After several rounds of “escalation” Sandisk has finally rendered a verdict on an audiobook bug that I and others have found. Basically, during playback of an Audible audiobook (I’ve demonstrated this now with 3 different audiobooks), there is a ever increasing delay in starting when playback is initiated with the length of the delay dependent on where in the recording you are starting from. For a 20 hour audiobook, the delay reaches abiout 45 seconds at the 19 hour mark. Even at the start, it’s a noticeable 2-3 second delay.
Sandisk claims this is a hardware issue which makes no sense to me at all. This has never happened with other designs (Fuze, Clip+, or Clip Zip). As usual, they have no idea if a future firmware update will address this problem and no clue as to when a future firmware is likely.
Unfortunately, it does make sense: the Sport’s inards are different than that in the other Clips; hence, issues not seen earlier. Sometimes, change is NOT a good thing . . . . :(
Me:
I bought a Sansa Sport and then did the update in hopes that it would play albums and audiobooks in proper order, but the update sdoesn’t seem to have done much good in that regard and now it has reduced my library by about a thousand songs. I was wondering how I can get the original firmware back as that seemed to work better than the update.
Sansa:
Thanks for emailing SanDisk Technical Support. It is our goal to make sure you have all the resources you need to get the most from your product.
Please note, it will not be possible to degrade the firmware. Maximum database size supported is 2000 objects for internal memory and 2000 object for external memory. This is the design limitation of Clip Sport model.
Please make sure that you have firmware version: 1.17. To check the firmware version, please follow these steps:
- From the Main Menu, select Settings > System Settings > Info.
So basically, we broke it and here’s a link to make sure it’s really good and broken. I’m not terribly impressed, but thanks for the lack of effort guys!
I know that this will be of limited solace, but SanDisk is working on the firmware . . . .
i don’t think the new FW will expand the library size. it was reduced to accommodate track number sorting and longer file and album name sorting. It seems the controller in the sport has pretty limited resources.
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I solved this problem:
My audio book had 7 cds and I copied them into my computer using Windows 8.1 Media player
Each cd is labeled with the name and the number: mystery 1, mystery 2, etc
In Media Player open cds one at a time, right click on image or first track; click on file location; a window opens.
Select and drag contents into new folder labeled Mystery.
Do this for each cd without regard to the order appearing in the Mystery folder.
When entire book is within Mystery folder, go to menu choices at top of screen; find SORT and sort on the ALBUM descending;
that will put the book into the proper order.
Worked this out using chat option with SanDisk
I purchased this almost solely to listen to audible audiobooks. The books I am listening to are very long, sometimes 30-40 hours long, and the delay is often in the minutes. God forbid the player turns on by itself, you lose your place in the book, and try to rewind, it will take you an hour to find your place again. I have had 3 other sansa products dating back to the original clip (which was amazing). Each has gotten progressively worse, but usable. After my experience with the sport, I will probably never buy another sansa product.
I have not bought a new clip in a long time as I had a large number of them from clip to clip Zip. Never had a real problem with any of them. Just bought the Sport Clip yesterday and have not even taken it out of the box. Glad I read the forum first because my primary use is audio books both from OverDrive and Audible.
What is wrong with SanDisk that they have sent out such a faulty product? I am too disappointed for words and will probably take this one back.
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And then, please purchase a Clip+ or Clip Zip, which do very well at what they do. 
I definitely plan to buy a clip+ as I view it as the best of all the ones I have. I’m not fond of the zip but I just think the Clip+
is nearly perfect…
Agreed. I just would like it to have the pizzazz of the original Clip–I like the glowing ring! (OK, add an option for it to be turned off.) 
