First, I desire to use the Express for listening to audio books from audible (their format) and Net Library (wma format).
I loaded the 01.01.05a firmware, no problem.Comments follow:
1 – Search (FFwd) function is very slow compared to the Sansa Clip which is terrific should you lose your place in a long book.
2 – Express counter display does not display hours only minutes and seconds. Hours needed for audio book users.
3 – For wma books you must power the Express down in the play mode to be able to resume at the same point in the book. The Clip firmware allows you to pause then power down without losing a resume point.
BTW – Decided to use the Clip for books and the Express for music and short files only until a firmware release brings it to at least the Clip level of ‘book friendly’ use.
TomD hits the nail right on the head. I was also hoping to be able to use the Express for long-running audiobooks in MP3 format. The fast-forward is WAAY too slow, resuming from last spot when powered off is flakey at best, and the counter doesn’t show hours, only minutes and seconds. Forget about converting to the much-touted Audiobook.com “.aa” format; there’s nothing that exists that converts to this proprietary format.
I’ve also experienced some random resets, as well as when turning back on it goes to the FM Radio and NOT to the Music Player where I left off. If you plug in to recharge or add another file, you also lose your last file being played (not to mention where you left off). I’m not too concerned about playlists, I just wanted something small for the gym where I could tune into the FM frequency of the various TVs that have their audio broadcast OR just listen to an audiobook (ok, really it’s the day’s Howard Stern show). Nothing more frustrating than having to fast-forward 2 hours, it takes almost 4 minutes!
Until these items are fixed, I’m back to lugging my large but dependable iPod Video to the gym. For those who want the Express for audio podcasts or long MP3s - stay away!!
You may all already know about this but it’s not in the User Manual and I recently found it by accident…
For those of us that use the Express for audiobooks (in MP3 format) Fast Forwarding is a pain when you accidentally lose your place as you have to hold your thumb on the button forever (My record is 22 min of FF in one sitting, stupid NetLibrary puts whole books as 1 track). Well it will still take as long to FF but now your thumb won’t go numb holding the button.
If you hold the FF button and then push the middle silver button a screen comes up that says “Already Exists”, but then if you let go of the FF button it keeps FFing! Sweet Eh! You have to let go of both buttons at the same time or it won’t work thoughthough.
This has been a lifesaver for 11 hrs of ‘Robinson Crusoe’ and 21 hrs of ‘The ■■■■■’. The FFing will still take just as long but at least you’ll preserve your opposables.
…and you get the same result if you hold FF & flip the “Hold” switch (next to the Power switch) to “on”… It saves the thumb, but is still an unnacceptable (ie, useless) fast-forward speed for audiobooks. I have better things to do than spending 10 minutes to try to hunt where I left off from…
I last wrote about this a year ago and hoped someone at Sansa would listen to those of us who use the player for podcasts or books that aren’t audible.
Why can’t we have an updated firmware that will remember where you stop in a file (I know I can shut off while it’s playing, but as others point out if you charge, add files, listen to the radio or another file - you’ve now lost your place in the original file).
Secondly - a faster fast forward! You have it for audible books - why not for other files?!
