Ok, the new firmware is out, and I love the added functionality. The 8000 song limit is huge, my 16GB card is already on order.
To risk sounding like a malcontent, I would like to suggest a new feature for the next release (hey folder navigation was completely fueled by the community and I for one am gald it’s in).
I’d like two new “features” and if they get traction, then hey…
1. I would like to be able to scroll to the next song list (after using the center button to get there) and make that the “default” data instead of the time bar. I really have little use to see where in a song I am, but love knowing whats coming next. Like any feature, it should be user configurable, perhaps simply make the “mode” you leave the player on from the center button, the default mode until you choose a new one. That way people who like the spectrum analyzer could keep it there. People who like the full album art could leave there. etc. When you choose a mode, the one that is active when the backlight turns off is the default mode until another one is chosen. I think this is a great way for people to customize a bit how their “now playing” screen is configured.
2. Another thing I’d like to see is a setting that is toggled from the Music Options menu (click the bottom of the wheel) is the ability to set the backlight to come on at the beginning of each track for the specified backlight option time. That way, if the unit is sitting in a dock or on your desk or displayed in a holder in the car, when a new track starts, the backlight will come on briefly so that you can see what you are now listening to. This plus suggestion 1 above would be great for my car. My MP3 player is mounted on a mount on my car, and when I had my Rockboxed Sansa E200, I would turn this on, and with it plugged into the car, I would see the player “come to life” so I could see what’s now playing and what’s coming up next. Not all people would want this, so it would be a “toggle” just like “shuffle” “replay” and “replay gain” accessable from the Music Options menu so you can either keep the light working like it does now (does not come on until you press a button) or comes on for the set “backlight” time at the begininning of each new track.
Any possibility of one or both of these being included as long as we are building a wish list?
These are currently two cool features Rockbox has and the need will go to zero when RB gets ported to the fuze, but if Sansa included this feature, I would have little need to install Rockbox, and thus would not have to “dual boot” depending on whether or not I wanted to use Rockbox for the expanded skins and Now Playing screens, or choose Sansa Firmware to listen to Rhapsody Channels and subscription music.
How about it, is it doable?
As always the Sansa team has been crackerjack supporting this player, and is one of the reasons why Sansa will always be my first choice when buying a new DAP. This one is the third Sansa I’ve owned (M240, E280R, Fuze), and I feel the bang for buck is better than anything on the market. Even my kids have a couple of clips because they’re small, cute, sound great, and work well with Rhapsody. I don’t worry about my kids going to I-tunes and running up my credit card, when they have unlimited downloads from Rhapsody to their Clips as long as I keep the subscription active.
Message Edited by p_opus on 04-10-2009 11:59 AM
