my first mp3 where to start

[mule]

This is my first mp3 player. I beleive I will not use Rhaposdy etc. but will use my own files from windows media player any suggestions or things to know before I get started?

[CrowdAds]

[jc836]

Some will disagree with me-but my experience is that you should get rid of the songs and "albums" that you will find in MTP mode for starters. Depending on the version of your Clip this will give you some additional storage. Next-put the player in MSC mode and leave it there. Ditch using WMP and install MediaMonkey 3.2. It works very well overall for our players. You can manually copy folders to the player and create playlists with a program like Sansa Clip Playlist creater or use MediaMonkey to "sync" your "Now Playing" list to the player. The only trick in MSC mode is that you will have to take the "now playing" list and move it to the root of the player's drive. Not a big deal if you follow the instructions for doing this in MediaMonkey. Others will tell you that you can do this more seamlessly in MTP mode, but I have yet to be successful.
The instructions for making the move require tht you use the tree in MediaMonkey to navigate to My Computer and from there find the Playlist folder under the Clip-DO NOT use the first Sansa listing in the tree, only that under the My Computer listing.

Give these thought some consideration. Making a playlist in MediaMonkey is very simple and transferring it to the player is not hard at all. This program offers the best feature set that you will find and can archive far more material than WMP. Not only that but it is under continuous development and support is a forum loaded with great users.

Hope all this helps get you started. Remember-if my non-computer literate wife can do it so can you

[dave61430]

No argument with anything JC836 wrote and would emphasize a couple of his points.
1. If you are not using protected subscription music, set the player to MSC mode and leave it there. Re-check after doing a format or firmware update.
2. You can simply use windows to drop folders onto the music directory of the clip. Be aware that unless you are using folder view (clip+ only), the clip will organize by album as defined in the tag data, titles will be as listed in tag data and play order is by track number in tag data. Many of us use mp3tag to set these values. I find winamp convenient to set up playlists, just make sure the playlist titles are those stored on the clip. If you decide to use MediaMonkey, that should do it all for you. I found it necessary to spend a little time to learn this program, but it is a very capable piece of software and it's free.

I think you will find many of the problem posts in this group originate over switching between MTP and MSC modes, sometimes this happens inadvertently. Music saved in one mode will not show up on the computer in the other mode, although everything will play on the clip.
Good luck, the clip is a nice unit.

[Mikerman]

I actually like the music that comes with the Clips, as something interesting.

My biggest recommendations for the Clip: set and keep the USB mode at MSC, unless you are using DRM'ed files; update to the latest firmware (see the sticky thread at the top of the forum); and get into the habit of making sure your music has its ID3 tags filed in (and to your preference)--easy to adopt as a standard and quick habit, as you acquire music.

[Cara]

Dave, may I ask you a question about this?

If you are not using protected subscription music, set the player to MSC mode

If you set the Clip to MSC mode, can you still sync WMP playlists to it? I ask because I'm becoming increasingly irritated by the WMP pop-up every time I plug the Clip in (which is often!) asking me to go online, to reset my device's clock in order to play protected files.

I have no protected files, so although it's a simple matter of clicking the message away, I'd love to not see it in the first place. I understand that I should probably switch everything to Winamp, but for now I'm still using WMP. So playlists are .wpl format.

I can't do without playlists, given the frequency of total reformatting and reloading the SD card. Drag and drop loading would take me forever. Maybe I just have to bite the bullet and switch over to Winamp ...

Thanks for any advice

[lestatar]

@Mule: Congratulations...enjoy the music!

Agree with all on their great tips. One word for you as well [reiterating great tips from above]:

Organization!

- Try to get into the habit of using tools like MP3Tag to properly tag your music, in the way you like it. This will save you endless amount of time down the road when your music collection grows. Also, ID3 tags are used/read by virtually every mp3 player out there. Nothing more annoying to me than seeing Unknown Artist - Untitled - Unknown Album displayed on my mp3 players. Trust me on this...

- Try to get into the habit of saving your mp3 files on a central location in your PC. Your music management apps will thank you for it and it will also help you to know exactly where your music is, without having to hunt for them all over your computer.

Also, ABi has lots of great features/articles to help you out in the new wilderness of mp3 players/music/organization/software...check them out. And of course, lots of nice folks here at ABi to offer you a hand when you need it.

cheers and best of luck!
-lestatar

[FreeZ5]

Originally Posted by Cara

If you set the Clip to MSC mode, can you still sync WMP playlists to it? I ask because I'm becoming increasingly irritated by the WMP pop-up every time I plug the Clip in (which is often!) asking me to go online, to reset my device's clock in order to play protected files.

I guess that's one of the reasons why folks around here tend not to like WMP.

Steve

[Marvin the Martian]

I'll never understand the need for playlists.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by FreeZ5

I guess that's one of the reasons why folks around here tend not to like WMP.

Steve

Personally I don't like it either, but you can turn that and other features off if you wish, but there are many reasons not to like it, bloatware with a mind of it’s own Probably the best way to get familiar with it is to go through the help files and read about the settings and other features or read a tutorial.

Edit: what am I saying, get rid of that POS

[Cara]

lol! I don't like WMP either. It's just that everything got set up ...

And I just can't see how to sync this many playlists, with this many songs off this many albums, in one go, and often, via drag and drop ...

There is no setting I can see, to stop WMP autoloading the popup asking me to reset my device clock to sync the files I don't have - short of letting it go do that automatically, but I've developed an attitude now, so I'm not gonna let it. I don't want it to do it. I've told it not to do it. It keeps asking me to do it. I think we need an lawyer ...

I've set the whole thing to "leave me alone" and "ask me no questions" and "do not go check anything on my behalf". I can't even keep the damn program offline (yes, I've changed all the settings!). I hate it. It hates me. We're doomed.

*must get Winamp*

[mule]

Seems like no one likes WMP. With that being said guess Media Monkey is the way to go. Should I clear the albums out of WMP before downloading Media Monkey? Are the MP3Tags in the download for Media Monk?

[Cara]

Hi mule,

I think, had I known now, what I didn't know at the beginning about WMP, I'd never have used it to organise my music. I don't think there's any urgency to dismantle your library, however - to the best of my knowledge, you can use several music programs linked to the same music files. So it might be worth getting mediamonkey up and running smoothly, before you get rid of anything?

I'm sure others will know more, but I use iTunes and WMP, often at the same time, and there aren't any clashes that I'm aware of.

Enjoy your Clip ...

[Sloper]

Ugh, I found Media Monkey so ugly. Maybe I should take another look.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by Sloper

Ugh, I found Media Monkey so ugly. Maybe I should take another look.

True, but you can change the skin http://www.mediamonkeyskins.com/