some problems

MP3 players All other MP3 players
1

Hello, it is my 1st message herre. I bought my sansa clip zip two days ago and I have registered just to write this. I think this kind of things should be as easy to use as possible, and any problem you may encounter only gives you a headhache.

I have the 8gb version and I have stopped copying files becuase of the disorder. I am not interested in music, but mainly in podcasts and mp3 files downloaded from people who make different stuff. I copy my files with simple folders to be organized, using MPT mode (or MSC, doesn’t matter) and when I turn on the sansa clip zip there are many files that don’t appear. Also the folders are not present and all files are shown in the same “unknow” folder. I use Windows 7 and all files are in mp3 format and I can listen from any windows player.

For any reason even the files are nor shown alphabetically, so de chaos is total. I have tried to use “folder” way to play files, but the folders are shown with a lot of numbers that make difficult to navigate and recognize easy, and also this way present others limitations.

I can’t believe what is happening…, a thing like that should make the life easier, not to present that kind of problems. I only ask for a simple way to have folders and files, and navigate to find the right file… is it so difficult?

2

By default, all Sansa mp3 players read the ID3 tags of the files and that is the information displayed. If there are no tags, or those tags are un-readable it lumps them together under “Unknown”. You can either add/edit the tags, or use the Folder option in the Music menu.

If, in folder mode you’re seeing extra numbers of characters added to the file names it is most likely you are transferring these files in MTP mode. Why it does this nobody knows, but it does. Unless you need MTP mode for protected or subscription files (Rhapsody, Audible, etc.) you’re much better off using MSC mode.

At this point, I would delete everything (Formatting is a quick way to do this) and set your player to MSC, then re-transfer everything back over. You should be able to navigate by file names (without the extraneous and confusing character additions) under the Folder option.

4

Tapeworm:

Ok, I have formated the internal memory and put USB mode to MSC. Now I only use “Music” folder, and store all stuff (music, podcasts, audiobooks, etc) in subfolders. Now I can navegate using “folder” into the “Music” menu, and I can see all organized (and for now it seems that all files are recognized and working properly). The big problem I have found is that now there is no time information about the duration of the file while playing it, only the progress bar.

Also I have some suggestion:

  1. A direct shortcut button in the main menu to access to “folders/internal memory/music” without having to clic+clic+clic, for those people that use folder menu often.

  2. Of course it is needed time information when listening thorugh “folder”.

  3. It is needed a better way to advance and rewind when listening. Because very often we need to rewind 10 or 20 seconds aprox. to listen something again, I suggest something like:

  • ONE CLIC BACK = 10 SECONDS REWIND

  • ONE CLIC FORWRD = 10 SECONDS FORWARD

  • TWO QUICK CLICS BACK/FORWARD = NEXT/PREVIOUS TRACK/SONG/FILE

PD: another poblem… if the file copied in “Music” folder or subfolder is recognized as a podcast, it is not shown in music/folder (not even the name of the folder that contains this file is shown), but you can see the file in podcast menu (however podcast folder is really empty). I suppose it will happend with audiobooks too. Shoud be fixed.

Mikerman:

The problem placing files/folders in Podcast or Audiobooks folders is that a lot of files are not recognized, and folders are recognized as “unknow”.

5

Podcasts can be a real pickle.The problem with them is that the ID3 tag information in these 'casts is quite often incorrect or missing. The Clip Zip navigates through your files based upon these embedded ID3 tags.

I see that you are using  Windows 7. This operating system has a handy shortcut to edit or check your media. In Windows Explorer,simply navigate to your podcasts, and click on the desired file of interest. Have a look at the bottom of the Explorer window. Yes! This is a handy shortcut, a build in ID3 tag editor! Click on Album / Artist / Song / Genre, and you can ehnet the desired information in one step.

The Clip Zip is great for podcasts. Its display is bad, with no time information, _unless you set the genre to “podcast”, and then things are great: you willhave a time elapsed / time remaing display, rather than the plebeian wee “dot” display from hell. _You’ll also have a  resume function, with individual bookmark for each podcast episode.

Remember, the player was designed to navigate via the embedded ID3 tag information. This is exactly the same as an iPod, though many folks don’t realize it. Using iTunes for podcasts, the ID3 information is something most folks take for granted. Most iTunes podcasts I’ve tried have relatively well done ID3 tag data. Podcasts from other sources can be hit-or-miss, but if you use te built in editor, they will run just fine on the Zip.

 

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

6

The ID3 tag only way to recognize files is not a good solution for me, I dowload a lot of files without tags, and I also want to have my own folder distribution in the clip zip, and I see it is not possible if I do not edit tags manually using Windows (also I have read about some problems editing tags, so there are problems + problems + problems). I need agility using files, and I can’t be renaming tags for every suspecting file a download.  Why not have another option to organize files as files?, like a lot of people do in our computers?

The chaos produced by a file with a tag not well put is too important, the folder sometimes dissapear and you can’t see neither the file nor the folder that contain it, other times a file considered a music sound or a lesson copied in “music” folder appears in podcasts menu and without subfolder name or unknow name, mixed with all other stuff, and that is very very chaotic when hou have a lot of files (that is the idea if you have 8Gb memory). Of course for someone that ususally have all the stuff perfectly named in his PC should be good, but it is not my case. This way of organization forces me to organize files in a different way, and I have not time to do so, I usually download a file, store in a folder, and play it…, and it is what I demand for the player…, to be easy to use, not to force me to do a lot of work.

7

@b4thman wrote:

TI need agility using files, and I can’t be renaming tags for every suspecting file a download.  _ Why not have another option to organize files as files?, like a lot of people do in our computers? _

 

As mentioned before, this option already exists on the Clip Zip. Folders in the Music menu.

8

The problem is that you’re dealing with one of the hardships of podcasts, and that’s what is limiting your enjoyment of them. I pull podcasts from many sources, and depending upon the situation, they are handled differently.

The Clip Zip is programmed to handle podcasts in a unique way based upon the genre field of their ID3 tag. If the genre tag is “podcast”, you will find that there is a playlist that will show as <empty> when navigating to Playlists. The Clip Zip “steals” the files from this list and places tham under Podcasts.

 

The advantage of this is that you will have the time elapsed / time remaining feature, a basic bookmark function, and variable playback speed.

If you are manually downloading these podcast episodes, fixing the ID3 tag with Windows 7 is a simple matter of clicking on the file, then edit at the bottom of the Windows Explorer screen, and choose a title that will group your podcasts together as desired. This way, no folders are needed, no drag and drop festival, the player will group them for you. They will play in sequence if you set it up right.

If you right click on a podcast file, then select Properties, and go to the Details tab, you can edit there, even “scrub” all fields to start from scratch, using the option at the bottom of the window.

If doing this to multiple episodes isn’t your cup of tea, download MP3Tag, and tackle the entire folder of podcasts as needed, using the utility to do the job en masse.

The real problem here is the podcast media itself. If I had a nickel for every time a podcaster just tossed an mp3 file into a web page, without any regard for the metadata, I could probably retire.  This isn’t isolated to random casts, mind you. My favorite BBC news podcasts are sometimes posted without proper data, and that causes all kinds of mayhem. The rule of thumb? Give the file a single click after downloading, and have a look at just what you are going to feed to the player.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy: