbers and will allow the selection to play clear through without skipping to the next.

I listen to classical music so a loud ‘blip’ coming in on a quiet or dramatic passage is just horrible.

I am using internal memory, the ‘blipping’ occurs with two different headphones and in each case the plug is firmly in the jack.

I am playing MP3 recordings at a high bit rate (320 I think).

By the way, when a ‘blip’ is present, it occurs always in the same place, but it will move if the file is reloaded.  Of course, the music plays perfectly on the PC or on my DVD players playing a burned disk with the same music on it.

I really don’t know what to do.  I love this little thing, but I just can’t live with this ‘blipping’ because the more I listen, the more annoyed I am.

The first thing to try in this case is check your firmware build, to see if your Sansa has the latest version installed.

On the device, go to the Settings menu, then scroll down to the Info  selection.  The current version is 01.01.20.  Here is the firmware information thread for  the Clip Zip.

You can either install the firmware manually, or follow the link in the thread for the Sansa Updater application. After installing the Updater, simply plug in your Clip Zip, and if an update is needed, it will update the device automatically just follo the on screen instructions).  Manual updating is a simple task as well, simply follow the instructions described in the thread.

microsansa


Thanks for the reply.  I had meant to add that yes, I installed the latest update after I noticed the problem, but that it made no difference.

I have been considering taking a selection and seeing if I couldn’t reduce its bit rate and then trying it, but even if that works, to do that for everything would be impractical, I think.

Usually an audio drop out that happens in the same place in a file means that part of the mp3 stream is missing (often due to a corrupted download or a bad CDROM when the file was encoded). Do the files also skip on the PC?

As mentioned in my original post, no the skip isn’t heard while playing through the PC or if I burn it onto a CD and play it through my car & truck MP3 players.

In addition, if I reload the file, the skip moves to another place.

Latest update:  I have converted a piece to the .m4a format and I have have also produced a version with a reduced bit stream rate in the .mp3 format and in both cases, a skip is still there.  I am presently listening to the reduced .mp3 version and there is only one skip near the beginning, so this might be an improvement, but I can’t do this for all my music.

I am wondering if there isn’t a fundamental flaw in the hardware and I’m surprised that nobody else is having this problem.   Maybe it’s because I listen to classically orchestrated music with quiet and dramatic passages and that’s why I’m noticing this.

OK, latest experiment:

When I play a test selection using the PC, no skips, as mentioned, but when I play the very same file with the player connected through the USB port and using the player as a mass storage device and playing the selection through the PC, the skip is there.

This indicates to me that somehow the data is getting corrupted when it is transferred through the USB port.  I have tried various methods of transferring the file including “drag and drop” an I get the blip regardless of the method I use.  Something is wrong with the way the little unit transfers and stores data, I think.

Presently I do not have a SD card, but if I get one I’ll try transferring the file directly to it without going through the player and see if I still get blips on the music.  In the meantime, if you or anybody has any suggestions on how to get good data into the internal memory, I’d appreciate knowing it.  For now, it is my opinion that these little units have a serious problem and I can’t recommend anybody buy one.

June 12, 3:30 PM PDT

As mentioned in the other thread about the USB port MSC mode malfunction, it  has mysteriously started working.  By transferring my music using the MSC mode, my music is without chirps and blips and it sounds just great.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I just hope the player keeps working. 

And so, were the skips only with files transferred under USB MTP mode? The only reason I ask is, MTP mode has been noted on some other transfer glitch issues. Just wonder if there is something inherently glitchy in that mode, or in SanDisk’s implementation of it with the Clip.

Yes, that is correct, only with the “auto detect” and MTP mode (which I assume is the same thing).  When loaded as a file to a mass storage device, the files do not get corrupted.

I briefly looked through the threads, but I missed anything I would have recognized as MTP glitch issues, so if I’ve been redundant here, I apologize.

By the way, the way I got the thing to work is to “cancel” the error message each time it popped up (about 9-10 times).  After that, the unit connected and I could transfer files.  Something just ain’t right, but it works and it sounds beautiful and I’m happy.

“Auto detect” is “halfway” MTP: in Auto-detect mode, the system will try to use MTP mode; if it can’t, it will fall back to MSC mode. Your circumstance once again points out the sometimes-glitchy nature of MTP mode–a good reason to set to USB MSC mode, if you can (MTP mode is needed for many DRM-protected file systems).

My files have been corrupted by this process. what I’d like to know is can it be un-corrupted? Can it be brought back without the BLIPS?

I’m having the same ‘blips’ and ‘skips’ problem with podcasts.  I rarely have a 30 - 40 min. podcast to play in its entirety before it blips and then skips to the next podcast.

I’m using MTP mode.

 “a good reason to set to USB MSC mode,” since I am still waiting for a replacement, I will see if it makes any difference. whichever ways, this player has corrupted my entire music file and I will have to start all over again. I wish I could say I am having such a wonderful time!

@redford wrote:

 “a good reason to set to USB MSC mode,” since I am still waiting for a replacement, I will see if it makes any difference. whichever ways, this player has corrupted my entire music file and I will have to start all over again. I wish I could say I am having such a wonderful time!

Don’t you have your music stored, or backed up on your computer? It’s no big deal to format the player, clearing the memory and then re-loading your music in MSC mode. An hour or so’s work (if you want to call it work, the computer does it all).

unfortunately I edited all the music (putting artwork into the files) on the Zip. the annoying thing is the sandisk Zip corrupted files do not appear to pick up on the desktop, only on other devices like Android. therefore I did not suspect any problems and invested a great deal of time in the artwork. it is a good player. i have no quibbles there. but I have never experienced such file corrupting in a player before

@redford wrote:

unfortunately I edited all the music (putting artwork into the files) on the Zip. the annoying thing is the sandisk Zip corrupted files do not appear to pick up on the desktop, only on other devices like Android. therefore I did not suspect any problems and _ invested a great deal of time in the artwork. _ it is a good player. i have no quibbles there. but I have never experienced such file corrupting in a player before

This may be something . . . what did you do? The Zip is very finicky about album art. Did you embed the images in the tags? What size and what format?

hi, thanks for looking into this. the blips were present even before i began tagging on artwork, of which i used media monkey. i suppose if one plays loud pop music the corruption is not so notable. but qualitity orchestral material is the blips are there.

And you sure it’s not a headphone issue? Plug in all the way (the jacks are especially tight when new)? Not a broken wire in the cord somewhere?

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[Tapework asked, “Are you sure it’s not a headphone issue? Plug in all the way (the jacks are especially tight when new)? Not a broken wire in the cord somewhere?”]

I don’t know about redford, but my ‘blips’ are milisecond bursts of other podcasts in my folder.  I’ll hear a loud sound - like a needle scratching a vinyl record,  and then a word or two from some other podcast I’ve got in the folder.  Sooner or later the podcast simply skips to the next podcast in the lineup.

I’ve tried formatting and the problem remains.

FLASH! at last I have the empirical answer. I think I have solved the problem. The problem is bitrate. The Zip works off very high quality bitrate. If a file is anything less than a set rate it will protest by blips and skips. To “Splat”, if you have downloaded material for podcast, it may be of inferior quality and that is the reason its failing.

But most of all, To Sandisk! :scream_cat:

Please, I beg on my four knees make update for a new firmware which can solve the problem to what is a superbly designed and well executed budget player called ZIP! The size is great ands the artwork feature is the best around and I would gladly buy another and recommend to others BUT, not the way it is at the moment. Please, please, please solve this bitrate problem. It would make a good priced player perfect in its final evolution and a winner

I here wait in prayer and hope :cat: