I was wondering if there is going to be any updates because word on the web says there wont be.
@slayer13 wrote:
I was wondering if there is going to be any updates because word on the web says there wont be.
There have been a few posts from users writing that they have been told by Sandisk that there will be no more firmware updates for the Express.
Is there ANY chance of an update? Can we complain and make them do it? or are they abandoning the express?
i hope they dont because there is a lot of bugs they need to fix!!!
I wish anyone would tell the e-mail of the Sandisk technical support. Cause I didn’t find one at the official site. Certain bugs should be definitely fixed by means of the new firmware.
Tomas! I beg you. give that **bleep** e-mail!
Sorry, guys). I actually found that e-mail in the special topic at this forum
Unfortunately, the Express is discontinued and sells now highly discounted (about $29). It would still be very good customer relations to do another firmware if they can fix the worst bugs. Even as it is, I can recommend it for bang for the buck: I picked up 2 G microSD for $12, which makes $41 US for a 4G player with good features. And with more memory cards picked up at later cheap sales, it offers even more total capacity.
Stuff that frustrates me all the time:
Resets. The thing seems to do it when navigating menus, disconnecting from the computer, and for all I know, when I have it in a bag the buttons touch long
enough to do it. I’m lucky if I can use the thing for a day without facing an unplanned reset. Because the Go list is cleared when this happens, it makes it
much less useful, certainly no good to put together a list of “next things to listen to” for any length of time.
Non-random shuffle. I know, I can mess around and get it to a new shuffled list, but it only lasts until I power down. Next time, bang, same old order.
Slow list scrolling. With a long enough song list, your currently playing song will be over before you find your next selection. This makes it hard to use for
“active” song picking, while your doing something like biking, working out, driving, etc., where you don’t want to spare too much time and attention.
This next stuff is less problematic, but still troubling.
General tag-handling bugginess, where songs may not appear properly. I know I can retag everything and make it work, so this isn’t insurmountable, but it
is still frustrating to have unplayable songs because of improper tags.
1000 song limit. I could hit it with 4 Gigs, if I tried. If 8G SDHC were properly supported, it would be trivial.
The ergonomics of the buttons is a problem too. This isn’t a firmware issue, except for the reset thing – touch volume + at all, and you risk a random reset because it takes no time to reset, unlike a normal shutdown.
I know that the flat button makes it sleeker, but it is harder to navigate, too easy to press the wrong way. The menu button is also a little hard to press.
The volume controls are too close together, making it hard to easily control the volume one-handed.
In comparison, the Sansa Clip is amazingly easy to handle, you can navigate with one hand (again thanks to the clip which holds it as well as good buttons).
The Clip also has frequent firmware updates, and the last is pretty amazing. Among the additions, enhanced shuffle support for very long song lists, with
the ability to go back to previously played songs in the same session, while a shutdown neatly creates a totally new order. Audio bookmarking for books and podcasts, and Ogg support, make the thing even better than it already was, which was excellent.
Something with the Clip’s electronics, and a form factor and memory slot like the Express, would go over well with people who want something a bit more
flexible than the clip. I know, you can carry a mini USB cable around, but it is nice to hook up the Express to any handy USB port. I looked at the Express
as a more power-user alternative to the new Clips.
I’d be happy if they just fixed the reset – could it be changed to take 10 seconds, rather than just a momentary touch? And a better shuffle, more random
would go a long way to making the thing feel useful, rather than frustrating.
Well said Inkadinkadoo, there isn’t much to add to what you wrote.
Attached is a link to a review by PC Magazine, it made the Editor’s Choice. To see the potential
of the Express it is puzzling to understand why Sandisk would abandon the product so quickly.
There are always reason$$$$$$ why a company makes the decisions that they do. But, this one
doesn’t appear to make much logical sense.
OH NO!!!
There is a lot of problems in Express ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am extremely disappointed with it!!!
HOPE SANDISK CAN HELP US!!!
OR OTHERWISE I WILL NO BUY ANY PRODUCTS OF SANDISK~~~
Sorry to know that SanDisk has discontinued the cute little SE and stopped supporting it.
Ditching support before fixing the bugs is disreputable. SanDisk is bound to loose customer loyalty and potential sales.
Does anyone else make a player that is about the same size? Bigger memory and/or support for bigger memory cards will be nice. Support for lossless formats such as FLAC and APE will be really great. That will save people like me with hi-fi systems from having to transcode files to the lossy MP3.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions, tips, advice
@bluemax wrote:
Sorry to know that SanDisk has discontinued the cute little SE and stopped supporting it.
Ditching support before fixing the bugs is disreputable. SanDisk is bound to loose customer loyalty and potential sales.
Does anyone else make a player that is about the same size? Bigger memory and/or support for bigger memory cards will be nice. Support for lossless formats such as FLAC and APE will be really great. That will save people like me with hi-fi systems from having to transcode files to the lossy MP3.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions, tips, advice
There are many USB stick type MP3 players. Check the websites for Samsung, iRiver, Creative and Trekstor to name a few. The closest to the Express, of which I am aware of, with expandable memory is the Trekstor Xtension.
However, if I were to purchase a new small player it would be the Cowon iAudio 7. This has the file support for lossless file formats among its many features. It does not have expandable memory, but it is available with up to 16 gB internal memory.
This is the review from the anythingbutipod website.
http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2007/07/cowon-iaudio-7-review.php
