Don't Want to use Best Buy Music Store

[94506rn]

Hi,

I just purchased a Sansa Clip from Best Buy, but had no intention of loading their software. I already have an account with Rhapsody and I don't want BB in the middle.

However, in their literature, it states that "Creating an account (BB) is the only way to activate all of the features on your new SanDisk Sansa Clip." and then it says: "Note:Current Rhapsody members must install the included software before connecting their SanDisk Sansa Clip to their PC."

Is is true that I have to install their software and establish an account to get "all" the features? I haven't even taken it out of the plastic yet and I'm hoping someone can give me some insight.

Thanks so much!

[CrowdAds]

[brianfast]

Where did it say that? My Clip didn't even come with a cd. You have nothing to worry about, you will not lose out on any features...

[94506rn]

It was stated on some marketing collateral that came in the packaging. I've started playing around with it and it doesn't seem to be allowing me to transfer. I drag & drop and nothing shows up on the player. I have upgraded to ToGo on Rhapsody already.

Anyone else purchased at Best Buy and not installed their Music Store software and been able to transfer your subscriptions to your player? When I do try to drag & drop, there is a dollar sign and a music icon next to my player name and I think there should be an mp3 player icon next to it.

Let me know if this is making any sense and/or anyone can provide guidance.
Thanks!

[PromisedPlanet]

Originally Posted by 94506rn

It was stated on some marketing collateral that came in the packaging. I've started playing around with it and it doesn't seem to be allowing me to transfer. I drag & drop and nothing shows up on the player. I have upgraded to ToGo on Rhapsody already.

Anyone else purchased at Best Buy and not installed their Music Store software and been able to transfer your subscriptions to your player?

I'm not 100% sure as I've never tried it, but I don't think it's possible to drag & drop subscription (DRM) music onto the Clip. I think you need to use a software package that deals with the DRM data properly, such as Windows Media Player.

[digitalq]

Once you have connected the player, it should show up in the Rhapsody software in the left window. You need to license it and then you should be able to manage songs however you want.

[Elysian]

I just bought one of these from best buy. Will this work the same as those bought somewhere else? I don't want to be tied to best buy or rhapsody.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by Elysian

I just bought one of these from best buy. Will this work the same as those bought somewhere else? I don't want to be tied to best buy or rhapsody.

Works fine, no need for the BB crap, mines from BB and i threw the cd away, just plug it in and it's recognized as an mtp player, open windows explorer and drag & drop your music on it (can also be connected as a msc deview as well).

[Schweppes7T4]

i think the best buy is the only one that comes with a cd. i got mine from somewhere else, and no CD.

maybe the "all features" has to do with the rhapsody channel support?

[jsc315]

i bought mine from best buy and yea it cam with a CD as well. i threw it away knowing i didn't need to use it. It works perfectly fine for me through MediaMonkey. Though if you have a susbscrition with rhapsody there should be no reason you would have to reinstall the same program just marketed from BB. Have you updated to the latest firmware yet?

[Elysian]

Here's what I figured out:

> You need no installation software to run the clip. It connects to windows media player automatically
> The best buy player is the same as any other Clip. The difference is that best buy tries to package the BB music store cd as an installation cd to trick the buyer into using the BB music store.

Thanks for enlightening me, everyone. I almost returned my Clip thinking that I had to install the BB Music Store for it to work.

[jsc315]

Glad you figured things out. Thats what this forum is all about. Consumers shouldn't be told that they have to install some bloated software for a product to work, when its not even needed. the clip is really a nice little player.

[Mikerman]

Especially in MSC mode for non-DRM music, where you need no software beyond an operating system. SanDisk should have had this as the default from the start--it would have avoided a huge amount of consumer frustration.