While updating the songs on my Sansa Express today I got the pop-up letting me know that a firmware update was available as of 8/25/2008. I always like to check to see what the new features are, if people have had any issues, if anything I enjoy with the current version is lacking in the new version etc before doing any “upgrades”. I searched the forums but so far do not see any posts mentioning this new firmware update.
Does anyone know what the changes are in version 1.01.12 from version 01.01.05A? Any stories of success or woe? Any personal confirmations about what microSDHC cards now work or still do not work with this update?
The new firmware allows you to use an 8gb micro sd card!!! I just tested mine and was able to transfer over 6gb of music to the 8gb micro sd card in my sansa express. The player recognized all the songs and the card without crashing and it took a short time to build the library when you turn it on.
While updating the songs on my Sansa Express today I got the pop-up letting me know that a firmware update was available as of 8/25/2008. I always like to check to see what the new features are, if people have had any issues, if anything I enjoy with the current version is lacking in the new version etc before doing any “upgrades”. I searched the forums but so far do not see any posts mentioning this new firmware update.
Does anyone know what the changes are in version 1.01.12 from version 01.01.05A? Any stories of success or woe? Any personal confirmations about what microSDHC cards now work or still do not work with this update?
Thanks,
Jim
This is what I found.
Improvements:
Improved playback for Wav files recorded/ripped at 44kHz sample rate.
The frequent database refresh at start-up still occurs but the FM presets are maintained.
No changes:
Does not play Ogg or Flac.
1000 song limitation is still present.
Doesn’t work with my 8 gB card.
Shuffle algorithm appears to be the same.
New Problems:
More frequent lock-ups.
I am not trying anything further with this firmware for the time being. The player locked-up and did not repsond to a soft reset nor to inserting a microSD card. I was able to get it working by manually installing the previous firmware, 01.01.05. I might try the new firmware again at a later date.
The other reader responding to your post wrote that he was able to get his 8 gB card to work, so maybe your results will be different than mine. Given more time other users will probably try the new firmware and post their results as well.
I’ve have not experienced any issues with either my 1gb or 2gb sansa express. The 8gb card works for me. Granted my song list did not exceed 1000 tracks because most of the music I transfered are long dj mixes of an hour plus. currently, I have about 521 tracks. If I experience any problems I will post an update. But so far so good
I also got that popup. Assuring know that SE users are not forgotten and that is good of SanDisk Corporation.
I was going to update but files in the internal memory were not backed up; so decided to leave it for the time being.
Then came here to find out what fellow users found out. Being able to play FLAC files will be great but somehow feel that will be asking too much of the SE. But thanks for the warning Mr. Moose. Appreciated!
With no one reporting any worthwhile improvements, I am holding back.
Much as I’m really glad to see that they have actually produced an update I can’t help but wonder why it lacks basic improvements. I can’t help but point to this post from almost 13 months before this update (also before the previous update) that suggested they were going to provide a solution for the 1000 song problem. The only change I can see is that for some reason when I select options from the main menu (i.e. Music, Radio, Voice, Settings) the animation leading to the submenus appears to be slightly slower.
It seems (to me, at least) that v1.01.12 is able to handle the microSDHC cards better than v1.01.05. I’ve managed to put over 600 songs on the card without trouble. As for the 1000 song limit, I haven’t reached that yet. But we’ll see…
I’ve noticed a little problem since I upgraded. Before the upgrade, every so often the display would remain on, frozen, without the blue light round the select button being on, after the 10 second autooff feature. It would still play as normal but would need a button pressed before waiting another 10 seconds for it to switch off. This was a rare occurence before but in the last few days it has been happening quite reguarly. Any ideas?
Internal memory plus a 2GB expansion card of my SE, show 485 ‘songs’ in Settings, System Info. And that include some 30 min long audio books. So with an 8GB card, ‘song’ limit 1000 will easily be reached. A serious drawback.
In July 2007, SanDisk Technical Support admitted, “There is currently a limitation in the firmware that only allows up to a 1000 songs to be recognized by the player.”
SanDisk Technical Support also promised, “This will be rectified in a firmware update.”
Till this problem is fixed, I can’t see SanDisk Corporation selling many 8GB cards on the back of this upgrade.
I called Sandisk Technical Support and asked what changes or improvements were included in the new Firmware.
According to Technical Support, the new firmware supports gapless playback.
No other enhancements or changes were made.
Wow. Just wow. Is this the most pointless update ever? I mean looking down the support forum here I’m struggling to find any of their customers who are putting this top of their list of things they want fixed with the player. Gapless playback!!! great. brilliant. Well, I suppose I wasn’t expecting any more updates for the thing anyway so something is better than nothing.
I made the firmware-update one week ago and my experience for the latest version is, the shuffle-mode is(!) improved.
Everytime, when you turn on your Express (which ist also faster, i think) a new order of your playlist will be created. Not the old ridiculous behavior, when everytime the same shuffle-list played…
Does anyone know where I can download the installer files for 01.01.12 to install manually?
I can’t get the auto updater to recognize my express as a MSC device, even though I disabled MTP and the player shows up with a drive letter in Windows Explorer. Hence, I can’t check for updates, since it complains it is an MTP device, even though it’s not.
So, if I could download 01.01.12 and install manually, that would be great. But I can’t find the file.
I’m hoping this update will fix FM recording, which presently creates a corrupt file that sounds very bad.
Try downloading and installing Windows Media Player 11 first. It automatically loads the requisite drivers. Then, run the updater without any SD card. I backed up all my files and then used the SE formatter to format a 2-gig SD chip. Then you can up-load all your back-up files. My SE has worked perfectly ever since I did the WMP 11 update, SE 1.01.12 update, and the on-board SD format.
Does anyone know where I can download the installer files for 01.01.12 to install manually?
I can’t get the auto updater to recognize my express as a MSC device, even though I disabled MTP and the player shows up with a drive letter in Windows Explorer. Hence, I can’t check for updates, since it complains it is an MTP device, even though it’s not.
So, if I could download 01.01.12 and install manually, that would be great. But I can’t find the file.
I’m hoping this update will fix FM recording, which presently creates a corrupt file that sounds very bad.
I have not seen firmware 01.01.12 available for downloading in this forum. It appears to only be available by using the updater.
I have used the Sansa Updater Program with my Express with the Express in MTP mode. Have you tried it that way? I have not needed to switch it to MSC mode to update the firmware.
I tried to update my firmware to the newest, and that was a pain in the ass…
Eventually I discovered that the player needed to be in MTP mode to “find” the update within the Sansa Updater, and after the update is found and you have the “download now” option or whatever it is called, the player needed to be swicthed to MSC mode, then you click on the “downlaod now” button and the flash/update will work.
Before I found that out the updater would just sit there and do nothing after downloading the update.
The only thing I don’t like is how the player needs to rebuild the database of songs everytime you turn on the player, as opposed to just when a change is made, or the SD card is removed then replaced… and the 1000 song limit. I’ve got 1900~ on a 8GB microSD card and only 1000 are seen on it, 513 on the internal 2GB, so it says I’ve got 1513 songs total.
I just tried with 1000 songs on the SD card, and 505 on the internal memory, and the Express said there were 1198 songs…
Message Edited by RealyPssd on 10-13-2008 02:10 PM
Message Edited by RealyPssd on 10-13-2008 07:33 PM
