How To Get Clix to play when USB connected

[bthurston]

I just bought a Clix and want to play music through my Stereo with USB connected so that it stays charged. However, when I plug in the USB and get the "USB Connected" message, all navigation is disabled and I can do nothing other than charge it and communicate with Media Player.

I have emailed IRiver support, asking them how to play music while the USB port is connected. Their response was meaningless and didn't work.

I even taped off the data+ and - on the USB, thinking that maybe it would work if it was only getting power from the USB, but that didn't work either. I still get a "USB Connected" when USB data isn't connected!

I also bought the docking cradle, thinking I should be able to play music with it docked. No such luck! It acts the same.

Anyone have any ideas?

[DLF]

Fortunately for me, I'd read reviews that explained these limitations of the clix USB-only charging system. So, until a custom-connector AC adapter (like you can get for iPods) may be introduced that charges but does not create a true serial data connection, there's not much to be done.

When clix is connected, either directly or via cradle, it won't play any music. This implies, if you want to play music, disconnect clix or its cradle. The one exception is, through the MTP shell extension, you can play music on the clix via your PC. But it's really just making a temp copy and playing the copy.

Originally Posted by bthurston

I just bought a Clix and want to play music through my Stereo with USB connected so that it stays charged. However, when I plug in the USB and get the "USB Connected" message, all navigation is disabled and I can do nothing other than charge it and communicate with Media Player.

I have emailed IRiver support, asking them how to play music while the USB port is connected. Their response was meaningless and didn't work.

I even taped off the data+ and - on the USB, thinking that maybe it would work if it was only getting power from the USB, but that didn't work either. I still get a "USB Connected" when USB data isn't connected!

I also bought the docking cradle, thinking I should be able to play music with it docked. No such luck! It acts the same.

Anyone have any ideas?

[bthurston]

Thanks for the reply. Unless iRiver decides to update their software, the Clix thinks it got a USB connection anytime power is applied. To test this, I plugged the Clix into the PC with the power pins active on the USB cable and with the data pins taped off. The Clix still thinks its connected and disables all buttons. So a power-only connection will not solve the problem. The only time the Clix will play is when there is no power applied to its connector.

This is a bad thing if you want to use it when the battery is low or when you want to use it while charging the battery.

I tried updating the firmware just in case they may have fixed this problem. I couldn't get the update software to see my Clix on the USB!

Time to try a different player!