Thanks for the explanation of MTP and MSC modes. The manual glosses over this, giving it very short shrift.
I thought it was the other way around, that subscription services would be used with MSC mode.
In the manual for MSC it says:
USB setting:
MSC: mass storage class mode (can be useful for older computers).
Auto Detect (and I think this corresponds to MTP): Automatically detect transfer protocol (MTP or MSC) based on your PC configuration.
When I choose Auto Detect, my m250 goes into MTP mode, AFAIK.
I just connected to the front of my computer to a USB connection. The m250 indicates it’s in MTP mode. In XP Pro Explorer it says SanDisk Sansa M250, no drive letter (last time it assigned it drive K: ). Two folders are shown: Data and Media. Under Media are folders, some of which I created: Earthless (name of a band whose MP3s I put in the directory, Another such folder, Music (which has a subfolder), Another folder (empty), and RECORD. Several MP3s I know are on the m250 are nowhere to be found, including one I copied last night when I had it connected to a USB connection on my soundcard breakout box. Moving the m250 to that other connector (on the breakout box), I get this:
Firstly, I got nothing! I had the player turned off and I connected it to the same cable connected to the same USB connection I used last night and the player would not turn on. Tried it again, same thing. I moved the cable to the other USB connection (that was being used by my scanner) and this time it turned on, went again into MTP mode. This time I got the same structure as described above and I couldn’t see the MP3 file I copied over last night (147 MB). I navigate in the player and look for the file, and because I’d tagged it with a title and album name, I see it. But I can’t see it in Explorer.
I guess I’ll disconnect the m250 and switch it to MSC mode (I did not do this last night) and see if I can see the file… Now I connect it to the same cable off the breakout box and I see the file. There are 3 directories: AUDIBLE, CONFIG, RECORD. I see several MP3 files in AUDIBLE, 8 files. There are probably 20 or so files on the m250 that aren’t being seen. I guess that yesterday the player was going into MSC mode automatically ( “Auto” ), and I didn’t notice it. So, since you recommend using MSC mode, I guess I’ll delete the files I see in MTP mode and use the player in MSC mode from now on. At least I have control over which mode is being used in MSC mode (I hope). I also like the fact that I can edit the files there, e.g. file names, tags, etc. Thanks for the info.
BTW, you say concerning Settings/USB in the m2xx: These modes can be selected on the player itself by going to settings>usb mode (or modes). From here we will see “auto-detect”, MSC, or MTP. I’m seeing only two modes to select from:
Auto Detect
MSC
Message Edited by Muse on 04-16-2008 09:24 AM
Message Edited by Muse on 04-16-2008 09:25 AM
Message Edited by Muse on 04-16-2008 09:27 AM
Message Edited by Muse on 04-16-2008 09:28 AM
Message Edited by Muse on 04-16-2008 09:38 AM