My new T60... with a few problems.

[Aerofan]

Hi There

I just bought a T60 4Gb, and it's a great player. There are however a few problems

The first problem seems to be a pretty common one. When I've transferred my music to the player, the “scan music file” message appears for about 30 seconds.

I've updated the firmware (1.03), formatted the player and re-transferred my files, but the problem is still there. I even tried truncating the filenames (to 45 characters), and I've deleted one file with apparently contained an error.

The thing is, if I only transfer about 10 files, the problem is gone. But I have 540 files, and it would be nice if I could use all of them. All 540 files are placed in the same directory, which of course could be the problem. I just think it should work regardless of how the files are placed on the player.

The other problem is just a minor one, and one I guess I can live with. The player seems to skip to the next track 4-5 seconds before the current track is finished. On some songs, this can be kinda annoying, but again, it's something I (think I) can live with

If anyone has any ideas how to fix the “scan music file” error, please share your wisdom


Thanks

Aerofan

[Sesquash]

For comparison. I have a 2 GB T-10 that has 356 192 KB files on it. It scans for 7 seconds. I just timed it. Your scan time length truly does seem to be out of sorts. Hope you get this resolved.

Cheers,

[fcormier]

Does the "scan music files" appear every time you start your player or only when you finish transferring the files? Maybe some files (or even one file) is corrupted.

Just when I thought I had found the perfect DAP in the T60... (I haven't bought it yet)

[Aerofan]

Hi

It does it every time, unfortunately. And I just timed it to be sure. When I turn it on, it takes 38 seconds before it's ready

[ShyAnne]

Originally Posted by Aerofan

It does it every time, unfortunately. And I just timed it to be sure. When I turn it on, it takes 38 seconds before it's ready

That's way too long! I don't have a T60 but both my T10s (1GB and 2GB) and a 1GB T30 each take a bit longer to scan the music file immediately after transferring songs. But after that very first time they boot up very quickly.

Once full, the T10 2GB does take longer to boot up every time, longer than the 1GB T10 or the T30 but no where near 30 or 38 seconds! More like 8 or 9 seconds for the 2GB T10, 3 seconds for th 1GB T10, and 2 seconds for the T30.

As it's happening at every boot up on your T60 then there has to be some problem. If that was common to all T60 players then it would certainly have been mentioned over at Jenn Lee's Pocketables review site, her reviews are very complete. Just checked again to be sure, no mention of boot time problems.

Originally Posted by Aerofan

All 540 files are placed in the same directory, which of course could be the problem. I just think it should work regardless of how the files are placed on the player.

Not necessarily. Are you putting all 540 into the root directory? That can cause various problems on many different brands of players. Creative and Sandisk players don't like that arrangement either. Might try placing them into a folder (even if only a single folder) and see if it resolves.

Originally Posted by Aerofan

The other problem is just a minor one, and one I guess I can live with. The player seems to skip to the next track 4-5 seconds before the current track is finished.

That sounds like more than a minor problem. Does it happen with all tracks or only ones with common characteristics, such as lots of fading at the end or extended silence before final notes?

[Aerofan]

Originally Posted by ShyAnne

Not necessarily. Are you putting all 540 into the root directory? That can cause various problems on many different brands of players. Creative and Sandisk players don't like that arrangement either. Might try placing them into a folder (even if only a single folder) and see if it resolves.

The songs are all placed in a sub-folder, so that can't be the problem.

That sounds like more than a minor problem. Does it happen with all tracks or only ones with common characteristics, such as lots of fading at the end or extended silence before final notes?

Haven't really noticed if there are any similarities between the songs that it does this on. But I'll try to notice a pattern and post it here.

[arrigogogo]

For your reference, I have a T10 2G and put totally 9xx mp3 files in some folders. The "scan music files" takes me around 10 seconds. Now I put totally 3xx files, the "scan music files" takes around 2-3 seconds.

[Aerofan]

Ok, I've tried something else now to try and get it working. I switched from UMS -> MTP, and back again since that didn't work. Obviously the player was formatted quite a few times during this... and oddly enough, the premature skipping problem now seems to be gone???

The "Scan music file" problem is still there though, and I'm sorta running out of ideas here.

Has anyone else bought a T60? And does yours have this problem?
It would be nice to know if this a general problem with the player, or if just my usual bad luck : (

[ShyAnne]

Well at least the clipping problem is solved. You said you thought you could live with it, but really why should you? Suspect it would have begun to drive you crazy in short order though. You just bought a brand new player, you shouldn't have to live with such a flaw.

One idea. You said you changed firmware several times and that "obviously the player was formatted quite a few times during this ..." -- but changing firmware and formatting aren't the same thing.

Perhaps it may help if you format the player though the player's menu system, if it's the same as T10 as T30 then it would be Settings->Advanced->Format. It will ask "are you sure", choose yes. Formatting will erase all your files, so back them up, but it will not erase the firmware. Then reload the player with files and see if scanning the music file upon boot up is faster.

The reason for suggesting a device format is I have read over on the Clix forum that formatting a Clix after firmware upgrades prevents various operation problems. Perhaps it's similar on T60.

As far as whether or not anyone else bought a T60, a few people (not many yet) have posted that they purchased a T60. Unfortunately none came back with any reviews of the player as far as likes/dislikes, possible problems, any quirks the new player might have, etc. Obviously none came back to offer you suggestions either, or whether or not they had similarly long boot up times.

[Aerofan]

When you change the firmware between UMS and MTP, during the process the player automatically formats the drive as well. I used to work as a Computer Technician, so I know all the technical stuff, like the difference between firmware flashing and formatting.

So the player has been formatted, both through the player's menu and through the iRiver Plus 3's "Initialize disk" function. I also read about others fixing the problem by formatting their player, and one by upgrading the firmware (not a clix though, I think).

[ShyAnne]

Well, if you're sure you've tried everything then it sounds like either a return to place of purchase or an RMA from iriver is in order. 38 seconds to boot up can't possibly be the way it's meant to function.

Good luck.

[Aerofan]

RMA I'll keep as a last resort. To me it feels more like a software problem, which could be fixed with a new firmware.

That's why it would be nice to hear from others with a T60. That way, if they have the same problem, it's most likely a firmware problem. And if they don't, I'll probably have a defective player

And just to explain my self a little better. (Almost) Every manufacturer will concentrate more on the hardware part, than the software. It is always crucial that the hardware released is as close to flawless as possible, 'cause you can't just update it like you can the software... I hope that makes sense.

[nihilObstat]

Hi all, another T60 owner.

My start-up, with 474 files, all MP3, mostly 192kbps bitrate, total space about 2.7Gig, is ... 32 seconds.

So a pretty similar story to Aerofan's. I was used to a tediously long start-up when I first got my H340, until I got it Rockboxed. Back then it was a matter of turning the thing on, making a cup of tea, coming back to see how it was going. Looks like the T60 may be a similar fish.

Peter

[nihilObstat]

Just changed the files on the T60 - without formatting or flashing or anything else.

Now 600 mp3s, in three different directories - previously they were all in the root directory - and the startup has dropped to 18 seconds.

Still pretty sluggish but a lot faster than earlier.

(For all those academics out there) This clearly exposes an interesting vein of future research. Young up-and-coming honours students can evaluate the effect on boot time of more or fewer directories, multiple levels of directories et cetera. I can't be shagged doing it myself though.

[fcormier]

As soon as I get one (when the iRiverStore reopens), I'll check it out.

[rprrpr]

My T60 4G (firmware 1.03 UMS):

Set up like a file tree if you look at it as a thumbdrive in file manager: music folder/artist subfolder/album subfolder/songs

~350 songs, all ogg Q8

Hit on button, then ~2 seconds until screen lights up, then ~7 seconds until ready to play


My T30 1G (firmware 1.71P UMS):

Similar setup

~140 songs, all ogg Q8

Hit on button, then ~1 sec until screen lights up, then ~2 sec until ready to play

Conclusion: these slow startup time reports seem odd to me!

Love both of these players.

-rpr

[arrigogogo]

I can endure the slow scan-music-file operation when the player is powered on. But it is quite annoying in the recording mode because it scans again when you stop recording. Mine is a T10 but I guess T60 has the problem too.

[ShyAnne]

Originally Posted by nihilObstat

Now 600 mp3s, in three different directories - previously they were all in the root directory - and the startup has dropped to 18 seconds.

Good show nihilObstat! So there ya go Aerofan - try organizing files into a few more folders instead of all 540 dumped into one. Overall startup time may indeed improve with a future firmware update, no telling when that's coming though. In the meantime at least there's a work-around.

Originally Posted by arrigogogo

But it is quite annoying in the recording mode because it scans again when you stop recording. Mine is a T10

That happens only on the 2GB T10 and only if you try recording while the player is nearly full, especially if full of many highly compressed files. It never happens on the 1GB T10 (or the 1GB T30), regardless of how many other files are on the player, so it is related to total number of other files on the double capacity player.

Two things to try are (one) use higher quality files so there's less number of files overall; or (two) if you know ahead of time you are going to be using recording functions then remove excess files from the player.

Arrigogogo, one other thing to try. Didn't you say in another thread that you have an older low-capacity iFP player? You could empty that one and use it as a dedicated recorder, while using the 2GB T10 exclusively for music. The iFP players have more expanded recording options anyway, making them pretty fine dedicated recorders.

[Sammy10]

I have noticed a similar problem with my new T60 4gb. Putting about 3.5gb of music into a single directory, bootup times clock in at a record 3 minutes!

Ive tired decreasing the amount of files and formatting the device, but bootup times simply decrease in response to the amount of music (i.e. half files = half the bootup time).

Im running V 1.02 but I dont know how to identify whether im running MSC or what. It does not appear this device is switchable as with my Cowon D2?

[arrigogogo]

Originally Posted by ShyAnne

That happens only on the 2GB T10 and only if you try recording while the player is nearly full, especially if full of many highly compressed files. It never happens on the 1GB T10 (or the 1GB T30), regardless of how many other files are on the player, so it is related to total number of other files on the double capacity player.

Two things to try are (one) use higher quality files so there's less number of files overall; or (two) if you know ahead of time you are going to be using recording functions then remove excess files from the player.

Arrigogogo, one other thing to try. Didn't you say in another thread that you have an older low-capacity iFP player? You could empty that one and use it as a dedicated recorder, while using the 2GB T10 exclusively for music. The iFP players have more expanded recording options anyway, making them pretty fine dedicated recorders.

The slow scan-music-file problem is really annoying when recording. Fortunately, I seldom do recording and I can use my old iFP player as a recorder (as ShyAnne suggested) to bypass the problem. I believe that the problem can be solved by enhanced algorithms and codings of the firmware but I doubt if iriver will do the improvement for T10. I can imagine how people feel frustrated to wait for completion of scanning music files. Even though I do not have a T60, I hope iriver will improve the firmware for T60.

[Maxxic7]

Hi, guys! I have a problem about loud limit ( It's really annoying, maybe do you have any firmware without it?
Or maybe there are some Asian versions... 'coz I can't downgrade to 1.01
Tnx

[FritzNewton]

Slow scans here too after adding a bunch of files via WMP in MTP mode. None are in the root directory, but some big subdirectories from a couple of audio books, one short, one long. 380 files, 23 second scan time under v.1.02 and about the same with v1.03. Not the end of the world, but I too hope a firmware fix improves.