This discussion is in the SMC forum…I bring it here and ask for comments…Am I the only one who feels this way?
http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/message?board.id=smc&thread.id=1182
Well, I , for one, actually researched before I purchased a player. What led me to the Fuze…great sound quality, great price, memory expandability, a color screen, and some video capability. I figured, for a video podcast, something like that , it’ll be cool. If I’d been that concerned over watching video I would have bought a portable DVD player, or maybe a View. I’ve had almost no issues with my Fuze, or my Clip which I got later. They’ve done everything that I expected or wanted them to do…of course, I knew what I was after, and getting. I found accessories for my Fuze rather easily…I used what our current President has referred to as “the Google” and behold…I’ve got car and wall chargers, a spare USB cable, a skin case, a screen protector, a belt clip , an armband, an 8gb microsdhc card…and that’s just for the Fuze! All reasonably priced, too! You say they are not responding to your issues…Perhaps the developers are offended by your attitude in your posts…you have been rather rude about the whole thing 
:smileyvery-happy:
I probably shouldn’t even take the bait here, but here goes.
Ick- you DO have an icky attidute.
The kids say “chill” so…
Dude…chill.
SMC is an attempt by Sansa to get halfway decent third-party software to do tricky stuff that, really, they don’t have to include on an mp3 player. I mean the thing does have good features and terrific sound quality for MP3, which is what it is supposed to do.
I mean, how much do you want for a $100 player?
And if they sell a memory card for 3x the cost, who the F cares? So buy it somewhere else. That’s capitolism. I have noted the incredible price fluctuations on these things from amazon and their vendors almost from day to day. I don’t know how they do it; buying product wholesale and probably then having to sell it for less than wholesale three weeks later!
Sansa probably should stop their retail division and focus on what they do best…but that’s their decision and if they are not responding to the market adequately, the decision (especially in these hard times) will be made for them.
There are so many issues in life that are really worth getting upset about; lack of affordable health care, domestic, foreign and economic policies in the toilet from 8 years of a horrible president, global warming, wars, guns on the street, families actually going hungry today, oil corporations milking us for all we are worth, detroit finally failing after years of fighting all logical suggestions…
Sansa/SMC not effortlessly converting simpsons videos so we can watch on a screen less than 2 inches is probably not at the top of anyone’s list. Go buy a portable dvd player with hi-res screen 4 times the size of the Fuze for under $100.
Just relax…smoke 'em if you got 'em…or whatever.
(whew…ok I’m done)
Message Edited by blackdog-sansa on 11-26-2008 10:59 AM
Message Edited by blackdog-sansa on 11-26-2008 11:02 AM
I don’t understand your problem. If someone really needs the video function, then finding the SMC on sandisk.com is not really hard. Just click on “Download” select the Fuze and you’re there.
I don’t agree, for the most part.
What you describe applies to prety much any MP3 player. Most of them don’t sell cases on their websites, or at most have one. Its usually something made by a third party, and the quantity depends on the popularity of the player. You’ll find there very few for Creative players, or even the #2 player (the Microsoft Zune). The iPod commands about 80% of the market, so that’s what almost every accessory is for. Its the downside of not buying an iPod.
But if you do want to buy something from a company’s website, you should expect to pay their recommended list price, no discount. This applies to most everything.
And of course their sales site focuses on their new product. Would you expect the front page to be about an older product?
The Fuze isn’t great for video. That part I agree with. SMC-converted files are huge. I knew this going in, because I researched it a bit, but I can see many others haven’t. Most of the players require conversion, and none of them can convert commercial DVDs because of legal issues.
@blackdog_sansa wrote:
There are so many issues in life that are really worth getting upset about; lack of affordable health care, domestic, foreign and economic policies in the toilet from 8 years of a horrible president, global warming, wars, guns on the street, families actually going hungry today, oil corporations milking us for all we are worth, detroit finally failing after years of fighting all logical suggestions…
Yeah . . . and I got a pimple 1 day before Thanksgiving! :smileyvery-happy:
Blackdog,
From this website…
“Watch your favorite video clips on the Sansa Fuze’s 1.9” color screen. "
Plays…“Videos (MPEG-4), Music (MP3,WMA, secure WMA, WAV, Audible, and Overdrive), Photos (JPEG).”
I am trying to load mp4s into my fuze.
So it is not strictly an mp3 player…it is advertised as a video player. I had a clip, and gave it to my cousin so I could have a video player.
Tapeworm, I’m not sure how to respond to your pimple comment… Neat?
And once again I am personally attacked for my opinion. What percentage of you and your fellow “Guru” messages are insults or personal attacks?
Virtually every post I have made on this subject has been in response to other peoples actions (or lack there-of).
I simply want to download videos that work onto my video player…as advertised.
Message Edited by ickster on 11-26-2008 12:44 PM
@ickster wrote:
I simply want to download videos that work onto my video player…as advertised.
Where does it say that you can simply download videos and play them on your player without conversion?
Digital video is just not as simple as you want it to be. The MP4 standard supports four video formats and nine audio formats. Video downloads can have all sorts of codec formats (particularly .avi videos). This confuses a lot of people, and causes problems with players (all of which have limited sets of format support).
The Sansa does play MP4 with specific video and audio formats…their failure is not explaining that their format support is so limited that generally everything has to be converted. Of course, this is the case with most players, and they don’t come out and say that either.
Message Edited by bdb on 11-26-2008 01:42 PM
I realize that everything has to be converted. I have had some luck converting. But more times than not, the process will freeze up before completion. I have a copy of my JFK Dvd on a 2gig card, converted with anydvdcopy and smc that is excellent. I have dozns of public domain movies that have the audio lag issue. Dozens more would inexplicably hose up during conversion.
I have figured out the process, but the process is flawed.
@ickster wrote:
Tapeworm, I’m not sure how to respond to your pimple comment… Neat?
And once again I am personally attacked for my opinion. What percentage of you and your fellow “Guru” messages are insults or personal attacks?
Ickster -
If you really see this as a personal attack or insult, I’m truly sorry. You’ve accused me before of responding with “smug BS.” Maybe you should get out your left-handed monkey wrench and give your sense of humor a little tweaking. It was a joke, OK? And it wasn’t even directed at you!
I second blackdog’s suggestion to take a chill-pill, man. What percentage of your posts are of a positive or contributing nature to this community as opposed to an insulting, demanding, condescending tone?
@ickster wrote:
Tapeworm, I’m not sure how to respond to your pimple comment… Neat?
And once again I am personally attacked for my opinion. What percentage of you and your fellow “Guru” messages are insults or personal attacks?
Ickster -
If you really see this as a personal attack or insult, I’m truly sorry. You’ve accused me before of responding with “smug BS.” Maybe you should get out your left-handed monkey wrench and give your sense of humor a little tweaking. It was a joke, OK? And it wasn’t even directed at you!
I second blackdog’s suggestion to take a chill-pill, man. What percentage of your posts are of a positive or contributing nature to this community as opposed to an insulting, demanding and condescending tone?
@ickster wrote:
Tapeworm, I’m not sure how to respond to your pimple comment… Neat?
And once again I am personally attacked for my opinion. What percentage of you and your fellow “Guru” messages are insults or personal attacks?
Ickster -
If you really see this as a personal attack or insult, I’m truly sorry. You’ve accused me before of responding with “smug BS.” Maybe you should get out your left-handed monkey wrench and give your sense of humor a little tweaking. It was a joke, OK? And it wasn’t even directed at you!
I second blackdog’s suggestion to take a chill-pill, man. What percentage of your posts are of a positive or contributing nature to this community as opposed to a childish whining, demanding and/or condescending tone?
This is what I’ve been saying since I got my Sansa Fuze.
It took me months to be able to download the SMC itself, let alone months after that until there was a “new” one that worked.
The video, I have no problem with, clear, great, and enjoyable. But uses the battery up insanely. But that should be expected.
I hate the converter, I hate using it, I hate everything about it.
I’ve seen people on here who code the video themselves to work fine. Others say its impossible.
Other then the Converter, I love the Sansa Fuze.
I love the music player, I keep it organized, its nice.
I love the FM radio,
I never figured out how to do podcasts or audiobooks.
I hope someday there will be an ugrade with a alarm clock feature. Or games, I’m sure this device could easily host some good ol pacman or something.
@darrrin_god wrote:
I never figured out how to do podcasts or audiobooks.
I have the Clip (very similar software), and the current Clip manual doesn’t really tell you how to load podcasts and audiobooks. I suspect it wasn’t a big deal where you put them until Sandisk offered the better firmware with a proper resume function for every podcast and audiobook (like Zune does). Now, they should really update the manual.
Audiobooks: The only information I’ve found is a thread on this board by sansafix that tells us that to get an audiobook to have the nice resume function, you either tag the files as “Audiobook” or load the audiobook into the “Audiobooks” folder. (This thread also tells you how to load MP3 audiobooks using WMP.) There are threads that tell you more detail on loading depending on the type (source) of audiobook: NetLibary and OverDrive Media or Audible or MP3 (ripped from CDs or downloaded from the net–unless it’s an OverDrive Media MP3, in which case you should load via the OverDrive program).
Podcasts: I suppose there is another thread somewhere that gives a similar rule for podcasts (either tag each file as “Podcast” or load files into folder “Podcasts” to get the resume function), but I never found one. Anyway, I just load all podcasts into the player’s folder “Podcasts” using drag-and-drop Windows Explorer, and resume works fine.
I have been refreshing my memory regarding video and working with the Sansa. I’m also working with a 300 pound gorilla, an RCA HDTV with the largest glass scope I’ve ever worked with. (F38310, 306 chassis)
It’s a far cry from simply tweaking the yoke a degree or two. When I’m done, I will have to flash an EEPROM with the adjustments. I miss the old days of firing up the Eico tube tester, and the smell of tubes.
The difference in frame rates may be a key issue with the audio and video sync problem on the Sansa: I think it might be a rounding error that grows over time.
SanDisk is working on the issue, I assure you, and they are thinking out of the box. Two separate vendors for the SMC should be evidence enough. It will take a bit of time. Remember, not all video files or codecs are alike, and the Sansa is expected to work with quite a handful. If it were a simple NTSC / ATSC issue, the problem would have been solved long ago.
Bob :smileyvery-happy:
Message Edited by neutron_bob on 11-26-2008 08:35 PM
Thank you Bob. This is the answer that I for one, have been waiting for. An acknowledgement that the issue exists,suspected issue, what is being done, and a (quasi LOL) timetable.
Bravo. This all we can ask for.
To all I have insulted, real or perceived, please accept my apologies. I do tend to be passionate.
Message Edited by ickster on 11-27-2008 07:53 AM
[ Pre-Post-Script: ick, just saw your last post -after writing this so pardon, but it’s already written, so here goes…]
ickster…please…
I share frustrations of the nature that you describe frequently, but have to remind myself…
Life is so far from perfect my friend.
You have discovered that a darn fine little device has some shortcomings and that Sansa did not properly advertise the details. And you can’t get a good explanation for the shortcomings.
You are correct sir!
And then life goes on. Make the most of it! You still have a great player.
This technology is very complicated
Heck, I’ve had brand-new commercial DVD’s freeze and glitch-up in a home player. Hmmm…well, what’re you going to do? go to China and yell at the manufacturer?
We are in all likelyhood going into a depression. Many people right now are losing jobs. People are losing their homes. American men, and Iraqui men, women and children, are still dying in a country(s) where we started a war for no good reason.
Watch the aftermath of what portends to be a bleak Christmas retail season. The effect on main street retail real estate is going to be very significant. It’s time to pull together, tighten the belt and whatever other metphors you want to throw in that pot- and start to hold onto the good in life (family, mainly) and let everything else become secondary.
Now…breathe…slowly…breathe… isn’t it good to just be alive today?
Message Edited by blackdog-sansa on 11-28-2008 09:43 AM
I said it before that I think video should have been left off the Fuze. If a feature can’t be robust enough and function at a high enough level then imo it should be omitted. Perhaps if video was left off the Fuze, more audio functions might have been included, and perhaps a replacement for the View might already be available with better sound quality(at least as good as the Fuze or Clip), longer battery life, a touchscreen(to allow the player to be smaller, but still have a decent sized screen), and perhaps a full sized SDHC card slot.
@blackdog_sansa wrote:
We are in all likelyhood going into a depression. Many people right now are losing jobs. People are losing their homes. American men, and Iraqui men, women and children, are still dying in a country(s) where we started a war for no good reason.
I’ll have to try this tactic at work: "There is a global recession going on, a war in Iraq, families going hungry…and you’re upset that your internet connection is slow? You should adjust your priorities! 
It’s all ‘mind over matter’.
If you don’t ‘mind’, it don’t ‘matter’! :smileyvery-happy:
Hope everyone (that includes you too, ickster ) had a good Thanksgiving! Now everybody get out there and do their part to stimulate this economy. Buy something!