I have a Sansa clip+ 8gb…when i download music from my computer it doesn’t always appear on my clip but it must be somewhere because if I try to download it again my windows media player says “already on device”…any suggestions?
The Clip+ navigates to your music based upon the embedded ID3 tags in your music files. You’ll find them listed as “unknown” on the player.
The Clip+ has a folder mode under music, allowing you to find those tracks by the file name. This is tremendously helpful for those annoying moment when you’ve transferred a few tracks, only to be away from the computer later, and there’s no new music!
You can edit the ID3 tags using Windows Media Player, then retransfer the corrected versions to the device later. Or, you can edit the tags using MP3Tag, a great utility available as a ffree download. The tags can be fixed on the device if they were transferred in MSC mode. Otherwise, simply edit them on the computer side first, then retransfer. The latter method is my choice, since I like to have the data correct for later transfer to a second (or third) Sansa later.
If you have any questions regarding the methods, I’ll be happy to help you later today, after I get my “honey-dos” done.
Bob :smileyvery-happy:
Thanks for the reply…I’m not so tech savvy so I didn’t quite “get” your answer.I connected the clip to my computer and on windows media player I saw on the external memory card the music that I can’t find when I go to look for it on the clip under artist,album,artist…I don’t understand how I can see it on the memory card but not when I look for it on the actual clip…thanks for your understanding!!
As Bob said, your Clip+ is looking for the ID3 tag embedded within the audio file. The information contained within that tag is what is displayed on your player (Artist, Album, Track# & Name, Genre, etc.), both in the navigational lists and while the track is playing.
Downloaded tracks don’t always have the correct tag information, or have gobs of unnecessary garbage crammed into the Comments field of the tag that confuses the teeny brain of the Clip+. Ripped CD’s are usually more accurate in this matter (if you’re connected to the internet when you do the ripping), but you’ll still occasionally find mistakes in the online database from which the info is gleaned.
If these tags are incorrect, have strange or foreign characters, or are in a format that can’t be read by your player, then it will lump these together under the classification “Unknown”. Scroll down your Artist list on your player and see if you have an “Unknown” artist. I’ll bet you do. And if you select it, you’ll probably find all of your missing songs.
So there are 2 ways of dealing with this . . . ignore the problem and simply scroll down to the end of the Music menu (or up one) to Folders. This way you’ll see a folder/file hierarchy just as on your computer. Not all mp3 player have this feature/option, but the Clip+ does, so you can find and play your files this way.
The other way is to ‘fix’ the tags on the missing files. This is where MP3Tag shines, as it is a dedicated ID3 tag editing program. But as Bob also mentioned you can do it from within Windows Media Player as well. Once the tags are standardized, the lists on your player will display the correct track information.
Thank you so much for the information.I will follow your advice and try and solve this problem.
Mission accomplished. Well, there was one hitch when repairing the sprinklers.
After splicing a broken pipe, and installing a special flexible sprinkler line below the head, I carefully repositioned the cut sod. Then, time to celebrate. I decided to give the back yard a quick mowing before testing out the rear circuits, replacing a head that was guillotined by the mower earlier.
Thwack! I discovered another head that was just a wee bit too tall. Back to the hardware store again. So go the best laid plans of mice and men.
Once you have a go at editing the ID3 tags, it’s a breeze.
In Windows Media Player 11, there is the “advanced tag editor”. A shortcut is to look at the complete album. To the left of the tracks, you will see the album art, and the basics: Album / Artist / Genre. If you click on these main listings, WiMP will change them for every track in that album.
MP3Tag has a complete toolbox of functions, allowing you to correct entire groups of tracks or albums, and even change the ID3 tag version for your player.
Windows Media Player uses ID3 v2.3 ISO 8859-1 (Latin-I) format by default. The Sansa works best with this format. With MP3Tag, all you need do is set the Write format to this version.
Bob :smileyvery-happy:
