How Does This Thing REALLY work?

MP3 players All other MP3 players
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As is often the case with threads here (and on any forum for that matter), discussions sometimes wander off-topic. There was one of these recently on the Fuze forum where the subject matter turned to the new Sansa SlotMusic player. As is also the case, the ads and marketing information are usually a little ‘lean’ on practical use and focuses more on technical specs and rarely tells you how the device actually works in the real world.

Some real-life questions were asked and an actual owner of this latest addition to the SanDisk family was kind enough to reply and offer some answers and personal observations on it’s use.

I am cutting & pasting the relevant post with the information here, as well as linking to the thread for those wanting to see the entire conversation and/or contribute to it. Someone looking for answers on the SM player will never find it in the Fuze board, so I thought it would be beneficial if it were posted here. Hope it helps someone. It did me.

Thanks to jkj1962 for his insight and contribution.

 

Tapeworm wrote:

 

Not having one I can’t say, but what order does it play in? I’ve heard that it plays in the order in which the files were added to the card, but that just doesn’t make sense to me. I would think it more likely plays alphabetical, but by what parameters? Artist or song title? And does it play this order by file name or ID3tag?

 

And here’s the $64,000 question . . . since you can’t select what it plays, and whatever order it plays in, what happens when you shut it off and then turn it back on? Does it start it’s playlist over again, or does it resume from the point where it was when it was turned off? I can’t imagine having it play the same songs every time you turn it on unless you change cards! I also can’t imagine having a sizeable card (8 or 16GB) & having to leave it on for days (literally) just in order to hear songs that are in the middle or further into whatever playlist it uses. You would never hear them! It only uses a AAA battery! Is it then going to reset and start playing from the beginning again?

 

So many questions, and since I do have one, a few answers.

 

First, a warning of sorts.  Everytime you power it on, it starts at mid-volume.  This might be OK for some, but I have to turn it down a few notches to be comfortable.  The sound is decent, better of course with some better earbuds/IEMs.

 

As for play order, it appears to play in alphabetical folder order, like:

Folder A, Song A

Folder A, Song B

…etc

Folder B, Song A

Folder B, Song B

 

And it sorts numbers as well.  I don’t think it reads tags at all.  Admittedly, a shuffle mode would be nice, and I’ve tried a number of button combinations to see if any other functions/settings are available, but so far nothing.

 

You can either pause it and remove the headphones and it will shut off, or you can hold the Play/Pause button and will turn off.  When you turn it on again, it will resume where it left off, even if you remove the card.  I haven’t tried removing card 1, playing card 2, reinserting card 1 to see where it starts.  If you remove the battery and the card, it still resumes where it left off.  You can step through the songs to find the one you want, but admittedly that could take a long time on a big card.  It wraps the “playlist”, after the last song it goes back to the first song.

 

I don’t think it’s really geared toward larger capacity cards; it’s meant to play a single album at the time on the 1GB cards like you would play a single CD one at a time on a portable.  For some people this is adequate, for those that it isn’t they should buy another player.  It’s an entry-level player for someone that doesn’t have one; a way for them to get into the technology initially and then move on to a better player when they get more comfortable with the concept.

Having read this, I agree that although the SM player will accept the larger size SDHC cards, they would be pretty unwieldy in this device w/o the selection capabilities or even shuffle mode. It does indeed sound like a player designed to only play 1 (or 2) albums at a time. Pity!

Here’s the link to what led up to this . . .

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/message?board.id=sansafuse&message.id=7629#M7629

Message Edited by Tapeworm on 11-26-2008 02:48 PM

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Thanks for the mention.

The SlotMusic format reminds of a couple of things in “tech history”. 

Back when TV stations started broadcasting on UHF, there were very few if any TVs that could receive them.  TV station owners advertised and begged people to buy converters.  Some did, and on subsequent purchases of TVs bought UHF-ready sets.

A friend of mine showed me an old RCA record player that only played 7" 45-RPM singles, the standard ones with the larger hole in the middle.  According to the friend’s father, it was a very simple model, and was given away by RCA as a promotion to get people to start buying 45-RPM records.  It was cheaply built out of plastic, but it did work.  After getting used to and liking the 45’s, people would then buy 45-RPM-capable turntables when they replaced their existing ones.

I look at the SlotMusic Player as being similar to these promotional record players.  They aren’t meant to be anyone’s primary player, but rather a way to introduce the SlotMusic format to users that aren’t into music players because they can’t/don’t want to /don’t know how to make their own MP3’s or download music from the services.  It’s also very simple to operate, which may appeal to those that are overwhelmed by some players.

I see potential in this, but only if the range of artists available on that format is large enough.  If they do it right, people who buy the SlotMusic Player will buy better players when they get used to and begin liking the format.  SlotMusic also has the advantage of being compatible with cell phones.  This may appeal to some users as well.

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Good points jk. I’m sure there are a lot of people here who may not be familiar with the old 45’s. And I’m not talking Colts (neither the firearm nor the malt liquor). :wink:

But do you remember the 78’s? The forerunner to the 33 1/3 LP? They were the same size, 12" but about an 1/8" thick and the needles (or stylus’ as they would become to be known by) were about the size of a ball point pen tip. Pretty archaic by today’s standards.

I can still remember the old RCA Victor ‘Victrola’ my parents had. In fact, my brother still has it. No worries about battery life or even if the electricity went out, because you cranked this baby up to power it. And the sound that came out of those abysmal speakers off of those horrible recordings translated by a needle you could hardly draw blood with . . . well, now you’d call that sound ‘nostalgic’. Think Al Jolson, Amos & Andy, and some of the early big bands from the '20s. Yes, folks . . . 1920’s . . . coming up on a ninety years ago!

Anyway, enough reminiscing & strolling down memory lane. Things sure have changed. Some of you kids out there don’t know how good you got it! :smiley:

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@tapeworm wrote:

 

But do you remember the 78’s? The forerunner to the 33 1/3 LP? They were the same size, 12" but about an 1/8" thick and the needles (or stylus’ as they would become to be known by) were about the size of a ball point pen tip. Pretty archaic by today’s standards.

 

I can still remember the old RCA Victor ‘Victrola’ my parents had. In fact, my brother still has it. No worries about battery life or even if the electricity went out, because you cranked this baby up to power it. And the sound that came out of those abysmal speakers off of those horrible recordings translated by a needle you could hardly draw blood with . . . well, now you’d call that sound ‘nostalgic’. Think Al Jolson, Amos & Andy, and some of the early big bands from the '20s. Yes, folks . . . 1920’s . . . coming up on a ninety years ago!

I’m old enough to know about 78’s, but too young to have actually listened to them.  My mother had a stack of them, some made from laquer I believe that was VERY fragile.  Around about 1970, a friend of my mother gave us a doghouse, and when we went to pick it up there was a Victrola in it that the guy was getting rid of.  My older brother rescued it and cleaned it up.  He did repair the motor, but the tone arm was a complete loss.  It was an enclosed unit that had a lid and doors on the front that hid the “speaker” and a compartment for several records.  He wound it up fully and it ran for several hours.

Did you ever own a “Say-It, Play-It” or a “Close-and-Play”?

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You should watch the “How It’s Made” episode where they show and explain the steps of cutting  record!  Pretty cool.

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@jonsegue wrote:
You should watch the “How It’s Made” episode where they show and explain the steps of cutting  record!  Pretty cool.

Believe it or Not I still have a working record cutting turn table in my office… I dont know how it works… But it does a really good job of holding my books and stuff.

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That is pretty cool.

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@jkj1962 wrote:

Did you ever own a “Say-It, Play-It” or a “Close-and-Play”?

 

A friend of mine had one … the needle was attached to a mechanism on the lid, wasn’t it?  And when you closed the lid, the needle came in contact with the record and it started playing?

 

I also have a vague memory of pre-recorded cassettes (eg, containing a music album) being available before Walkmans etc.  A “portable” cassette player was one of those jobs from Sears that was like 8" wide, a foot long and 3" deep, with a carrying handle.

 

“In my day, sonny, …”   :wink:

Message Edited by PromisedPlanet on 05-14-2009 08:48 AM

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@promisedplanet wrote:

A friend of mine had one … the needle was attached to a mechanism on the lid, wasn’t it?  And when you closed the lid, the needle came in contact with the record and it started playing?

Yep, that was it.  The only electrical part was the motor that drove the turntable.  The needle was attached to a paper or plastic cone contained in a round box that was on a track.  It moved across the record.  The massive needle probably scraped a layer of vinyl off every time it played.

@promisedplanet wrote:

I also have a vague memory of pre-recorded cassettes (eg, containing a music album) being available before Walkmans etc.  A “portable” cassette player was one of those jobs from Sears that was like 8" wide, a foot long and 3" deep, with a carrying handle.

 

“In my day, sonny, …”   :wink:

Message Edited by PromisedPlanet on 05-14-2009 08:48 AM

“Say-It, Play-It” was a tape recorder.  It had a little cartridge, much like an 8-track, but much smaller.  There was a 30-second one and a 2-minute one.  You plug the cartridge in and the motor started.  There was a switch that selected “Say” or “Play”, the speaker doubled as the microphone.

NOT HiFi by any means.