clip zip file modification date problem

[iasc82]

When I sync to my sansa clip zip with it syncs songs that are already on the device. I think its because the file modification date doesn't update. The modification date on a file on my hard drive would be 13/08/2012 but when you put the track on to the clip its 13/03/2005. Every Song Reverts to the same date and time. So the program I sync with thinks the files need to be updated. Even if I use windows explorer to copy the files to the clip the mod date reverts to an old date.Is there a solution to this

[CrowdAds]

[skip252]

Is the player in either Autodetect or MTP USB mode on a Windows machine? If it is that means you're using MTP sync and MTP sync doesn't work from a file modification date. Strictly speaking there aren't any files in an MTP system. They're more like nodes in a network.

You could place the player in MSC mode and use a sync software that uses drive letters. That will use actual file transfer. It makes true two way syncing more difficult but I find it much more reliable than depending on MTP sync software.

I believe your problem is software not date or hardware related. What software are you using to sync? How are you setting it up? The more details you give the more likely it is someone can spot the problem.

[iasc82]

im using mtp on windows laptop. the program im using is musicbee. the reason im using mtp is because im syncing using playlists and if i use msc the playlists are not recognized on the player. i have posted this on the music bee forum and they say it is a problem with the player. also tried the sansa forum but got no help there. thanks for the quick reply

[Mikerman]

Finally, an explanation! At the SanDisk forums, the only advice was, don't sync . . . .

[iasc82]

you were the only one on the sandisk forum with something constructive to say

[skip252]

I don't usually use MTP sync so this is just what I've picked up with a short experiment. There appears to be a location problem that gets caused by the Clip Zip moving files to a location MusicBee doesn't expect them during the database refresh.

MusicBee doesn't see the files where it placed them during the sync. As far as MusicBee knows they no longer exist so it sends another copy during the next sync attempt.

It seems the solution is to specify a location that satisfies the criteria built into the Clip Zip firmware. When I did that in my short experiment the database refresh occurred and the files were left in the spot MusicBee expect them. When I sent new playlists that had the same files but had a different order and combination of files the playlists transferred but no additional files were sent. My tests were only with the external card so I can't be sure this would hold true in all cases.

When I synced to the location

\Music\<Album Artist>\<Album>\<Track#> - <Title>

that's where MusicBee placed them. After the database refresh I found them in

MSC\Music\---some odd folder name---\<Album Artist>\<Album>\<Track#> - <Title>

when I checked using Windows Explorer.

Attempting to sync to the original location a second time caused duplicate files to be sent. After the database refresh I found those files in

MSC\Music\---some even stranger folder name!---\<Album Artist>\<Album>\<Track#> - <Title>

I didn't keep going but I guess that if I had continued the database refresh would also continued to create strangely named folders and place the duplicate files in them.

When I synced to

MSC\Music\<Album Artist>\<Album>\<Track#> - <Title>

the files were in that location after the database refresh. When I tried creating and syncing playlists that contained those files the playlists were created by no additional files were transferred.

The MSC folder is one of the folders that is always created during the database refresh. My guess is that using that folder as the sync location doesn't cause the sandisk firmware to move the files during the database refresh.

If you haven't already I'd try changing the sync folder location in the MusicBee options to the persistent Music folder on each memory. I'm not sure if doing that on the internal memory will work the same as the external memory but I think it's worth trying.

[iasc82]

thanks. i tried that but it didn't work. when im syncing the problem is not that im getting duplicate files. if im syncing a playlist with lets say 800 tracks in mtp mode every track is getting overwritten on the mp3 player instead of just adding tracks which have been modified or new tracks that have been added to the playlist. the reason for this i believe is that when the files are on the mp3 player the modifaction date for every track is changed to 31/05/2005 12:00am, whereas the file on my hard drives modification date is 13/08/2012 11.20am so when music bee syncs it always believes that every track needs to be updated. the date changes no matter which program i use to send the music to mp3 player including just cutting and pasting. when the files are transferred with the player in msc mode the proper modification date is written to the tracks on the mp3 player so when i sync it only transfers tracks that have recently been modified but in msc mode the playlists appear as empty on the player

[skip252]

You can't modify a file date on a MTP device. The MTP protocol doesn't allow for direct modification. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_T...ocol#Drawbacks

I'm not sure if MusicBee is over writing the files or taking a while to check the files on the player. My guess would be that when you see the message the files are being copied it may just be examining the MTP system to see if the proper files are in place to satisfy your sync criteria.

I'd check in with the MusicBee developer and see how he has implemented MTP sync. It may be over writing all the files but it may be that the process of examining the files takes longer than what you might expect. The developer would have more information on that.

If having working .m3u playlists would let you not deal with the MTP headache, I may have a solution. MusicBee writes working .m3u playlists for me on a Clip Zip.

I use the EXTM3U format and make the save location the root of the drive where the files are located. The firmware is the 01.01.20 version that added the ability for the Clip Zip to use .m3u playlists.

Like all other sandisk players the files have to be from a single drive. Playlists that contain files from both the internal and external drives don't work. You need Rockbox for that.

[iasc82]

finally a solution. even better than i hoped for because now i don't have to switch back and forth from mtp to msc syncing internal and external drives. i will add a link to this in the music bee forums because i have seen other people looking for a solution for this. thanks for taking the time to help me out skip, i really appreciate it.

[skip252]

The person that deserves any credit for this is the developer, Steven. I find it remarkable that his software does for free what most other software won't do at any price. Just try to get MediaMonkey to deal with your files once they've been put on your player and you'll see what I mean.

MusicBee did require more upfront setup than some other software but once I got things set the way I wanted it's been the only software I use for MTP transfer. I don't deal with MTP often but when I do I find MusicBee to be the best way to deal with it.

There's a Contribute button somewhere over on the MusicBee site. If you can, put a few bucks in the pot to buy the guy a beer. He definitely deserves one for sharing his efforts.

[iasc82]

i agree with you, ive already made a donation to Steven on music bee, best music organizer around. thanks again for your help