I recently became aware of the firmware update 02.01.32A, updated my 4GB clip to the latest, and now see I can play FLAC. However, during playback, it freezes, doesn’t not play further, and if I try to fast forward it does forward but does not play. Then if I try to go to another song, even an MP3 song, it appears to go, but won’t play it either. Turning it off and on fixes the problem. Anyone else having this problem?
I have no such problem I encode flac with defaults.
One thing…if I fast forward in a flac I will get popping IN THE SAME SPOTS in the file. Playing through from beginning to end no problems.
Message Edited by petipa on 05-27-2009 02:13 AM
i’m running the same firmware as you and have tested a few flac files and they work fine for me?? what did you use to create your flacs?
i’d never actually use flac on my clip normally though. i really can’t see the point. it’s not like you can tell the difference over a well encoded mp3.
I’m just using the FLAC codec from http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html, I believe I stripped it from the CD as FLAC using Easy CD-DA Extractor 10.
This may not be a FLAC issue at all, maybe it is my crappy player. It seems like others don’t have the problems I’ve had: but days after I got it for Xmas 2008, I loaded it up w/ music, then left to see family. Days later, I turn it on, not connect to a PC, and it says “refreshing database” and wipes everything. I formatted it per Sansa support, then reinstalled the music. Days ago, it did it again, and I had done nothing but listen to music: no adding music to it, no connecting it to a PC, etc. So I upgraded the firmware to the latest 2.whatever then noticed I could play FLAC, so toyed with it. Now its freezing on FLAC playback but seems like I’m the only one.
I’ve scoured this forum looking for others with the “refreshing database” bug, but seems like I’m the only lucky one to have it. (Correct me if I’m wrong, please!) So, unless any of you are also experiencing FLAC playback, I think this seals my conclusion: I got a dud.
However, just to be safe, if someone wouldn’t mind running an experiment. I’ve uploaded a FLAC file that has crashed my Clip to here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BKF7KGL1 (this site will delete the file after a time if it is not downloaded)
Would you try playing it off your Clip and see if it works?
Legal disclaimer: FLAC file uploaded for testing purposes only and should not be redistributed and should be deleted after testing. Also, if your Clip crashes from playing this file, you agree not to blame me, but blame Sandisk. 
Message Edited by cartala on 05-28-2009 10:34 AM
i can’t try the file right now because i don’t have my usb cable with me. but i’ll report back tomorrow if it works on my clip.
btw, the version of flac used to encode that file is out of date. it’s reporting 1.1.4 - the current version is 1.2.1. i doubt this would affect the clip’s ability to play it but you never know.
Thanks for the reply. Seems kind of strange if I have to re-rip my music on a periodic basis due to FLAC “upgrades”. But I look forward to your reply.
i was just clutching at straws really… and flac hasn’t been updated since 2007 anyway.
your file plays fine on my clip so you must have a slightly dodgy one. if you really want to play flac on it, then i guess you’ll have to look at getting it replaced under warranty (well unless somebody else has any ideas??). either that or just convert your flac files to mp3? as i mentioned before, i can’t really see the point in flac when on the move - especially on a player with such a small capacity as the clip. and could you really tell the difference sound wise? i don’t think so.
@cartala wrote:
I recently became aware of the firmware update 02.01.32A, updated my 4GB clip to the latest, and now see I can play FLAC. However, during playback, it freezes, doesn’t not play further, and if I try to fast forward it does forward but does not play. Then if I try to go to another song, even an MP3 song, it appears to go, but won’t play it either. Turning it off and on fixes the problem. Anyone else having this problem?
I have 2 clips and both play FLAC flawlessly. It has been reported in this forum before that odd FLAC issues have been solved by re-applying the latest firmware.
I tried playing the FLAC files again last nite, and this time they played through, but did hear occassional popping, as if the track was skipping for a split second. As to the need to play FLAC: agreed, not necessary. This experiment is more about whether I have a dud of a mp3 player or not, and since it craps out under various circumstances, I’m thinking I do. The person that bought me it was duped by the Best Buy salesman into getting their extended warranty. I guess it will come in handy, b/c I think I can just go exchanged it at Best Buy w/o having to do an RMA w/ Sansa.
PS: Thanks for all of your assistance.
Message Edited by cartala on 05-29-2009 11:16 AM
@marc2003 wrote:
i can’t try the file right now because i don’t have my usb cable with me. but i’ll report back tomorrow if it works on my clip.
btw, the version of flac used to encode that file is out of date. it’s reporting 1.1.4 - the current version is 1.2.1. i doubt this would affect the clip’s ability to play it but you never know.
Since FLAC is lossless, would you really hear a difference between different versions of it? I know, slightly off topic, but seemed like an interesting question.
No difference, the newest revision must simply have some advantage in its compression, be it speed at decompression, speed at compression, speed at seeking, tighter compression (i.e. smaller files), etc. Regardless, as a lossless compression, the complete data from the original is inside it.
