SanDisk pitch issues

[Geraldo35]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

That same message was also posted on the Clip+ board too, so I would assume it holds true for it as well. We'll see....at least the owners of Sansas will see.

I haven't done any tests on my Clip+ personally, but based on these findings from a poster on the Sansa forum, the Clip+ isn't exactly a stellar performer when it comes to pitch correctness....

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/boar...ge.id=214#M214

[CrowdAds]

[Malix]

Thank you, saratoga and WalkGood. My notion of corruption issues comes from http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/TargetSt...ently_Under_De (under "Disk/Flash"). At any rate, at this point Rockbox is not a practical solution for me; fortunately, I can still return my Clips to store for a full refund. The recent statement has made this decision very easy.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by Geraldo35

I haven't done any tests on my Clip+ personally, but based on these findings from a poster on the Sansa forum, the Clip+ isn't exactly a stellar performer when it comes to pitch correctness....

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/boar...ge.id=214#M214

Guess I'll need to discover something new next year for an outdoor beater player.

[Geraldo35]

Here's the latest from Sandisk:

Over the last few days there have been several meetings with Engineering, Marketing, and Product Management regarding the pitch issue some users have seen. Please see below a statement regarding the decision that was reached as a result of these meetings.

At SanDisk, our goal with our Sansa MP3 product line is to provide products which deliver a quality consumer experience at price points which are accessible to the majority of the population. Our “value” positioning has served us well historically, although we acknowledge that occasionally our products do not live up to some users’ expectations. The issues raised on this Forum regarding sound fidelity are important to us however due to trade-off decisions that were made in engineering these products to deliver superior consumer value at what we believe are extremely attractive price points, our sound fidelity isn’t perfect. We have re-evaluated the possibility of reducing the pitch variation and due to the engineering trade-offs the decision was made to stay with the current design. Very few listeners, however, have noticed or complained about it as an issue in actual practice. For those who can detect sound differences with their naked ears during actual use and not via frequency analysis, our products may not be the best choice for them.

Forum Admin
slotmonsta

I may be reading more into this statement than I should, but it sounds like they aren't going to address the pitch issue on the Clip+ or Fuze either....

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by Geraldo35

Here's the latest from Sandisk:

Over the last few days there have been several meetings with Engineering, Marketing, and Product Management regarding the pitch issue some users have seen. Please see below a statement regarding the decision that was reached as a result of these meetings.

At SanDisk, our goal with our Sansa MP3 product line is to provide products which deliver a quality consumer experience at price points which are accessible to the majority of the population. Our “value” positioning has served us well historically, although we acknowledge that occasionally our products do not live up to some users’ expectations. The issues raised on this Forum regarding sound fidelity are important to us however due to trade-off decisions that were made in engineering these products to deliver superior consumer value at what we believe are extremely attractive price points, our sound fidelity isn’t perfect. We have re-evaluated the possibility of reducing the pitch variation and due to the engineering trade-offs the decision was made to stay with the current design. Very few listeners, however, have noticed or complained about it as an issue in actual practice. For those who can detect sound differences with their naked ears during actual use and not via frequency analysis, our products may not be the best choice for them.

Forum Admin
slotmonsta

I may be reading more into this statement than I should, but it sounds like they aren't going to address the pitch issue on the Clip+ or Fuze either....

That's my impression as well. Given that the Clip+ is brand new, this is just unbelievable.

[epithetless]

Wow. This is a pretty unforgivable action (or, should I say "inaction") on SanDisk's part...

The only way I'd touch another Sansa now is if it can be reliably Rockboxed. Ugh.

[Mikerman]

I assume as others: no pitch fix for the Clip, the Clip+ or the Fuze. And although nothing has been said on it most recently, I also would assume that there will not be any further firmware revisions for the Clip, although it earlier was said that there "may" be "if time permits."

It is unclear what firmware upgrade support SanDisk will be providing for any of its players, at this point, and if this latest statement reflects a new company policy not to provide post-development firmware upgrades (or, at the least, for consumers not to expect any). For consumers, I would think it safest simply to buy for what is in the box at the time and not expect anything else; if something might come later, an unexpected nice development.

Sigh. And sad, for a company as well-regarded as SanDisk (not to mention its developing DAP line). And I just don't get it--if this really is a matter of cost, just charge $1 more per player--consumers would not even notice it and that would more than cover any continuing development costs (totally apart from steady or increased sales that might result--and as opposed to lost sales).

Again, sigh.

[Geraldo35]

I was one of the biggest supporters of Sandisk until this whole fiasco began; but no more......

I really think they shot themselves in the foot with this move.

[Mikerman]

Mods--

Is there a way to change the thread title, to something now more accurate? "SanDisk not to provide pitch fix for players (read thread below)".

[quintets_man]

Originally Posted by Mikerman

Mods--

Is there a way to change the thread title, to something now more accurate? "SanDisk not to provide pitch fix for players (read thread below)".

I'm not a mod but since you started this thread just go to the first post click 'edit' then click 'go advanced' and that should let you change the thread title.

[Mikerman]

Originally Posted by quintets_man

I'm not a mod but since you started this thread just go to the first post click 'edit' then click 'go advanced' and that should let you change the thread title.

Thanks; done. I hadn't realized that this board allowed a later changing of thread titles.

[WalkGood]

My 2¢ worth, unforgivable, if the clip didn’t run rockbox, I’d sell our 4 clips

Edit: well 3 out of 4 are running rockbox, so what do I care

[dfkt]

This is kinda pathetic. They waste their time on some pompous overblown lawyer-approved marketspeech announcement, but they're not going to fix the bug?

The announcement is so hoity-toity, it really made me giggle.

(Not that I care about that pitch issue, myself. Just the tone of the announcement that's kinda over the top.)

[HulkSmashNow]

Well, I suppose it's the non-audiophile in me, but I haven't found anything wrong with the sound or playback of my Clip+. Then again, I still think some of my old 128kbps MP3s sound great, and that's okay with me...

[Mikerman]

Originally Posted by dfkt

This is kinda pathetic. They waste their time on some pompous overblown lawyer-approved marketspeech announcement, but they're not going to fix the bug?

The announcement is so hoity-toity, it really made me giggle.

Perhaps lawyer-approved as to legal issues, but poorly worded as to marketing. It makes SanDisk's players sound like bargain bin quality, which they certainly are not. I don't get why SanDisk would allow that image to be formed. Is that a way to capture potential Shuffle player customers?

[oobergeek]

Originally Posted by Kohlrabi

So, Sandisk will not fix the bug, see http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/boar...d=21346#M21346

I think abi should consider to give a statement about their #1 player of 2008. Or they could remove the player from the list. The software/firmware is utter garbage, and also the technical flaws are very avoidable.

Alas, rockbox could be the saviour in this mess.

EDIT: seems like this only regards the Clip product line, which was already assumed to be not fixed.

reason #579 to go to Rockbox. At least the dev's there give a damn about their firmware. I have RB on all my Sansa players now and will put it on my v2 Clip when it becomes available. At least we have a great alternative!

Edit: I hope at least 1 person who works at Sandisk feels embarrassed when people who purchase their players are putting 3rd party firmware on them to make them sound better?. I know I sure would be.

[defaultluser]

Originally Posted by Geraldo35

I haven't done any tests on my Clip+ personally, but based on these findings from a poster on the Sansa forum, the Clip+ isn't exactly a stellar performer when it comes to pitch correctness....

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/boar...ge.id=214#M214

What the hell people, you're bitching about a pitch error of %0.2 on the new Clip+?

IT IS A SUB-$100 BEATER MP3 PLAYER! WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?

In any case, this is an order of magnitude improvement over the old Clip, which was regarded to have a pitch error of %2. A %0.2 pitch error is so small even an audiophile wouldn't notice it, and the playback difference would be a paltry 0.12 seconds per minute!

Really, you people should read the whiny posts you make sometimes. Sure, it doesn't match-up exactly with the other players in the roundup, but it's so small a difference that it's not worth bitching about.

THEY FIXED THE ERROR ON THE CLIP PLUS. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO FIX THE ERROR ON THE CLIP BECAUSE THEY CAN ONLY AFFORD TO FIX SO MUCH ON A CHEAP-ASS AUDIO PLAYER. Yes, it is a "free" fix to port to the Clip, but if they do that it removes value in enticing you to upgrade to the new Clip+. Since you are not going to pay extra for the firmware fix (imagine the screaming and yelling you people would do if Sandisk started CHARGING for firmware updates), you are not going to get the fix for your Clip.

Can we all go home now?

[Mikerman]

I would be happy to pay $1-$2 more for a player, for ongoing support of it.

[defaultluser]

Originally Posted by Mikerman

I would be happy to pay $1-$2 more for a player, for ongoing support of it.

Okay. Now get the thousands of other Clip owners to agree, and we have a deal. Except, those thousands of Clip owners would just buy another (cheaper) player, because they don't care. You'd be surprised how small a minority you are.

Welcome to the world of selling low-margin devices to millions of people. Consider yourselves lucky that Sandisk releases firmware updates at all.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by defaultluser

... Consider yourselves lucky that Sandisk releases firmware updates at all.

You must be that lawyer that dfkt was speaking about