I have two questions for the folks at SanDisk, responsible for the SanDisk Clip Sport firmware:
Why is it that whenever a songtitle in a playlist contains ‘special’ characters, it is not shown. I looked at all my playlists and I could compile this list of problematic characters: àáçèéêëíòóöú∆. Probably, there are more. Whenever a song has one of those in it’s title, it is not shown on the display and cannot be played. We are 2014: devices should be UTF8 ready. ASCII is so 1980’s!
After upgrading the firmware of my SanDisk Clip Sport to 1.17, I see that the number of songs on the internal and external memory is limited to 2000 each. Can someone tell me where this is advertised for people who are planning to buy this player? I see that SanDisk, notable memory maker, advertises the option to extend the storage of the player using a microSDHC card (preferably of SanDisk, of course). Well then, if you are like me and you have a 32 GB microSDHC card ready, to create virtual combined storage capacity of 40 GB, what then is the point of limiting the number of songs to 2000 (or 2000 + 2000 if you will)? Does SanDisk really believe that all my songs are of Pink Floydish length? SanDisk’s communication is deceptive and qualifies for legal action by consumers in my country, Belgium. Just saying. How would you feel if you’d bought a Ferrari, and as soon as you’re on the road, it’s horsepower or maximum speed is limited, just because the software is ■■■■?
I am not responsible for the FW however from what I have read the limitations seem to be related to the limited dram available in the controller that is used in the sport. these limitations are not really FW limitations but limitations of the hardware used in the sport. this player is much less beefy so to speak and is quite limited in what the hardware is capable of. if you are looking for something more full featured the clip+ and clip zip seem to still be available so you may want to to with one of those.
Okay, I understand the limitations, but why isn’t it advertised like that? The SanDisk Clip Sport is the newest player by SanDisk. As a customer, not familiar with the SanDisk product range (I used to be and continue to be an ipod user), I expect it to offer all the features of the previous players, and more. The price also justifies my expectations. Also, the memory expansion slot can hold a microSDHC card of up to 32 GB, being a lot more than 2000 titles! Why doesn’t SanDisk advertise this product’s limitations?
To me it looks like SanDisk is in the “take the money and run” business and does not take its customers very serious. Like, let them buy this player and an expensive memory card, and let them find out the limitations themselves. That is not a way to do business. I will not buy another SanDisk product, at least not for a while. I’ll keep using my ipod shuffle with its limitations, hoping Apple will announce some sort of upgrade next week.
So what you are basically saying is that SanDisk created a device of which it didn’t know the limitations until it was released. Honestly, I don’t know if this softens the pain or makes it even worse. Anyway, what SanDisk needs to do to regain the trust by its users is to clearly profile its product range, and give information information and information. Take a look at how Apple does it:
No surprises there! Since ipods have not been a priority for Apple for a while (big mistake if you ask me), SanDisk could well be taking over a significant marked share, but then they have to improve their game, or it will never happen.
Many technological devices produced today are actually capable of many more features, faster speeds, and more capacity than they have when they are sold. This is due to limitations and restrictions that are implemented by what the software or firmware will allow. Companies do this intentionally so that they can either offer “upgraded” devices in the near future (using the same hardware platform), get a device to market early and fix the bugs in later versions of software, or actually offer upgraded software at a cost to open up all of the “hidden” features that were built into the device originally. It’s all about profits and not about customer service! It obviously seems to work well with Apple, as they have created a giant culture that has been “trained” to purchase a new IPhone everytime they enhance or create a single feature and produce yet another version of the device.
The issues with the Sport are a FIRMWARE only problem. The chipset used for the device has NOTHING to do with the limitations hated by users. Anyone making this claim knows ZERO about firmware and embedded systems and has likely never worked with an IC in their life. That especially means certain people here who love to put on a cape and tights and pretend to be Superman of the SanDisk universe. ALL the limitations are artificial creations of SanDisk Engineering product design. The firmware was was stripped to give the unit longer battery life.
@chibbs wrote:
The issues with the Sport are a FIRMWARE only problem. Thechipset used for the device has NOTHING to do with the limitations hated by users. Anyone making this claim knows ZERO about firmware and embedded systems and has likely never worked with anIC in their life. That especially means certain people here who love to put on a cape and tights and pretend to be Superman of theSanDisk universe. ALL the limitations are artificial creations ofSanDisk Engineering product design. The firmware was was stripped to give the unit longer battery life.
The limitations seen in the Clip Sport product line are hardware related The simple fact is that the controller used in the Clip Sport is not capable of having the same feature set that was available in past Sansa Clip products.
Please take some time to read our forums rules and guidelines. This will serve as your one and only warning. Personal attacks and this hateful attitude to other forum members will not be tolerated. If you continue to berate other forum members you will be banned from posting on this forum.
I hope Sandisk makes a version of the Clip Zip the size of the Clip Sport and with the display the Clip Sport has. I hope it has the same circuitry as the Clip Zip except for the display, and has a battery with at least 70% more capacity than the Clip Zip’s, so that we can have all the functionality of the Clip Zip, and at least 25 hours of battery life. It would be okay if this player is priced somewhat higher than the Clip Sport, although I hope an 8GB one wouldn’t be over $80.
I enjoy using the Rockboxed Clip Zip. My main complaint about it is that the battery life isn’t enough. I was hoping the Clip Sport would be a Clip Zip but with a larger screen and larger capacity battery. I guess Sandisk was focusing on competing against the ipod Shuffle, and therefore felt a need to keep the price of the 8GB version under $50. Many of us would never buy a Shuffle though, and are comparing the Clip Zip and Clip Sport to other players that are $80 or more. Having a larger capacity battery probably wouldn’t add that much to the cost, although due to the extra weight, a stronger clip might also be needed.
I think it’s time for a refresh and for an UberClip to emerge . . . .
I’ll second that. If it wasn’t for want of the Sport’s increased battery I’d have stuck with the Clip + . Pretty please Sandisk, give us a Clip+/Zip with a bigger battery:smiley:
It’s amazing how much I learn about SanDisk’s MP3 player’s product range - and its differences - just by reading the replies on this thread. I’m not fond of some of the entries here, but at least they are informative. And that brings me to my original complaint, namely that SanDisk does not explicitely advertise the limitations of the SanDisk Clip Sport. I just payed a visit to the SanDisk website and I still cannot find any information about the player’s limited capabilites, e.g the maximum of 4000 songs (with the added memory card). Here’s one sentence from the advertisement that I still find very misleading:
“The SanDisk Clip Sport MP3 Player is available in a wide range of bright colors with file storage capacities of 4GB and 8GB**, and it also contains a memory card slot for additional storage**.”
Mind the double asterisks. I was hoping the first pair would warn me about the limitation of 2000 songs on the player itself, and the second pair would do the same for the extended memory card. Unfortunately, that is still not the case. The first pair gives me information on how much a gigabyte really is (as if no one knows that already), and the second one says that the card is sold separately. And that, in my opinion, is the real reason for the existence of this low spec’d MP3 player. SanDisk produces memory devices in the first place. But a memory device by itself is worthless, unless you can put it in a computer, or any other device, like an MP3 player. By producing these devices, SanDisk really is creating a market for itself to sell more microSDHC memory cards. The MP3 player, and its capabilities, are subordinate. From a sales point perspective, SanDisk couldn’t care less about how this MP3 player is perceived by its consumers. And Apple does or at least did the same, where the cheaper ipods really are meant to trick consumers into using itunes (and spend real bucks there).
Anyway, I could go on and on about how I feel cheated having bought this MP3 player, but I guess it won’t make any difference. My only hope is that people considering to buy this MP3 player will pay a visit to the SanDisk fora first, before making their decision. At least, SanDisk is keeping these threads with complaining consumers alive. I guess that’s a start…
Product pages only contain marketing info. They will never say what a device can’t do, marketing is putting the products best foot forward so to speak. There are literately millions of things this device can’t do for example, it won’t make you breakfast, should they put that on the page as well? I am being a bit facetious there but you can probably get what I am saying. The database limitation are listed in the sandisk knowledgebase. I went to their knowledgebase page and search for “number of songs” and this article was the first hit. it has the limitation for the database listed. see link below.
I agree that it is not put right in your face but this is typically how marketing is done. When I research a product I am thinking of buying I always check the manufacturer knowledgebase and reviews before purchasing. I always got more info there than in marketing product descriptions.
I’m glad you call your example facetious yourself, so I don’t have to.
I usually do my research before buying any product. In case of the SanDisk Clip Sport, I went from the “marketing” pages on their website, immediately to the player’s User Manual, easily found on-line. At the end of chapter 7, I found what I was looking for:
“The SanDisk Clip Sport MP3 player is capable of working with microSDHC cards up to 32GB. The player can store up to 40GB* of total device content including internal memory (e.g., 8GB player with a 32GB card).”
Then, I turned to my other knowledge base, called “common sense”, being: more memory = more music. I usually do not look for information that makes no sense, like number of songs limitations due to a firmware hack by SanDisk, to fix whatever needed to be fixed with this device that the engineers had overlooked in the design fase.
I hope you get my point. But since you are so familiar with this SanDisk Knowledge Base, could you perhapse tell me what was changed on August 11 2014? Please don’t tell me they’ve added the “Sansa Database Limitation” part.
Also, do you agree that - next to the knowledge base - the user manual (I’m talking about the PDF with 39 pages, not some sort of quick start guide) would be a good place to include such limitations as well? I challenge you to find even the number “2000” mentioned in there.
I ended up just throwing mine out. I keep reading the excuses, that somehow this is not actually Sandisk’s fault, that it’s a problem with the hardware limitations. Mmm Hmm. I’m the plant engineer at a manufacturing facility. I deal with industrial hardware, firmware, and software limitations all day long. My job is to find the work-around. There’s ALWAYS a work-around. And Sandisk can’t figure out how to create a database with more than 2000 entries, and artist, song, and album titles need to be truncated to 12 characters when there are 8 BILLION bytes of memory? Not buying that story. There’s ALWAYS a work-around.
Should make no difference. Flash memory does have a slow write time but read times are fast. Memory is still memory. Once songs are transferred the player should be in essentially a static state with the only change being current song played. The files and database don’t need to change unless another transfer occurs.
What gives? No further discussion. I received one of these from Amazon in the post yesterday and was immediately unhappy with the fact I can only play one album at a time and finding out that there is no rockbox port.
I loved my SanDisk Clip Zip and have only stopped using it after 8 years of faithful service because the headphone jack is damaged and music cuts out randomly, moving the jack around doesn’t make much difference for long.
