Songs not playing on 4GB Clip+

SanDisk MP3 players Sansa® Clip | Sansa® Clip+
1

I just bought the Sansa 4GB Clip+, and put almost 600 songs on it, using Windows Media Player. When I finished loading all the songs, I thought I’d listen to some and see what the sound was like. The first song played fine, but then when it finished, it skipped through a bunch of songs, before finally landing on one and playing it. I skipped to the next song to see what would happen, and it did it again, over and over and over again.

So then I re-connected it to my computer and looked through the Sansa directory, and all the songs are there, and it shows how big each files are. It SAYS that the songs are there, and they’re taking up memory (it’ll say such and such song is 4MB, 7MB, 5MB, etc. They’re loaded on the MP3 player). But they won’t play.

It seems like most of the songs that will play, are MP3’s, but most of my songs are WMA. I rip them directly from CD’s onto Windows Media Player.

The songs are not corrupted, because I can listen to them just fine on my laptop. It just won’t play on the Sansa 4GB Clip+ for some reason.

I just deleted all the songs on the player, and am reloading them using a playlist this time.

Oh, some info about my laptop, I bought it last year, it has Windows 7, and the Windows Media Player I’m using is version 12.0.7600.16667

If I can’t find a solution for this, I’m taking it back to the store tomorrow. I hope someone can help though.

2

Can you check the properties of your WMA files and of your copy of WMP? It seems that something is amiss with those files, as your MP3 files are playing. Is WMP set with copy protection on in some fashion, for example (which may, in fact, be the default)?

Also, what is your Clip’s USB setting set to:  MSC or MTP (or Auto, which will default to MTP)?  If your songs are copy-protected, the copy protection license only travels over to the Clip when you are set to MTP mode.

3

I played some songs on the player, and it seems SOME WMA songs are playing, and pretty much all MP3 songs are playing.

The properties for all my WMA songs are pretty much the same. I don’t see any differences on them. None of the songs are copy-protected. I don’t really know what to look for, but all the info looks the same to me.

The USB settings are auto. I tried changing to MSC, but it did nothing. What does it do anyway?

I’ve had no problems loading my songs onto other MP3 player before. I had a Zune, which died, which is why I bought the 4GB Clip+. I had no problem loading songs onto my Zune.

4

The USB mode is the computer protocol used to connect a device to your computer. MSC mode is what is used with external drives, thumbdrives, etc., and tends to be more universal. MTP mode is a newer protocol adopted by Microsoft, and can be more finicky; but it is needed for DRM-protected files.  Many of us prefer and set to MSC mode–it tends to just work (assuming you don’t use DRM files).  Many people avoid Auto mode, which can flip between USB modes, leading to confusion (your computer will only show files on your Clip that were transferred to the Clip using the USB mode that you then are connected under–with the USB Auto setting, you can have a mix of MSC and MTP files)–I would recommend that.

From your description and the fact that MP3 files play fine, I suspect it is some setting with WMP. Have you checked your WMP rip settings under WMP itself (and made sure the copy protection box is not checked)? And note that the Clip plays regular WMA songs but not WMA Pro format files–make sure your rip settings aren’t set to WMA Pro. 

5

I’m going to convert all my songs to MP3 using itunes, and try again, and hopefully this time the songs will load onto the player. All of my songs are WMA and not WMA Pro, I double checked to make sure. I don’t know why they’re not playing on the Clip+.

If changing all my songs (I have over 1,500 songs on my laptop) to MP3’s does the trick, I guess I’ll have to rip all my CD’s in MP3 instead of WMA from now on.

6

And the copy protection box under the WMP rip settings tab is not checked, right? Personally, I prefer MP3–the true iniversal standard.

7

And the copy protection box under the WMP rip settings tab is not checked, right? Personally, I prefer MP3–the true universal standard.

8

Just bought the Sansa Clip+ and am having the same problem as others. Loaded all Mp3 songs on to the player and it skipped over 15 songs then started playing the 16th. I erased all and put three mp3 songs on, tried to play, and it showed 8 songs in the memory although only the three songs I placed in the music folder show when connected. Frustrating because I have never had any issues with my music.

9

Nope, not selected.

The format selected is: Windows Media Audio

The quality is set to the best quality: 192kbps

I don’t know what’s wrong with the files. There must be SOMETHING about them that doesn’t allow them to be played on the clip+, but like I said, we’ll see what happens with the MP3 conversions of the songs. If they still don’t work, I’m gonna have to take this back to the store and get something else.

10

@aggie308 wrote:

Just bought the Sansa Clip+ and am having the same problem as others. Loaded all Mp3 songs on to the player and it skipped over 15 songs then started playing the 16th. I erased all and put three mp3 songs on, tried to play, and it showed 8 songs in the memory although only the three songs I placed in the music folder show when connected. Frustrating because I have never had any issues with my music.

As to files not showing up:

When your player is connected to your computer under USB MSC mode (set under the player’s System settings/USB Mode), your computer only sees the files that had been transferred to the player when the player was connected under MSC mode.  Likewise as to MTP mode.  Regardless, all the files show up and are playable on your player, under whatever USB mode setting.

A good reason why some people prefer to set the USB Mode on their player to either MSC or MTP:  on the Auto setting, the player tries to connect under MTP mode but then will fall back to MSC mode if the MTP connection does not work; the result being, you may have a mix of MSC and MTP mode transferred files on your player, making some of them not visible on your computer without switching to the other USB mode. 

Because MSC mode is more universal (playing with a broader range of operating systems, including Linux and on Macs, and without a need for Windows Media Player on the computer), some people prefer MSC mode.  However, note that DRM (digital rights management) files need MTP mode–they will not transfer sufficiently (the DRM license will not transfer) under MSC mode. 

And why 8 files show on your player:  SanDisk pre-installed 5 songs onto your player, under MTP mode.  The company’s gift to you …

11

@shorty2434 wrote:

Nope, not selected.

The format selected is: Windows Media Audio

The quality is set to the best quality: 192kbps

 

I don’t know what’s wrong with the files. There must be SOMETHING about them that doesn’t allow them to be played on the clip+, but like I said, we’ll see what happens with the MP3 conversions of the songs. If they still don’t work, I’m gonna have to take this back to the store and get something else.

Don’t return it–this almost certainly is a WMP/rippping issue, and the player is too good.  Personally, I avoid WMP as much as possible, and there are other good rippers out there. 

12

Milkerman…thanks for the information but the frustration is growing. I am replacing an older version of basically the same Sansa player, that works like a champ, just smaller memory. I have not had any problems with it. The new Clip + has me baffled and wanting to take it back (two hours after purchase). I manually erased the free songs as they didn’t show up in the music folder when connected. I erased all of the songs in the music folder that can be seen. I switched to the MSC mode and loaded three more songs, all Mp3 format. I then tried to play and it again shows 6 songs, and automatically skips the first three. It wont let me back track from song 4 to see what the first three are, it just keeps skipping to song 4…

13

Easiest thing to do to clear your Clip: under the player’s settings, format the Clip–this will erase all content on the Clip.  And then start from scratch–hopefully, that’ll do the trick. 

14

The MP3 conversions seem to be working so far. I put some of the songs that were in WMA format before…just 1 album to see if it worked…and so far it seems to be playing. So it looks like converting them to MP3 made the difference. I won’t know for absolute certainty until all the songs are converted. Hopefully it won’t take TOO long.

15

And yet further reason why I like avoiding WMP … :wink: My fingers are crossed!

16

Looks like it worked. All my songs are playing now…took a few hours to convert all the songs to MP3, but at least it now works. YAY! :smileyvery-happy:

17

Cool beans!    :)    And now, avoid WMP …