Visibility of files using MSC vs MTP

MP3 players Sansa Clip | Clip+
1

I found an interesting post by Miikerman from 2010 and was wondering if it were still true.
If so what is the best approach to using MediaMonkey for adding mp3s, creating playlists, tagging, ect.
The consensus seems to be to leave the C+ in MSC mode.   Has any of this changed with subsequent firmware updates ? And is MSC mode alone conducive to working with MM, creating playlists ect…   Also I wont be using DRM files.

When your player is connected to your computer under USB MSC mode (set under the player’s Settings/USB Mode), your computer only sees the files that had been transferred to the player when the player was connected under MSC mode.  Likewise as to MTP mode

you may have a mix of MSC and MTP mode transferred files on your player, making some of them not visible on your computer without switching to the other USB mode.

 8GB Clip+ 16GB Micro - MediaMonkey Creating Playlist w/ Internal & External
  ‎05-05-2010 11:35 PM
The MSC-MTP mode conundrum:

When your player is connected to your computer under USB MSC mode (set under the player’s Settings/USB Mode), your computer only sees the files that had been transferred to the player when the player was connected under MSC mode.  Likewise as to MTP mode.  Regardless, all the files show up and are playable on your player, under whatever USB mode setting.

A good reason why some people prefer to set the USB Mode on their player to either MSC or MTP:  on the Auto setting, the player tries to connect under MTP mode but then will fall back to MSC mode if the MTP connection does not work; the result being, you may have a mix of MSC and MTP mode transferred files on your player, making some of them not visible on your computer without switching to the other USB mode.

Because MSC mode is more universal (playing with a broader range of operating systems, including Linux and on Macs, and without a need for Windows Media Player on the computer), some people prefer MSC mode.  However, note that DRM (digital rights management) files need MTP mode–they will not transfer sufficiently (the DRM license will not transfer) under MSC mode.

http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/Sansa-Clip-Sansa-Clip/8GB-Clip-16GB-Micro-MediaMonkey-Creating-Playlist-w-Internal-amp/m-p/149250#M29991

2

MSC and MTP mode still work as they always have in Sansa firmware. Nothing significant has changed. The computer can still only see files transmitted by one mode at a time, so it’s better to be consistent and just use one mode.

MTP mode is best if you are using Windows Media Player as your music library software. It deals with DRM files, playlists, etc.

But MTP (or Windows Media Player) also changes file and folder names sometimes for its own indexing purposes. One reason many of us dislike it.

Very old Media Monkey postings say it only does playlists in MTP mode, and its compatibility page says to use Sansas as MTP devices, but I’m not sure if that is is still true. If you have newer information and can use MSC, go for it. If you’ve got Media Monkey installed, you might as well just try it.

MSC is more transparent than MTP–it’s a direct USB connection, not somethat that has to go through a music library/player at all.  Which means that if you’re not doing playlists–if you just want to put an album folder on the Clip and play it–you can just copy and paste it.

4

Just to clarify with something I learned previously…

If you use MTP mode, you can still drag and drop files using windows explorer. But if you dropped files using MSC mode, they will be invisible in MTP mode and vice versa. Avoid “Auto detect” and choose a mode and stick with it and all should be fine. 

I was a big believer in MSC mode because I thought you couldn’t simply drag and drop or manage folders in the “explorer way” in MTP, but you can. MTP has a couple distinct advantages too. If you drag and drop files normally but then decide you want to put a DRM protected file on the player, no sweat. You can fire up WMP, copy the file, and it will appear there when you browse in Windows explorer and if you later want to delete or move it, you can. If you used MSC mode for your files then need to add a DRM file, you have to switch to MTP, copy the file, and then you have files on your player from both modes that you can’t see while in the opposing mode. This can become a pain in the rear.

The second advantage to MTP is that you can very easily create and manage multiple playlists right in Windows explorer. All you have to do is highlight some files, right-click, and choose “create playlist”. Then you can rename the playlist and move it into the root of your player. Then you can right click it, go to properties and “reference” and there is your list. From here you can drage and drop all the files you want from both the internal and external storage and they will go into the list. And the list manages paths dynamically so you don’t have to worry about moving the list and such. From what I can tell, it’s the only way to manage playlists where the list can pull from both internal and external storage.

So after some hard-learned lessons, I’m now an MTP convert.  

5

@kevinfreels wrote:

The second advantage to MTP is that you can very easily create and manage multiple playlists right in Windows explorer. All you have to do is highlight some files, right-click, and choose “create playlist”. Then you can rename the playlist and move it into the root of your player. Then you can right click it, go to properties and “reference” and there is your list. From here you can drage and drop all the files you want from both the internal and external storage and they will go into the list. And the list manages paths dynamically so you don’t have to worry about moving the list and such. From what I can tell, it’s the only way to manage playlists where the list can pull from both internal and external storage.

 

So after some hard-learned lessons, I’m now an MTP convert.  

Can you elaborate further on this ?  I tried this method and created a playlist and named it.  Disconnected the C+ from the pc and checked to see if it was there. It was however it renamed itself ‘New Playlist’.  I reconnected to the pc renamed it again, disconnected to check and it once again the C+ renamed it ‘New Playlist’   ???

Also there are three ‘playlist’ files…

  1. New Playlist.pla  (OFN File)

  2. New Playlist.pla  ( PLA File)

  3. New Playlist.pla  (REFS File)

How can I correct this and what are the other two files ?

Thanks…