Playback problems using memory card...

MP3 players Sansa Clip | Clip+
1

So, having bought and used an 8gb Clip+ for some months, I have finally run into some deal-breaking trouble with this little mp3-player.

Having filled the player’s own memory with most of my music collection, I’ve gotten hold of a 4gb memory card to make room for the remaining songs. I got it for free from a relative of mine who got it with his brand new Sony cellphone (and who quickly got himself a larger card). I’ve formatted my 4gb card using FAT32 and 32 byte… mmm… well… you know what I mean.

The thing is, the music on the card behaves in weird and erratic ways. Not always, as I can listen to several songs at times without encountering any trouble. Usually, though, I’m KO’d by the following problems popping up without any forewarning, either at the start of a session or during one:

[1] The fast play-through.

This is a problem, usually encountered at the start of a session, where the songs do not play, but rather swoosh by in a number-counting fashion. “Song #1, song #2, song #3, and so forth.” Bang, bang, bang! No music, just a “number counter” counting up the number of songs on an album or of an artist.

[2] The garbled sound.

Some times the sound becomes slow and garbled, followed by a halt in the playing. Then the whole song stops and can’t be played again. Neither can I jump to another song in that list. Often, the player itself seems slow/sluggish/laggy when this has happened, moving slowly between the menus. If I shut down the player and go back on, the song will often still not play.

[3] The home button threat.

Sometimes I get hints at problem #2, only to not have it all happen. It just hints at it by messing up the sound a little bit when I press the home button.

The player has gotten the latest firmware. I know the mp3s put on the card are fine, because they’ve been ripped from my CD-collection using the same method over and over again, and put into a system using Mp3tag. And they work on my PC. And the other ones work on the player’s own memory. To me, there is clearly something not right with the use of the memory card. But what it is, I have NO idea. The erratic behavior is really puzzling to me. It’s as if the problems described are more diverse than I’ve written down, having more quirks and twists than can be remembered. And this is all extremely annoying. As I say: A deal-breaker.

I really want to fix this problem, as I like the player because of its size and simplicity. Having to buy another brand will also be a costly affair.

Can somebody help?

2

@c_t_s_o wrote:

So, having bought and used an 8gb Clip+ for some months, I have finally run into some deal-breaking trouble with this little mp3-player.

 

Really? You’ve had it for several months and now you’re claiming this trouble is a “deal-breaker”? Exactly what deal is it breaking; were you planning on buying another one?

@c_t_s_o wrote:

The thing is, the music on the card behaves in weird and erratic ways. . .

 

[1] The fast play-through.

[2] The garbled sound.

[3] The home button threat.

 

Simple enough to test/isolate/confirm the cause. If the trouble only started and/or only occurs with files on the card, then (using my favorite “Spockism”) logic would dictate there is nothing wrong with the player itself, but rather the card.

I would try formattng the card again and see if the weirdness continues. If it does, there’s most likely something wrong with the card. Especially considering it was a freebie given away with a cell phone. These things are dirt cheap right now. I know you got this one for free, but you sometimes get what you pay for. In this case you paid nothing & you got nothing. Pony up a couple of bucks and buy another one (retail packaging from a reputable and SanDisk-authorized dealer).

Worst case? If a new card doesn’t fix the issue and it’s the player (which I highly doubt) you can return the card, so you’re not out any money.

One other thought though on your 1st issue, the fast play-through . . . you aren’t by any chance using a Mac and/or iTombs to transfer the music, are you? They will insert empty ‘ghost’ Finder files that will cause your player to act this way.

And just for the record, I’ve had my Clip+ ever since they came out, and have used various & multiple cards with it and have never experienced anything like you describe. And there are millions more around the globe who haven’t either; otherwise by this time we would have heard these issues raised before.

3

@c_t_s_o wrote:

 

To me, there is clearly something not right with the use of the memory card. But what it is, I have NO idea.  

It’s either one of two things – the card is defective or the card slot is defective.

The only way to know is to use another card and see what happens.

If it’s the card slot, you can contact Sandisk Tech Support for a warranty replacement  if the player is still under warranty.

4

Tapeworm:

      One other thought though on your 1st issue, the fast play-through . . . you aren’t by any chance using a Mac and/or iTombs to transfer the music, are you? They will insert empty ‘ghost’ Finder files that will cause your player to act this way.

I use a PC and the MSC mode when transferring files.

5

The problem may reside with the music files themselves.

The Clip does not have a provision in its firmware for displaying file difficulties.  When an unplayable file is encountered, the Clip simply skips forward to the next available file.  I’d love to have a set of error masks (messages) on the device, ones that alert you to a specific difficulty, rather than making one think the device is “broken”.

Messages like “unsupported media format” or “bit rate”, or a message that alerts you to a file header or metadata error would be wonderful.

The simplest way to see if there’s a file error is to transfer one of the troublesome music files to the internal memory, and see if it plays correctly.

Most folks don’t know that there is a layer above everything on the card, the Secure Digital part (SD) that can be modified when using the card on a mobile phone or camera.  This might be your difficulty.  Look up the SD Formatter here.

Also possible, you can check the disk for errors under Windows, or use the chkdsk utility to check if there’s a problem with the file allocation table.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

6

neutron_bob:

      Most folks don’t know that there is a layer above everything on the card, the Secure Digital part (SD) that can be modified when using the card on a mobile phone or camera.  This might be your difficulty.  Look up the SD Formatter here.

I did check the card using the chkdsk utility, and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong, but after using ‘SD Formatter’ there seems to be no more problems using the card. Well, there was a short time when the card didn’t appear to be in the player, when it was, but apart from that one incident, I haven’t had any more of those irritating problems I listed up.

7

Do you think that this would also cause a " refreshing your media" error, where every time you press a button to do anything, the player refreshes instead? Thanks!

8

@playdough wrote:

Do you think that this would also cause a " refreshing your media" error, where every time you press a button to do anything, the player refreshes instead? Thanks!

No, yours sounds more like a hardware issue. If your player is still under warranty (US - 1 year, EU - 2 years) I would contact SanDish Tech Support about a possible replacement.