"File format not supported" randomly appears

I also have been having this problem with NPR podcasts.  I have had 2 other Sandisk players before the Sport and have never had a probem like this.

The really odd thing is that the podcasts start to play and then after playing fine for about 10 seconds it stops and says “file format not supported.”  It does not happen with all files nor even all files of a given podcast.

It is very disappointing to upgrade to a new player and have it be less functional.  

Has anybody from Sandisk helped anyone with this?

Same with me on NPR podcasts - it happens right after the ‘this podcast is supported by’ message.  NPR podcasts without that message play fine on my clip sport.

Hey eswcpa,

Did you have any luck getting this sloved?  I have been “working” with tech support also, but it is not possible for me to send them the files I am having problems with becaue thier email only accepts attachemnts that are 9MB or less.  They are supposed to call me to discuss this but I can’t imagine what they will tell me over he phone that is different than what they have told me via email (they gave me directions to remformat the player - it didn’t help).

:robotsad:

if the file is too big to send you could always use dropbox or something like that and send them a link to the file. 

Yeah, I ended up using Dropdox and when they tried to play the files the same problem occured:

FROM SANSA

“I appreciate your continued response. I have tried the files and could replicate the issue. It seems to be the issue with the bit rate of the files. The bit rate of the files you sent was 56kbps which is generally not the case for normal mp3/WMA files. I have tried converting them using Any Audio Converter to 128kbps bit rate and it worked. As a work around you can download the same converted and try to convert them to get them to work. We have reported this issue already to our development team for further review.”

I am not convinced becuase the problematic podcasts play until the sponsorship announcement is finished (between 15 and 20 seconds) and then give the error.  Also, some of the podcasts from the same show with the same bit rate play just fine.  At the very least things have been frwarded to te development team and maybe we will see a firmware update to fix this.

What puzzles me is how all of my earlier Sansa players can still play these but the newset one cannot!  Surely the developers can compare the old and new codecs and see where the issue lies.

Did you try converting the files to 128kbps and see if they play normally for you? it sounds to me like they tested that out and it worked. 

they have said it was reported to the development team so it sounds like a bug which would probably be fixed in a future FW update. 

I get this problem too.   All of my MP3’s are CD rips.   I have a theory that it’s my 16GB microSDHC card.  It’s a class 10 and you’re supposed to use a class 4.   Will repost soon once I receive my new class 4 card and try it out.

Yesterday I ejected my microSDHC and loaded all of the MP3’s I wanted in the main Music folder.   I also did a CHKDSK /r /x from Windows (which reported no problems).    After that, everything was good.    BTW, before I was not only getting “file format not supported”, I was also getting “file not found”.    I’m running the latest firmware.    All of my files are MP3’s ripped from CD’s with Windows 7 at the highest bitrate it offered.

Vymeniť MicroSDHC kartu. Odporúčam MicroSDHC Kingston 16GB Class 4.

im using Transcend 64GB class 10 SDXC and having occasional freezes. but all files work.

im using mostly FLACs and mp3 320 CBRs.

@ninjafrog84 wrote:

im using Transcend 64GB class 10 SDXC and having occasional freezes. but all files work.

im using mostly FLACs and mp3 320 CBRs.

So your files are heavy, which may help not to exceed the 2000-file limit, right? Or do you operate in folder mode?

yes - mainly heavy files. but just to make it clear , its not full.

no - im using tag browsing …not folder

OK, I switched from a class 10 to a class 4 card and no more “file not found” or “format not supported” messages.   No more lockups either.    It’s been playing for 6 hours without a hitch now.

Thanks for the report.  This seems consistent with the report of others, concerning issues with microSD cards over Class 4 in speed.   :frowning:

Thanks for the report.  This seems consistent with the report of others, concerning issues with microSD cards over Class 4 in speed.  

You said your Clip+ is Rockboxed though. The Sandisk firmware seems to have issues with cards that are faster than Class 4. Rockbox handles these faster cards just fine. Unfortunately there isn’t Rockbox for the Clip Sport.

Having the exact same problem with largeish (50-something mb) mp3 podcast files from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). They play for the first 15-20 seconds and then a “File format not supported” message appears and the device skips to the next track. These are on the internal memory of the device, and besides that I’m using a Class 4 microSD card for other files.

Any prospect of a fix for this issue in an upcoming firmware update?

Thanks.

Correction: the files this has happened with actually play for 33-34 seconds. Not every CBC podcast file is doing this. Just did firmware update 1.17 (since my last post)—didn’t fix the problem.

What bitrate are the 50MB podcast files? For voice recordings, imo 32kbps MP3 mono is probably the best choice, as higher bitrates don’t improve the sound of voice recordings much. While 32 kbps wma files sound a bit better than 32kbps mp3 files, playing WMA files seem to consume more battery power and give shorter run times. Using 32kbps mono instead of 128 kbps seems to give me at least 10% more run time per charge.

After I download podcasts, I typically convert them to 32kbps mp3 mono if they are at a higher bitrate. Some podcasters are now using 32kbps.

Anyone find a fix?  I have the same problm with  a brand new player