I have been a happy Sansa clip user since the first one came out. I ran my clip until it died, which was several years, and then got a clip plus which I also liked a lot, until it made a trip through the washer. So I got a Clip Zip to replace it. The only problem was, the Clip Zip has a seriously broken design. There are numerous issues with it, most of them are livable, but the deal breaker is the shuffle function. It starts at the same song and then plays exactly the same sequence every time. Now, I only use my MP3 player when I’m at the gym, so every time I used it I heard the same 10 songs. The only problem is, my player has 10000 songs on it! So I returned it and exchanged it for the last clip plus on the shelf. If need be I may look at the Clip Zip again, but I won’t buy another one until I find out that Sansa has fixed the shuffle function. If they don’t do that then my next player will be a *gasp* ipod. Yes I said it. At least their shuffle function works.
@martinswain wrote:
. . . but the deal breaker is the shuffle function. It starts at the same song and then plays exactly the same sequence every time. Now, I only use my MP3 player when I’m at the gym, so every time I used it I heard the same 10 songs. The only problem is, my player has 10000 songs on it! So I returned it and exchanged it for the last clip plus on the shelf. If need be I may look at the Clip Zip again, but I won’t buy another one until I find out that Sansa has fixed the shuffle function. If they don’t do that then my next player will be a *gasp* ipod. Yes I said it. At least their shuffle function works.
Can’t say as I’ve heard this before. Mine certainly doesn’t do this, and I haven’t seen any other posts here claiming the same thing. While the shuffle algorithm on all Sansa players is, shall we say “lacking”, your experience isn’t the “norm”.
Be aware though, that there is a database file limitation on both the Clip+ and Zip models of (officially) 8,000 tracks. Most people though, depending on a lot of variables hit this ceiling at or around 5,000. The fact that you have 10,000 tracks on yours may have something to do with the issue you’re running into.
You could try deleting some of your files, down to a number less than 5,000 and try it to see if it shuffles more randomly. If it does, you’ve found the cause.
