Check it out!: Sansa Clip+ From a US Prison

 
 
Like the pictures?

My father had recently returned from prison having done his time already, which we are all happy to see him again as he is very happy to see us again!
 
But he has a little souvenir since hes been in there.
a Sansa Clip+ with a translucent backing!
 
i find it really neat, as i dont remember Sandisk making any kind of Sansa Clip with a Translucent back to the public market.
 
The reason behind the translucent backing is because of jail safety, to prevent anyone from putting any kind of things in those electronics..
 
the Translucent backing for the Sansa Clip does seem pretty cool, and awesome looking. there are some limitations...
My father told me it has a limited amount of days left, so enjoy it while you can.
I have an iPod Video 5.5 gen 30gb, iPod 4th gen 20gb, and a iTouch which i just use for alarm clock, general apps, etc. so i dont think i have much use for it.
 
yes, the Sansa clip mp3 players bought from a prison commissary or store is preset a limited number of service days, after those days are gone; the device is bricked...
 
Songs are preloaded onto the player from the prison store, as i know prisoners are only allowed on computers for email purposes. if i remember, its around 1.50$ per song to load on the player.
with the player itself costing around 50-70$.
 
Can i convert it with proper firmware and use it like any other sansa clip+?
As much as i've tried; formatting, rockboxing, updating firmware, and even trying to manually load firmware.
 
none seemed to have affected the restrictive firmware in the device.
I have read up that it will cost around 25$ to unlock this player from its restrictive firmware which i dont think is a great thing.
 
Unless you know yourself on how to unlock the firmware on a Prison Sansa Clip, be my guest.
 
now, you cannot buy a Sansa clip+ from a store, you will have to go to a prison. but im sure you do not want to do that...
 
anyways, its a neat thing to have, not much use of it with its restrictive firmware. but yea at least you get to see something new!
 
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more info,
restated; Why is it translucent? Because its a safety reason, you never know if someone is gonna try to hide something in it.
the same even goes for TV's.

I hope nobody had to sneak that in. I wonder if there's a password for hidden files. Perhaps you culd just format and clone from another clip. It;s also possible that there's something on the board itself that just wont allow you to do anything.

Yeah... where has it been?  Wait.. don't answer.

Super cool! Too bad you can't save it before it gets bricked

Hey that is really cool. Is it possible to remove the back? You could stick it onto another clip if that is the case. Its possible to open the normal version, this one might be different though. Its also very strange how it gets bricked. Any idea about the rationale behind that? My guess is the prison authorities just like making an extra buck . 

Gangsta rap

Thats pretty cool!

Gangsta rap
Ha ha that makes me laugh.
I would love to have a translucent back on my clip+.
I wonder if they can be purchased online.

This looked really cool!

Quote:

flaming_june said:

Yeah... where has it been?  Wait.. don't answer.

Click to expand...

haha, he just took it out of his pocket and told me about it.
 
all in bubble wrap bag, manual, receipt, and the stock earphones.

the translucent back is pretty cool , wonder why that never went out of prison market

Is there any way to buy the translucent back?

I was able to get the mp3 content ( up to 1 gig free ) by using a download called Mini Tool Partition wizard.  At least I got the songs but was unable to find a unlock method. I called A-g-t, the outfit that runs e-mail and phones for the federal prison and thay were not in the least helpful.  What a racket. I'm 74 and just finished a "visit" to the system.

If anyone comes across this again, here in a link on how to unlock this player:
 
http://www.wikihow.com/Unlock-a-Federal-Prison-Sansa-MP3-Player

 That's good for an older player but the newer 502-01.01 board doesn't have the same connections listed in Step 3.2 (shorting two leads and booting into a forced recovery mode.    I don't know which pins on the new board correspond to that.