I have about 1/2 of my 4GB Sansa Clip filled, and am using it to play music through the speakers of a boom box as background music for group functions.
While testing to see that the music sounds OK (my CD/DVD drive apparently went out as I was ripping the last few of my CDs), I am having the problem of the Sansa playing for a while, then going silent. When I check it out, it is scrolling the song title, artist, and time; but the II is ahead of the “song bar” instead of the >. I end up either manually shutting it down and starting it again, or jumping over the song to get it to start playing again.
Since I won’t be able to continuously be within 2 feet of the setup during the times I’m using it, this is a major pain. I don’t know what is making it just stop - it’s like someone has hit the “pause” button, but no one is anywhere close to it. I have done the reset button thing to see if that corrects it. If not, does anyone have any clue as to why this stops in the middle of the playlist? (I’m also using the “shuffle” and repeat “all” if that makes any difference.
Does this happen on one particular track (or tracks) consistently? It (they) might be corrupted as JK suggested. Kinda sounds like there’s a glitch in the firmware if it’s happening at random. You might try manually re-installing (or updating) it.
I reset the Sansa yesterday, and didn’t have a problem after that - but I didn’t hear any of those songs. either. (Apparently they weren’t in the “shuffle” line after I reset it). I did only have it hooked up another hour or two after reset, so I was nowhere near listeninng to 1/4 of the playlist. The possibility still exists that it could happen again - I’ll just have to plug it in again and see if it happens.
I will check for any updates, although I’m pretty sure I did that before I started the whole process, since I first deleted my husbands old music files that were on the Clip. As I said, I did reset it yesterday.
The version shown on my Clip is 2.01.32A - I see there is supposed to be a “35”, however repeated attempts have not gotten it to download. I don’t know if this has anything to do with it or not.
The version shown on my Clip is 2.01.32A - I see there is supposed to be a “35”, however repeated attempts have not gotten it to download. I don’t know if this has anything to do with it or not.
It downloads fine for me; maybe your A/V or firewall is blocking it?
Extract the .zip file into a folder on your computer.
Once extracted, drag the file to the root directory of your Sansa Clip.
Disconnect the Sansa Clip and let it restart.
The firmware update will now begin.
Once it finally finishes doing its update, it will boot back up. Once its back to the main menu, head to “Settings” > “System Info”, and verify the “Version” is now 02.01.35.
You didn’t say, what format are you ripping these files to? Are they a supported format? Note also in the Release Notes there are several bug fixes in this update that addresses OGG & FLAC files. Maybe this will help your situation?
Well, I reset AND did the firmware update and am still having problems. I just had 3 songs shut down on me for no apparent reason. This time I am trying to keep track of which ones they are, but quite frankly, I don’t know if it is the songs or the player - and I don’t know if I want to take the chance of having this happen during the reunion.
Do you suggest removing the entire playlist and reinstalling it to see if that fixes it, or just deleting the “bad” songs (with the problem of not knowing whether it is actually the song or the Clip that’s messing up).
You still haven’t said what format the files are in. That may be the problem. Are the ones that don’t play correctly in the same format as ones that do? Were they ripped to the same settings and/or with the same ripping program? Have you tried re-ripping the problem files and see if they work?
We can play 20 questions here as long as you want, but if you want help you’ve got to give as much information as you can in order for someone to try to guess what your problem is.
All were ripped in Windows Media Player using mp3 format. I’ve been keeping track this morning, and the songs are not -as I had suspected - from the same CD, either.
Added to the “pause” problem, now the player just randomly shuts itself off. I can restart it, and it plays and the battery indicator shows 7/8 full.
I may have to try re-ripping everything, but will have to wait for my new CD/DVD burner to get here, as the old one gave up the ghost on me before I got done with the last 4 or 5 discs I wanted to rip. (None of them are involved in this problem, though, as I did not rip them when I heard the horrible sound they were making).
And please, Tapeworm, don’t take such an antagonistic tone with me. I am not a techie, I’ll be the first to admit it.
I don’t know what you need to know to try and help me. I supplied the information as best I could, and then got a snarky comment about “playing 20 questions”.
If I had the answers, I wouldn’t be here. Please be a bit more polite.
I’ll try that. I’m guessing since my playlist is already built in Windows Media Player I won’t have to back up the file, as that is all that is on the Clip right now.
Thank you so much - I hope this works, as I really like the little player as it has great sound.
I’ll post back either way, that way if anyone else has this problem and reformatting it solves it, they will know.
No antagonistic tone intended but you were asked questions in order to help diagnose your problem and you didn’t answer. Surely you can understand the frustration of trying to help someone blindly.
From your latest information, it doesn’t sound to me like a problem with the files themselves, as it seems to occur with files ripped from different CD’s and you’ve already updated the firmware so that should be trouble-free. Instead it sounds more hardware-based, shutting down at random. Doubtful that you, as a user can do anything about this.
The orginal Clip did have some quality control issues with the solder joints on the battery leads. Not sure whether what you are experiencing is related, but it could be. And I assume that this player you have is at least a couple years old, is that right? If so, it is long past its warranty period. Sounds like you might have to buy a new one.
Thanks, Tapeworm. I was afraid of that. It is way over 2 years old, so I was concerned it might be something beyond my control, especially with it being reset, firmware updated, and music checked before installing to make sure it sounded OK (and wasn’t a victim of they dying CD drive).
This might not be appropriate to ask here, but I’m going to anyway - what product would you recommend to replace it? It is so confusing - a guy I work with has a Fuze and says it’s great; but reading reviews about it give it much less than stellar qualities. Is the Clip+ a better way to go, or is there another Sansa product that you would recommend. (I am going for the $30-$60 range, if that makes a difference).
Again, thanks for the help - I really appreciate it!
Either the Fuze (original, not the + model), Clip+ or Clip Zip would be a great way to go. Note that the Fuze is discontinued, but you can still find some around (and at good prices given its discontinued status). This is a slightly larger, but thinner unit that has a full color screen, displays album art beautifully and can play videos if you’re into that. It does not have a clip on the back though for attaching to your clothing, etc.
The Clip+ and Zip are essentially the same player with the main difference being the Zip has a color screen (but it is low-res and not that good for viewing album art). I think you’d probably find a better price on a Clip+ and the 2-color screen is more of what you are used to with the original Clip.
Sound (and build) quality is excellent on all and they all take a MicroSD card for memory expansion; something you don’t have with the original Clip. The UI for the Zip is slightly different and takes a little getting used to. As it is the newest model, the prices are likely to be highest on it.
I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the three.
Thanks again, Tapeworm (that just seems so weird to be calling someone!). I’ll look into the Clip+ and Clip Zip, as I really don’t care about the album artwork and all that.
And, I have to confess, I did go back and see where you had asked me some questions I failed to answer. My only (and completely honest) excuse is that I had clicked on the highlighted word “root” and realized I didn’t have a clue. When I closed Wiki and went back to your instructions, I skipped over the part where you asked the questions, as I thought they were more of the instructions for the manual download. I apologize for that, and for incorrectly taking you to task when it was my error.
Now, off to browse for Clip+'s and/or Zips… :smiley:
Just an update. I did as Miikerman suggested and reformatted the player, then went back into my library to see if there might be any problems.
Apparently sometime (most likely when my co-worker put the upgrade in my computer) my Windows Media Player reset itself to wma instead of mp3, which I had it set on. So, I converted all of the files, and it appears to be working fine at the moment - have played it for the last 3 days with only one problem which I was able to correct.
It still baffles me why some wma songs were fine and others weren’t, especially since the Clip is supposed to support the format.
But, all’s well that ends well - looks like the little beast is good to go!
I have the clip+ 4gb with an 8gb micro card. It’s a little better than the original clip, but there is a small problem with fm, it tends to drift, but is easily fixed with an advanc/reverse station sequence. I understand the zip has fixed this problem. Apart from that I don’t see much advantage for the extra cost. The 4gb is best value, more cost effective to put money into the micro card save the internal memory for recordings and such if you use such things.
I don’t think so, as when I converted them, they only had wma in the “description”. But, I don’t know if protected files have a different tagline than regular wma files, so I couldn’t say for certain.
Still, the matter seems to be solved - player is continuing to work great - but I said I’d post one way or another. Just wanted to let you know your suggestion worked for me.
So, I just keep filling the little ■■■■■■ up - still got space left, so onward and upward with adding tunes!!!
I don’t think so, as when I converted them, they only had wma in the “description”. But, I don’t know if protected files have a different tagline than regular wma files, so I couldn’t say for certain.
Yes, they would both have the .wma extension. To complicate matters even further, so does the WMA Pro or Lossless format, which is NOT supported.
In WMP’s Rip Settings under WMA format, there is a checkbox for “Add Copy Protection” which is checked by default. Make sure if you’re going to rip to this format that you uncheck this box first.
