Sansa Firmware Updater ... How long are you supposed to "wait for instructions"?

I just received a Sansa Clip+ for Father’s day. The first thing I did was check the firmware version. Mine had version V01.02.17A and the latest available version is V01.02.18. So, I read the instructions for updating the firmware. I seemed, highly, recommended to use the Sansa Firmware installer with a Windows PC. I downloaded the installer, installed it, connected my Sansa to a USB 2 port on my PC and was instructed to “…wait for instructions.” I waited for over 40 minutes and the screen hadn’t changed it just showed the Sansa 4 lobe logo thith the colors changing, in a clockwise direction and the wait for instruction message. After about 40 minutes, I checked that the Sansa was indeed seen by my, Windows 8.1, PC by going into File Explorer and seeing the Sansa directory, opening up a music folder and even playing an mp3 file included on the Sansa through Windows Media Player. After this verification, I checked the screen of the Sansa which showed a graphic of a Sansa and a PC monitor with arrows, in both directions,  moving on the screen. I waited another 10 or so minutes… no change. I gave up.

I guess I’ll try the manual method recommended for the more “tech savy” user. As I’m a retired Electrical Engineer with over 40 years of PC experience, I believe I should be up to the chalenge, but I think you should know that you might be able to improve the reliability of your software and if not, at least indicate an estimated, sufficient “Wait for instructions” duration to save your customers time. And perhaps, lose the “tech savy” reference to avoid upsetting non-tech savy users. After all, based upon the instructions, the manual procedure is pretty straight forward,

Incidentally, I’d really like an answer to my question of how long one should wait .

Now uninstall the updater. There will probably be no more firmware updates for the Clip+. if you want more settings, much better on the go playlists, a much better equilizer, and crossfeed, there is the the free alternative firmware(operating system for the player) Rockbox. In case you don’t know what crossfeed is, it mixes some of the alternative channel with a slight delay, making headphone listening much more like speaker listening, where each ear hears both music channels. This is adjustable, or can be turned off. The downsides to Rockbox is that it doesn’t support protected files, and it might permanently impair the player’s ability to play some protected files.

Rockbox is installed as a dual boot OS, so the original Sandisk firmware(OS) is still available, and can be booted into by holding down the left button on startup of a Rockboxed Clip+. Rockbox also gives you choices to customize the screen. If you are curious about Rockbox, check out the Rockbox manual for the Clip+. My Clip+ and Clip Zip have been Rockboxed. Rockbox is great for those who listen to podcasts, as it has variable speed playback with pitch correction. This is good for listening to slow speakers at around 1.4x or 1.5x the normal speed.

Rockbox for the Clip+ has 110 themes, or 110 choices for how and what is displayed on the screen.

http://themes.rockbox.org/index.php?target=sansaclipplus

http://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-sansaclipplus.pdf

Two things you should know about the Clip+ and other Sandisk players. Don’t insert or remove a card while the player is on, as it is likely to cause problems(and might even damage the card or the player). Sandisk players using the Sandisk firmware have issues with cards faster than class 4. Some other brands of class 4 cards, especially 32GB ones might also cause compatibility issues. For best compatibility, use Sandisk Class 4 cards. 

I only use class 4 cards with my Sandisk players, however   others using Rockbox on their Sandisk players have 

reported that class 10 cards work okay on Sandisk players using Rockbox.