Playing Audiobooks FAST and not playing in order

Well the primary reason I bought the FUZE is so I could play audiobooks at a higher speed.  This is a Great feature!  Now I listen to a lot more books.  Here are some problems however:

1.  On some books, (poor quality?)  they play fine on the FAST setting, until the backlight goes out!  Then they get all choppy.  This has happened on about 4 books that I have listened to so far.  It is actually so choppy, that I have to constantly adjust the volume, so that the light comes back on.  I believe this has to be a bug.

2.  Sansa products still do not play books in Order which is SUPER ANNOYING.  This means that every audio book I want to listen to, I have to convert all the tags on them.  I listen to a book about every 2 days!  So I have to waste a lot of time fixing all the mp3s.  If you rip an audio book, frequently the internet databases just have the first CD information, or they have mixed information, etc.  So almost all the audiobooks get screwed up, and the sansa player doesn’t play them correctly.  SIMPLE FIX, ADD ONE MORE OPTION TO ALLOW YOU TO PLAY AUDIOBOOKS IN FILENAME ORDER!!! I don’t know why this is so hard!

3.  The restart,continue/bookmark or whatever it is for audiobooks is nice, but it is also flawed.  If I am listening to an audiobook with 200 files, the bookmark is based on clicking on the file that was playing when you quit.  This means if you are listening to an audiobook switch to a music, and then go back to the audiobook, you have to search through 200 mp3s!!! to find the one with the bookmark!!  It would be much better if they put a bookmark in the folder, or listed them somewhere else.  I just spent 10 minutes going through mp3s just to resume my book.  The fact you can’t skip one mp3 forward or reverse, means you have to exit out of the book, scroll through the list and try to locate where you were!  This is super frustrating!!

4.  Sorry for all the complaints!  Other than these gripes, This is the best mp3 player I have ever had!

Low bitrates can cause issues in decoding.  For now, try reloading the files at a higher bitrate (assuming that the current ones are at a low rate).

Bob :wink:

Yes I figured that might be the problem, but they work fine as long as the backlight (screen is on).  As soon as the Screen goes dark, the mp3s get all choppy.

Actually I just checked, and I don’t think it is the quality, as a book recorded at 48kbps sounded fine, but the book I am currently having problems with is recorded at 112kbps/44100 Hz.  Here is another one that worked fine recorded at: 32 kbps and 22050 Hz.  Uh is higher quality the problem then???

I’ve run into the screen “on” affecting decoding issues with the e280v2. I believe it has something to do with the processor being momentarily “distracted” from decoding tasks, by “redrawing” tasks. Sometimes, the interruption makes a change for the better.

Note the paradoxical behavior, as one would assume that the device might have issues when tasked to redraw the GUI and operate the display, versus the other way around.

Try a bitrate increase and see if it helps your situation. Do you know if the files are wma (DRM issues involve more computations), and the current bitrate?

I have found, in the case of Audible books, my Sansas are happiest with “format 3”, if that’s your situation. 

Bob :stuck_out_tongue:

Message Edited by neutron_bob on 06-25-2008 10:10 AM

Well I just re-recorded a problem mp3 both up and down, 40kbs and 192kbs for the same mp3.  Unfortunately, It took some time, because as noted above, Sansa plays by tags instead of filenames, so I had to go edit the mp3 tags for both files, before I could even find them on my sansa.  They both worked, so I guess whenever I have a problem with a book, the answer is to just reconvert it at a different bit rate.  Maybe it just has problems with a specific speed??  I will have to compare all the bad books and see what they have in common.  All of these are mp3s. 

I would run 64KBPS as the lowest rate.  The Fuze can handle 32-320KBPS, but running at the low bit edge can be sketchy, depending upon the individual file.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy: 

Thanks Bob, I will do that.  Although the book I am listening to now I dropped down to 40kbps and it doesn’t have the stuttering problem that playing it at 112kbps had.

On a side note, any idea why Sansa does not allow you to play audiobooks in filename order?  I mean one of the main reasons Rockbox exists is to allow this option, so I know it can be done.  I am just waiting for a FUZE crack.  I have an older cracked Sansa e260, which is awesome, but it doesn’t play books at highspeed, so I have to put up with the fuze for now.

@sierick wrote:

Thanks Bob, I will do that.  Although the book I am listening to now I dropped down to 40kbps and it doesn’t have the stuttering problem that playing it at 112kbps had.

 

On a side note, any idea why Sansa does not allow you to play audiobooks in filename order?  I mean one of the main reasons Rockbox exists is to allow this option, so I know it can be done.  I am just waiting for a FUZE crack.  I have an older cracked Sansa e260, which is awesome, but it doesn’t play books at highspeed, so I have to put up with the fuze for now.

You can adust the pitch (and speed) with Rockbox on the e200.  Go to the While Playing Screen (WPS) and, while playing a file, press Select (center button), then Up (play/pause) quickly while still holding Select, and then let go of both.  (Takes a little bit of practice.)  This will bring up the pitch screen.  Or, alternatively, hold down Select until the context menu comes up and select Pitch from the menu.  Use the scroll wheel to modify the pitch to your desired setting.  Press Select to return to the default 100%.

There’s also a patch available that modifies the speed without affecting the pitch.  You have to apply the patch to the source and compile a custom version in order to try it.  As I understand it, the algorithm works by cutting out tiny chunks from the buffer.  The patch is still a work in progress, but actually works fairly well.  Access this patch from within the sound settings menu.

PM me with your e-mail address and I’ll send you a copy of my own custom rockbox.zip file – a custom build for the e200 series based on the latest source with the speed patch and also containing my own patch, which adds shut down and show clock menu items and also a shortcut to the clock app from the WPS (press and hold play/pause to see the clock, and then tap play/pause again to exit back to the WPS).

As to file order with the original firmware, try using mp3tag to set your ID3 tags to ID3v2.3 ISO-8859-1 format.  Remove any other tags, such as ID3v1 using mp3tag’s Tag Cut and Tag Paste functions.  It works reasonably well with the e200 series, should also work well with the Fuze.

Wow I wish I would have know about the pitch sooner!  I would never have bought a FUZE.  Jeez I just wasted 99 bucks.  Not only can you play at higher speeds, but you can pick how high up to 200%!!!  Any idea on how long it will take before they crack the Fuze?