Sansa Fuze Prerelease FAQ

[EnzoTen]

Please take a look at this front page post. It has some inital thoughts, photos, and a video of the interface.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask. Please try to keep the questions to features i would like to save that for the full on review.

FAQ:

Does the Fuze have the same sound quality as the Clip.

• Yes. But please note that having the same audio chip does not always mean it will have the same sound quality. Board architecture and other components also play a factor in sound quality.

Does the microSD card integrate into the main library?

• Yes. All Sansa do and probably always will.

Does the Fuze support MSC?

• Yes. The Fuze supports MSC and MTP. Just like the Clip this is user selectable in the options menu.

Can I use the Fuze on Mac or Linux?

• Linux or Mac can be used by changing the USB mode to MSC. However, Sandisk only offers tech support for windows. If you need support for Mac or Linux, there are always people in this forum willing to help.

How suitable is the Fuze for Audiobooks?

• The Fuze supports Audible bookstore (.aa DRM) and with Audible files it supports chapter mode.
• You can also add your own audiobooks to the audiobook menu simply dropping them into folder.
• The audiobook menu supports slow, medium, and fast speeds; but will not pitch correct.
• Scan speed is progressive so long files can be scanned though fairly well.

[CrowdAds]

[WyldWoods]

Originally Posted by EnzoTen

• You can also add your own audiobooks to the audiobook menu simply dropping them into folder.

Enzo,

Could you expand on this point, either here or in the full review when you post it?

Thanks.

[Gaurhoth]

Originally Posted by WyldWoods

Enzo,
Could you expand on this point, either here or in the full review when you post it?
Thanks.

My two cents worth on audiobook support:

The fuze recognizes any audio file put into the AudioBooks folder and shows it in a separate list from your music. So far, I've tested WMA and MP3. It's able to read the tags off of both. This is better than the insignia pilot which doesn't recognize WMA's as audiobooks.

While the fuze seems to support resuming on a PER file bases in the podcasts and audiobook folders; it does seem flaky. For unknown reasons, it just seems to forget where you were in a file at times. I'm trying to observe more detail to narrow it down.

The playback speed is a nice idea, but with only 3 settings (slow, normal, fast) and no pitch correction -- I don't see myself ever using it. It's hard to take a book seriously when it's being read by Alvin of the Chipmunks.

I wasn't able to get the unit to recognize any audiobooks put on a SD card. I tried creating a folder named "AudioBooks", but it still didn't integrate the files into the library.

gaurhoth

[Gaurhoth]

Originally Posted by Gaurhoth

My two cents worth on audiobook support:
I wasn't able to get the unit to recognize any audiobooks put on a SD card. I tried creating a folder named "AudioBooks", but it still didn't integrate the files into the library.
gaurhoth

Update: If you want to copy an audiobook to the SD Card, you'll need to assign the genre tag to 'audiobook'. That way the fuze doesn't care what folder the media file is in and it shows it in the appropriate list.

gaurhoth

[Gaurhoth]

Originally Posted by Gaurhoth

While the fuze seems to support resuming on a PER file bases in the podcasts and audiobook folders; it does seem flaky. For unknown reasons, it just seems to forget where you were in a file at times. I'm trying to observe more detail to narrow it down.

Sandisk has confirmed a bug that causes the audiobook/podcast resumes to be reset when you sync new content to the unit. It's annoying, so hopefully they'll fix that soon!

Gaurhoth

[bella_moritz]

Can i be playing a song whilst browsing my folders at the same time like the ipod or do i have to stop playing the current song in order to browse the folders?

thx
Bella

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by bella_moritz

Can i be playing a song whilst browsing my folders at the same time like the ipod or do i have to stop playing the current song in order to browse the folders?

thx
Bella

Yes, you can browse folders while playing a song.