I’ve been using a Sansa Fuze 2GB for maybe a week. I used Text to Speech software on some old book texts I have and decided that I preferred 1 long file to many chapter files for a particular book. I figured the resume feature on this Sansa would always work but have found occasionally when I reverse/fast-reverse (maybe also forward/fast-forward), the place is lost and it starts playing from the beginning. This has happened maybe 4 times in the past 4or 5 days. If I don’t have much idea where I left off, I’m stuck searching thru audible text to regain the position where I left off. This is a problem for me especially since I can’t set a “bookmark” like what I hear some other players (like the Creative Zen) can do. I wondered if any other Sansa Fuze users have experienced this yet. Maybe I’m doing something wrong?
Or maybe I should break-up the large file into many smaller files?
This problem is serious enough that I’m thinking to return the Fuze and get a Creative Zen which supposedly has 10 true bookmarks. At least I would hope they would work and not be lost like I’m now losing position with this Fuze.
That was me that reported it there on Amazon. Someone else confirmed this, but there wasn’t an outpouring of complaints. So I wondered if I’d get some help here. But with only the response of an experienced one like you so far, I’m still wondering if I’m doing something wrong. I also sent a msg to Sansa Support so I’ll see if they respond with help or maybe a promise of a firmware fix as you mention - so I don’t have to return this device.
I just re-purchased a Creative Zen to see if I can learn it’s system of bookmarks without too much fuss. I originally chose the Fuse because of an easier learning curve (for me), but this problem of lost positioning is not a small one for me. While waiting for solutions from the web, I’ve been pondering the notion that in my situation, it may be more prudent to *always* break up my old books in the Text-to-Speech (TTS) software to some extent for easier navigation and synchronizing with the hardcopies I have of the books. But before I spend a lot of time figuring out which way to go for dozens of old books, I want to figure out this hardware so I’m not stuck having to do this TTS & organizing all over again.
Ahhh, I remember the simplicity of the old cassette tapes and sometimes think I should go back to them
OT: No solution, but rather a link to today’s (Sept. 19, 2008) GiveawayOfTheDay, because it might be helpful for your text-to-speech use. One commenter used the PDF-to-Word converter offered today for that purpose. Another commenter didn’t like what it did to Visual Basic values, but another said it could be installed on a memory stick, which would solve that problem. What text-to-speech program do you find best? And what voice?
Apologies to others for being somewhat off-topic, but a post would get to rlah today in time for the GiveawayOfTheDay offer, if he had clicked “E-mail me when someone replies”, while a PM might not.
jj2me: thx for the tip… but I notice it’s normally free for personal use anyway. I may try it.
Update from Sansa Support: they are not sure about my problem but mention there may be a limit to the “Mid-Track Resume” feature. Here’s a quote from them that is rather interesting:
“If an audiobook is very long, the Sansa will consider it as a long song so the Mid-Track Resume feature may not work.”
I’ve questioned them on this without a further response so far. I’ll try to update this forum if I get more feedback from them.
I notice there is some buzz on the Amazon forum… I’ll have to see what’s being said over there.
jj2me - I forgot to answer your Text-to-speech software question.
After *much* research sifting through shady software vendors, I found maybe the class of the field … “TextAloud”. They have a long track-record and a good list of features. Also some book websites have given it a good review.
The shady vendors are offering ATT NeoSpeech voices without authorization - at least that’s what I’m told by a reputable source. I was going to buy NeoSpeech “Paul” … too bad. But interestingly, my Toshiba notebook came pre-installed with a very good “Toshiba Male” voice so I’m getting by with it.
I won’t add any more on this topic on this thread since moderators may frown.
