e280/clock radio/dock problem FIXED!!!!

(Not that anybody else in the world will probably ever have this problem…  ;-> ) 

But in case anybody ever does, here’s the fix.

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Problem background:

Sansa and Timex clock radio no longer play together nicely

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/message?board.id=e200&thread.id=29319&view=by\_date\_ascending&page=1

OK, I have officially *had* it! (e280, clock radio, and now dock)

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/message?board.id=e200&message.id=30169#M30169

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After much communication with Sandisk (they *will* keep talking to you, I’ll give 'em that…!), received suggestiion of putting it in MTP mode and renaming “Rhapsody” folder within “Services” folder, if such was present.  Computer would only allow deleting it, so I further queried if deleting was OK and if having a “Rhapsody” folder there proved the e280 thought I had or used to have a Rhapsody subscription.  Affirmative on both counts, so I deleted the folder.  Problem solved.  Five-minute fix, including waiting for the computer to boot up…

My email to Sandisk follows.  (It’s *my* email, so I figure I can copy it anywhere I want and it says what I have to say about the problem…  ;-> ) 

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Deleted “Rhapsody” folder. Unit now works fine with both clock radio and Sansa dock.

Wish someone had told me about this simple fix a lot sooner. (Like about $500 sooner!!!) My husband and I like having all the e280s and docks and clock radios scattered around, actually, and I suppose we’ll get our money’s worth out of them before we croak, but all I originally wanted was to get the first e280 to function with the clock radio as it did before the problem started.

I *could* have waited until the initial problem was (eventually) fixed instead of going on a buying frenzy, but I was afraid that if a) I waited and b) the problem was never fixed, I wouldn’t be able to get another e280/clock radio, since the e200 series had been replaced with a newer product line.

Suggestions to Sandisk:

Format should mean FORMAT! I don’t know if I find it more unbelievable that repeated formats left that Rhapsody folder in place or that it took so much communication with y’all to luck into someone who knew that. It’s not like I didn’t mention Rhapsody to begin with - due to my luck of seeing that fleeting message when the problem first started, it was the *first* possibility I mentioned, I believe.

It’s also a problem that the Amazon, DRM-free tracks somehow made it think I had an expired Rhapsody subscription, when I have never been and never will be anywhere *near* Rhapsody! (Especially after this experience!)

It would also be nice if everything was at least *visible* in MSC mode - I didn’t know about that folder because it doesn’t show up in the mode I use! If I had *seen* it in MSC mode, I would have tried the original suggested fix (renaming it) on my own!

It also would be nice if your future mp3 players were more like the e200 series. I’m not terribly unhappy to have a bunch of e280s (well, except for the money…), because I think they make your current line look sick.

IMHO, FWIW… ;->

And thanks for at least talking to me until the problem was (eventually) fixed - I’ll say that for Sandisk!

Replying to myself so that I can mark this FIXED!