Yup… I think all people really need to always rememember is that, if they like to use WiMP like I do, when they connect their Fuze, they Always need to view the device in either Library or Sync views in WiMP, right click the Sansa device in the left pain, click ‘Set Up Sync’, and make sure that “Sync this Device AUTOMATICALLY” is most emphatically UNCLICKED!!!
Once thats done, disconnect and connect again, just to make sure it ‘stuck’… Mine didnt on first attempt for some reason, and it went out and grabbed a gb of pictures quickly before I even realized it was happening and could STOP the sync. But, once that automatic sync button is unchecked, you should be able to connect with impunity from then on with no worries.
Without this Automatic sync to worry about, you can easily construct your sync lists out of albums or playlists or whatever, and rest reasonably assured that youve put an end to the Wild Syncing gremlin that will so often load up your fuze to the point where its unuseable, or in my first case, dead as a brick.
To default to this Automatic sync mode is really a very bad default… The part that really got me was that, if it went out and grabbed everything that you could view in your WiMP library, that would be bad, but at least understandable. What it did in my case, though, much to my amazement was, in the detail list of all the things it wanted to sync, before I realized I needed to Uncheck the Automatic Sync box, appeared everything in my Pictures directory, and alot of other stuff too, none of which appeared in my WiMP library. Thats where alot of people are going to get terribly confused. Most of the common users dont understand the relationship between WiMP library, windows file system, and anything of that nature. When I look at songs to play in media player, Ill look in my library, and thats the general universe of what I expect to play, unless i manually pull in from another source… So, for this sync behavior to automatically go outside the immediate domain of the WiMP library with no notifcation, is one of the poorest design decisions Ive ever seen… But maybe thats just it; maybe it wasnt a design decision, but rather, a conscious Marketing decision. I dont know… Im not sure how that could help Microsoft. And I dont blame Sandisk either. Its definitely a design decision within MS to default to an automatic sync scenario.
Well, Im loving my Fuze… Only problem Im having is that the armbands Ive seen are way too small. Listen, im no Charles Atlas, but I do go to the gym, and even with my modest 14.5" biceps, the loosest setting on the arm band velcros is still cutting off blood, and going any looser takes the velcro closure off its contact point where the hook and loop meet. Armbands are designed supposedly for folks who like to use the gym, so they really should have some larger bands… I know alot of guys who have arm circumferences up to 18" and more, making my arms look relatively puny. So, someone needs to address this.
I also love the 30 fm presets… Thats enough to satisfy anyone, and the reception is alot better than the dedicated Coby radio I used to use in the gym. I also see there is a record function for the FM… I wonder if theres a way to record a song Im listening too and save it in such a way I can put it in my music folder and make just as available as any of my other 500 songs?