hi guys, after loosing my ipod shuffle, im in the market for a new small mp3 player. the express seems to fit the bill perfectly but after coming on here im not so sure now. if if a few people could answer me these Qs, it would really help!
the express seems very “buggy” given hindsight, would you still buy one?
does the latest filmware (1.041?) fix any of the issues? ie this crappy problem with lack of real shuffle?
can i just drap& drop my music onto it? im not a fan of WMP and dont really want it on my computer and im already using itunes.
most importantly, does san disk seem to care? has anyone got a good response from them about help or a filmware upgrade? to fix all the gripes?
The Sandisk updater will put 01.01.01A on your player.
Sandisk was extremely professional when I called about replacing
the player. But that was all. They did what a responsible company
would do. Replace a defective product with a new copy. But no sense
“we are working on improving the product”.
You can drag and drop in both MTP mode and in USB MSC modes.
I have to wonder if this is a good plan with any player. It seemed
in USB MSC mode, the player would fail when rebuilding its database
after a big transfer, and MTP …
In some ways my Rio Riot worked better and had its own driver. In theory
MTP is “common Microsoft driver” for portable music/video/picture
devices but … it does a lot. It is just not moving files around.
Creative supplies an Windows File Explorer like program that seems very
stable. Playing with the Zen, dragging and dropping folders has not work
all that well. MTP is not really a file system, it is a system built on top
at a higher level of commands and iteraction. It is the Zen V Express
Media Explorer and it is nice and simple. Really great if you have a huge
30G of MP3 and you want to pick and choose and not let WMP mess
up our physical data. Does not build any sort of internal “library” that
simply gets out of sync with the physical data. Just stuff things on to the
player.
A 2G Zen V Plus or a 4G Zen V Plus seems like a much better “deal”.
And it is ranked by cnet.com just behind the iriver clix (but the clix does not
look like it could ever be operated one handed.)
Express is a nice idea, execution is lacking. A big pain. Zen V Plus has a calendar,
clock, syncs with outlook, video, picture, mp3, bookmarks, on the fly playlists,
many modes to shuffle/repeat, play all, etc etc.) Does require a cable, standard
USB micro/mini (?) connector. Different form factors, but about the same size.
In hindsight, NO, I would not have bought this. As a matter of fact it is going back tomorrow. By what I’ve read, there are problems as far as USB connectivity and Windows XP. Bought my son an iPod 2 years ago, and not one problem. It worked seamlessly. Guess it’s a Nano for me.
Yeah. There are three classes of problems: a) Bricking the player, b) bricking the player in connection with memory cards, and c) annoyances. If you get a bricked player, take it back and exchange it. I don’t think the problems are as widespread as you’d think examining this forum. If you stick with Sandisk memory cards, you won’t run into b) ever. That leaves c). Not having a real “random” feature ■■■■■. Not having a true bookmarking ability ■■■■■. But then, with the shuffle, paying $20-30 more and not getting a screen is annoying too. Having to sync with special cables and software is kind of annoying. I have a feeling most of the express’s annoyances can be fixed and will be fixed in firmware. The other players have limitations due to their hardware.
2) No, but it did fix many other issues, and added features such as a charging status indicator, etc.
3) Yes. You can’t use itunes with the express without converting your library from MP4, but it is easy. I did my whole library in a few minutes.
4) The express has been out about five months and there has been four firmware updates. They can do better, but they are doing alright.
1: the password requirements for this forum are excessively strict.
2: The Express only supports MTP mode, whatever that means–I installed the Updater, but nothing happens when I connect the device. If I try try to run the updater explicitly, it says it can only be run from some service. So how do I update the firmware?
I’m an old guy and don’t know what “bricked” means–is it the same as “lunched”?
The device looks like a USB drive on my PC and it is easy enough to drag and drop mp3 files onto it. But the firmware ignores the file structure and only looks at the tags, so it won’t see anything you’ve ripped unless there are album or artist tags included.
You might think Sandisk could explain what MSC and MTP mean.
Does Sandisk monitor this forum or are they OTL (out to lunch)?
I agree. Enforcing strict passwords on a web forum is dumb.
The updater itself has a few bugs. Check the last post here: FreemattandGrace.Com for a work around.
“Bricked” means that the device now has the same functionality as a brick, i.e., modest paperweight capabilities, you can throw it at people, given a few million you could cover the walls of a house with them. But like a brick, they don’t connect to your computer or play music any more.
True. There is no reason why they couldn’t update this in the future, but I hope it is pretty low on their list.
MSC = thumbdrive functionality. MTP = media player aware, allows transfer of files with digital copy restrictions. The device is MTP only, unless you don’t have media player 10 or higher, in which case it defaults to MSC mode for compatibility. You can force MSC mode on ANY XP computer by following the directions here: FreemattandGrace.Com; – Follow post #1 if you want it permanently forced to MSC, or follow #3 if you want to select back and forth. #3 is easier and more flexible.
I would say they are OTL. If you want support, contact support, this is more of a “community”.
MTP = Media Transfer Protocol; it’s Window’s way of sending music and playlists to a media player like how iTunes does it with iPods.
MSC = Mass Storage Class; basically you store files on it like a hard drive, flashdrive/jumpdrive/thumbdrive/ (list of the names goes on)
I’m using a 4G iPod right now (I fixed the clickwheel) while waiting for the RMA to comeback. I hate it how I can’t get a custom EQ on iPods. (The bass amp ■■■■■ too)
The MSC/MTP description explains what WMP has to with all of this. I’ve got WMP 9 (I don’t use it–Media Player Classic does everything I need it to). So, as you said, the player seems to have reverted to MSC mode–it looks exactly like a flash drive. That would appear to save me from a catch-22 situation: The player offers no way to switch modes and the updater requires MSC mode.
The sansa service loads and runs at boot (I forget what it’s called, sansasomething.exe in the task manager process list), but the updater does not run when I plug in the SE.
Yes, it’s time to ask support about that, now that I know enough to ask a good question and maybe understand the answer.
