Clip Zip review (updated 9/6)

[steinburger1109]

Originally Posted by BruceBanner

Now lets get this thing Rockboxed as well

Those were my second thoughts on this...

I really wouldn't expect it to be long before RockBox ports on over. The Clip+ is huge, and I expect similar out of this. I've half a mind to grab me one.

[CrowdAds]

[The DarkSide]

Nice review Marv!!! Now I just hope the fuze waffle (or whatever the hell they might call the damn thing) that comes out for the fuze+ update is half as nice - and no frigging touchpads!!!

[thanamesjames]

Marvin, if you haven't already, would you mind trying to look at the screen while outside and sunny? I'd like to know how easy it is to read and what the glare is like. I enjoy using my Evo as an mp3 player, but it's nearly impossible to use outside. I appreciate the clip+ for just how easy the font/brightness is to see in the sun.

[marc2003]

i'm quite surprised to see people here think the album art is a worthwhile addition. i think it's ridiculous...

i'd still be interested in getting one should it be rockbox-able in a year or 2. my clip+ will do for now and i still have my old clip v2 going strong as well.

[Limp]

Quite frankly it makes me want to buy another C+.
It does seem to be a bit more attractive in other colours than that ugly brownish one though. (sorry Marvin)

[Timar]

Absolutely.

I think the Clip+ has a great design, because of its stringency. Simple, rectangular forms, and the 2-color oled display (all you ever need for this size) - it kind of has a classic "bauhaus"-like quality to it.

The Clip Zip is a real deterioration from that standard. The controls look fancy and the color LCD is of questionable use in this size (what do you want with cover artwork less the size of a stamp?) but potentially decreasing battery life.

AFAIK all the real improvements are to the software, but you can have a much better software still on the Clip+ with rockbox.

Nice review, though

[BruceBanner]

lol looking for sum vids on the clip zip i found this

You Tube

You Tube

What's she selling again?

[Satellite_6]

Lmao. . .

[thanamesjames]

Originally Posted by Timar

The Clip Zip is a real deterioration from that standard. The controls look fancy and the color LCD is of questionable use in this size (what do you want with cover artwork less the size of a stamp?) but potentially decreasing battery life.

I don't think it's fair for anyone to knock the battery life yet. You can't write a con without knowing if it's actually a con.

[BruceBanner]

I think he's saying that IF it were NOT a colour LCD screen then its battery life would be longer, I think thats a fair point.
But thats what a clip+ is. It's a win win! The guys that like album art (like me) buy the zip, the guys that dont buy the clip+!

Everyones a winner baby! xD

[Mikerman]

Great pics there, Marvin!

As to the operation of the Clip Zip, it really feels, to me, just like the Clip+ and Clip. The same ease (although with some ease additions, such as the 2 forms of alphabetical scrolling in lists), the same issues (ah, the lovely database refresh!), etc. From the user standpoint operationally, it almost feels as if SanDisk took the guts of the Clip/Clip+ and added a small color screen and some other hardware refreshes, and made some small software refreshes and changes to the player's operation (like it did in going from the Clip to the Clip+). All very intuitive for a Clip/Clip+ user--no actual need to RTFM.

There is a change that I dislike, that others especially here at ABI might reflect: the elimination on the What's playing screen, for music, of an indication of the current track number and total tracks, helpful when listening to albums; and elimination of the playing time elapsed (and no indication of the total playing time or time remaining)--one only has a progress bar to go by. A firmware upgrade could "fix" this, though--but unknown if this ever could be in the cards. How do people feel about a campaign to SanDisk, to bring these features on and back?



As to outside use, one user has reported greater difficulty in being able to see the screen outdoors, as one might expect with an album art screen.

[steinburger1109]

Originally Posted by BruceBanner

lol looking for sum vids on the clip zip i found this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYWVh...eature=related

What's she selling again?

BAHAHA Now that's my kind of review! What the hell is that for the last five seconds of the vid?... I like he she sounds confused when she brings up microSD cards...

Originally Posted by thanamesjames

I don't think it's fair for anyone to knock the battery life yet. You can't write a con without knowing if it's actually a con.

I actually agree with thanamesjames here. Theoretically, yea, the screen should detract from the battery life. But we don't know if it really is that much of a detractor yet, though. I'd very much appreciate if Marv could get around to it (even if it's very rough approximations)!

[cristiano007]

Great review, Marvin. Talk a little about the clip, that was the worst part in the clip+ (besides the flimsy plastic and the weak plug). Feels any better? Is it stronger? Thanks.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by BruceBanner

One other thing, just for preparation reasons, what would be the optimal album art size for this player? Does anyone know if its reading the art in file or folder.jpg? Most my art is 500x500 or thereabouts, will that translate to being ok on the CZ?

I never do the folder.jpg thing. I either embed the art, or have none(like my earlier rips that I'm too lazy to embed).
As far as art size......I'm looking at 3 albums right now in MP3Tag. 2 of them are 500x500, but the filesizes are 31KB and 53KB.......they show up on the CZ.

The 3rd album is 495x495, but the filesize is 247KB.....that one doesn't show.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by cristiano007

Great review, Marvin. Talk a little about the clip, that was the worst part in the clip+ (besides the flimsy plastic and the weak plug). Feels any better? Is it stronger? Thanks.

I never have had any problems with the Clip+'s clip.

Right now, the spring on the new player seems like it has a stronger clamping force, but considering the other player is two years old, that doesn't surprise me. I will say that you can see the metal spring of the Clip+ if you look closely, and the CZ's is completely hidden.....for whatever that is worth.

[BruceBanner]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

I never do the folder.jpg thing. I either embed the art, or have none(like my earlier rips that I'm too lazy to embed).
As far as art size......I'm looking at 3 albums right now in MP3Tag. 2 of them are 500x500, but the filesizes are 31KB and 53KB.......they show up on the CZ.

The 3rd album is 495x495, but the filesize is 247KB.....that one doesn't show.

Seems like its not reading art after a certain file size. But i'm a little confused. You say u dont do the whole folder.jpg thing yet yer quoting (presumably) the art size. If the art is embedded within the mp3 file isnt the file size the size of the overall mp3 file (like 8mb or whatever the song size is?). My point is, if the art is embedded in the mp3 file how do u know how many kb the art is? Usually i attribute the art file size to being x and look at the folder.jpg to determine.
For what its worth my art is also embedded (via Tag&Rename) but i have never seen a function to show how many KB the art is adding to the file size.

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

I never have had any problems with the Clip+'s clip.

Right now, the spring on the new player seems like it has a stronger clamping force, but considering the other player is two years old, that doesn't surprise me. I will say that you can see the metal spring of the Clip+ if you look closely, and the CZ's is completely hidden.....for whatever that is worth.

The clip part is not that important. My clip+ clip broke off quite early and I replaced it with another generic clip I had in a drawer. My local hardware store sells this doublesided 'foam like' sticky tape, its very secure, especially when securing a light weight device like the clip+ and a clip, its more durable than a spring mechanism it uses originally. I also think they stick the clips on upside down, should be the other way.

[mikee]

Just looked at the screenshots on the first page, did they go back to proprietary usb connector it doesn't look like the mini usb on the clip+

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by BruceBanner

Seems like its not reading art after a certain file size. But i'm a little confused. You say u dont do the whole folder.jpg thing yet yer quoting (presumably) the art size. If the art is embedded within the mp3 file isnt the file size the size of the overall mp3 file (like 8mb or whatever the song size is?). My point is, if the art is embedded in the mp3 file how do u know how many kb the art is? Usually i attribute the art file size to being x and look at the folder.jpg to determine.
For what its worth my art is also embedded (via Tag&Rename) but i have never seen a function to show how many KB the art is adding to the file size.

MP3Tag tells me what the art size is.....look at this image and you'll see.(click to enlarge.)

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by mikee

Just looked at the screenshots on the first page, did they go back to proprietary usb connector it doesn't look like the mini usb on the clip+

Did you read the text?

One change that will have potentially mixed reviews is the new USB cable which is micro-USB, as opposed to the Clip+ mini-USB. A lot of us already have multiple devices with Mini-USB cables, so continuing that would have been nice for those of us in the US, at least....but Micro-USB has become a standard overseas, and it is making its way here on various devices, such as my Nook Simple Touch.

[Mikerman]

Originally Posted by mikee

Just looked at the screenshots on the first page, did they go back to proprietary usb connector it doesn't look like the mini usb on the clip+

Nope, not proprietary--SanDisk has adopted the micro USB standard for the port and the cable. This seems to be the way things are and will be going, perhaps as a result on the cellphone standard adopted in the EU.

A mini=>micro cable adapter (altho the Clip Zip comes with a micro USB cable), $1.08 shipped at eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-USB-Mic...23233901242526