Can't download podcasts into my Fuze

SanDisk MP3 players Sansa® Fuze™
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Hi Tom

Thank you for this - it looks like very useful info.

But because I’m a bit paranoid about doing the wrong thing I have gone into this as you suggest

"Switch to MSC: From Fuze’s home menu, scroll wheel to select Settings | System Settings | USB Mode | MSC.

I find that it is already in MSC mode.  I do get titles coming up - well from Coast to Coast it’s dates not titles which is annoying but I think that’s an issue with them.

BBC podcasts come up named and songs already in the Fuze when I bought it, are named.

But I notice that titles I insert in my Recordings files, don’t seem to transfer when I drag and drop - so it seems I get titles from web named items but not from self named items. Does that make sense?

I also went here as you suggested: Format Fuze: From Fuze’s home menu, scroll wheel to select Settings | System Settings | Format | Yes.

I got as far as the question - do you really want to format - yes or no and I chose No just in case that’s the better option in view of the fact that I was already in MSC mode.

Could you please clarify for me what it is best for me to do? eg If I appear to be already in MSC mode, do I need to reformat?

Thanks Tom

Dave

22

Dave,

Good heads-up call. If you are already in MSC mode, then you are right, there is no need to reformat.

To see track (song or podcast) info: While track is playing, press the bottom of the scroll wheel to access the options menu. Scroll to the bottom to select ‘Track Info’. This shows all the info fields, and should tell you if any is missing.

The MP3 info tag that the Fuze recognizes has to be in a certain format, called ID3 v2.3. All MP3 programs on the PC allow you to add or change this tag.

Example for Winamp: While track is playing, press Alt-3 to access track’s info tag. Click on the ‘ID3v2’ tab to see or change the tag info. Other MP3 programs have similar functions.

If the Fuze can’t see a track’s info tag, it defaults to using the track’s filename, leaving the info fields (title/artist/etc) blank. The track will play fine without a valid info tag, just that there’ll be no info showing when it is playing.

Some people don’t use tags, but instead use filenames and/or folders to store track info. Something like: Artist - Album - track # - Song title.mp3. It’s a simple and fast solution for those who don’t want to deal with the hassle of tag management.

If you use this method, then you would want to use the Fuze’s folder browsing mode: Select Music, then scroll all the way to the bottom to select Folders. Here, tracks are shown by filename and folder name. This pertains to music tracks, i.e. tracks within the MUSIC folder, although you can place podcasts in the same MUSIC folder and they’ll display/play the same way.

It sounds like the program you’re using to insert titles into your recordings isn’t using the correct info tag, or not in the proper format. If so, suggest you install Winamp and use it for simple tag management. If you have a large MP3 library, then there are dedicated MP3 tagging programs available for efficient batch tag management.

23

Coast to Coast can be quite entertaining indeed, great company on a long night.  Regarding your difficulties in locating podcasts (or any audio file, for that matter), that is renamed on your computer:

When you rename a file, you are doing just that: the file name may change, but the Sansa sees these files by their integrated tags.  You can find your files by file name using the Folder Navigation option on the Fuze.  The Sansa indexes and locates your audio files based upon their ID3 tag data.  This data is an integrated part of the audio format, providing song track, artist, album, and genre information, plus more.  This information is separate from the individual file names, though in many files, they are indeed named the same as the “song” tag.

Podcasts are from many different sources, and quite often, this data changes from day to day as the podcaster posts the day’s episodes.  Sometimes, you may see an episode named simply by episode number or date.

The MP3Tag utility, available via download, is quite useful for editing the ID3 tags.  There are many other ways of editing the tags, even Windows Media Player has the Advanced Tag Editor feature, though it isn’t as powerful as a proper utility can be.  In MSC mode, you should have no problems with drag and drop.  I’d suggest putting your podcasts in the Podcast folder (check is the genre is set to “podcast” ), so you can have automatic bookmarking for those long broadcasts.

To play podcast files, go to Music > Podcasts.  When you leave the file to play music, you can return to the podcast, and the Sansa can resume playback where you left off.

microsansa

Message Edited by microsansa on 03-16-2010 11:13 PM

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Dave, hope you sorted it out. I’m also from UK. :slight_smile: I always use MSC mode for anything in Fuze and browse only by FOLDERS. I transfer my CTC files by going in My Computer, opening Sansa Fuze icon, and dragging&dropping the named Coast to Coast folder into Podcasts folder. To playback I go strait to FOLDERS option (I wish they put a separate icon on the front screen!!!) and choose the first file of the show I want to listen. This type of folder browsing (MSC) doesn’t rely on tags and more reliable. Never had  a problem with folder drag&drop transfer.

(I wish only that Coast to Coast engineers could enhance the bitrate from 48kbps to 64kbps. It would make a big difference in quality and I doubt it would affect their traffic greatly  :slight_smile:

 

Message Edited by Etoja on 03-17-2010 04:21 AM

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@tomjensen wrote:

The Fuze has two modes of access: MTP (the default, what you’re probably using) and MSC … Drag&drop only works correctly in MSC mode. Since switching between modes can cause confusion, would strongly suggest you stick to one mode. For simplicity, would suggest you use MSC mode, and use drag&drop for transfers.

Switch to MSC: From Fuze’s home menu, scroll wheel to select Settings | System Settings | USB Mode | MSC.

The USB mode on my Fuze is set to “Auto Detect”. After connection to the Windows PC the Fuze icon appears but without a drive letter. Drag&Drop seems to work, but I cannot use the Windows function to properly disconnect Hardware, I can only pull the USB plug of the Fuze. Do you think that this (Auto Detect) might cause trouble in the future?

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Message Edited by TomJensen on 05-03-2010 06:03 PM

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@tomjensen wrote:

Fuze icon + no drive letter = connected in MTP mode

 

On my platform (Win XP Pro SP3), drag-drop in MTP is buggy as tag info is ignored. It may work or may not work for you. For drag-drop, suggest using MSC mode.

 

Note that files transferred in one mode isn’t accessible by the PC while in the other mode (the Fuze sees files in both modes). This may cause confusion. Suggest using only one mode.

 

For flash storage, you can remove device any time data isn’t being written to it (for Fuze, it’ll say ‘Writing’).

Thanks, this sounds convincing, so I will change to MSC before transferring more files to the Fuze.