I have both the Clip and the Clip+ and I keep having the same problems with either of them. I mostly have a large number of files (say 20+) grouped in one folder, and the ordering starts to get messy. I have tried tagging with prefix numbers (01, 02, …) but still no dice. I use the device mostly for podcasts and sermons grouped by speaker (so sometimes large lists of files occur).
Could any one of you please do a little experiment for me, and report if you see this problem too, or if it is somehow connected to my specific hardware / software?
Go to www.downloadbijbel.nl [a dutch bible audiodownload site] and check Genesis. Click the button ‘Verder’ and click on the link above saying “klik hier om alle perikopen te kiezen”. This will check all chapters. Now download these, unpack and tag the files so that the songname is the filename. Put these in your Clip and see whether the ordering is ok. On both my Clip players the ordering is all over the place.
If this experiment is showing similar problems on your side, I have a way for SanDisk to reproduce the problem and investigate.
I know I can use Folder browsing on the Clip+ and I’m using that now, but I would still love to have it fixed (hopefully even for the 1st gen. Clip my wife now has).
Yeah, that’s why it’s bothering me. I’ve scoured these forums for all previous mentions of problems with orderings and tried the suggestions. This is what I did before I called in for help from you guys (m/f):
tag using leading zeroes (01,02,…)
tag using mp3tag, ISO-8859-1, ID3v2.3 only (remove all other tagformats and resave in 2.3)
use different names for artist and album
remove the database file from the Clip before disconnecting, to force a rebuild of the database
Yet, still no luck. And since this experiment offers a clearcut way to reproduce my steps, I thought it would be a good way to check if there is error on my side, or if it is somehow Clip-inherent oddity. So, if I can persuade you or another reader to take 5 minutes (…ok, maybe 10) of your time to see if I’m doing something wrong (read: if there is hope for a fix) or if the Clip just can’t handle many files in a folder (with these long filenames like the biblechapters on the website have).
Just to show you how strange the ordering is, I will give you the beginning of my listing for Genesis (numbers only):
0044
0045
0046
0001
0002
…
0024
0025
0031
0033
0034
…
0042
0043
0032
0026
0027
0028
0029
0030
the … mean the ordering is ok for the successive numbers. Now if this isn’t wacky ordering, I don’t know what is!
Edit the tags on your pc, then delete the files on the player, and copy the files to the player again. If they are in the correct order on your pc, then you can use a tag editor lige mp3Tag to set the title equal to the fileme, or else use mp3 tag to autonumber the tracks.
Yes, I know how to edit the tags, not the filenames. So I did the things you asked me to once more. I removed the ‘genesis’ folder and I let the Clip recalculate its database. I also removed the tags from the originals and tagged them back (CTRL-X, CTRL-V in MP3Tag), to be sure no mixed ID3 tagtypes were present. I copied the whole folder back to both Clips and let them build the database again. Both Clips showed exactly the same ordering I mentioned above - wacky as hell!
Anyone care to do this little experiment for me to see if the ordering is Clip’s doing or mine?
