Can't download music or firmware update--(Fuze a nightmare to figure out)

All you have to do is download the latest version of Rhapsody. Note: you have to be a computer administrator and make sure that your internet and proxy or firewall allow rhapsody and real networks. After you download it then you can click on library and it’ll have an option to upload all the music from itunes to rhapsody. After that you can try to sync it to your fuze.

Hope this helps! : ) 

Copying music to the Sansa is as simple as dragging and dropping.

  1. Connect your sansa to the computer

  2. Open Windows Explorer

  3. Click on My Computer (XP and earlier) or just Computer (Vista and later)

  4. Open the “Sansa Fuze xGB” Drive that should be listed under your computer

  5. Open the “Internal Memory” folder

  6. Open the “Music” folder

  7. Copy your music (in a compatible format - sansa supports MP3, WAV, WMA, secure WMA and Audible) into this folder

DONE!

You can sync with Yahoo! Music, Microsoft Windows Media Player, and a host of other players automatically (assuming compatible format).

While I’ll hand it to Apple for the ease of use of iTunes Music Store, many of the other stores are usable such as emusic, napster, puretracks, passalong, and many other online stores that sell music in a compatible format. While some record labels require their music to have DRM, many will offer them in the secure WMA format. All of the stores mentioned above can all be accesed from within Windows Media Player (version 11 required for Audible) by selecting the righmost option in the menu in Windows Media Player (usaually has text “Media Guide” but can change if you visited help, online stores, etc.). In this drop down menu item you will find “Browse all Online Stores”. This is where you will find online stores to purchase music. Not at all different from iTunes except you don’t have to update the iTunes every 2 days (ok that was a cheap shot but come on is anyone else getting tired of updating iTunes every time you turn around?) 

As for the Firmware update not working:  

To update firmware you simply download the firmware file for your revision (1.xxxx or 2.xxxx) from the sandisk site and copy the fuzea.bin file into the “Internal Memory” folder and unplug the fuze from your computer and the firmware will be updated automatically. You will see “Firmware upgrade in progress” when you disconnect from your computer… easy.

There are plenty of other music managers that will keep your library in Sync (an example is MediaMonkey)-- some free, some you have to buy.

Hope that helps.

@kaycee1976 wrote:

I’ve read through this thread, because I have the same error message (1003).  I read how to download manually, but where is the root directory on my fuze?  When I open the internal memory, I only have folders for music etc.

 

Do I just slap it in the internal memory (not in a folder)?

That’s it exactly. If it is showing as ‘internal memory’, then your player is in MTP mode; a little different from MSC, but you should still be able to update the firmware. Just drag the extracted .zip file (should now be a .bin file) from wherever you’ve stored it (your Desktop is convenient) to the blank area next to, but not in the folders you see.

Done. Un-plug your Fuze and wait for the magic to happen. :smiley:

Ok, so now I have version 1.01.07A by installing the firmware from the link.  Is that the most recent firmware upgrade?

BTW:  thanks for all the great and fast responses!

@metalzoa78 wrote:

All you have to do is download the latest version of Rhapsody. Note: you have to be a computer administrator and make sure that your internet and proxy or firewall allow rhapsody and real networks. After you download it then you can click on library and it’ll have an option to upload all the music from itunes to rhapsody. After that you can try to sync it to your fuze.

Hope this helps! : ) 

I hope you are talking ONLY about the software and NOT signing up for another propriatary subscription DRM-crippled mess to try and straighten out & convert the Apple files. Even so, this approach sounds like intentionally trying to catch the flu just to get rid of a cold.

Me, no…I don’t have itunes.  I’m a media player kind of girl :)  Media player seems to be the easiest way to go!

@kaycee1976 wrote:

Ok, so now I have version 1.01.07A by installing the firmware from the link.  Is that the most recent firmware upgrade?

 

BTW:  thanks for all the great and fast responses!

No! You should have 01.01.22A which is the latest update for your hardware version player. Did you download it form the link in this post?

Try it again. Make sure to extract the .zip file to your Desktop (it’s the most convenient). It should now be a larger size .bin file. This is what you drag into the root directory.

After you’ve got it right, you can delete the .bin file from your Desktop.

@kaycee1976 wrote:

Ok, so now I have version 1.01.07A by installing the firmware from the link.  Is that the most recent firmware upgrade?

 

BTW:  thanks for all the great and fast responses!

This is an early version.  You can confirm the latest family of formware via the splash screen.  The new update has a Sansa logo that “explodes” into a zillion color pixels, forming the new 4-color Sansa logo.

If you go to Settings > System Settings > Info, check the firmware version.  If it starts with a “01”, the 01.01.22 firmware is here.

Unzip this file.  The bin ary file is dragged and dropped to the root directory (be SURE it is unzipped, or the Fuze won’t accept it.)

You can update in either MTP or MSC mode, the difference being if you see “Internal Memory”, double click on that to open the root directory.  Windows Explorer represents the root directory as the “open box”.  Simply place the bin file in the box, but NOT in any of the folders seen.

There’s a bit of confusion in this thread about “folders”.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

@kaycee1976 wrote:

Ok, so now I have version 1.01.07A by installing the firmware from the link.  Is that the most recent firmware upgrade?

 

BTW:  thanks for all the great and fast responses!

No! You should have 01.01.22A which is the latest update for your hardware version player. Did you download it from the link in this post?

Try it again. Make sure to extract the .zip file to your Desktop (it’s the most convenient). It should now be a larger size .bin file. This is what you drag into the root directory.

After you’ve got it right, you can delete the .bin file from your Desktop.


You should have started another thread. Although the topic was the same, now you (and others) don’t know who’s advice is for who. The itunes reference was not meant for you.

GMTA, Tapemeister.

Bob  :stuck_out_tongue:

You beat me by a nano sansa second, Bob! :smileyvery-happy:

I tried it again, and I know it worked this time because I got the fancy new welcome!

Thank you all so much!  I wish I had found this site sooner!  :slight_smile:

Can you just feel the groovy?  I had better get out of here and head home.  Catch you in a wee bit…

Bob  :stuck_out_tongue:

This probably doesn’t belong here, but…My dad gave me his digital copy of Wall-e and I was going to load it to the fuze for my daughter to watch in the car.  I get this message when I try to sync:  Windows Media Player cannot sync the file because protected files cannot be converted to the required quality level or file format.

Am I out of luck on these Blue Ray inserts?  Can I not play them on the fuze?

 For those of us who don’t find video “worthwhile” on the Fuze thats fine but,for myself i’ve had zero problems loading hours of TV programs on my little buddy.As they say your mileage may vary… 

I just went through what the original poster did tonight trying to put music on my daughter’s new Sansa Fuze. I had no trouble with Sandisk’s Converter program to turn videos encoded for ipod to the Fuze, got a whole movie done in probably under 10 minutes (will watch the clock on the next one since I dont remember).  Music files were a pain in the behind though. Luckily I am not loading too many discs to the Fuze or it would take me weeks to get everything encoded from AAC to mp3. 

To re-encode songs in itunes just highlight the song or songs, right click, and select “create mp3 version” and watch it work. Trouble is that now you’ll have 2 copies on your hard drive and both are stored in the same file.  I am just pasting the mp3 version to the Fuze and deleting the extra copy.  I also went into Edit>Preferences, and in the middle of the box under the button for “Import Settings” change the top drop box to mp3 and adjust the setting as needed. This way all future cd"s ripped by itunes will already be mp3 format and in the future I can just grab the file to cut and paste same as if using a different audio player.

I have to admit I was really, really annoyed tonight trying to get this sorted out.  The Fuze seems preety neat-I like the FM tuner and the expandable memory slot, plus there was no way we were gonna get a 4Gb media player like this for only $50 as we did. My wife’s Nano cost multiple times that much and no radio or expansion of memory possible.

I think the hard part for real newbies is that they expect this all to be very compatible, like CDs with CD players. It wouldn’t be such a problem except that people start off with iTunes, which isn’t really designed to be compatible with anything but iPods. Suddenly they have to understand file formats and conversions and directories and all sorts of stuff that never came to play in Apple’s little world.

SyncBack SE (Google for it) could be very useful for people using iTunes and converting everything to MP3 like that. It could easily be set up to just copy over the MP3 files that don’t already exist on the Fuze. The Fuze would have to be in MSC mode.

Message Edited by bdb on 12-26-2008 10:22 PM

I started out trying to convert my iTunes music, but found that simply loading the orignial cd’s on to Windows Media Player was the simplest, most straight-forward way to go.  It really does seem to work better if you just leave Apple out of the relationship.  :smiley:

@quovadisanima wrote:
I started out trying to convert my iTunes music, but found that simply loading the orignial cd’s on to Windows Media Player was the simplest, most straight-forward way to go.  It really does seem to work better if you just leave Apple out of the relationship.  :smiley:

True . . . IF . . . You have the CD’s to rip from. Many people using Itunes downloaded the music, in which case they’re stuck converting since they have no back-up CD. Converting will result in a lower quality sound file since you are converting 1 lossy format to another, but if that’s all you got, you gotta play the cards dealt to 'ya.

If you have CD’s, by all means just rip them again; higher quality and probably about the same length of time. Just be sure to dust’em off first. :wink:

If you downloaded something from iTunes store, aren’t you stuck with only being able to use it in iTunes?