I have two problems with my pair of Sansas *my father has one and so do I*
Music > Play All > – It doesn’t play the songs in order of folder name and then filename per folder. I want it to start playing alphabetically by folder and within each folder, play the MP3 tracks alphabetically. I’ve had to make a playlist in WinAMP 5 just to have the player handle the files in the order they should be in. It’s a little rediculous.
I have a Kensington LiquidFM Plus (USB Car Charger + FM Transmitter Combo Unit) that I bought specifically for my Sansa Clip 2 GB. I wanted to transmit the audio signal to my Radio in the car. This works fine. I also wanted to allow the MP3 Player to charge through the USB port on the FM Transmitter/USB Charger unit I bought. It does. The problem is that it won’t do both at the same time. If I have the FM Transmitter audio cable plugged into the Sansa Clip it transmits fine, but the moment I plug in the USB cable into the FM Transmitter’s USB charger, it cuts out the audio. Even if I touch the outside metal part of the USB cable to either the Sansa Clip or Kensignton, it cuts the audio out.
I have only found two work arounds:
a) plug the audio cable in semi-half-way and you’ll hear audio in MONO plus the Sansa Clip will charge at the same time. This stinks because the audio quality drops to 25% of what it was before and it’s touchy if you go over a bump in your car.
b) Don’t have the USB cable plugged in charging until it gets very low. Run on battery until it needs a charge. At this point, plug it in and either try option ‘a’ or simply forget your music until the player has charged. The problem here is that it defeats the whole point of having a Charger and Transmitter in one unit.
I’ve contacted Kensington about this and their support is usless. They just told me things I already knew or had already tried. They even wanted serial #s. Neither their product nor Sandisk’s product have serial #s printed on them. I tried my other Sansa Clip and it’s audio cuts out just the same. I’ve tried another type of MP3 player that doesn’t charge off USB as it uses a AAA battery to play; however, it will draw power from USB to run if plugged in, bypassing the AAA battery and will still send audio signal tot he FM transmitter w/o cutting out the stereo audio. The Kensington support also suggested I put Scotch™ tape over the middle two contacts of the USB cable, but that wouldn’t help because of previous statements made above.
I have yet to try a 3rd MP3 player but I beleive the problem to be the design of the Sansa Clip.
Please help Sandisk, please!!! I hate having purchased a great MP3 player that has a few evil flaws.
Andrew
PS: I sent an email to your customer support and STILL have yet to hear back. It’s been 2 weeks.
I have two problems with my pair of Sansas *my father has one and so do I*
Music > Play All > – It doesn’t play the songs in order of folder name and then filename per folder. I want it to start playing alphabetically by folder and within each folder, play the MP3 tracks alphabetically. I’ve had to make a playlist in WinAMP 5 just to have the player handle the files in the order they should be in. It’s a little rediculous.
I have a Kensington LiquidFM Plus (USB Car Charger + FM Transmitter Combo Unit) that I bought specifically for my Sansa Clip 2 GB. I wanted to transmit the audio signal to my Radio in the car. This works fine. I also wanted to allow the MP3 Player to charge through the USB port on the FM Transmitter/USB Charger unit I bought. It does. The problem is that it won’t do both at the same time. If I have the FM Transmitter audio cable plugged into the Sansa Clip it transmits fine, but the moment I plug in the USB cable into the FM Transmitter’s USB charger, it cuts out the audio. Even if I touch the outside metal part of the USB cable to either the Sansa Clip or Kensignton, it cuts the audio out.
I have only found two work arounds:
a) plug the audio cable in semi-half-way and you’ll hear audio in MONO plus the Sansa Clip will charge at the same time. This stinks because the audio quality drops to 25% of what it was before and it’s touchy if you go over a bump in your car.
b) Don’t have the USB cable plugged in charging until it gets very low. Run on battery until it needs a charge. At this point, plug it in and either try option ‘a’ or simply forget your music until the player has charged. The problem here is that it defeats the whole point of having a Charger and Transmitter in one unit.
I’ve contacted Kensington about this and their support is usless. They just told me things I already knew or had already tried. They even wanted serial #s. Neither their product nor Sandisk’s product have serial #s printed on them. I tried my other Sansa Clip and it’s audio cuts out just the same. I’ve tried another type of MP3 player that doesn’t charge off USB as it uses a AAA battery to play; however, it will draw power from USB to run if plugged in, bypassing the AAA battery and will still send audio signal tot he FM transmitter w/o cutting out the stereo audio. The Kensington support also suggested I put Scotch™ tape over the middle two contacts of the USB cable, but that wouldn’t help because of previous statements made above.
I have yet to try a 3rd MP3 player but I beleive the problem to be the design of the Sansa Clip.
Please help Sandisk, please!!! I hate having purchased a great MP3 player that has a few evil flaws.
Andrew
PS: I sent an email to your customer support and STILL have yet to hear back. It’s been 2 weeks.
Message Edited by Freudian on 04-28-2008 08:29 PM
that is just they way the player is designed. if you select play all it will play all the songs alphabetically by song name. the clip does not do folder browsing it organizes the songs by the information in the id3 tag.
you can try using tape or something to cover the data pins on the usb connector. someone correct me if i am wrong but i think it is the middle 2 pins on the usb connector. or you can always look for a made for sansa product to use.
additionally these are not really “flaws” it is just the design of the device.
I do the playlist workaround too. I don’t expect that to change, ever. Your item #1 is one of the things I tolerate because I like everything else about the Clip.
To the first point, I agree that an option of playing tracks alphabetically by folder and then filename would be great. For example, how about Music > Play All > then a choice of “by folder/filename” or “by the track title ID”? The Clip reads all the files, keeps track of the tags, and even sorts by these tags within Play All or Album or Artist so it seems strange that it can’t handle the folder/filename structure and sort or play by subfolder/filename. I do not like having to create playlists to play songs from 2 or more albums in consecutive order. I prefer being able to listen to whatever albums I have on my Clip in order by album, not by track title ID or by playlist, and not requiring me to monkey around with the controls of the Clip between each album as is currently the situation. I understand and like tags for some purposes - like being able to listen to one artist or one album or one genre and then the Clip shutting off automatically when finished (using the setting in Settings > Power > Auto Power), or making a playlist for the gym or for relaxing.
To the second point, I think the problem is with the Kensington unit and not the Clip. I’m able to use any of the following three: AC phone charger (Motorola) or car phone charger (Belkin) or car USB charger (part of the Scosche ip2in1 kit - search “Scosche USB” at www.Walmart.com) with any of my 3 USB to mini-USB cables and charge my Clip while listening either with headphones or through the AUX jack of my car stereo. Reviews at Amazon indicate serious problems with your particular Kensington product. I would recommend a separate FM transmitter (like the cheap Coby CA-745 for $18 at Amazon) and charger (and use one of those splitters for the car cigarette lighter/power jack if you don’t have a 2nd power jack or the transmitter doesn’t provide one). The combination of all 3 components would still likely be cheaper than the Kensington unit (if you can return it).
