@wavysclip wrote:
The fact that they have not fixed the original clip with a firmware update yet, is unacceptable.
Yes, and until they come correct on this I cannot buy (or recommend) another Sansa product. It’s unconscionable to continue selling a product you know will not perform the most basic playback as advertised without producing a firmware fix or even promising that one will be forthcoming…
@robisan wrote:
For $100 you could have a 20GB player, if you added a 16GB micrsdhc. That is a screaming good deal.
No, it’s really not.
Sandisk sells 16gb flash memory packaged for retail use for less than $30 – retail price , so you’d have to think their manufacturing cost is less than half that. The retail spread between 4gb and 16gb is just $20, so for (really less than) $69 Sansa could retail a 16gb Clip+. Add an 8gb microsd card for less than $15and you have 24gb player for less than $85.
Add a 16gb card and you’d have a 32gb player for $120. Now that’s a screaming good deal…
…but Sansa knows that buyers of 16gb players may not buy any cards, hence the small capacity players that almost require a card purchase…
Can you name any other 20GB possibilties under $100? That’s why I called it a screaming good deal. I understand your point, about the flash costs, but I was thinking in relation to the competitors’ product offerings when I said it was a great deal.
@marvin_martian wrote:
@robisan wrote:
For $100 you could have a 20GB player, if you added a 16GB micrsdhc. That is a screaming good deal.
No, it’s really not.
Sandisk sells 16gb flash memory packaged for retail use for less than $30 – retail price , so you’d have to think their manufacturing cost is less than half that. The retail spread between 4gb and 16gb is just $20, so for (really less than) $69 Sansa could retail a 16gb Clip+. Add an 8gb microsd card for less than $15and you have 24gb player for less than $85.
Add a 16gb card and you’d have a 32gb player for $120. Now that’s a screaming good deal…
…but Sansa knows that buyers of 16gb players may not buy any cards, hence the small capacity players that almost require a card purchase…
Can you name any other 20GB possibilties under $100? That’s why I called it a screaming good deal. I understand your point, about the flash costs, but I was thinking in relation to the competitors’ product offerings when I said it was a great deal.
And I’m not playing the Sansa fanboi card either. The last player I bought was not a SanDisk, and the next one I plan to buy is not either. But at some point in the future, when my current Clip dies or is sold, I will pick up a Clip+.
Marvin, like you, I have an upgrade path in mind. While I like the Clip form factor and don’t need/use video, I’ll stick with my 24gb Fuze and fabricated velcro’d E5 clip until it quits or a Clip sized and SQ player that offers greater storage becomes available.
My storage beef is not just with the Clip line, though a brand new player at only 4gb is fresh salt in the wound. For years there was good reason why most player lines topped out at 4gb and 8gb – flash memory larger than that was very expensive. Obviously, not so anymore. We now live in a world where cheap computer storage is measured in multiple hundreds of GBs and terabyte drives are affordable. Where large, high bitrate (or lossless) collections are the norm. And finally, where 32gb and even 64gb flash for portable storage are available and affordable, while 16gb flash is downright inexpensive. Expandable or not, a new 4gb player released in today’s world is anachronistic and insulting.
In a little over four months we’ll be entering a new decade, the second decade of the 21st century. And Sansa is still releasing new 4gb music players. Unbelievable…
Does anyone know if the clip plus has an audiobook file with bookmarks?
@miikerman wrote:
Picked up a Clip+ today to check it out. Some observations:
– The Clip+ includes ReplayGain technology, to normalize music, if desired.
– Folder view has arrived. From what I can tell, there are separate folder listings for songs put onto the Clip under MTP and MSC modes.
– Screens now slide into view, from the side or the bottom–a nice effect.
– There are more EQ presets than before, including “Full Bass” and “Full Treble”.
– There is a “Track Info” option for when a song is playing, providing a fair amount of information about the file.
– The microSD slot seems to work fine. A card fits almost entirely into the Clip+, protruding just a tiny trifle so that it can be pressed back in to then be removed with a spring action. Note: unless I’m missing something, when the folder listing is used, the microSD card’s contents show under a separate microSD card listing, separate from the internal memory card listings; however, the microSD card contents are listed jointly with the internal memory files under the ID3 tag listings (Artist, Album, etc.).
And now it remains to be seen if any of the new features (e.g. folder view; ReplayGain; next song listing; track info.; faster scrolling; enhanced EQ presets) will be brought out for the original Clips via a firmware upgrade …
That’s how the microsdhc works in the Fuze too, with the folder mode and tag mode appearing different. Nice thing with the folder mode is you could shuffle just the internal, or just the external, if you so desired. Thanks for the comprehensive overview!
Can someone confirm what the folder playing options are?
I’m hoping they are the same as my old Iaudio U3 that is: All songs, All songs in this folder (no subfolders), All songs in this folder and subfolders.
Did they fix the pitch problem?
Miikerman;
Excellent review … very informative.
I have one question about the loading of the microSDHC cards’ contents into the database …
I had a Sansa Fuze at one point, but returned it because if I modified the contents of the internal memory (not the card), the Fuze would re-read the entire contents of the microSDHC card as well as the internal memory. Because I would modify the internal memory often, this was unacceptable to me.
Can you tell me if the Clip+ does the same thing?
Thanks.
Message Edited by PromisedPlanet on 08-31-2009 08:13 AM
I would assume, because of the way the internal and external memory is integrated into one library on the clip+, the same way it is on the fuze, both would be refreshed when modifications were made to either.
@summerlove wrote:
I would assume, because of the way the internal and external memory is integrated into one library on the clip+, the same way it is on the fuze, both would be refreshed when modifications were made to either.
In a Fuze board thread in which I described this problem, a SanDisk employee stated that it was a bug and would be “fixed in the next release.”
The fact that both memories are integrated into one library doesn’t mean that the firmware can’t be aware that the contents of the external memory haven’t changed. The Sansa Connect handles this without a problem.
I love my clip and Sansa has generally been very good with there support but I can’t justify buying another Sansa mp3 player if they refuse to fix a critical flaw. how do I know they wouldn’t stiff me again if there were a problem with my next player. I plan to buy another mp3 player in a few months. if Sansa has fixed the clip by then I will buy another Sansa. if they haven’t I will buy a different brand.
Thank you very much Mikerman,
The U3 had the ability to random play songs in one folder (not subfolders), which was nice, but I can live without it.
Like you said,I can justplay sequenciall anything in the top folder.
There is one thing that drives me absolutely insane with the Clip, and I’m wondering if you can test it out for me.
1) If I load songs in MTP mode, I can’t read many chinese songs. They are garbled in the playlist and in song info.
However ‘delete song’ works and deletes a song in seconds.
2) If I load songs in MSC mode, Chinese songs show up just fine in the menus/playlist.
However ‘delete song’ takes FOREVER. Something like 10 minutes each song if you have many songs loaded.
I’m hoping that in either MTP or MSC, I can both use chinese songs correctly, and delete reasonably.
I don’t know if you have a way to test this - if necessary I can record some random sound files that will demonstrate the problem.
Delete should be easy to test though.
I couldn’t resist and bought one.
Everything sems to work great in MSC - chinese names, and delete. Yeah!
@14124all wrote:
The card slot on the Plus is the seller for me, goodbye Gen1 clip! There are several functions desired by people that hopefully will be added in the future. The major missing function of any Clip (IMO) is that there should be a clock,elapsed time,timer & stopwatch function. This is a very attractive player for runners,bikers,fitness people and it would probably be a no-brainer sell if time/timer functions were added to cater to this large group of potential buyers.
As with most all of the firmware requests for sansa players… rockbox has clock and stopwatch functions, including splits.
>>Per Miikerman – Interestingly, there is a setting to set the date and time. I can’t find where this might then be effectuated on the Clip, however, such as with a clock/timer screen.
As a possible explanation, I was pulling my hair out about a week ago trying to sync protected files to my Clip without ever having set the internal clock. I remembered often getting the WMP message (something to the effect of) “Your device doesn’t have the internal clock set, do you want to go online and set it now?” however, I was never online to be able to comply, so it had never gotten set. I somehow did get the clock set after about 3 hours of messing around (scouring this site for clues using my horrendous dial-up connection), and finally sync’d my protected files (*I still am not exactly sure what fixed it*).
I would have been very much in favor of this setting on the Clip!!!
<whine> I’m SO bummed right now. I ordered a 4G refurb Fuze last week from Woot. Had I known the Clip+ was coming out, I would have waited! For $10 more, I could have gotten the 4G Clip+ *new*. I only wanted the card slot, otherwise the Clip is perfect for me. </whine>
Refurb Sansa from W00t. Ouch. Many people have been inconvenienced/burnt by such a purchase. Myself included. Best of luck to you.
PP: I know there’s always that chance, but my previous experience (with a refurb Sansa Clip from Woot) was good. Of course, in that instance I hedged my bets by ordering a Clip that someone may have returned simply because of its non-endearing color (hot pink). I don’t think it’s really that bad of a color, but the first comment I usually hear when I show it to people is “Wow, you don’t have to worry about THAT getting stolen!” which I guess is also a plus.
This time I got black (for my husband)… so yeah, I am *a little nervous* about getting lucky twice in a row… but thanks for the best-wishes.
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