I got my 4GB Clip+ for Father’s Day. Overall, I think it’s a great device. What I have happening is, random play has a strong tendency to want to repeat the song it just played. After that it may (or may not) move on to another song. I’ve isolated it (I think) to it having trouble with folders. Or maybe how the folders are structured. Like maybe it navigates into a folder and can’t get out? It seems to happen particularly when I have an SD card in it and tell it to randomly play everything. Which is a lot. But I’ve also seen it happen without external storage and just the folders loaded in the Clip’s internal memory. For the moment, I’ve given up on folders and external media and have all the music files in a flat, folder-less hierarchy in internal memory. I have a mix of songs ripped from CD and some downloaded from YouTube. All are MP3 in various bit rates. Anyone seen this behavior? Anyone have any suggestions?
Hello.
Unfortunately, I am unable to offer suggestions but can confirm, I am having the same issue as well.
For example, I have over a couple hundred songs in one folder. After selecting the songs in that particular folder, and after selecting random play, it will tend to play a song a couple of times over before moving on to a new one. Not back-to-back, but say, in a 10 or 12 song sequence.
Yes, any help would be appreciated.
Interesting that we both see this happening.
Lets hope Sandisk can offer some assistance. It’s not a show-stopper. But it is annoying.
There have been a lot of complaints about SanDisk’s not-so-random “random” function through the years and the company has apparently not improved it. Or it might be a little too random, without a safeguard against repetition (since if you choose completely randomly within a folder you might just choose the same track again).
If you are good with computers and don’t mind tweaking a bit, there is alternate firmware called Rockbox at www.rockbox.org . It may have a better randomizer. Just follow the installation instructions carefully.
Thank-you for your response. I did try out Rockbox within the first 24 hours of having the Clip+. For me, there wasn’t any advantage over stock that I could see, so I restored the Clip. Maybe I should re-visit Rockbox. At least they get updates.
I find myself wishing and wondering why this device and Windoze insist on treating media files as media and not just files. This whole library concept is foreign to the Mrs. and me since we just made the leap from XP to W7. Maybe we just havne’t got the hang of it, yet.
One good thing about the Sansa is that you don’t have to deal with libraries or media devices or anything else if you put it in MSC mode, which treats the internal memory and card slot as two separate and simple storage units.
The default mode is Auto Detect, which will detect Windows Media Player and connect in MTP mode (Media Transfer Protocol) and do all that strange stuff. Go to Settings/System Settings/USB Mode and change it to MSC. In MSC mode your computer just sees two flash drives. You can just drag and drop your music files.
Assuming you have copies of the music on your computer, I suggest going to Settings/System Settings/Format and formatting the unit. That will erase all the user content (but it doesn’t mess with the firmware). The reason to do this is that the computer can only see one mode–MTP or MSC–at a time, so if you have music transferred in both modes, some of it is going to be invisible to your computer.
Switch to MSC, connect, and reload your music. You can just drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste your music into the unit or onto the microSD card (which shows up as Removable Disc on the next driveletter). Might as well put it into the Music folders.
Win7 is quite annoying with the whole Libraries thing, but if you just click into Computer and find where you’ve stored your music, you don’t have to deal with Libraries either. You could do what I did–put a shortcut on the desktop to my Albums folder (which for me is on a removable drive, but could also be on C:).
sweller wrote:
I find myself wishing and wondering why this device and Windoze insist on treating media files as media and not just files.
Because you’re using MTP mode (expained above). Using MSC mode will relieve you of this confusion (also explained above).
Over the weekend I switched to MSC and filled up a 32GB card. Listening to it now. So far so good.
But that’s still with a flat file structure. Maybe this weekend I’ll tryswitching back to a foldered heirarchy.
I’m still missing something though…
Why is the default MTP?
First of all, you should be able to do folders, subfolders, etc. in MSC mode. I do–about 32GB of them in the slot.
Apparently SanDisk’s idea was that since mp3 player consumers were used to the iTunes/iPod model, it would implement the same sort of thing with WMP/Sansa.
But Apple, in its closed universe with all of its own hardware and software, can coordinate (or dictate) things a lot better than the wide-open Windows universe, with a zillion different PCs and players. So MTP mode turns out not to be as ■■■■■-proof or glitch-proof as Apple’s walled garden. (Meanwhile, if you try to get under the hood with an iTunes/iPod system, it’s completely inscrutable–like the files on the unit don’t have recognizable filenames any more.)
At least SanDisk also allowed MSC mode. Because there are, or were, some mp3 players out there that were MTP only. Pity them.
Thanks, Miikerman and Black-Rectangle. I’ll restore the folder structure this weekend and see how that goes.
You’ve both reminded me how old I’m getting. I remenber 'C:'. I knew what it was and how to manipulate it. Life was good.
I was given a Shuffle when they were first released. The software disabled my CD-RW drive. *NOT* a fruit fan.
I never got 'round to changing the file structure back to a folder heirarchy. Subconsciously, I was probably thinking, “If it ain’y broke…”
Anyway, it just started doing it again. Worse than before.
<sigh>
Do you know when it changed? Maybe you could trace it back to adding a particular folder or file, or changing a setting.
All I can suggest is:
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Format the card again, copy your folder structure onto it, see what happens.
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Rockbox.
I tried Rockbox right after I got the Clip+. There was *something* about it - can’t remember now - so I removed it.
Rockbox won’t do this? Promise? <I kid.>
What (if any) are known issues with Rockbox?
www.rockbox.org has its own forum. I just searched for Sansa in there, and there are a handful of reports of problems in 2013, but usually neither a solution (unfortunately) nor a that’s-happening-to-me-too post (a good sign).
Rockbox is open-source, made by volunteers, and not as slick-looking as the Sansa firmware. You might have to try a few different choices on the graphics to find screens you like. And of course it takes some getting used to like any new interface. But you might as wel install it (following rockbox instructions exactly) and try it, and uninstall (also following instructions carefully) if you don’t like it.
You don’t use it?
Nope. I am fine with the original firmware (OF). I have installed and uninstalled Rockbox in various Sansas (E200, Fuze, Clip+). I like the spirit behind open-source projects.
But I don’t use the functions that people love Rockbox for: gapless (which might be in SanDisk firmware now), background refresh, larger database, shuffle and, I dunno, games and stuff. I usually listen to one album throughout, and the screen in the original firmware is easier to read. But I know the OF has its limits.