Any way to get preinstalled music or video back after format?

 Hey All, 

Upon opening my Fuze I immediatly updated my firmware, then formated it. Of course like a ■■■■■■■ I didn’t keep any of the pre-installed music/video. Is there anywhere on the Sansa site to get that? I know it’s a lame question and I am sorry to ask but I liked a couple of those songs…

Thanks.

Unfortunately, no.

Why did you feel the need to format a brand-new-out-of-the-box player anyway?

I sympathise with GaryC 

I thought I had made a serious mistake by NOT formatting my player before using it.

The reason ? Because the Fuze manual refers to formatting the player on page 11 (Basic usage) before it tells people how to load content in chapter 4 or play content in chapter 5.

The manual does seem to be less than satisfactory in many situations for new users.

Who the heck writes these manuals anyway? And I’m not just talking about the Sansa player manuals, but ALL product instructional manuals or guides.

I haven’t read one in years that actually made sense or told me what I really wanted to know. You’re right, they tell you information in a bass-ackwards illogical order, or they tell you how to physically change a setting, but don’t bother telling you what that setting does, what it’s for, or why you might want to change it in the first place.

I recently ran into this on a new TV. There should be a law against tech people writing User’s Guides. They should pick the the guy on the loading dock, who speaks regular English, give him one of the products, show him how to use it, and then let him write the manual so ‘ordinary’ people will be able to understand how to use it.

Then and only then, once it is in simple & easy to understand language translate it into the other required languages. And get a native speaker of that language to do the translating, not just type the manual into a language conversion software program or add-on to MS Word and be done with it.

One has to wonder how many units (pick your own product) are actually returned simply because consumers could not understand or follow the manual or User’s Guide and therefore could not use the product for which purpose it was intended. And that is indeed a shame.

I agree with the ban of automatic translation!! I have a good example, on plates bought in Disney Store. They are « Microwave safe ». The French translation says « coffre-fort à micro-ondes», something like « a safe (box) equipped with a micro-wave ». Just because of the double meaning of safe…

@tapeworm wrote:

Who the heck writes these manuals anyway? And I’m not just talking about the Sansa player manuals, but ALL product instructional manuals or guides.

 

I haven’t read one in years that actually made sense or told me what I really wanted to know. You’re right, they tell you information in a bass-ackwards illogical order, or they tell you how to physically change a setting, but don’t bother telling you what that setting does, what it’s for, or why you might want to change it in the first place.

 

I recently ran into this on a new TV. There should be a law against tech people writing User’s Guides. They should pick the the guy on the loading dock, who speaks regular English, give him one of the products, show him how to use it, and then let him write the manual so ‘ordinary’ people will be able to understand how to use it.

 

Then and only then, once it is in simple & easy to understand language translate it into the other required languages. And get a native speaker of that language to do the translating, not just type the manual into a language conversion software program or add-on to MS Word and be done with it.

 

One has to wonder how many units (pick your own product) are actually returned simply because consumers could not understand or follow the manual or User’s Guide and therefore could not use the product for which purpose it was intended. And that is indeed a shame.

Technical writing can be a challenge.  Unfortunately, it is not as stressed as it used to be.  I have done some, and have been told that the ‘manuals’ I have done were, clear, simple, and unambiguous.  Higher praise I cannot imagine for a document that should allow anyone that can read to do the procedure.

I’ve never looked at the .pdf manual, so I can’t comment on it’s quality, but I agree with you in general.  The guy on the dock might not be the best choice, but at least send the person that is assigned the task to some technical writing courses, or, at a minimum, have them read a book about it.

@tenzip wrote:

The guy on the dock might not be the best choice, but at least send the person that is assigned the task to some technical writing courses, or, at a minimum, have them read a book about it.

No, this is absolutely the wrong thing to do (in my opinion anyway)! The common, ordinary Mr. John Q. Public does not want a manual written by someone who has taken ‘technical writing’ courses. This is what is causing the issue in the first place! The ordinary person has not taken these technical writing course, and so can not understand when something is written that way.

The manuals need to be written by someone who has not had any technical training, writing or otherwise. As long as they know how to operate the device, and can tell someone else how to so it, that’s all that is necessary. Plain simple language that is easy to understand by anyone. Just tell me how the gizmo works, what the options are, what they do, why I might want to change them and how to do it . . . in that order.

I think whoever is writing these things are 1.) over-thinking the project, 2.) wanting to show off their ‘technical writing’ skills, and 3.) forgetting who their target audience is. It is NOT the egg-heads that sat next to them in that technical writing course.

But I digress, and the thread is wavering off-topic.

@tapeworm wrote:


@tenzip wrote:

The guy on the dock might not be the best choice, but at least send the person that is assigned the task to some technical writing courses, or, at a minimum, have them read a book about it.


No, this is absolutely the wrong thing to do (in my opinion anyway)! The common, ordinary Mr. John Q. Public does not want a manual written by someone who has taken ‘technical writing’ courses. This is what is causing the issue in the first place! The ordinary person has not taken these technical writing course, and so can not understand when something is written that way.

 

The manuals need to be written by someone who has not had any technical training, writing or otherwise. As long as they know how to operate the device, and can tell someone else how to so it, that’s all that is necessary. Plain simple language that is easy to understand by anyone. Just tell me how the gizmo works, what the options are, what they do, why I might want to change them and how to do it . . . in that order.

 

I think whoever is writing these things are 1.) over-thinking the project, 2.) wanting to show off their ‘technical writing’ skills, and 3.) forgetting who their target audience is. It is NOT the egg-heads that sat next to them in that technical writing course.

 

But I digress, and the thread is wavering off-topic.

The bolded portion in your reply IS technical writing, IMO.  Making clear, concise, unambiguous instructions.  Not assuming that the person you are writing it for has any experience at all with anything in particular.  Saying “right-click on the button that says OK…” instead of just saying “click OK.”

Writing for technical readers is a whole other can of worms.

The “egg-heads” I sat next to were mostly engineering students, and didn’t get the whole thrust of the course, which was to be able to have your great aunt Edna be able to program her VCR without wanting to commit suicide.  That’s the problem.

Edit:  As far as off-topic, the question was answered in the second post, so it’s kinda moot at this point.

Message Edited by tenzip on 04-26-2009 04:03 PM

@tenzip wrote:

The bolded portion in your reply IS technical writing, IMO.  Making clear, concise, unambiguous instructions.  Not assuming that the person you are writing it for has any experience at all with anything in particular.  Saying “right-click on the button that says OK…” instead of just saying “click OK.”

 

Writing for technical readers is a whole other can of worms.

 

The “egg-heads” I sat next to were mostly engineering students, and didn’t get the whole thrust of the course, which was to be able to have your great aunt Edna be able to program her VCR without wanting to commit suicide.  That’s the problem.

It sounds as though we are both on the same page here . . . maybe I have a mis-conception of the meaning of the phrase ‘technical writing’. My impression of the term would be writing ‘for’ the egg-heads, not for Aunt Edna and her VCR, which is the point I was trying to make that the manuals today need to be written more for ‘her’.

Of course, if Aunt Edna can’t program her VCR (or toaster, or coffe-maker, etc.) and I can come over and do it for her (provided I can understand the manual), then she’s sure to reward me with some tasty goodies!

Hmmmm . . . pie. :stuck_out_tongue:

That’s what I thought. Thanks for the replys…

GaryC, formatting following the latest firmware installation was a good idea, actually, as it assures a proper database and proper memory allocation.

Regarding technical prose, time spent working closely between engineers and writers will reveal the differences in communications quite rapidly.  Simply put, they are on different frequencies.  Writing for a target audience of engineers allows use of known concepts, often making for a cryptic mess for the layman.

Translating to more palatable format often involves several translations between the source data (material) and an acceptable result.  Depending upon the target audience, it can be quite fun indeed.

µsansa