Newbie Problems - Problem Solved

MP3 players Sansa Fuze
1

Hi.  Problem encountered with new Fuze - 8 GB with 8 GB SDHC card.

 

mp3 album, when dragged & dropped in msc mode show up in 4 folders, each ending with a strange character behind the actual name.

 

For instance - 10 songs - 3 in Album, 2 in Album ending with a strange character, the same for two additional Album entries.

 

I have the latest firmware, 28A.

 

Any suggestions besides taking it back for a refund???

Thanks.

Fred

Message Edited by FZbar on 12-17-2009 12:16 PM

2

I would check the tags on the MP3 files. The Fuze uses them to organize the files. You can use Windows Media Player for this, but MP3Tag makes it easier to edit them en masse.

3

Thanks.  I used Media Player 10 to edit the track names prior to ripping.  I then ripped to a disk (all sequential & properly labelled) & then dragged & dropped to the Fuze.  I used the “safely remove hardware” to disconnect the Fuze & restarted the Fuze.  Up comes 4 separate but similar subdirectory names in Music on the micro SDHC card I copied them to.

Haven’t got the foggiest.  Is there some limit on how many subdirectories you can have in Music?  I have only three albums on the SDHC card.  Most of the 8 GB is completely free on the card & there is still 130 MB left in internal memory.

Fred

4

Some people have reported glitches like this with Windows Media Player.  I don’t know the explanation, but WMP and MTP mode are made to be able to send hidden information–DRM codes–and maybe something slips out.

I’d suggest using a different ripper (Media Monkey is a great alternative to Windows Media Player, www.mediamonkey.com ) and checking the tags in mp3tag (a better tag editor than WMP). Set the default in mp3tag under Tools/Options/Tags/Mpeg to Write ID3v2.3 ISO-8859-1 and save it. Put the unit in MSC mode, get rid of the goofy folders,  drag your newly ripped files over and see if it makes a difference.

Unless you have files with DRM–Rhapsody to Go, Napster, library audiobooks from Overdrive or NetLibrary–you are better off in MSC mode, which is more straightforward. Media Monkey can sync playlists in MSC mode. 

If you find you like Media Monkey, search the forums (or Google) for lame_enc.dll, a file you need to replace in the free Media Monkey so your LAME mp3 encoder is permanent instead of a trial.  You download a zip file from Lame, unzip it, get lame_enc.dll and use it to replace the one in C:/Program Files/Media Monkey.

Message Edited by Black-Rectangle on 12-15-2009 10:25 PM

5

Thanks Black-Rectangle.  I’ll give that a try later today & report back. 

It’s kind of frustrating when Media Player 10 has worked on other albums in the past - & they’re all original ones.

Fred

6

Downloaded MediaMonkey Free & followed instructions.  Ripped Eagles/Asylum to the hard drive.  It had all the names of the tracks but were “identical” to what I got from media player.  Connected the Fuze.  Deleted the files on the Fuze SDHC card.  Copied the newly ripped files from HD to the Fuze. 

An improvement but not perfect. All the newly ripped files were now in the same subdirectory on the Fuze (+1), however the directory structure on the Fuze read Eagles.  The there were 3 subdirectories - Eagles, Long Road Out of Eden 1, Long Road Out of Eden 2.  Under the 1st subdirectory (Eagles) were all the Asylum files, but the correct subdirectory structure would have been - Asylum, Long Road 1, & Long Road 2.

Thanks very much for your help.  It’s an improvement, but it’s frustrating in that I can’t seem to get it right with the Fuze.

Any other ideas?

Fred

7

The Eagles don’t have an album called Asylum. Asylum was the label for their first albums.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagles\_discography

If by Asylum you mean the one that starts with “Take It Easy” /“Witchy Woman,” that’s called…Eagles. 

8

Thank you, Black Rectangle.  I’m looking at the CD cover & you’re right.  On the front is a Stonhenge-like image with “Eagles” at the top. 

On the side edge it says Eagles & further right Asylum, so I naturally thought that it was an Eagles CD entitled Asylum.

I very much appreciate your help in suggesting an alternative way of ripping the CD & especially for your interpretation of what was

really going on.

Fred