Sansa Nation

SanDisk recently released a new firmware update for the Sansa Clip and the Sansa Fuze MP3 players. The most exciting feature with the new firmware update is the new support for Ogg Vorbis and FLAC file types. Not many MP3 players out there can boast this same support. In addition, the new firmware updates allows the Clip and the Fuze to play the most advanced Audible AAX  Type 4 format and give the Sansa players enhanced controls over the playlists and podcasts. Each player has their own firmware update with the Clip getting version 1.01.29 and the Fuze getting version 1.01.15. The following are the step necessary for the firmware update:

Updating the SanDisk Sansa player’s firmware

TuneCab is a handy program that allows you to download videos from YouTube, Yahoo!, Google and other sites and converts them into formats that allow you to watch them on your Sansa. TuneCab supports up to 50 input formats and also includes a YouTube ripper and CD ripper already built-in. TuneCab will also let you convert any DRM audio as well which is always a plus if you want to by-pass those pesky protections. TuneCab is capable of converting WMA, M4P, RAX, Napster, iTunes, Rhapsody, and Yahoo! Music files to MP3. A free version is available from TuneCab.com

-Ray

[Source: TuneCab]

Rockbox for the Sansa improves video functionality where the original firmware for the Sansa is lacking. Sansa uses Quicktime to view videos which slows things down and is just not efficient at all, making videos for the Sansa very frustrating to watch. The Rockbox MPEG player is a huge improvement, using MPEG ½ format which is quite a bit smaller and offers far better synching. One way to take advantage of Rockbox for Sansa is to use the free program WinFF which is a small and simple to use program already configured for the Sansa. Use the following steps to create videos for your Rockbox player:

1: Download and install WinFF. It’s free and easy to download.

2: Get the video you want to convert. Have the saving location pointed to your Sansa.

3: Open WinFF and load your video by pressing the ADD button. Choose a saving location in the next area. Finally, in the first drop down box, choose ROCKBOX. In the second dialog box, choose the mp3 player or iPod you’re using.

4: You can add extra parameters for your video file if you’re comfortable doing so. If recommend changing the frame rate to 15 FPS, as many videos skip and are choppy at higher frame rates - also, this reduces the file size.

-Ray

[Source: associatedcontent.com]

If you have ever wanted to add YouTube videos to you Sansa, but could never figure out how, we have something that just might help you. The good people over at the Sansa Portable Media Players Blog have put together a tutorial showing you how to do this. Check it out:

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The Sansa e200 is one of the best selling budget players ever and that shows on the number of loyal users it has. The original firmware is buggy and somewhat limited, so when Rockbox was released on the player many people praised it. Now a new player has joined the game, SansaLinux.

SansaLinux is a port of iPodLinux, and only works with the V1 e200 players. It’s still being developed, and so far LCD, audio and keys are working, while other features are planned or in development. It’s always nice to see custom firmware for players, so hopefully this project will make it all the way through.

[Source: SansaLinux]