Ok, thanx. So how can I tell the difference from the old firmware, besides watching the clock & battery meter at the same time?
Sasafrass452 wrote:
Ok, thanx. So how can I tell the difference from the old firmware, besides watching the clock & battery meter at the same time?
guess you could do that, or since sandisk says it has been improved you could just take their word for it.
Well, I guess that introduces another feature request… In the options where it says how much space is available, it should also give a percentage of available battery power.
Testing mine, it shows battery percentage from Windows Explorer in 1% increments. I haven’t watched the meter on the Clip enough yet to be sure, but it looks like it has 1-pixel wide steps, more than the 4 or so steps it had before. In both cases, it should give a more precise measure of available battery power.
Having an entry for battery power in system info wouldn’t hurt, if it isn’t too much trouble.
One thing I didn’t see on the list is a fix for the volume change/EQ change. When shut down, sometimes, especially when changing songs, it would drop volume. Also, it sometimes did so while playing shuffle for extended periods with the display off.
I also get this wierd block thing instead of a song list under my playlists. but only if I sync multiple playlists at one time. if I delete the playlists one at a time and re add them one at a time the songs show up in the playlists.
on another note;
I would llike to see the headphones work when doing a recording, that way I could crank the volume way up and listen to far away conversations like a super spy. Or just my lectures in classes, not having to take my headphones out.
Message Edited by speekergeek on 01-25-2008 05:46 PM
I have been reading all the connection problems with the clip and I yet have to find where I can change it in the setting to change it from USB. there is no setting for that… also, I cannot seem to download the driver sdmx1-1024. I have made sure I have WMP 11 and I have the service pack2… What do I do now??
I have been reading all the connection problems with the clip and I yet have to find where I can change it in the setting to change it from USB. there is no setting for that… also, I cannot seem to download the driver sdmx1-1024. I have made sure I have WMP 11 and I have the service pack2… What do I do now??
what do you mean put into the root of the Sansa clip???
what is the differnet between MSC AND MTP? any advantage?
Clugo, it sounds like you need the new firmware. Download the zip file posted in this thread, extract the .bin file to your computer, connect your Sansa Clip, copy the .bin file to your Sansa Clip via windows explorer(don’t put it in any of the folders), disconnect it, & the firmware upgrade will start. Once that’s done, you’ll have an option in the settings to choose either MSC or MTP mode.
Excelgl, MSC mode is used to copy & paste your music to the Sansa Clip. MTP mode uses windows media player to transfer the music to the Sansa Clip. The main difference is that songs you transfer in MSC mode will not be visible when you connect the Clip to the computer in MTP mode. And vice versa…
Message Edited by Sasafrass452 on 01-26-2008 08:19 AM
Two other items I can think of:
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In MSC mode, your Clip will go through a “refresh database” after it’s been restarted that will take longer than if the Clip is restarted in MTP mode.
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In MSC mode, your Clip will show up in Windows Explorer as a “removable disk”, and have a drive letter assigned to it. In MTP mode, your Clip will show up as a “Portable Media Player” (or something like that). Although you can drag-and-drop music to your Clip in either mode using Windows Explorer, you might prefer MSC mode if you need to address your Clip using a drive letter.
Am I the only one to experience this bug:
When I disconnect my Clip (MSC fw. 01.01.20F) it refreshes the database and the main menu appears, but there is no button backlight! When I turn it off and on again, everything’s fine, but it’s a bit annoying, having to reset it every time I disconnect it.
clugo wrote:
what do you mean put into the root of the Sansa clip???
With your Clip in MSC mode, you will see some sort of icon in “My Computer”(or just “Computer” if you have Vista) that represents your Clip. Just drag the .bin file to that icon and drop it in, and, voila! When you disconnect the Clip, it will say “Firmware updating”- and when that is finished, you just restart the Clip and it will be installed.
Kilar_Ezan: “When I disconnect my Clip (MSC fw. 01.01.20F) it refreshes the database and the main menu appears, but there is no button backlight! When I turn it off and on again, everything’s fine”
I had noticed right away that the light was OFF during the database refresh, but it doesn’t remain OFF for the duration of that “power session”, only until the display backlight goes to sleep. Once this happens, and you press the button pad again - HEY! The ring light is ON again.
Neat little bug, seems like someone has been doing a little “submarine bit-twiddling” while working on '20 - begs the question - wonder what’s coming in the next release? Hopefully some kind of preferences menu…
I’ll upgrade to the new firmware when I get home and take it for a spin. My Clip replaces an old e140 that died on me a while back. I stick with Sansdisk since I can count on them to work on my Linux and FreeBSD machines. In a future upgrade can we get a display of time left on a file? I mainly play podcasts on my commute. It’s hard to estimate how much time is left on a file on the current display. A toggle between time played and time remaining would be nice.
Thanks for the .20 firmware update. 
Particularly appreciate the battery meter, and the low-volume. Anyone who tried to listen to music late at night would turn the volume down, and then it would mute long before reaching an acceptable low volume.
Issues:
a.) Does volume need to mute at the lowest setting? ( Although with lower range, that may not matter.)
b.) Change initially-selected menu-item to second item on all Music menus.
eg. <Home> (select) Music >> Artists >> (first artist) >> (first album) >> (first song)
Instead of: … Music >> PlayAll <down> Artists >> PlayAll <down> (first artist) >> (first song)
Any one who wants to “PlayAll” would just press <up>, and it would save the rest of us from extra clicks.
c.) Support for MP4 / AAC (without DRM) music files. :robotwink:
( And no, I would never voluntarily choose to use only MTP-mode and WMA files.)
MSC vs MTP:
A biggie to keep in mind: Disconnect – MSC mode recommends you use “Remove Hardware Safely” in the system tray (or equivalent). MTP mode can be disconnected almost at will, though closing all windows open on it can’t hurt. In both cases, of course, never disconnect the Clip if it is actively transfering files.
Biggie #2: DRM files, using Rhapsody or anything similar, require MTP.
Files transfered in MTP won’t be visible when the device is accessed as MSC, and vice versa. I’m not sure if Vista lets you view both or not, haven’t tested it enough yet, but no other OS will AFAIK.
MTP requires Windows XP SP2 or higher, and WMP10 or 11, preferably 11. If you use the device on an older Windows system or a non-Windows system, you’re better off using MSC, as it will let you transfer and access the files on all computers.
MSC mode shows up as a disk drive with a letter, just like a USB thumb driver. In this mode, it is a USB disk drive, not a music player, as far as Windows is concerned.
MTP mode shows up as a portable device. Both MSC and MTP allow explorer drag and drop of files. But MTP mode will give warnings about incompatible files, and can filter out a lot of non-music junk files you have in folders when you transfer.
MTP mode shows battery status in explorer properties, at the highest level.
MTP mode allows creating .PLA playlists via right-click, and drag and drop on an open list, if WMP11 is installed. MTP mode also supports WMP file syncing. Some other apps, like WinAmp (and I think Monkey Media), will handle MSC syncing, but WMP is happiest with MTP.
MTP mode assists the music database, making boot time faster. But the Clip is pretty fast anyway.
Overall, if you are using WinXP SP2 or Vista, it is simplest to use MTP, especially if you have kids (and other less-technical folk) working with it. It isn’t that hard to “safely remove” hardware, but having to reset/reformat if you forget and it messes things up is a pain.
I see you guys talking alot about MTP and MSC, I understand it, but the one thing is, I don’t know how to change it from mode to mode, I looked the FAQ thing and it says to go into settings of the clip and change the USB mode but I dont have a USB mode in my settings anywhere. Also, is it possible to update the firmware with it in MTP mode? I have Windows XP SP2 with WM 10 or 11, not sure.
You need to update the firmware to have the USB option in the settings. Download the zip file posted at the beginning of this thread, extract the bin file to your hard drive, connect your Sansa Clip, then open windows explorer & copy the bin file to your Sansa Clip. Disconnect it, & the upgrade will automatically install.
Message Edited by Sasafrass452 on 01-27-2008 04:07 PM
