Sansa Clip Zip Firmware

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by WalkGood

I tested db refresh on zip running .17 OF 8GB + 32GB card zip, it recognized everything, not unusually long load time and worked fine. I wouldn't swear on it but I don't think it took more than 15 min. But that’s about the extent of testing the OF I did before booting back to rockbox ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

FWI organization is folder/folder/tracks (%artist% - %album% - $num(%track%,2) - %title%).

Well, I have a few tracks that I stripped from videos, that are variants of AAC that the OF doesn't recognize....that's why I tried it with this new firmware, and still no dice. Thankfully, we have an alternative.

[skip252]

Have you tried renaming them to .m4a and keeping the length under ~10 minutes Marv? There doesn't seem to be a set length before they get ignored but if the file is long enough they just get skipped. I experimented around with a few using that setup and they worked OK.

Nero encoded files mostly work now as long as they're short enough and have the .m4a extension. There seem to be a lot of flavors of AAC it still can't handle but it's better than what it was.

I haven't experimented enough to say for sure one way or the other for sure but it seems to handle iTunes 256 kbps AAC better than it did before. I tried a few that always distorted after playing for a while and they seem to be OK now.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by skip252

Have you tried renaming them to .m4a and keeping the lenght under ~10 minutes Marv? There doesn't seem to be a set length before they get ignored but if the file is long enough they just get skipped. I experimented around with a few using that setup and they worked OK.

Nero encoded files mostly work now as long as they're short enough and have the .m4a extension. There seem to be a lot of flavors of AAC it still can't handle but it's better than what it was.

I haven't experimented enough to say for sure one way or the other for sure but it seems to handle iTunes 256 kbps AAC better than it did before. I tried a few that always distorted after playing for a while and they seem to be OK now.

Well, they do have the .m4a extension....in fact, on my 32GB card, I have just one of those files, which is a 1 hour and three minute long track, and one album of regular length tracks, that is allegedly iTunes 256 AAC (I didn't buy it myself so I can't be 100% sure).

Sounds like you think maybe the hour-long track is the culprit.....maybe it is. But at this point, I see no reason to remove Rockbox, re-install that .18 firmware, and see what happens without that long track on there, when I fully intend to keep Rockbox on here forever anyways.

Maybe one day when I am bored, I'll remove those couple AAC items from the card, and see how my refresh time is in the OF....but as it stands right now, 3.5GB on the one player's internal memory, and nothing at all on the other player's internal memory, refresh times are awesome....because I only put the card in when I am using Rockbox, and I manage the cards with my USB reader.

[skip252]

I wasn't thinking in terms of refresh time, more on whether AAC files play at all. The same lengths and similar bitrates that play just fine as mp3 and ogg just don't work at all as AAC.

It's doesn't seem to be a hardware problem. The files that won't play or distorted before in the OF play with no issues in Rockbox. I don't know if the Rockbox decoder will handle single files a hour plus long. I haven't tried any that length yet.

I did play single files 20 plus minutes long and high bitrate that worked fine with Rockbox. The same file wouldn't play at all in the OF. The OF was able to handle shorter files from the same album encoded exactly the same way. It seems Sandisk still has work to do on their AAC decoder.

[Nomenclature]

Is it just me, or does ".mp4" files not work? I try encoding them with Winamp, and it seems to work if I change the suffix to ".m4a", but I really don't feel like doing that manually with thousands of files.

If it doesn't work, any pointers to threads where this is discussed (I can't seem to find much about it).

[skip252]

I guess it's part of what sandisk meant by them being able to play "iTunes® AAC music format" AAC files. The extension on those is .m4a not .mp4. Seems if you want to use AAC you've got some renaming to do.

That's not that hard actually. Get a copy of AntRenamer. It's really simple to set up to rename the extension on large groups of files. If that renaming utility doesn't appeal to you it shouldn't be difficult to find another bulk renaming software.

If you do get AAC files working could you do me a favor? AAC files somewhere around +/- 10 mins. refuse to play regardless of encoder, encoder settings or extension on the 3 Zips I deal with. If it were just one I'd figure that one was defective. With 3 behaving the same way I'm thinking it's the sandisk decoder. The same files play with no problems in Rockbox.

Could you post back if you run into that with longer files? I'll be keeping mine but the other 2 people I helped to set up would like to know if it's time to dump theirs.

[Crysdale]

for those who don't understand root directory or other items above. go the sansa website they have a program that you download and called driver download wizard, once installed, you simply follow the directions.
Thanks for the update the other way, just found this much easier. Let's keep listening to music.

[Mikerman]

Latest Clip Zip firmware, from this afternoon. Firmware version 01.01.20.

SanDisk Clip Zip forum firmware upgrade thread:

http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/Clip-Zi...20/td-p/270703

firmware version 01.01.20 download:

http://mp3support.sandisk.com/firmwa...ip01.01.20.zip

Release notes:

This new firmware has various bug fixes, including key fixes listed below, as well as enhancements. Upon completion of the firmware upgrade, the device will turn off; power on the device to complete the upgrade process. If the device does not initiate or complete, press & hold the Power switch for 15 seconds to reset the device and then press and hold power button again to restart. 

Enhancements

• FM RDS info support for UK and EU regions

Bugs Fixed

• Some brands and types of microSD cards are not recognized by device
• M3U playlist display issue

Known Issues

• Recently Added doesn’t update Rhapsody transferred tracks
• Artist Info page doesn’t display for Rhapsody transferred tracks

[prankstare]

Originally Posted by Mikerman

Latest Clip Zip firmware, from this afternoon. Firmware version 01.01.20.

firmware upgrade thread:

http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/Clip-Zi...20/td-p/270703

firmware version 01.01.20 download:

http://mp3support.sandisk.com/firmwa...ip01.01.20.zip

That's sweet!

I have a question though: for those who use the Rockbox firmware, is it really necessary to upgrade anything?

[Mikerman]

Originally Posted by prankstare

That's sweet!

I have a question though: for those who use the Rockbox firmware, is it really necessary to upgrade anything?

Nope, but it's kinda nice to have the latest OF version around in case you need or want it for itself. For example, some people in the UK/EU might like the FM radio RDS info. feature in the new OF version (I don't recall if Rockbox has that feature). And the microSD card bug fix is nice to have, especially, in case you ever need to use the OF.

But I'm not sure how the new OF version would "mix" with Rockbox installed using an earlier version--I'm sure others will know and answer if one can mix OF versions between the OF and a Rockbox install.

[FreeZ5]

I just installed 01.01.20 on my Zip. Easy-peesy as always. Just a reminder, the new firmware asks for location...do not pick Europe unless you like the volume limit. It will also reset the player to Autodetect (better known here as Autodefect). Set the player to your preference...MSC or MTP. The install does not appear to have affected any of the files on my player.

I suspect those that know me are waiting patiently for the answer to one specific question.... the playlists that were already on my player are now working. I did not have to rebuild them. They were left over from my playing with firmware 01.01.15 & 01.01.18. One playlist was on the micro card and the other the main memory. In other words, playlists appear to be working exactly as I expected them to work when I received the player.

Steve

[EDIT] It would be a good idea to check the other options as well. The firmware upgrade appeared to turn off Shuffle and Repeat in my Music Settings. (Due to other activities a couple of nights ago, I'm not certain how I had left the player.)

Steve

[Mikerman]

Thanks for the testing, Steve. It's good to hear that the playlist issue may have been solved--am tired reading the "help me with playlists--I'm desperate" posts.

As to shuffle and repeat, it just may be that the firmware upgrade changes the settings back to the default along with the other settings (I don't recall, and I tend to have those settings off to begin with).

I think the EU folks will like the RDS fix, and I'm prospectively happy with the microsSD card fix--I had one major manf. card that the Zip wouldn't play nice with.

[FreeZ5]

Originally Posted by Mikerman

Thanks for the testing, Steve. It's good to hear that the playlist issue may have been solved--am tired reading the "help me with playlists--I'm desperate" posts.

Mikerman:

Given the number of "help me with playlists--I'm desperate" posts with the original Clip, original Fuze, and Clip+ (none of which actually had playlist issues for me), I'm guessing that we aren't done with them.

I'm actually expecting a round of "Steve, how did you get playlists to work, cause they don't work for me", and of course "how do I make a playlist from songs on both memories". Maybe Skip will make a post covering those points, but my answer is that there are many posts on playlists for the original Clip, original Fuze, and Clip+, so check those out. Why am I so negative? Because people who claim that they are following my approach have had problems getting playlists to work. Even Skip does it slghtly differently, and he says it was one of my posts that got it working for him.

Steve

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by Mikerman

I'm prospectively happy with the microsSD card fix--I had one major manf. card that the Zip wouldn't play nice with.

A problem you could have solved months ago....

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by prankstare

… I have a question though: for those who use the Rockbox firmware, is it really necessary to upgrade anything?

No it's not necessary to upgrade anything. But if you use the OF occasionally and know how to patch it, you could do it so your Zip also has the latest version OF (01.01.20). Read this link and that's how to patch it --> http://download.rockbox.org/daily/ma...#x4-110002.2.2

Originally Posted by Mikerman

… But I'm not sure how the new OF version would "mix" with Rockbox installed using an earlier version--I'm sure others will know and answer if one can mix OF versions between the OF and a Rockbox install.

There’s no mixing of versions, you patch one version of the OF only, load that and the .rockbox folder.

[skip252]

I just tried manually patching the 01.01.20 firmware and get the error message that version isn't supported and lists the ones that are. The same setup patches the older firmwares. IIRC that means that mkamsboot.exe will need to be updated before it will be possible to patch this firmware to boot Rockbox.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by prankstare

That's sweet!

I have a question though: for those who use the Rockbox firmware, is it really necessary to upgrade anything?

I'm not going to bother. I only downloaded the new firmware so I could load it onto the Zip that I am selling.....the one I am keeping will remain as is with Rockbox.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by skip252

I just tried manually patching the 01.01.20 firmware and get the error message that version isn't supported and lists the ones that are. The same setup patches the older firmwares. IIRC that means that mkamsboot.exe will need to be updated before it will be possible to patch this firmware to boot Rockbox.

Thanks, good to know as I didn't even test it. I ran out and cut the grass this morning but back for a bit now.

[Mikerman]

Originally Posted by WalkGood

Thanks, good to know as I didn't even test it. I ran out and cut the grass this morning but back for a bit now.

That's exactly what I meant by my earlier comment as to "mixing" OF versions between Rockbox and the OF. Will be solved with a no-doubt soon Rockbox-side update relative to the newest OF.

[skip252]

I can't say much about the playlists. I loaded it to check AAC playback more than anything elase. That seems to still broken the same as before in my limited tests. The same files that wouldn't play, those longer than around 10-12 minutes, still won't play. The same for the files that would. The shorter ones would play. They were all encoded with the most recent iTunes at a few medium to high bitrates.

I did make a couple of playlists. I made a few standard EXTM3U playlists using Musicbee and they played as long as they were saved to the same folder as the files. The ones I saved to the Music folder of a drive played. That was with both the internal and external memories. If I saved them to the root or any other place they were broken. Combined internal and external lists only showed the files on the drive where they were stored.

I can't patch the 01.01.20 to boot Rockbox so I went back to the older firmware. I don't do a lot of switching as I've read if there's a place that things might go wrong it's during a firmware update. Even once things are updated on the Rockbox end I don't know if I'll update again. Rockbox works the same regardless of the firmware version that was patched. As long as that's working I can't see a strong reason to update again.