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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[PromisedPlanet]

Oh yeah, I forgot another feature request:

The ability to sync play counts from the Clip back to WMP or your-music-manager-of-choice. That would make my "Songs I Haven't Heard Yet" auto-playlist more useful!

Actually I think the problem isn't that the play count doesn't get synced back, it's that the Clip doesn't increment the play count in the song tag.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by PromisedPlanet

Oh yeah, I forgot another feature request:

The ability to sync play counts from the Clip back to WMP or your-music-manager-of-choice. That would make my "Songs I Haven't Heard Yet" auto-playlist more useful!

Actually I think the problem isn't that the play count doesn't get synced back, it's that the Clip doesn't increment the play count in the song tag.

Same as #9 in my list in the first post - I think the Clip doesn't keep track of play counts at all. Zenses sees "0 plays" for all tracks.

[PromisedPlanet]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Same as #9 in my list in the first post - I think the Clip doesn't keep track of play counts at all. Zenses sees "0 plays" for all tracks.

I've Googled a bit but am a little unclear as to how play counts are stored for songs. You mention them being stored in the player's database; are they also stored in a tag? I've read about the "popularimeter" tag, but evidently that's not used often for play counts ... I know WMP doesn't use it.

If I connect my Clip, go to the WMP "sync" tab and look at a song in the Clip's memory, WMP will display a particular play count. If I play the song in WMP and sync again, WMP will show the incremented play count in the sync tab (looking at the song in the Clip's memory). Has this incremented play count actually made it into the Clip's database via MTP, without affecting a tag?

[amkaos]

gapless playback

seriously, ipod/itunes does it.. why not for this..someone hack this thing.

[Technikal]

- gapless playback
- a shuffle function that will play through a set of songs without repeating tracks
- a sensible, logical way to build 'go' lists - the current method is silly, cumbersome and pretty much useless. Why do I have to start playing a song before I can add it to a list?
- ability to save and name multiple 'go' lists
- fix the duplication of entries in the 'Artists' category when you have different songs from the same artist in a mix of WMA and MP3 format (ex: Joe Blow - Album A in WMA and Joe Blow - Album B in MP3 results in 2 'Joe Blow' entries in the 'Artists' section)

the things above deal with playing music - something the player should excel at. Little nits like these are one of the reasons why Sandisk can produce a device that has more features, better sound, better design and a lower price than competing Apple products, but still can't make a dent in Apple's sales. The primary function of playing music has got to be perfect.

Now, some of my personal nits that have nothing to do with playing music:

- SansaUpdater is silly - as some one else mentioned, why in the world would I want a program running all the time that used once or twice a year?
- support OOG
- Better support for non-MS OS's - ex: better consistency between MTP and MSC connections, published specs for playlists, os independent way to update firmware, etc. heck - write a sync module for Amarock or something.
- make the power button solid. The rattle makes the player feel cheap - which it is - but it still compares poorly to Apple
-ability to rotate the screen display
-'matte' screen to reduce fingerprints and increase visibility outdoors

[dfkt]

Real MSC mode has been added in FW 1.01.18!

[macilaci457]

Please, I need file browsing!
I have too many Unknown Artist