only MP3 files?!

man this ■■■■■!!

i bought the sansa fuze expecting to be able to fully load it by evening,but than (after too much of extra research) found out that i can only upload MP3 files on it!which means i must change all of my CDs into MP3 files (i don’t know why,but they’re coming in differently) …

is it really the only way to do? or did i do something wrong?

Are you trying to copy your CDs straight into the Fuze, because that doesnt work.   They have to be ripped first.   As far as MP3 is concerned, no you arent limited to that format.  The Fuze can handle a number of different audio formats such as .wma , .aac or .wav for example

So, what format are your music files to start with?

The Fuze accepts mp3, wma, secure wma, ogg, aa, and flac.

Bob  :wink:

emm how can i rip a CD?what does it mean,really?i’ve read t here a couple of times,but i don’t really understand what it means…(i’m not a native english spealer but i don’t think ot has anything to do with it.i’m simply not a great computer wiz)
i’m trying to add AAC audio (?) files that i have…and it won’t show them on the MP3player…

The Fuze does not support AAC (audio) format.

Are you using iTunes?  Then “rip” is what iTunes calls “import.”

iTunes can convert your AAC files to MP3 for you.

Ah, have you seen the Matrix?

“Welcome… to the real world!”    I refer to life outside the bubble of iTunes.  ITunes AAC format is not readable by the Sansa.  In the iTunes client, you can export the music in standard MP3 format.

Then, these files can be transferred to the Sansa, or any player other than an iPod.

The design of iTunes is geared to “locking you in” to the Apple format, but once you find the key to translating the AAC files, life is good.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

haha i like the way you said it

if i shouldn’t use itunes (which i don’t have anyway) what can i use to rip CDs? i read here somewhere something aout windows media player 11 and tried to install it,but it says i need to validate it or something…i don’t really get it.says i’m missing something.

so what can i use?and what can i do to change the AAC to a format the sansa will load?

"

man this ■■■■■!!

i bought the sansa fuze expecting to be able to fully load it by evening,but than (after too much of extra research) found out that i can only upload MP3 files on it!which means i must change all of my CDs into MP3 files (i don’t know why,but they’re coming in differently) …

is it really the only way to do? or did i do something wrong?"

The purpose of using mp3 files rather than WAV files that are on your CD is to get around five to ten times as much music in the same amount of storage space and still have the sound quality be good enough.

You can use whatever version of Windows Media Player is already on your pc to rip mp3 files. Just start the program, click on the rip tab, and choose mp3 for the format. Click rip again, and choose the bitrate. I recommend using 192 or 256 kbps. The higher the bitrate the better the sound quality, but the less music the player will hold. I use 256 kbps. Some who want the most music on their player use 128 kbps. 128 kbps sound much worse than CD quality, while 256 kbps sounds just like the CD to many people. I can’t hear the differnce between 256 kbps and 320 kbps. 192 kbps still sounds pleasant to me, but not as good as 256 kbps. I don’t like how 128 kbps sounds.

Converting AAC files to mp3 will result in lower sound quality. A much better idea is to make mp3 files directly from the CD.

@eipafjlkjss wrote:

man this ■■■■■!!

i bought the sansa fuze expecting to be able to fully load it by evening,but than (after too much of extra research) found out that i can only upload MP3 files on it!which means i must change all of my CDs into MP3 files (i don’t know why,but they’re coming in differently) …

is it really the only way to do? or did i do something wrong?

The box the Fuze comes in lists the supported file tyes. Did you not read it? Although, SanDisk has added FLAC & OGG support since so those formats may not be listed. Even if you didn’t want to pull out your reading glasses, it clearly states on the front of the box that the Fuze is an MP3 player. From this description, would you really assume it would play any other format than .mp3? The fact that it does is indeed a bonus and is a salute to SanDisk’s efforts to engineer their player to be used & enjoyed by the vast majority of people. The box (and all documentation, on or off-line) also lists the minimum system requirements; one of which is Windows Media Player 10.

Apple has a proprietary format in their AAC. Only their own family of ‘pods’ will recognize and play this format. Also CD’s come in .cda format. These also must be converted to a usable format, but are very simple to do with the afore-mentioned Windows Media Player. There are other media players out there that will do this too, but the better ones cost $, whereas WMP comes included as part of Windows for free. And if you have a valid/legitimate copy of Windows, you should be able to upgrade to Vers. 10 or 11 for free, even if you only have Vers. 9.

When you mentioned ‘validating’ something, probably what is happening is that Microsoft’s site needs/wants to scan & ‘validate’ that you have a legitimate and not pirated version of Windows before it will allow you to update your copy of the Media Player. It takes a few minutes, but is one of those necessary evils you have to put up with when dealing with Microsoft.

The term ‘ripping’ refers to basically ‘recording’ the CD, but during the process also converts the .cda format to one more versatile, like .mp3. As mentioned, the Fuze will play other formats, but .mp3 is the most universally used. You may also see the term ‘burning’ used (like in WMP). This is basically the opposite of ripping. ‘Burning’ is creating a CD, either by copying an existing one, or ‘burning’ .mp3 files to a CD. So ‘ripping’ is copying from a CD, ‘burning’ is copying to a CD.

I know the most exciting thing when getting a new electronic ‘toy’ is to use it right away, but if this is your 1st portable music player since a Walkman, then there’s a learning curve, so expecting to fill it up in just a few hours is probably not possible for most people. Better to slow down and do it right the 1st time, rather than fudging it all up and having to re-do everything later. :wink:

Luckily, you have come to the right place to answer any & all of your questions and to ‘convert’ yourself into a self-made MP3 & Fuze expert in no time. Most all questions have already been asked and answered, so it’s just a matter of reading and/or using the ‘search’ function. But there are also many helpful people here who will explain things as well.

I would suggest 3 places to start and refer back to them as necessary:

  1. The User’s Guide. It’s usually not included in the box, but having it on-line means it can be updated when firmware updates change things.
  2. The Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQ. While they haven’t yet included this at the top of the Fuze board yet, you can check the e 200 series board here for it. All the hints in it also pertain to the Fuze.
  3. The Firmware Update and Release Notes. SanDisk is very pro-active when it comes to updating the firmware (software that runs the player), fixing bugs and enhancing the player with new features and functions. You should update your player as soon as you feel comfortable doing so. Being a member of this community, you’ll hear of any new updates coming and what improvements are expected in the release.

I know you’ll enjoy your new toy once you understand a bit more about it. There are literally hundreds of others here who are also ‘addicted’ to them. :smiley:

You can use iTunes to rip your CDs; you just need to set the import format to MP3 (Edit->Preferences->Advanced tab->Import using MP3 Encoder). I think it defaults to 128kbps, which is pretty low quality - you might want to up this to 192kbps.

If you re-rip your CDs to MP3, its probably best just to just delete the .m4a files, as they don’t work on much at all (.m4a isn’t actually a proprietary format, but so few devices support .m4a that it might as well be). The easiest way would be to do a search in Windows for *.m4a and delete what you want.

Its a shame that Apple chooses a default import format that has such compatibility problems, but there’s a reason for it - we’ve seen cases here where it was just too much trouble to stray from the Apple envelope that people would give up and just buy another iPod.

@eipafjlkjss wrote:

haha i like the way you said it

if i shouldn’t use itunes (which i don’t have anyway) what can i use to rip CDs? i read here somewhere something aout windows media player 11 and tried to install it,but it says i need to validate it or something…i don’t really get it.says i’m missing something.

so what can i use?and what can i do to change the AAC to a format the sansa will load?

If you dont have Itunes or Windows Media Player you can try a couple of things. Media Monkey is what I would suggest. Simply Google search Media Monkey to find it. Also many people use Rhapsody. Both of these have the ability to rip capabilities.

JK98 :

The purpose of using mp3 files rather than WAV files that are on your CD is to get around five to ten times as much music in the same amount of storage space and still have the sound quality be good enough.

You can use whatever version of Windows Media Player is already on your pc to rip mp3 files. Just start the program, click on the rip tab, and choose mp3 for the format. Click rip again, and choose the bitrate. I recommend using 192 or 256 kbps. The higher the bitrate the better the sound quality, but the less music the player will hold. I use 256 kbps. Some who want the most music on their player use 128 kbps. 128 kbps sound much worse than CD quality, while 256 kbps sounds just like the CD to many people. I can’t hear the differnce between 256 kbps and 320 kbps. 192 kbps still sounds pleasant to me, but not as good as 256 kbps. I don’t like how 128 kbps sounds.

Converting AAC files to mp3 will result in lower sound quality. A much better idea is to make mp3 files directly from the CD.

thank you so much!!and all the rest here as well. i’ve got my answer,and i finally understand how to use this…

happy new year!and thanks again!:slight_smile:

What program can i use to Convert WVA video files to a different format to play on Sansa?  Have sansa fuze 4 gb.

I’ve contacted…

sansa tech support - bad support - no help

yahoo Q & A

you name it, i’ve done it

PLUS i’ve downloaded the k-lite codec and cccp codec NEVERMIND the Huge amount of conversion programs.

My library system offers tons of WVA Videos, BUT Sansa Fuze does not play these files.

Help!