What is the purpose of formatting?

Besides to erase most of everything on the player, what is the purpose of formatting the device?  I formatted my Fuze, but removed the files (at least in AutoDetect mode) to the computer.

Also, should I have my music, recordings, videos, etc. in MTP mode or MSC mode?

@jumpydwarf wrote:

Besides to erase most of everything on the player, what is the purpose of formatting the device?  I formatted my Fuze, but removed the files (at least in AutoDetect mode) to the computer.

 

Also, should I have my music, recordings, videos, etc. in MTP mode or MSC mode?

There are a couple of things it does for you.  It cleans up any corrupt files that are hanging on, and it refreshes the ‘directory’ that tells the OS where to find all the parts of a song in memory.

In the case of the latest firmware update, it also expands the database for the 8000 song limit.

I have never, and will never use MTP.  I want to be able to access my music when/where ever I want.  Of course, if you use DRM-crippled music, then you’ll have to use MTP.

Thanks for responding.  I currently don’t have any DRM songs on my player (or did before I formatted it), but might get some in the future.  I have no clue about MSC and MTP; I don’t even know what they stand for.

@jumpydwarf wrote:
I have no clue about MSC and MTP; I don’t even know what they stand for.

See amongst others http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/message?board.id=announcements&thread.id=96 for a good explanation.

Cheers

 Roland

Thanks.

if you have the new firmware installed… v1.02.26 you need to reformat the player so that the database will reinitialize and accept the new 8,000 song limit.

@jumpydwarf wrote:
Thanks for responding.  I currently don’t have any DRM songs on my player (or did before I formatted it), but might get some in the future.  I have no clue about MSC and MTP; I don’t even know what they stand for.

good time to read the manual… :wink: