SanDisk Clip Sport Firmware 1.22 released

The track sorting / memory constraints issue on the Clip Sport firmware is actually an own goal. State this as a feature, when marketing the device. Then fail miserably when attempting to execute.

I looked into how to fix this, before realising it does NOT need to be a feature anyway.

Nobody actaully needs all track and album names to be loaded into memory, and ‘sorted’. This will ONLY provide support for being able to scroll through a list is ALL tracks ALPHABETICALLY listed. I have only ever used that feature rarely, on a desktop PC, to find obscure B-tracks in my vast collection. It is not of any value on the Clip Sport, which wont even store ALL my music.

My priorities, which I’m sure are not unique, are:

  • List (and play) album tracks, in track-order;
  • List albums (by artist), by date/year order (then alphabetically);
  • List ALL albums alphabetically;
  • Provide random play for album, artist, genre, or ALL.

Points for achieving: 40, 30, 20, and 10 (%)

Current score (firmware: v1.22): 15% (FAIL, incomplete on 3rd and 4th)

@robert_a wrote:

Well, the RDS PS is being displayed again which is kind of nice. To bad that the FM tuner in the Clip Sport is so poor compared to Clip+/Zip. Where the other two has good stereo reception the sport is playing mostly static or poor mono (same headphones used).

The one thing I really can’t understand tough is why the file sorting issues still exists. How hard can it be to get this right? Clip+/Zip are sorting files without any of the tiresome workarounds needed for the Clip Sport and I think it’s hard to blame the hardware alone for this deficiency.

Very happy with the design, battery life and sound quality though!

Unfortunately, I think that the more limited hardware can explain a great deal . . . .

@robert_a wrote:

The one thing I really can’t understand tough is why the file sorting issues still exists. How hard can it be to get this right? Clip+/Zip are sorting files without any of the tiresome workarounds needed for the Clip Sport and I think it’s hard to blame the hardware alone for this deficiency.

I think the firmware on the older devices was made by Sandisk, whereas the new one was probably made by the company that designed the hardware, so a lot of features that were in the old player’s firmware were probably never implemented in the new one.  

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@miikerman wrote:

Unfortunately, I think that the more limited hardware can explain a great deal . . . .

True and I’m aware of that the SoC used has very little memory but a good and optimized firmware should be able to compensate this to some extent. Perhaps the problem is that this little device is trying to be something it isn’t and therefore fails all together. Quite sad even if I must confess I still like it…

@saratoga wrote:

I think the firmware on the older devices was made by Sandisk, whereas the new one was probably made by the company that designed the hardware, so a lot of features that were in the old player’s firmware were probably never implemented in the new one.  

Interesting. If that’s the case it would explain a lot.

so Sandisk most likely outsourced firmware developent to China*, and didn’t even mention it? Niceee…

*) that would explain poor software (firmware) quality, as cheap Chinese mp3 players are known from having terrible software/firmware.

I upgraded to the latest firmware, v1.22. This has gotten much, much worse. So much so that the player is now totally useless. When powering on the device, I now get the following error: ‘Refreshing media’ flashes by quickly. Then ‘File system error! Restart the device or Format to Recovery!’ Then the player shuts off.

I was able to get the device to come on and get to the menus. I selected the format option. But the problems continued. I eventually connected the device to my Windows PC via the USB. I selected to format the internal storage from Windows Explorer. I was then able to power on as before and get to my media. I then had to format my external storage as I could not get to the Music that had been previously loaded. Issues with “Unknown Artist” and “Unknown Album” persist with the new firmware. I previously had v1.17 installed.

Soooooo…

After updating to 1.22, I kept losing my settings every other boot, and it would ask me again to set the language, world zone,etc…

So I decided to roll back to 1.17, but the firmware update failed half way, saying “error writing FW”; I used the same file that I used when I first upgraded from 1.09 to 1.17, so I am sure the file was not corrupt;

Now it is just stuck on the boot screen “SanDisk” and I cannot do anything; When I hold the power button for 10 seconds or more, the screen turns off, but when I release the button it turns on again to the same Sandisk splash screen; 

It is not recognised by the computer when plugeed in via usb: I can call it bricked.

Now I wait for the battery to die out to see if it makes a difference, then return it to Amazon, get a new one, sell it fast BNIB and be done with SanDisk.

Good bye forever

It says to "copy hex file to player’s root directory’’ – not sure what a “hex file” is, I guess it’s the download, but I do not have a “Root directory” on my Clip Sport.  I have “Audible”, “Audiobooks”, “Music”, “Playlists” and “Podcasts”.  None of these folders contain anything called “root directory”.  I don’t know what to do here, are there instructions in plain English somewhere?

The root directory is the Clip itself, not a folder on it. And the hex file is indeed the downloaded firmware file («upgrade.hex»). Just copy it to the Sport.

@voodooelect wrote:

. . . but I do not have a “Root directory” on my Clip Sport.

Yes you do.

@voodooelect wrote:

I have “Audible”, “Audiobooks”, “Music”, “Playlists” and “Podcasts”.

That’s it. Drop the ‘extracted’ firmware file next to (not in) these folders.

Hi guys,

without the Firmware Updater,which I’m not able to install because of problems,I can’t see which Firmware is the newest for my device(Clip Sport).I know that 1.22 is the newest at the moment but for the future I don’t know.

Unlikely that there will be firmware revisions, but you simply can come here to check (and avoid having the Updater consume computer resources).

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The 2000 song limit for the card, and the separation of the card memory from main memory is so annoying. I guess I am spoiled, since a Rockboxed Clip Zip is so great except for the battery life. If only I could have a player with the functionality of the Rockboxed Clip Zip, but with 50+ hours of battery life(even 30+ hours would be a great help). I realize it would need to a bit larger and heavier than the Clip Sport, although hopefully it could still be a clip on player. Ideally it could even have a magnesium alloy(or aluminum alloy) case and two card slots(I can dream). I realize such a player wouldn’t be under $50, although if it could be $100 it would be great.

We’re actually at about 30 hours battery life on the Zip with some of the latest patches. We might hit a little better than that eventually.

I don’t know how you get such long battery life with Rockbox on the Clip Zip. I haven’t timed exactly what I am getting, although it doesn’t seem like much more than around 15 hours. I did notice getting a few extra hours of run time when playing 32kbps mono mp3 podcasts.

I just did a manual firmware download for my new Jam.  The update seemed to work normally, but I am now unable to turn the Jam on.  I tried to reset (holding the power/center button for 20 secods), but that’s not helping.  Thoughts?

(Hold on to your receipt!  And if no help is successful or forthcoming, try a return and replacement with your retailer still within the return period . . . .)

A quick question:  what firmware did you try to manually update your Jam with?  Is there a firmware update for the Jam?  (Maybe I just missed it.)  If you used the Sport firmware update:  does that firmware update also work with the Jam/has SanDisk actually documented that?  “Mixing and matching” diferent players and firmwares can cause issues . . . .

Egads!!  Color me embarassed.  I updated my Jam with the 1.22 firmware for the Sport.  <slinks away in shame>