(I plan to use my Clip+ to listen almost exclusively to podcasts, so hopefully this thread can consolidate tips about how to organize and listen to them. The manual is useless.)
If I’m listening to a track and I get into the menus, how do I get back to the track itself? Right now the only sure way I’ve found is to let the display time out and then the home button will show the track display (name, elapsed time, etc.).
2. Right now in my PODCASTS folder, I have several files and a few folders with some files in each. I always navigate to the track I want to play using Music - Folders. When a track is playing, if I hit the bottom button (settings), sometimes I get the Podcasts menu, sometimes I get the Music Options menu. Sometimes the track counter display shows the file number in the current folder (ex. 2/8) but sometimes it shows the overall file number (ex. 14/46). Is there any logical way to understand how this works?
“1. Try pressing the small home button 2 times–that works on mine.”
Bingo, thanks.
“2. Are the files with which you get different treatment all stored in the same location on the Clip?”
All are in the PODCASTS folder. Some are at the top level of the PODCASTS folder, some are in subfolders of the PODCASTS folder.
“Are they all labeled with Podcast as the ID3 tag genre?”
Right now, I’m looking at a file which is at the top level of the PODCASTS folder. The settings button brings up the Podcasts menu. Track Info - Genre says “Unknown”.
Next time I find a track that goes to the Music menu, I will update this post. Right now I can’t seem to find one.
“I think the clue behind this all may be that the Clip is originally an ID3 tag-based machine, with folderview added on, and so tags still can be imnportant, even with folderview, especially where folderview “protocols” such as putting podcasts in the Podcasts folder are not being followed (I’m guessing at this).”
If that’s so, it’s unfortunate as IMO, tags are poorly thought out and implemented even worse.
With my old Click (before the plus) I would copy my podcasts to the Podcast folder using Win Exporer, select them and rt-click and generate a playlist file (.pla). This allowed me to adjust the playback order.
With the plus, I can still create the .pla, but in the player it *shows up empty*. If I copy all the files to a folder under Music, playlists are OK.
Does anyone have a way to create playlists of podcasts, while still treating them like resumable podcasts?
Podcasts are a unique concept, to say the least. They are replete with little problems, I have found. These little glitches can cause one to have a wee aneurism while trying to play them back, no matter how one tends to them.
I am talking about professionally produced podcasts here, and won’t even try to venture into the esoteric. I have seen filenames changed to gobbledygook, embedded art missing or changed, and most importantly, changed or omitted ID3 tag metadata.
At least podcast playback order has been corrected to match chronological order. It took me a while to get someone to take the red pill and join us, in the real world.
I use the Juice Receiver as my podcast aggregator, and (gasp!) Windows Media Player to handle the podcast playlists. With Juice, depending upon the frequency of each podcast (some are daily, others every few days), you can configure your individual podcast lists to automatically clean up (delete from the player). WiMP handles the playlists well.
On the latest Sansa firmware designs (Fuze, Clip, Clip+) files with the genre “podcast” or “audiobook” are “stolen” from your playlist view. The files are placed under “podcast” or “audiobook” if the respective genre field in the ID3 tag matches. When you go to the named playlist view, the name will display, but the folder will be listed as [empty].
Media Monkey has a built in podcast aggregator as well, though I have not played with it much. Either application should place your podcasts in the correct order.
I carry several Sansas around daily, and all of them have a matching set of various podcasts. The music may vary on my machines, but the news is always available.
Is this due to the short battery life? When will Sandisk come out with players that use an easily swappable battery, or else come out with players that have at least 50 hours of battery life(in real world usage)?
I am quiet fond of the e280, it’s solid, and it pairs with the folding Macally (SN-TUNE) headphones quite well. I plop it into the dock when I can’t wear 'phones.
Running about, the Clips are quite handy, stealthy, and great company when I pop out for a quick coffee.
I love video on the Fuze, and the SR support is handy too when docked, as it’s great for background tunes.
As you can see, I flip between them constantly. Battery life is less than critical currently, as I also have them handy (Auto Detect has its advantages sometimes) as I shuffle diagnostic data around with them too; I can plug them in wherever I am tinkering.
Probably the hardest part is deciding which one to take along. When I go for a run on the bicycle, I prefer audiobooks in the background, rather than music, which can overpower ambient sound (bad idea). I’ve been tinkering with different speakers to use on the cycle, listening to music when I stop to look about or grab some chow.
Whenever I am on the boards, I have the wee beasties around to see if I can duplicate those things that pop up.
Sorry this a bit late for you but it may help someone else. I had this problem too and I think I’ve finally solved it. I move the podcasts to the audiobooks folder and make the playlist there. That way you can both resume the podcast and speed it up or slow it down. This is in MTP mode. I can’t figure it out at all in MSC mode. It’s too bad. This worked fine in the regular Clip.
Make sure the Podcasts have proper ID3 tags. As most Podcasts contain neither ID3 tags nor usable proper filenames, the only way to get the names correct is taking them from the RSS feed itself.
When I have listened to a Podcast I delete it from the Sansa (press down, then select delete). I don’t think the Clip+ keeps track of which podcasts were already played and which weren’t, so deleting them seems to be the easiest way to keep track of that.
I have documented some scripts to get 1) done with Rhythmbox and a few scripts on Linux:
When I have listened to a Podcast I delete it from the Sansa (press down, then select delete). I don’t think the Clip+ keeps track of which podcasts were already played and which weren’t, so deleting them seems to be the easiest way to keep track of that.
However, since the Sansa lacks a “play a track, then stop” mode, you have to be alert when one track ends and the next begins. Then pause the player, back up and delete the previous (played) track. It’s annoying.
Also, I have noticed that if you miss the track change (suppose you listened to Track A and now Track B has been playing for 15 minutes), and you back up and delete the Track A, that this deletes or corrupts the “bookmark” that should have been kept on Track B. Then you get to play the FF game… if you remember where you were in Track B.
I subscribe to 56 podcasts so podcast mgt is a big deal to me. I use numbered folders for podcasts to act as a playlist. I used to manually number the folders. But now I use a program to automatically move my podcasts from the default download folder to a directory tree of numbered folders. In essence, using numbered folders acts like an automatic playlist.
Here is my approach to podcast managment (playing podcasts in order of my preference without using playlists):
I use gpodder (free app) to automatically get new podcasts 4X a day
(it puts each podcast in its own folder based on podcast name)
I use Belvedere (great free app) to automatically MOVE my podcasts from default Gpodder folders to a different folder structure which I have created. Each subfolder is named with a number indicating the order I want to hear it.
Main Folder / Subfolder:
MyPodcasts/1-This American Life
MyPodcasts/1-Radio Lab
MyPodcasts/2-Selected Shorts
MyPodcasts/9-NPR story of the day
Once I’ve listened to all podcasts on my clip, I connect clip to PC and delete entire folder of podcasts (MyPodcasts)
I then cut the entire numbered folder structure (containing new podcasts) from PC and paste onto Clip
I then rename another copy of my preferred folder structure (with numbered subfolders) to “MyPodcasts” on the PC and I let gpodder and Belvedere repeat steps 1 & 2 automatically.
On the clip, I navigate to the ‘MyPodcasts’ folder and select play all.
This allows me to listen to podcasts in order of preference (regardless of which particular podcasts are downloaded on any given day) and without having to deal with playlists.
Once I’ve listened to my last podcast, I would like to be able to delete the “MyPodcasts” folder on the clip itself, to save doing that step on the PC, but I don’t think that it is possible to delete entire folder on the clip.
