I think I speak for a lot of Fed up Sansa e200 series owners when I ask, Why oh why can´t you give us an upgraded firmware patch for version 1 of the e200 series that supports Audible and bookmarking? Heck, I´d just take the audible support.
I just found out that, in order for me to use an audible file, I have to get a whole new v2 device. We like your device, but come on! No firmware upgrade? Please explain to me why this is not possible? I know business is business, and that will sell more units if you withhold this option for only v2 e200´s – but is that the reason? Do you all want us to buy yet another mp3 player? Or is it for some other reason? And if it is the latter, please explain this to us tech savvy users and non tech savvy users – in detail – rather than some vague, ambiguous one-sentence post. You can tell some of these users on this forum that there is a reason for this, but being a programmer myself, I´m not buying any of it.
I have scoured forum after forum and this is the only conclusion I have come to. You just want to basically give us the finger and tell us, ¨Too bad. You´ll have to buy a new unit to get Audible support.¨ I went out of my way to buy a non-apple mp3 player, and thought you guys were a good alternative. Poof. Simply not supporting the file format because you can make more money by making us upgrade is just as bad as Apple, and it just going to make people mad. We will keep buying from you if you treat us well, listen to our concerns, and give us an upgrade when it is warranted.
It is not like we are asking for 10 million different things. Okay the video is so-so on the Sansa, but I have yet to hear the chorus of people clamoring for Divx support or mpeg3 support like there is for Audible support. Forum after forum and review after review that I read – people want two things: audible support and a bookmarking feature. If you have the codecs to make these files decode on other devices, why not on this device? This is a software feature, is it not? Or it decoded on the hardware? And regardless of whether it is a hardware or software issue, why can you implement this in earlier models and next-gen models, but not in current models? Explain. I will buy a new unit for added video support, and third-party app support or whatever else may be coming out next in mp3 players, but many of us – espescially those who have had previous models – are demanding audible and bookmarking support, because, well – we´ve come to expect it from Sansa.
Oh, wait, we bought a new model and had come to expect this – and now you just crushed us our expectations. What´s more, we have to buy the v2 e200 to get it. Oh, sure let me drop another 150-200 on new device when I have a perfectly fine, new, and current – and I bet – almost identical device just to get this.
This is totally reasonable request that should have no problem being implemented. With earlier models, you set the expecation to have audible on all devices – then destroyed that expectation. The people at Best buy – who don´t have a clue – push this device as being able to support audible format. I´ve went to three different Best Buy´s to have the clueless reps tell me the same thing: Yes, the e280 supports Audible. Hence, people all over forums (not just this one) are clamouring for it, asking questions about, trying to find out if you will release a firmware patch. There is demand for it.
And, in my opinion, it is a reasonable and justified request that should be filled.
We are not asking a lot, espescially since I own another, earlier Sansa which can play audible fine, albeit with so-so bookmarking/resume. We are asking for measly file support and bookmarking. C´mon SanDisk Programmers – this is not hard to accomplish via a Firmware upgrade! You have the Audible codeacs, don´t you? You have implmented it in earlier models, and will do so in later models – why exclude us who ditched our annoying – yet works out of the box with Audible Ipod – to buy an e200. Why exclude us? What is the reason other than you want to make some money? Show me that I am at error in my suspiscions. Give me a reason – in detail. Not some one-liner statement that you use to console the average user. That will not fly.
And yes, your earlier devices support the audible format? Why exclude the e200 v1. Give us an explanation.
What is the deal here? I have yet to find a reasonable explanation for this. Since there isn´t any reasonble explanation, I´m going to assume you just want all of us to buy new units. In my book this is a big slap in the face to users who ditched Apple to try something hyped up as the Nano Killer. A big slap in the face. Not all of us are that stupid.
Now there is some bad in this rant, but let me talk about some of the good things that you have done.
Rockbox on the Sansa e200 is great, and I appreciate you guys helping out with that project. This makes audiobooks and podcasts useful on the e200 as well as allowing us to play flac, mp3, ogg and a host of other files. You guy should be paid a lot of respect for the help, and although I am not involved, I use Rockbox, and it is the only thing that made me keep the e200. I do audiobooks heavily, and many other users do, too.
I greatly appreciate that.
I´ll give credit where it is due, but I think you guys need to listen to us and give Audible support instead of forcing us to buy a new unit.
It will do a lot in the long run to build customer loyalty. While Rockbox is all good and well, I don´t want to have to hack around and search the net all my life to get things to work – I want them to work out of the box. If you guys can´t provide that, I might as well go back to Apple. Sure, I can burn my audible files to a disk image and then extract them to mp3´s, but why can´t I just have it work.
Please respond, as I would guess a non-response or a vague one would be a good indicator that you just want us to buy a new unit. I understand business is business, but c´mon. This is a totally reasonable request. Many of us have just bought this unit. Totally. Unless it isn´t reasonable – and if it isn´t,
EXPLAIN WHY. GIVE ME A REASON or REASONS.
