Clip resequences my files!!

SanDisk MP3 players Sansa® Clip | Sansa® Clip+
1

I ripped an audio book consisting of 14 CDs.  When I load the resulting MP3 files to my clip, it resequences the tracks so intead of getting CD1 track1,track2,track3…  I get all 14 track 1’s then all track 2’s etc.  This is totaly unacceptable.

I have tried using media monkey to edit the file names and have tediously reloaded these files numerous times and can not get them to load in the proper sequence.  I did manage to get one audio book to load a few months ago but can’t recall exactly what I had to do to get all the tracks in the right sequence.  What is the secret?

Ed

2

Make sure the genre is set to audiobook, and make sure chapter mode (I think thats the name) is on. I know this has helped in the past but as to the exact solution I dont know.

Message Edited by Conversionbox on 11-27-2009 10:49 AM

3

Note that the Clip generally organizes/shows files by the ID3 tags, not by file/folder names.  An exception exists for files in the podcasts and audiobooks folders that don’t have ID3 info. filled in, in which case the Clip will default to the file and folder names, and for files anywhere on the Clip with the podcast or audiobook label in the ID3 genre field, in which case the Clip defaults similarly.  

4

I set the genre to audiobook and tried it again.  Same problem.  I can’t find where to set chaptermode.  I am at software level V01.01.32A

Ed

5

smega wrote:

I set the genre to audiobook and tried it again.  Same problem.  I can’t find where to set chaptermode.  I am at software level V01.01.32A

 

Ed

Where do you find your files? Are they listen under the audiobooks section?

6

Yes.  I select MUSIC then under MUSIC I have Podcasts and Audio Books Playlists etc.  Curiously - under genres I don’t get audio books, just music genres.

Ed

7

Do you understand that the curse of TAGs will often creep into your files and scramble up the order unless extraordinary and exasperating steps are taken? At least on a Mac it can be near impossible to eliminate these horrible TAGs, and unfortunately Sansa hasn’t released the firmware where you can ignore tag info on the clip (only on the clip+).

What I did is invest in a Archos Clipper which is sort of a cheap clip that ignores tags, and transfer any audiobooks that scrambles their order in a Clip onto the Clipper. What I would like is that Sansa release the firmware option to ignore tags. What I may try in the future is the umpteenth attempt at getting Mac utility software to work that eliminates tags (I guess it can be easy on windows PCs).

8

I think if you put files without any tag on them onto a Clip they will simply show up as “unknown”. It would be useful on a Clip+ or Fuze with their folder browse mode, but not a regular Clip.

Message Edited by Marvin_Martian on 11-27-2009 07:49 PM

9

Do you understand that the curse of TAGs will often creep into your files and scramble up the order unless extraordinary and exasperating steps are taken?   I’m starting to understand that.  Just what exasperating steps do you mean? 

I just bought this clip for my wife just for the purpose of listening to audio books based on my good experience with one I use for podcasts.  There is no way I am buying another device.  I just want to know what I have to do to make this work.

Ed

10

I think if you put files without any tag on them onto a Clip they will simply show up as “unknown”. It would be useful on a Clip+ or Fuze with their folder browse mode, but not a regular Clip.  

This seems contradictory and I’m confused about what you mean.  Are you saying I should delete all the ‘tags’ or not?

Ed

11

smega wrote:

I think if you put files without any tag on them onto a Clip they will simply show up as “unknown”. It would be useful on a Clip+ or Fuze with their folder browse mode, but not a regular Clip.  

 

This seems contradictory and I’m confused about what you mean.  Are you saying I should delete all the ‘tags’ or not?

 

Ed

My bad…I was responding to daft’s saying he wanted to use his Mac to delete the tags. Usually I use the “quote” button so it’s known who I was responding to, and this time I forgot. I haven’t listened to any audiobooks myself, so I’ve never experienced how they play back.

12

smega wrote:

Yes.  I select MUSIC then under MUSIC I have Podcasts and Audio Books Playlists etc.  Curiously - under genres I don’t get audio books, just music genres.

 

Ed

This most likely is your problem. Your Podcasts, Audio Books, & Playlist folders need to be along side of your Music folder, not inside of it.

13

Tags aren’t evil.  The ID3 tag is an integral part of the mp3 or wma file for a good reason: being able to search and catalog your files by artist, album, genre, or song title.

If you rip a standard audio CD using most ripping engines, transferring the PCM audio WAV file to a compressed version, the engine will pull the correct metadada for the tags from the Internet.  All audio tracks downloaded from reputable sources will have ID3 tag data.

Download and install MP3Tag, or another ID3 tag editing utility, and correct your audiobook track numbers.  With MP3Tag, you can use the auto numbering wizard to do the entire book in one easy step.  Be sure to tell it to add leading zeroes for tracks 0-9 (01, 02, 03…) and you’ll have no problem with your tracks.

µsansa

14

IT WORKS !!

Thanks to all who helped me get this right.  All I had to do was change all the track numbers to 1, then the clip just accepted the files in the sequence I loaded them.  I made the file name a concatenation of the disk number and the track number so it was clear what the file was.  since the track number was embeded in the file name there was no problem removing it from the track field.

Ed

15

smega wrote:

I set the genre to audiobook and tried it again.  Same problem.  I can’t find where to set chaptermode.  I am at software level V01.01.32A

 

Ed

Glad you got it to work.  Just to follow up on the above, the setting of genre to Audiobook is in the ID3 genre field for the file, right, via your computer?  And not on the Clip itself. 

You can use any ID3 tag editor to check and amend your tags.  A nice choice is MP3Tag (Internet freeware).  Windows will allow you to as well. 

Again, the Clip should be organizing your files per the ID3 tags, absent the exceptions noted above. 

16

I have 3 clips and that is the way they all are.  I don’t think that can be changed.

Ed

17

“The ID3 tag is an integral part of the mp3 or wma file for a good reason: being able to search and catalog your files by artist, album, genre, or song title.”

Yes in theory, however the slightest variations in tags causes songs to sort improperly. I guess if the player had a built in mechanism for recognizing tags that are similar to an existing tag and ask you if it should be modified to that tag it would help.  How to deal with missing tags is even more difficult. For classical music, what should the artist tag have? If it has the performer then where should the composer be placed, in the genre tag? Where would the soloist be placed?

While tags might in theory be great, they lead to great frustration in practice due to their inflexibility and very poor handling of missing tags or tags with very slight errors. With folder browsing, a file is either in a folder or not, while with tag browsing an error with just a single charachter in the tag can cause very unwanted results.

Then there is the time to update the database when tags are used. This can be quite long if there are many files.

I guess those who devised the tag scheme thought everyone just listens to rock music, and not to classical music or audiobooks or podcasts. The tag scheme works okay for pop/rock music, but fails miserably for audiobooks, podcasts, and classical music. Having tags as just an option, and having the option to disable tag browsing and eliminate the waiting time for database updates is the best solution.

“Download and install MP3Tag, or another ID3 tag editing utility, and correct your audiobook track numbers.  With MP3Tag, you can use the auto numbering wizard to do the entire book in one easy step.  Be sure to tell it to add leading zeroes for tracks 0-9 (01, 02, 03…) and you’ll have no problem with your tracks.”

I use mp3Tag to edit the tags for files on my Clip, however editing tags for a steady stream of podcasts that I will listen to only once then delete from the player is so annoying. I also at times make mistakes editing tags when using mp3 Tag, and files on the player are misplaced. Browsing by folders is the solution, although even with the folder browsing on the Clip+ and Fuze, I still can’t listen to some podcast files in folder mode, listen to some music files, turn off the player, then have the player remember which podcast file it was playing last. It will only remember which podcast file it was playing last after playing some music and turning off the player if the podcasts were played in album mode. I wish this would be fixed to include playing by folder mode as well.

I am also hoping for a firmware update for the Clip that allows folder browsing. It was already developed for the Clip+. How hard is it to modify that to work on the Clip?

18

I, too, keep hoping for a firmware upgrade for the original Clip (at least a final one), bringing folders to the Clip.  It’s been almost 9 months, now.  And the original Clip still avidly is being sold, including at Radio Shack, for example.

19

Miikerman wrote:
I, too, keep hoping for a firmware upgrade for the original Clip (at least a final one), bringing folders to the Clip.  It’s been almost 9 months, now.  And the original Clip still avidly is being sold, including at Radio Shack, for example.

That’s probably new old stock, don’t you think? And since there hasn’t been an update yet for the Clip+, I wouldn’t hold my breath for a Clip update anytime soon.:cry:

20

It may be “new old stock,” but still actively being sold (at Best Buy as well), 3 months after the Clip+ came out.  And I keep on hoping that SanDisk finds that extra bit of time for a firmware upgrade, as SanDisk has said …