Strange back button behaviour

When I turn the MP3 player on, it starts playing my last played song [expected]. When I press the back button, I go to my album list [excepted]. When I press the back button again, I go to the menu [expected].

When I press back again, I go straight to my playing MP3.

When I press back I expect the same behavior as before. But when I press the back button, instead of my album list, I go straight to the menu. From this moment the back button will only switch me between my playing MP3 and the menu. Why can’t I reach the album list with the back button?

Reproduction steps:

  1. Navigate to album and play first MP3 [Playing MP3 list is shown]
  2. Press backbutton [Album list is shown]
  3. Press backbutton [Menu is shown]
  4. Press backbutton [Playing MP3 list is shown]
  5. Press backbutton [Menu is shown]
  6. Press backbutton [Playing MP3 list is shown]
  7. Press backbutton [Menu is shown]

Hello,

this is a very interesting finding about the player, you can also report this issue to sandisk so they can look into it further to see if its a normal behaviour or not.

you can contact them directly under this link

http://www.sandisk.com/about-sandisk/contact-us/

Not so strange. The back button is used to climb back up the tree. Depending on where you are and how you got there, somtimes using the left button(when it has no other function) will take you back one step, while at other times it does nothing. In that regard it is somewhat inconsistant.

JK98, the back button does not “only” climp up the tree.

  1. Navigate to album and play first MP3 [Playing MP3 list is shown]
  2. Press backbutton [Album list is shown]
  3. Press backbutton [Menu is shown]
  4. Turn MP3 player off
  5. Turn MP3 player on _[Playing MP3 list is shown]   // There should be no tree at this point, or the tree should point to the Menu _
  6. Press backbutton [Album list is shown]
  7. Press backbutton [Menu is shown]
  8. Press backbutton [Playing MP3 list is shown]
  9. Press backbutton [Menu is shown]

But, for arguments sake, let’s say it walks the tree, then how you enter the album list from a playing MP3?

“But, for arguments sake, let’s say it walks the tree, then how you enter the album list from a playing MP3?”

You go back to the menu, then choose albums.

I don’t have the Jam, but do have the Clip Sport, which is similar in operation to the Jam.

I also have Rockboxed Clip+ and Rockboxed Clip Zip players, and mostly use those, as I greatly prefer Rockbox to the Sandisk firmware.

Think of it as navigating the branches of a tree starting at the root. From a branch or leaf, you can go back along the path you used to get there, but otherwise can’t jump directly from one branch to another, but must first go back to the root.

Album list” is not the same as my “list of albums”.

Quote “You go back to the menu, then choose albums.

More precisely:

I go back to menu, chose Albums, scroll down to the current album (not funny when you have a lot of albums), and then select the MP3 that was played.

On the clip+ there was an option to return to the album list. Something I frequently used, hence this thread.

Quote: “Think of it as navigating the branches of a tree starting at the root.”

If it was a tree, the path (behavior) would (every time) be the same. That is not the case here.

It is possible to jump directly to the album list (see first post), but the behavior is not consistent.

“It is possible to jump directly to the album list (see first post), but the behavior is not consistent.”

When you say album list, do you mean the list of albums for a specific artist? If so, if you choose artists, the artist you want,then choose the album you want, then click on the first song to start playing the album, if you press the back button once you get to list of songs for the album you started playing. If you then press the left button, you get the list of albums for that artist. Whereas if you chose the album directly from the album menu, then when you press the left button(after pressing the back button once) you get the complete list of albums on the player.

““Album list” is not the same as my “list of albums”.”

I don’t know what you mean by that. When you say album list, do you mean the list of albums for a specific artist?

I think of it this way. Normally the left button should be used as the the  button to go back, but when pressing the left button has a different function, then pressing the back button is needed. On older Sandisk players, rather than having the extra button labelled with a back arrow, it was labelled as the home buttom(on the Clip+ for example, there is a drawing of a house over the button).

Album list is the list of MP3’s in an album.

For the issue I reported (see first post) it does not matter of the album is selected from the Albums menu or the Artists menu. The behavior is the same: The first time the back button navigates to the Album list, the second (and future) presses leads to the “Main Menu”.

Perhaps you can see my trouble in the following scenario:

If I want to select another album from the same artist, I need to do the following:

Press Back [Main menu is shown]

Press Enter [Music menu is shown]

Select Artist and press Enter [Artist is shown]

Navigate to the album I want to hear and press Enter [Album is shown]

Select MP3 and press Enter [Playing MP3 list is shown]

When the back button works the scenario is as follows:

Press Back [Album is shown]

Navigate to the album I want to hear and press Enter [Album is shown]

Select MP3 and press Enter [Playing MP3 list is shown]

Besides my “frustration” of how I would like the back button to work, should navigation behavior in consumer products be as consistent as possible. If it only once leads to the Album list, and all other times to the Main menu, it is not consistent.

I don’t really follow what problem you are having. When you are at the now playing screen you need to use the back button to get out. Once you are at the list of songs for the album though, then if you have navigated from the artists menu, pressing the left button gets you to the other albums by the artist.

There might be some bugs in the firmware though. Did you try downloading the firmware and manually installing it? sometimes the firmware in the player can become corrupted.

http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/SanDisk-Clip-Jam/SanDisk-Clip-Jam-Firmware-1-03-Download-and-Installation/td-p/340693

Sandisk’s firmware is a bit of mess when compared to Rockbox. Unfortunately Rockbox isn’t available for the Clip Sport or Clip Jam.

The first time the back button navigates to the Album list, the second (and future) presses leads to the “Main Menu”

this is the same functioanlity the clip sport has for the back button. It seems to be the way they designed it.