Forced to resume playing from the beginning of the file??

If I pause for more than a short while, the Express powers-off automatically, and when I power it up again, I can’t resume playing from where I left off; I have to start from the beginning of the file and then try to fast-forward to the right point.  Same thing if I power it off while playing.  Since I usually listen to podcasts, which range in length from 30 to 90 minutes, this is a real pain in the butt. My old m230 was smart enough to resume at the proper point.  Is this a glitch or a “feature” (lol)?

I’ve never had that problem with mine.  But then, the longest file I have is probably In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (17:02).  Do you have the current firmware?

Yes, I updated the firmware earlier this afternoon, but I’m still having the same problem.  Does Sandisk maintain a list of known problems??

Have you tested the issue with smaller files?  Maybe it’s an issue with track lengh or maybe file size…  I suppose you could try formatting the player and test to see if that helps you out.  My guess would be track lengh or file size, though.

I’m also having this problem as is my wife on her player.  The firmware is 01.01.01A

I have tested this with a smaller 3 minute song and it doesn’t work either.

So can anyone play a file, pause it, shut off the player completely, turn it back on, hit play and resume from where they were in the file?

This is a real issue with longer podcasts or books on mp3 that aren’t in audible format.  This is a big deal for anyone who listens to books.

This is an unfortunate oversight to an otherwise excellent player.  There is a workaround, though, which is this:  If you know you are going to have to resume the file, just shut it off WHILE it is still playing.  When you turn it back on, it will resume at the correct place.  If you pause it, and it auto-shuts off, it starts all over.

I really, really hope they fix this in a firmware update.  I still love the player for the $60 price tag, but since I’m a podcast guy, I get bit by this quite a bit.  I have also turned the auto-shut off period to 30 minutes (the max) to give me longer when I’m pausing to do a something else to return before the cast gets reset.  But this wastes power more often than not.

If they can’t fix this, it would be really great to have one more step in the fast forward speed.   Like 5 seconds > 15 seconds > 30 seconds > 1 minute.  Right now at the maximum skip speed you can only skip a minute every five seconds.  Doing a minute every second would greatly overcome the lack of resume feature, as I could blast to the middle of a 40 minute podcast in 15 seconds or so rather than several minutes.

One last piece of advice for the podcast/audio book people annoyed by the Express:  search for a good freeware or shareware MP3 splitter.  These programs take longer MP3s like audio book tracks and podcasts and chop them up into sequential bites of how ever long you want them.  Then you can just advance to the next track to get to the next five minute segment.

OK, I’ve reformatted, uploaded a song that’s only 1.5 minutes long and I can’t pause, turn off/on and resume from where I was in the file. 

So Captain_Morgan have you tried doing this?  Have you been successful or are you just suggesting options?  (Note my tone of voice is just curious, I’m new to this group so I don’t know your background.)

Also when I use an audible book, I notice that it has the .aa file as well as a .pos file.  The pos file appears to be a bookmark (since it is blank for those books I haven’t listened to yet, but contains data for those with book marks), does the player even have the capability to maintain a bookmark for a non audible file?

akerkhof - THANKS!

 

OK that will help, but it’s definately not a permenant solution.

 

Sandisk, Please add:

 

-a resume feature

-a faster fastforward option for non audible files.

-also on audible files the fast forward is OK if a little slow, but the rewind is insanely fast.  Often I want to go back just a minute or 30 seconds, however if you don’t do it in 5 or 10 second hops you blow back several minutes - then since the fast forward is much slower its difficult to get back to where you wanted to be.

 

 

The problelm is you are pausing the file before you turn off the player.  If you do this it restarts from the beginning.
When you want to stop just hold down the on/off button while the track is still playing.  Then when you next turn it on it will resume from the point it was last at when playing.

Thank  you, Capt. Morgan!  This solution works.

Thank you bmn.  Your solution works.

I have been listening to an Audio Book some of the MP3’s are 1 HR 30 Min in length, I turn it off when I get to work/home and then when I turn it back on it picks up where it left off. I have tried pausing it which then turns off[auto] and it still seems to come back on at the same place - I will have to test that some more to be sure, tho.

I had the same symptoms, but the “stop while playing” trick doesnt always work. I often still have to resume from the start of the file.

I also would appreciate a Fast Forward better adapted to audiobook chapters who last about 1 hours. 

I, too, am having a terrible time with my audible files.  FFWD causes my express to crash entirely, so thats not an option for me.  I will try powering it off mid-play and see if that works.  Stopping the book before I shut off the player ALWAYS causes me to start at the beginning of a file.  groan. 

But here is my next issue: I don’t always WANT to keep listening to my book.  Sometimes I’d like to listen to music and then go back to my book.  There isn’t any way to make that work is there?  I’d love any suggestions. 

I bought this MP3 player specifically because it supports audible files but at this rate I’m going to have to get a different MP3 player to use for music.  What a pain!

Thanks for your thoughts!

JF