Clip Zip RDS not working in UK

Are you sure the stations over there broadcast the RDS info? Not even all the the stations here in the States do it.

And did you set the FM Region setting to World?

Hi - yes - CZ is set to correct region and we get FM RDs throughout UK.  I have several RDS radios knocking about the house that are all working fine. 

RDS was adopted much more quickly in the UK and Europe.  RDS reception has been standard on most UK and Euro FM tuners and systems for many years.  RDS was slow to progress in the USA.  Adoption by Clear Channel really spread the usage around the country.

Sadly, most USA stations do not use RDS to its full extent or even utilize it correctly.

Yes, we’ve had RDS for many years in UK and Europe. Aside from station names its very handy.  While UK’s obviously much smaller than the states, its very useful in the car on long drives - many car radios use it to keep the radio tuned to the same station when different regions broadcast on different frequencies, and also for traffic announcements,clock, station genres, text messages etc.  Sadly, over coming years many of our major stations are going digital, and while this *might* give similar services all but a few stations will be compressed and have abysmal bitrates of around  112kbps or less.  So yeah - the price of progress is going to be lower audio quality. 

Meanwhile, our FM airwaves are pretty packed but generally give better audio quality.  But,  you only have to go a few miles in any direction from where I live and broadcast frequencies change / a whole new range of local channels open up. Some local stations even share content so it can be tricky to know what you’re listening to, just from the frequencies.

So if the RDS could work, that’d be great.  Reason for the post was that it looks like my (daughter’s) clip zip’s RDS function doesn’t work at all, which is a real bummer.  I wondered if anyone else has this problem or if I have a faulty clip.

Just to be sure, in the USA, the (limited) RDS information does display, however there is a bug with firmware 01.01.17 that can cause the RDS to go away until a music file is played.  Pretty decent radio actually.

Thanks Tony.  Good to know RDS works a little in the States - I haven’t upgraded the firmware yet because of the reported bug you’ve mentioned. 

I’ve also contacted SanDisk, thinking they’d be straight in with the solution, but I am left a bit puzzled by their replies.

They say “that in none of the official documentation or manuals regarding ClipZip, does it say that it support RDS. This information only appears in the forums.” Also, that  RDS functionality is not a “promised” feature of the CZ and “At the moment, the only SanDisk player that officially supports RDS is the Fuze+. Since the Clip Zip is our newest player we have no input on when and if a firmware update will allow it to support RDS.”   However, they clearly envisage that the CZ is capable of displaying RDS information in UK as they gave me some tips on getting RDS working on my CZ, and the instruction booklet which came with it was pretty clear in identifying RDS display as one of its “features”, where the service is “available”, which it is where I am.  Make of that what you will.  The main reason I bought the player was for the RDS feature because  the person I’m giving it to will love it. 

It would be interesting and helpful to hear from anyone else in UK with a clip zip on whether or not your RDS works, as I’m trying to pin down whether my own CZ has a hardware and/or software issue, and therefore whether or not to return it for another in time for my daughter’s birthday.  She’ll use the radio more than anything else,  so I want to make sure I’m not handing over a lemon.

Just to add, sound wise, the radio seems fine.  I also have a couple of clip+'s myself, and an old fuze. Never had any troubles with any of 'em though remember going through several software updates on each in their early days.   

It shouldn’t make a difference but I’m using the 8GB version. With all of the space beneath the displayed frequency the RDS info is clearly meant to be there.

UPDATE: This is strange. Just happened. I didn’t get RDS at all until I inserted a formatted microSDHC card. No files needed.

Indeed - RDS doesn’t seem to be working on my Zip with the latest firmware.

No big loss, really.

The RDS isn’t a “deal breaker” for me - but again it would be such a handy and useful feature for my daughter that I wanted to make sure I didn’t have a dodgey clip. 

I didn’t bank on finding that there  is  quite some confusion about whether or not the zip supports RDS.  This isn’t helped by the fact that  tech advisers at SanDisk who have been advising me don’t seem to have seen the manual which is actually boxed with the player I bought from Amazon. 

Folk here who have posted reviews of the clip might be interested in this message I received from SanDisk yesterday  - seems pretty odd to me that some people’s Zips obviously are displaying RDS, reviews and player documentation suggest this is a “feature” or at least capability, yet SanDisk should be saying otherwise rather than working to get the feature running smoothly:

“RDS is not a feature of the Clip Zip. This information indeed appears in some SanDisk forums, but please bear in mind that forums are open communities created by SanDisk users in order to express their ideas. If the paperwork which came with the player definitely states RDS display is one of its “features” where the service is available, please provide us with a copy to forward to our marketing department.”

I assumed the reviews linked from this official forum had some sort of standing with SanDisk and that my paperwork is no different from anyone else’s – I was looking at the little black and white hard copy booklet which came with the player.  There is a page with a picture of the clip and a labeled diagram of the display which seemed pretty self-explanatory to me.  But perhaps in fairness to SanDisk there may be different booklets circulating and even different hardware versions - though SanDisk aren’t exactly commenting on that.

Seems from all this there is no point in returning the player I bought for a replacement.  Also looks to me like since some people obviously do have RDS features on their clips,  there might be some sort of plea to SanDisk to get this feature properly supported and working rather than them simply deny the feature exists.  I hope some reviewers here know how best to do that as it looks like all they might do for me is change the booklet. 

It does seem strange that it works on some peoples’ Zips but not others… and from what I’ve read, the latest firmware does seem to mess it up - at least here in Britain.

UPDATE:   I didn’t get RDS at all until I inserted a formatted microSDHC card. No files on the microSDHC needed.

Seems odd, but it may work for those in the UK.

Hope this helps!

That does seem odd - you would think that it should just work on the Zip with or without any card.

@kitt wrote:

Folk here who have posted reviews of the clip might be interested in this message I received from SanDisk yesterday  - 

 

“RDS is not a feature of the Clip Zip. This information indeed appears in some SanDisk forums, but please bear in mind that forums are open communities created by SanDisk users in order to express their ideas. If the paperwork which came with the player definitely states RDS display is one of its “features” where the service is available, please provide us with a copy to forward to our marketing department.”

 

That’s funny . . .  item #2b under Device Features in the Quick Start Guide (included with the player _ and _ also posted here on the forum) clearly states:

RDS information for FM broadcasts (when available)

Seems like a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Something very common in large corporations. but with something like this, one would think they’d be able to get their stories straight.

Feel free to forward this link to those un-informed customer service representatives for review. :wink:

Thanks Tapeworm. 

I’ve sent them the link - and a link to a YouTube video somebody made showing the RDS feature.

To be fair though, I downloaded a larger manual and there doesn’t seem to be mention of RDS in that.

Hope they stay with this feature - I posted on the suggestions thread just in case they are thinking of dropping it but it may well be right and left hands like you say.  Perhaps it is a tricky feature to provide with one hardware and the CZ being sold all around the world.

:smiley:

That’s true; it is not mentioned in the User’s Manual.

Well, I know it’s a feature some people care about, reading these threads…

But RDS has been around for years in Europe and is very basic. You might get the Station name, but very little other information.

DAB and DAB+ provides a great deal more, ie. track playing, weather forecasts etc. Of course these systems are just really in use in Europe, Australia etc. The HD standard in the States is pretty similar.

RDS is strange… in the past some of my devices - Nokia phones, I think my Samsung P3 had it - my new Nano does, for sure, but it’s use is pretty limited AFAIC… I know I’m listening to Radio 4, I don’t need my DAP to display this.

I guess it’s an issue of the “(when available)” in the product feature list . . . .   :frowning:

RDS (technically) is called RBDS in the USA.  The usage was a bit rare until some radio station corporations adopted the HD Radio digital transmission and I think RBDS (for analog radio) is part of the system.

RDS was really uncommon in the USA when Grundig introduced the Satellit 700 and the Yacht Boy 500 radios.

I somehow got RDS to work - when it arrived it did not work.  Then one day I had it and then it was gone… popping out my CZ formatted 32gb card and popping it back in I got a lengthy “refreshing your media” screen.  When I selected the radio I got the RDS back…

This problem continues to exist in some countries (even after the latest update): http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/Clip-Zip/Sansa-Clip-Zip-Firmware-01-01-18/m-p/254662#M1462