got Fuze+ yesterday, got many problems very unhappy :(

I had an e200something 4gb with rockbox in the past. After repairing it for the third time, I decided to get a new player. After a lot of contemplaiting I got the Fuze+ 8gb in black.

Looks nice.

I like its feel.

I like its display.

Sound is pretty good.

I am so close to smashing it with a hammer.

Firmware is .32

Problem 1:

if I put a certain flac on it, it goes in ‘eternal reboot loop’ mode. Boots, shows ‘loading’ screen, reboots. Player unusable. Lots of fun. Maybe the flac is defective, but even if - there is no excuse for such a behaviour. The player should just ignore it or handle it gracefully. Crashing is never a valid response.

If somebody has an idea I am willing to listen.

Problem 2: 

almost the same as 1 but even better: putting a hand crafted playlist on the player and the player freezes completely during boot. Great! Yeah, reset works, and then quickly attaching it via usb and removing the file.

Question: did Sandisk pay their firmware writers? They should demand their money back. How could something brittle as this even pass basic QA?

Problem 3:

Time, I really don’t want to see ‘am’ or ‘pm’. 24h format please. But… how?

Problem 4:

with Rockbox you select an album, press the select key and the album is added to the playlist. Very handy to create a playlist quickly out of several albums. In fact, this is the only way I ever created playlists because it fits my needs perfectly.

Now guess what does not work with the Fuze+?

Problem 5:

with creating playlists on the fuze+ being utterly unusable and me without windows, how do I create playlists that do not freeze the player? (Hint: easytag and amarok both create playlists of doom, and yes, I replaced the / with \ and used unix2dos, no change).

  1. can you post a link to the FLAC file so we can take a look at it?

  2. i tested both WMP and rhapsody playlists and have no issues. how are you creating the playlist?

  3. 24 hr clock is coming in a future firmware update. for now all you have is am pm

  4. when a song is playing press and hold the center touch point for about 3 seconds and it will add that song to the go list. 

1 will upload it later the weekend. Have the pipes clogged at the moment - fat updates :wink: Where can I post a link so only you will be able to see it?

2 with amarok I created a playlist from files and exported it, copied it to the device, replaced all / with \ - doom. 

3 great. Why later :(. But better later than never.

4 that does not work well, if you want to add 60 songs from 5 albums to a playlist.

With rockbox: go to music folder, scroll to album, press select, choose ‘add to playlist’ go to next album… all 5 albums added in correct order in less than 15 seconds.

With your method: lots of scrolling around and going through menus and at least 180 seconds, just for the holding the center ‘button’. So at least 5min overall.

5 min or 15 seconds. What sounds better?

you can PM me the link and I will take a look at the file.

try an m3u play list http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/224/kw/creating%20m3u%20playlist/r_id/101834

it just was not part of the original spec i suppose. i read somewhere it is being added soon.

agreed it is not the perfect solution but it does work. 

in Music:

test.m3u:

#EXTM3U

dead_can_dance\within_the_realm_of_a_dying_sun\01.anywhere_out_of_the_world.ogg

dead_can_dance\within_the_realm_of_a_dying_sun\02.windfall.ogg

dead_can_dance\within_the_realm_of_a_dying_sun\03.in_the_wake_of_adversity.ogg

dead_can_dance\within_the_realm_of_a_dying_sun\04.xavier.ogg

dead_can_dance\within_the_realm_of_a_dying_sun\05.dawn_of_the_iconoclast.ogg

dead_can_dance\within_the_realm_of_a_dying_sun\06.cantara.ogg

dead_can_dance\within_the_realm_of_a_dying_sun\07.summoning_of_the_muse.ogg

dead_can_dance\within_the_realm_of_a_dying_sun\08.persephone_the_gathering_of_flowers.ogg

the playlist is displayed as ‘empty’. Other tries resulted in the playlists-of-doom.

the upload is currently at 5%, will pm you later.

and thanks for your help/time so far.

Try this i just created one that works no problem. i dont have ogg but this worked with mp3s. if this does nto work for you try it with mp3s and let us know the results.

if the files are in the same folder type it exactly like below and put the m3u in the same folder as the songs

#EXTM3U

anywhere_out_of_the_world.ogg

windfall.ogg

xavier.ogg

cantara.ogg

summoning_of_the_muse.ogg

persephone_the_gathering_of_flowers.ogg

If the files are in different folders type exactly like below and put the m3u in the music folder

#EXTM3U

name of folder\name of song.mp3

name of folder\name of song.mp3

the structure:

Music –> dead_can_dance/album/song.ogg

so, what should I remove? the dead can dance folder or the album folder?

and if the firmware can not deal with artist/album/song structure… I am not even sure what I want to say, but scream.

im not sure how easier to say it honestly :slight_smile: type is exactly like i did in the last post. 

but they are exactly.

the files are in Music\dead_can_dance\within_the_realm_of_a_dying_sun

Music–>artist–>album–>song

I can hardly remove some part of that, now can I?

from the example you posted earlier your files are in the same folder which is “within_the_realm_of_a_dying_sun”. Put the m3u in this folder along with the files and do not put anything in front of the filename. 

also it seems you have only tried this with ogg. this may be the issue. try with mp3s like i suggested and see if you ahve similar results. like i said i created a m3u exactly the way i described and it works no problem. 

I have the exact same problem with my FLACs.  Or rather, I did.

The only way I actually even came close to “fixing” it was by formatting my Fuze+, then recopying the original files (i.e. never transferred to the Fuze+ before) back onto the player one album at a time.  Took around two hours for sixteen gigabytes’ worth, but I suppose it at least works now.

I actually used to have this problem as well.  Want to know how I fixed it?  Stopped using FLAC files altogether.  Why?  Well on an 8gb device, you can hardly fit any albums ripped in FLAC on it in the first place.  But really, why is FLAC necessary?  I converted all my FLAC files to 320kbps MP3’s, and in all seriousness, you cannot tell the difference.  Anybody who says they can is 1) hearing what they want to hear, or 2) using $1000 IEM’s or monitor headphones.  

Not trying to be a pest.  I just got tired of dealing with the problems with FLAC, and the album art not showing up.  I no longer have any problems.  

deathmetalred, a typical album ripped to flac are ca 500mb. So a 8gb player can hold 16 albums, which is enough for weeks of daily commuting.

Also flacs have the advantage that they are LOSSLESS. I can turn them into oggs or mp3 and don’t have to worry.

And the last point, with some stuff, like dcd - I can hear the difference between a flac or hq ogg file and mp3. I am not saying it sounds worse. Just slightly different. I don’t want different. I want the same sound the cd gives me.

Also, I bought the player because of its flac capabilities, if it can not play flacs then Sansa would have lied.

The situation is even worse, it can play flacs - but some make it crash in an endless loop. 

The firmware is completely broken! Broken in regard of flacs, broken in regard of playlists, broken in basic usability.

I just bougth it and I feel ripped off by Sandisk.

drlucky, yes, putting the playlist file in the dir works.

But it is neither helpfull nor a solution!

I want to play 5 albums in a row. 

I can choose one album at a time already without a playlist.

So having a playlist with one album in it is so not helpfull at all.

Or is it possible to have a playlist with playlists? (and no, putting all files in one directory is so not a solution).

Seems like I have to call sandisk support. Two out of three features I need broken. Nice work sandisk.

I bought my fuze from pcRushbut mp3 is (IMO) the only way to go. I can put over 24hrs of Mp3 on my device and dont suffer any losses or lose any sleep because of the so called “lesser quality”. If I were goin to use it for proffesional quality recordings in a studio, no offense sandisk, but this probably isnt the device I would use.

Just to add two more cents I have noticed more and more DJ’s in Florida are using similar devices for their shows, but even they agree it is not proffesional equiptment.

And I bought it because of its advertised ogg&flac capabilities. Not using it is a non-solution. If advertised features are not usable then the seller LIED.

So, thanks for your input, but sadly it is completely irrelevant.

I am wondering how Sandisk can sell devices with firmwares that are:

a usability nightmare

broken

because endless reboot = broken. 

and: locking up on certain kinds of m3u = broken

No ‘don’t do this’, no ‘if’, no ‘but’ and certainly no ‘maybe’. BROKEN.

They sold me something defective. 

I have 200€ left after paying all my monthly bills and transportation to get to work. For food and recreation. I bought this thing for ~70. 

Can you feel my pain?

But ok, Monday I will call their support. I want a working firmware or my money back. To bad I can not bill them for all the hours wasted.

@volker wrote:

And I bought it because of its advertised ogg&flac capabilities. Not using it is a non-solution. If advertised features are not usable then the seller LIED.

 

So, thanks for your input, but sadly it is completely irrelevant.

 

I am wondering how Sandisk can sell devices with firmwares that are:

 

a usability nightmare

broken

 

because endless reboot = broken. 

and: locking up on certain kinds of m3u = broken

 

No ‘don’t do this’, no ‘if’, no ‘but’ and certainly no ‘maybe’. BROKEN.

 

They sold me something defective. 

 

I have 200€ left after paying all my monthly bills and transportation to get to work. For food and recreation. I bought this thing for ~70. 

Can you feel my pain?

 

But ok, Monday I will call their support. I want a working firmware or my money back. To bad I can not bill them for all the hours wasted.

Not really.  If you moan and groan, stamp your feet and tell the whole world that the unit you purchased isn’t adequate for your needs; don’t expect the manufacturer to jump through hoops to “make it all better”.


The only thing that manufacturers understand is M-O-N-E-Y; which to be fair is why they are in business.  But, unless a legion of people decide against a particular unit for the exact same issues as yours, don’t expect too much.


The only thing that may eventually solve the issue (long term) is by returning the device and getting another manufacturers unit.  If enough people do that, the company will either listen or go out of business.

and that is what I will do. Either get a response or my money back. Sandisk should care. They should care about all those not-to-happy reviews on amazon or their own website. Second Sandisk device in 6 month that is a dissappointment (after seeing a cruzer die in 3 days…). Quo vadis Sandisk?

btw, I copied all the files into Music.

created a playlist, player locks up.

grrrr

I can’t tell the diff. between .flac or mp3 anymore, perhaps my ears have listened to way too much music in my lifetime.

Now STOP whining! …you made your point!, we are all now better informed,…thanks!

Return the unit,…get your moeny back, … and get something else.

Free reality check:  …Sansa does not give a S**T, about your problems!

cheers!