Sansa Clip feature request list

[dfkt]

For me, the Clip would be 100% better if it had these features:

1. File/folder browsing (besides the obnoxious ID3 browsing, which doesn't work for people with a large variety of music genres or "various artists" albums)
2. Pan/balance (since I don't hear all that well on my left ear - and I know at least two other people who would appreciate this function as well)
3. A better weighted volume scale (the lowest volume setting is far too loud to be useful in quiet surroundings) Fixed in 1.01.20
4. First click shouldn't activate the display but should immediately execute the desired function (for the "home" and "down" button - for the "up (play/pause)" and "left/right (skip)" buttons it works like it should)
5. FFWD/REW with sound - and adjustable FFWD/REW speed
6. Get rid of Sansa Updater: who in their right mind designs an updater program that runs all the time as a background process? (Firmware direct download available here!)
7. Support for free open source codecs like Ogg Vorbis and FLAC Ogg Vorbis added in 1.01.29, FLAC added in 1.01.30
8. MSC/MTP user selectable (why not make it permanent, since everybody knows about the hold/center trick already?) Fixed in 1.01.18
9. Keep the tracks' play count in the database/tags(?) - like Cowon, Creative, or Zune players (so the Clip works with Zenses for Last.fm scrobbling)
10. Separate Audiobooks and Podcasts into it's own section on the browsing menu by using Audiobooks and Podcasts as ID3 genre (like on the Fuze) Added in 1.01.29
11. More options to customize the center button's function (like EQ, sleep timer, ...)
12. Gapless playback
13. Stopwatch/timer
14. Option to switch between elapsed and remaining time during playback
15. When browsing songs/artists/albums etc, left/right button should allow for jumping through the lettes of the alphabet like on Sony players. Current functionality of buttons could be remapped to holding down the buttons for a second

Add your requests, and let's hope someone from SanDisk reads this thread.

I know each and every of these points are available in Rockbox... well, if SanDisk doesn't fix these things I sure hope there's a Rockbox port somewhere in the future of the Clip.

[macilaci457]

-user limitable volume for iems


I agree more or less with the above listed points.
But I do not think anybody will make ogg and flac support, it is not that price range (and capacity nor battery). Clip should be a cheap consumer product. Despit its excellent sound quality. But it can be an example for the followers. So keep the quality Sandisk!

[dfkt]

Ogg Vorbis and FLAC implementation don't cost a cent (except paying the firmware programmer's work time), they're free codecs. I agree, FLAC isn't useful for most people on a 2GB device (I just threw it in the list for good measure), but Ogg Vorbis would be very useful, since it provides better quality at a lower file size - and it's not protected by patents (unlike the MP3 codec). In any case, supporting such codecs would give the Clip an advantage over many other players/brands and would make it more attractive for certain users.

I have no issues with any hyper-sensitive/efficient IEMs (I just don't turn them up that loud), only the lowest volume setting should be lower than it is at the moment. The "normal/high volume" setting as it exists in the Clip's options is totally useless, however.

[Brestinder]

i wish ogg and flac in my clip too ...


btw. Clip Sounds better than meizu m6 ;]

[PromisedPlanet]

Originally Posted by dfkt

First click shouldn't activate the display but should immediately execute the desired function (for the "home" and "down" button - for the "up (play/pause)" and "left/right (skip)" buttons it works like it should)

Consistency is definitely important but I like the fact that hitting any button activates the display. This is useful when the backlight has gone off, and you want to quickly see what song is playing. I could see this being firmware-settable.

Wishlist items for me:
1) Supply default values for blank tag fields (maybe "Unknown"?), so songs with blank tag fields can be added to database.
2) Yes! MSC mode selectable via firmware.
3) Option to set backlight to "always on." Why not?

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by PromisedPlanet

Consistency is definitely important but I like the fact that hitting any button activates the display. This is useful when the backlight has gone off, and you want to quickly see what song is playing. I could see this being firmware-settable.

Agreed - the center button seems to be a good place for a turn-on-screen function (same as it is already; since it only has the visualization function at the now-playing screen anyway, and another function when the button is pressed longer)... Or user-selectable, as you said.

[Kilgore Trout]

Originally Posted by PromisedPlanet

Consistency is definitely important but I like the fact that hitting any button activates the display. This is useful when the backlight has gone off, and you want to quickly see what song is playing. I could see this being firmware-settable.

Wishlist items for me:
1) Supply default values for blank tag fields (maybe "Unknown"?), so songs with blank tag fields can be added to database.
2) Yes! MSC mode selectable via firmware.
3) Option to set backlight to "always on." Why not?

As for keeping the backlight on all the time, here is a quote from the official Sandisk Clip Forum:

"Our Sansa Clips have OLED displays that wear out much quicker than backlit LCD displays, so keeping it on all the time would probably not be the best idea. (5000 hours, or about 208 days always on is the lifespan of typical OLED displays, and blue pixels are said to wear out the quickest)"

In an answer to another question about leaving the clip plugged into a USB port for extended periods of time, it was stated that although this would not harm the battery, the clock would be ticking on the OLED display's limited lifetime.

You can't really answer this question without knowing the expected lifetime of the battery itself, which has more to do with the number of charge / discharge cycles than with hours of operation. Leaving the backlight on all the time would presumably force you to recharge your Clip more often, and therefore shorten the overall life expectancy of the device itself. ( I'm assuming that once the battery fails, it will be time to re-cycle the product.)

Suggested improvements?

> Save the OLED display by having it turn off after a few minutes when plugged into a USB port. Inform users that it should never take more than 3 hours to fully recharge their Clip and tell them how to check the condition of the battery via the "Properties" window.

> Upon removal from a USB port, the device should assume an OFF state. There is no reason why the device should power up by itself when unplugged from a charger. This is especially true if it was locked in the OFF position when placed in the charger.

> It would be nice to change the FM reception mode from stereo to mono directly from within the Radio option menu without having to exit the radio and going to the Settings menu to do this. Although with this radio there seems to be very little difference between Stereo & Mono, the mono mode usually greatly reduces the noise level on weak stations.

> Expand the Options under the PRESS & HOLD menu to include "Add Preset"
"Stereo / Mono"
"Delete Song"

[macilaci457]

According to the above informations about the display:

I would like the ability to NOT turn on the display for a simple operation. The best would be a display on-off function on the center button instead the spectrum analizer, which seems to be only an eye-catcher since the display is turning off after a few seconds anyway ( but I know, it looks cool ).

I second that the sandisk animation is not needed for charging. For me, it is a positive thing that the Clip goes on after a cable removal, since I usually charge it when I copy files too in msc mode, and because there are still problems with some files, I wouldn't be happy, if the refreshing database operation would stop because of a bad file, after I left home.

A skip function would be necessary for in-player database building!

[Mikerman]

In response to one of the above, Rockbox does not currently offer REW and FF with sound (unfortuately, in my humble opinion; and its only real lapse).

Given the Clip's form factor, I wasn't sure if Rockbox really is well-suited to the Clip. But it could be sweet to see.

[PromisedPlanet]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

"Our Sansa Clips have OLED displays that wear out much quicker than backlit LCD displays, so keeping it on all the time would probably not be the best idea. (5000 hours, or about 208 days always on is the lifespan of typical OLED displays, and blue pixels are said to wear out the quickest)"

In an answer to another question about leaving the clip plugged into a USB port for extended periods of time, it was stated that although this would not harm the battery, the clock would be ticking on the OLED display's limited lifetime.

Interesting ... thanks. So as someone mentioned, the display really should turn off while charging, at some point. Maybe temporarily reactivated when a button is pressed.

[musichound]

Most, if not all of these enhancements (Including ogg and flac CODECS) can be implemented if a Rockbox port is provided. Hopefully there will be a Sansa Clip owner who is eager to do this.

[jeffrok]

The ability to add to the "Now playing" list..

Let's say you select Artist "A", Album "A" and it's all queued up..

and you want to listen to "Artist "B", Album "B" next.. but you want the player to know this so that you don't have to wait til the end of Album A to manually select Album B...

The ability to "Add to end of now playing list".. or similar terminology.

[loconavi]

Originally Posted by jeffrok

The ability to add to the "Now playing" list..

Let's say you select Artist "A", Album "A" and it's all queued up..

and you want to listen to "Artist "B", Album "B" next.. but you want the player to know this so that you don't have to wait til the end of Album A to manually select Album B...

The ability to "Add to end of now playing list".. or similar terminology.

This functionality is badly needed in all Sansa players, add to that the ability to save the playlist and I will be a one happy customer!

[lightsout565]

Originally Posted by loconavi

This functionality is badly needed in all Sansa players, add to that the ability to save the playlist and I will be a one happy customer!

I LOVE this feature. There is one like it similar on MediaMonkey that I use by right clicking>Play Next.

[amkaos]

1) recording in wav is useless--way too big..
why cant we record in mp3?

2) all songs and playlists display no matter if you transfer in mtp or msc. mp3 gain wont find songs in mtp--just msc. there is no way to normalize songs in mtp.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by amkaos

1) recording in wav is useless--way too big..
why cant we record in mp3?

Maybe the processor is not powerful enough? We'll see once there's a Rockbox port available.

Originally Posted by amkaos

2) all songs and playlists display no matter if you transfer in mtp or msc. mp3 gain wont find songs in mtp--just msc. there is no way to normalize songs in mtp.

Yes, MTP is a steaming pile of garbage, made by morons. I assume it doesn't work because MP3Gain (like any other app trying to access the Clip) needs a drive letter to be associated with the device.

[amkaos]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Maybe the processor is not powerful enough? We'll see once there's a Rockbox port available.



Yes, MTP is a steaming pile of garbage, made by morons. I assume it doesn't work because MP3Gain (like any other app trying to access the Clip) needs a drive letter to be associated with the device.

so the best thing is just load/use from msc..delete everything from mtp and start over.

[PromisedPlanet]

Originally Posted by amkaos

so the best thing is just load/use from msc..delete everything from mtp and start over.

Aw, but that would mean I wouldn't be able to use my ever growing SpiralFrog (DRM) collection.

[epithetless]

Originally Posted by amkaos

all songs and playlists [should] display no matter if you transfer in mtp or msc.

Originally Posted by Technikal

- Better support for non-MS OS's - ex: better consistency between MTP and MSC connections, published specs for playlists

I very much agree with the above. I would like to see the following:

- All songs/files transferred in MTP mode should be visible when connected to a computer in MSC mode and vice versa.
- Implementation of M3U playlists to allow playlist creation in MSC mode.

Also, a bug: Because the Clip seems to keep MSC and MTP transfers separate, it duplicates artists/albums/songs in its Music menu that have been transferred using both methods, even with the exact same MP3 file. I came across this bug when making playlists in MTP mode (the only workable method, as far as I can tell) of songs that had already been transferred to the device in MSC mode. In my mind, duplicate entries are a no-no.

[dfkt]

Yes, if you want to use MP3Gain directly on the player, that's your only choice.

You can use MTP if you edit your tracks before you put them on the player, however.