Sansa Clip+ feature request / bug fix list

[boechat]

Originally Posted by dfkt

I'm very interested in scrobbling, and I mentioned that already in the feature request list of the old Clip (linked in the first post of this thread). But it seems that the way Sandisk implemented MTP on this player doesn't store track counts, so it doesn't work with Zenses - and MSC scrobbling would need a text-write mechanism similar to Rockbox anyways.

So yeah, same as you, I can't wait for Rockbox to work on the Clip+. Not just because of scrobbling, but dozens of other features we will never get from Sandisk as well.

And.MTP.based.on.track.counts.are.only.possible.vi a.hardware?

So.they.couldnt.implement.it.even.if.they.release. a.new.firmware,right?

The.only.way.is.to.wait.for.our.beloved.rockbox... How.many.months.do.you.expect.till.the.first.beta. releases?

(sorry.about.these.dots,my.spacebar.is.not.working )

[dfkt]

Heh... spaces are overrated.

No, of course it's only a firmware thing - but no other Sansa player works with Zenses as well. Not that I care, since I would never use MTP - not even if it was the only way for scrobbling. MTP is just so incredibly bad compared to MSC for my needs.

I would be surprised if Sandisk gave the users a working scrobbler implementation - but then again, they already gave us file/folder, Replaygain, and some sort of rudimentary gapless support as well. They do listen to the community, and I'm grateful for that.

Nobody can make any predictions about Rockbox ports - it works when it works. And it's always a lot of work porting it over to a new player.

[rtmc]

Why isnt rockbox marketing their product directly to producers? You would think that rockbox could protect their intellectual property and offer the product to directly to sansa. Either rockbox or the sansa guys could do the port and the capital gained through fees by sansa could help the progress of current and future ports. I for one would be many times more likely to purchase a player if it played rockbox out of the box. "rockbox out of the box"/ rockbox in the box etc....

Anyway, what i want:
1. rockbox out of the box
2. metal body

everything else looks great. I applaud sansa on finally ditching the proprietary plug, doing users and the environment a great favor. Also i hope the screen cover is decent (unlike the e200).

[Elias Hiebert]

Hey. New to the forum. Have been using a Clip+ for about a week. Bought it mainly based on the abi review. Very happy with it so far. I use .wav files and perceive no pause or noise whatsoever between tracks.

I have only one beef. A couple of times, once in the middle of a song and once while listeing to the radio, it stopped playing and gave me that "updating media" screen. The first time, I was able to go back to listening after a minute, but I had to restart the song. The second time I had to power the unit down.

Anyone else had this problem?

[mattbatt]

If you push the play button before the Clip+ is done loading the player wont pause. The little pause icon pops up but it doesn't pause. Restarting the player fixes this.

[IpaqMan]

For audiobooks, I would like rewind to go back across tracks as it did in the Clip. Now it stops at the beginning of the track.

I would like Audible support for more than format 4.

[melman1]

For podcasts (and perhaps other types of files), pressing the left button while a track is playing should go to the beginning of the file. It currently goes to the beginning of the previous file. The only way to get to the beginning of the track is to hold the button down and manually scan backward.

[melman1]

For long files (podcasts, etc.) holding down the left/right scan buttons causes a scan whose speed gradually increases. But it speeds up way too much. If I want to scan ahead 45 minutes into a file, the scan eventually speeds up to several minutes per "jump" and it's impossible to get anywhere close to the desired point. I would gladly trade off a slower max speed for the ability to better control the scan. If that makes any sense.

[m_k]

Originally Posted by boechat

(sorry.about.these.dots,my.spacebar.is.not.working )

Two free cheats (one that betrays my age...)

1. Alt+32 (hold down the Alt key, and type "32" on your numeric keypad, then release the Alt key)

2. Find a space. Any space (that is, any space on a web page or document). Select the space with your mouse. Type Ctrl-C and then, anywhere you want to "type a space" type a Ctrl-V and the space you placed in your copy buffer will appear at the cursor position. You can keep pasting them until you need to put something else into the buffer (since you can only have one item in the buffer).

[m_k]

Originally Posted by ultrauber

Though I made a separate thread for this, a bug: the bottom few pixels of the yellow titles are a bit scrambled, though the battery indicator is fine.

GAPLESS FOR LAME MP3 - I got really excited about this but I can still hear a tiny break in the cheering on live albums. Unless this is just loading/buffering time...

More choices for what a long select does - now we have "Add to Go List" and "Rate Song." Should be able to choose EQ, Song info, etc.

Pan/balance - I might not use it but tons of people would. Besides, I don't think this is hard to implement.

Better equalizer - the current one sucks. At least use a few lines to mark the +/-dB values. 7-band or even stereo (separate settings for right and left) would be nice.

A filler mSD - ship new players with a plastic microSD in the slot to block dust for those who won't use the slot.

Rockbox would add almost all of this except the 7-band/stereo EQ.

Aw, c'mon, those aren't shortcomings -- those are "value"!

[ultrauber]

Originally Posted by m_k

Aw, c'mon, those aren't shortcomings -- those are "value"!

Seriously.

Although I would pay them to implement those features.

[ThomasAH]

Folders which are a prefix of another folder are not visible in the folder browser. Their contents are mixed into the following folder.
(only tested via MSC in the internal memory)

The directory structure:

foo/
   1.ogg
foobar/
   2.ogg
foobarbaz/
   3.ogg

Is displayed as:

foobarbaz/
   1.ogg
   2.ogg
   3.ogg

A real-world example is Led Zeppelin with the two-disc album "Remasters", where the CDs are labeled "Remasters I" and "Remasters II".

I sent above message to SanDisk's support today, too.


... and here is the relevant part of their (fast, but unhelpful) reply:

Please note that Sansa Clip does not support music file navigation by folder. Instead of this we recommend editing the ID3 tags.

After some more mail exchange I finally got to the next level

Please note that I have forwarded your issue to our engineering department, and as soon as I get any update on this issue, I will contact you.

[gudfooht]

+1 for Rewinding across tracks.
+1 for Lower minimum volume for radio.
During playback, having a choice of Time Elapsed, Time Remaining, Track Length.

That said, I'm loving the Clip+. I'm grateful for the folder browsing and the fact the track title defaults to the file name if tags are missing during playback. Ogg and FLAC playback are gapless enough for my ears. The screen refresh rate is definitely on the low end, which could get a bit annoying on the down glances during a run, but you can get a cool tracer/glowstick affect in the dark. The ability to add microSD definitely rocks.

Thanks to all at ABI for the reviews and comments. The insight kept me away from the original Clip, but sold me on the Clip+.

[gudfooht]

+1 for Bugfix: Folder browse: Keep similar folders distinct.
This one got me because I listen to a lot of video game soundtracks. The weird thing is that the "folder merge" doesn't always go to the last similar folder. An example:

Folders:

Etrian Odyssey
Etrian Odyssey II
...
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VII

In the Clip+ folder browse, I saw Etrian Odyssey (the first one) but then Final Fantasy VII (the last one). Weird. My work around:

New Folder names:

Etrian Odyssey 1
Etrian Odyssey 2
...
Final Fantasy 6
Final Fantasy 7

Also, I want a quick way to Skip to Previous / Next Folder without having to navigate the screens.

Ideas for implementation:

1. Hold Up to skip to previous, Down for next.
2. Add a new Hold-Select button option for Skip to Next. (Not so great but it might be workable.)
3. Left and Right button double-click, like Rockbox. This seems the most intuitive to me.

Also, I don't see why Skip Prev/Next has to be limited to folders, either, although that would be my main use. It could be context-sensitive enough to skip to next Genre, Artist, Album, etc, depending on how playback was started.

[ultrauber]

Originally Posted by gudfooht

New Folder names:

Etrian Odyssey 1
Etrian Odyssey 2
...
Final Fantasy 6
Final Fantasy 7

That's very clever workaround and could lead to the solution: Interpret roman numerals as whole digits. This bug should definitely be fixed because people with large libraries can't possibly go through and rename every folder.

[ThomasAH]

Originally Posted by ultrauber

[/INDENT]That's very clever workaround and could lead to the solution: Interpret roman numerals as whole digits. This bug should definitely be fixed because people with large libraries can't possibly go through and rename every folder.

It is not only roman numbers, I had two folders named:
/MUSIC/Melissa Etheridge/Your Little Secret/
/MUSIC/Melissa Etheridge/Your Little Secret (Bonus CD)/
which got combined into one folder, too.

My workaround is to rename them, but of course it would still be nice to have the bug fixed (or the Clip+ rockboxed )

As I added to my previous post: The support told me that they forwarded the issue to the engineers.

[donp]

Originally Posted by ultrauber

GAPLESS FOR LAME MP3 - I got really excited about this but I can still hear a tiny break in the cheering on live albums. Unless this is just loading/buffering time...
.

If it's just a tiny break, then likely the DID get the loading time part, but did not fix the part about skipping blank space in the file (based on lame playing time tag).

[ultrauber]

Originally Posted by donp

If it's just a tiny break, then likely the DID get the loading time part, but did not fix the part about skipping blank space in the file (based on lame playing time tag).

True, but I just re-ripped an album with LAME and some of the breaks are inexcusably long. Like .25 seconds. And other people reported this.
You'd think that when it finishes loading/buffering the current track, it'd start loading the next in the playlist/album - that way, you wouldn't have to wait.

[timmyjoe42]

scrobble

[neutron bob]

I miss the ability to rewind back into the previous track as well. I'd like to see a compromise on this feature:

The device pauses the rewind for one second or so at the beginning of the track. If the REW button is held, it should then proceed through the previous track.

One can only hope.

Bob