New Clip+ User with Installation Issues, help?

[lorna_latoni]

So I just got my Sansa Clip+ today and I am trying to install the software on to my computer. I, first, realized I need internet to install it, so I logged on to the only computer we have with internet. I still can’t install it. I went to the link it said to go to (www.rhapsody.com/sansaclip+) and got confused. After purchasing the sansa clip, do I also have to purchase the Rhapsody service? Am I charged for it per month? Does the monthly charge cover music downloads?

Please help!
Thanks!

[miikerman]

The good news is, there is nothing to install.

Rhapsody, indeed, is for a music subscription service:  all the music you want to listen to, for a small, monthly fee (and if you stop paying, you are not able to listen to the music anymore).  Totally optional (you get a 1-month free trial of it, with your Clip, to try to “rope you in”). 

As a general matter, you have nothing to install to use the Clip.  However, if your Clip does not have the latest firmware on it, it is recommended that you install it.  See the firmware upgrade sticky thread at the top of this forum.

Also, a recommendation: 

The Clip connects to your computer under one of 2 USB connection modes/protocols, MSC or MTP.  (The Clip also can use an “Auto” mode, in which the Clip will try to connect in MTP mode and then fall back to MSC mode, if necessary–Auto is not recommended by many of us, as this mixing of modes can lead to confusion).  Many people (myself included) will recommend that you set the player’s USB mode, under the Clip’s settings, to MSC mode, the more universal USB mode, in which your Clip will appear like an external drive on your computer, and you simply can drag and drop/copy and paste files to it.  The other USB mode, MTP, is needed if you have files protected by digital rights management, like some library books, etc.  In that case, you need a driver on your Clip that comes automatically with Windows Media Player 10 and above (it also can be obtained otherwise, but installing WMP is an easy way). 

And you don’t need to be on the Internet to use the Clip–simply connect to your computer, transfer files to the Clip, and enjoy!  Hope this helps–

A few additional words on and explanations about the USB modes:

When your player is connected to your computer under USB MSC mode (set under the player’s settings), your computer only sees the files that had been transferred to the player when the player was connected under MSC mode.  Likewise as to MTP mode.  Regardless, all the files show up and are playable on your player, under whatever USB mode setting.

A good reason why some people prefer to set the USB Mode on their player to either MSC or MTP:  on the Auto setting, the player tries to connect under MTP mode but then will fall back to MSC mode if the MTP connection does not work; the result being, you may have a mix of MSC and MTP mode transferred files on your player, making some of them not visible on your computer without switching to the other USB mode. 

Because MSC mode is more universal (playing with a broader range of operating systems, including Linux and on Macs, and without a need for Windows Media Player on the computer), some people prefer MSC mode.  However, note that DRM (digital rights management) files need MTP mode–they will not transfer sufficiently (the DRM license will not transfer) under MSC mode.