[Mors]

Well mine turned up today, and I'm very impressed and very disappointed.
When it's working, and playing the tracks I put on, it's bloody brilliant, the best input I've heard to my IE8's ever.
But, it's an absolute joke trying to get tracks on there. I converted 10 tracks from 1 album, 3 play, 6 skip/don't, 1 crashes the alien. I've recencoded them them identically to flac with two different pieces of software. The tracks play faultlessly on any other device I play them on.
I don't doubt this player is brilliant when you get it going, but getting tracks on is a nightmare.
 
*edit*
 
I'm only getting about 50% of tracks to play on it, and it's even playing tracks that are deleted off the sd card now....

 

[Loquah]

What are you converting with?

 

[waynes world]

 
I doubt I'm the first to truly "discover" this, but I wanted to mention what I did to engage the shuffle mode to see if it works for others.  I have been able to replicate this multiple times today, so it seems like it isn't some sort of glitch with my Alien.  If an intended feature, why hasn't this been mentioned on the manufacturer's website or a user manual provided in the box?  It is kind of baffling when you think about it because a shuffle feature would certainly be a selling point.  Hopefully some others can chime in and verify their units also contain a shuffle mode.  Maybe it is a feature added to the newest batch?

 
Well, you are as far as we are all concerned (and we are that really matters lol!).
 
And yeah, it's very strange that it is not mentioned in any documentation. It's almost like aliens are involved...

 

[Mors]

XLD and I've tried MediaHuman Audio Convertor and All2MP3.
I've sorted it now, some tracks it will only play it in WAV, others FLAC. Some I have to convert Flac>Mp3>Flac to get them to play.
Now to enjoy the tracks, nightmare to get them on though.

 

[kingdixon]

So, I am a long time lurker who hasn't contributed much to discussion but have learned a lot from reading all of the great info posted in this forum.  Over the past few months, I've become quite obsessed with Head-fi.  As the old saying goes... sorry for my wallet!

Anyway, I received my Alien about a week ago and am loving it so far!  I also have a Fiio X5 that I haven't listened to since the Alien arrived in my mailbox.  I haven't compared the two back to back yet, but I feel like the Alien just seems to have a fuller, more organic sound that is more engaging and less fatiguing.  I feel like the X5 can be a little harsh in the treble, especially when paired with my Altone 200's.

Something I discovered just yesterday is that it seems that my Alien has multiple playback modes.  Default playback is just as described in this thread, playing songs sequentially in order from folder to folder.  If I long press the volume down button for a few seconds an audible click is heard and song proceeds to the first song in the next folder just as if you long pressed the next song button.  From here, if I continue to let songs play, after the last song in that particular folder plays, the first song in that folder begins again.  The same result is achieved if I short press the next button to cycle through songs in that folder.  I think this is "repeat album" mode.  If I long press the volume down button again, the Alien goes to the first song in the next folder and default mode resumes.  However, after long pressing the volume down button a third time and advancing to the next song, the Alien goes into "shuffle" mode and seems to randomly play songs found on the entire SD card.  Finally, long pressing the volume down button a fourth time puts my Alien back into default playback mode.  From then on, the cycle repeats.  If I turn the Alien off while in shuffle mode and turn it back on, default mode resumes.  I am wondering if your Alien's have the same feature?  If so, it seems the Alien does indeed have a shuffle mode that will definitely make the Alien a more desirable player to own!

To summarize, here is the sequence my Alien goes into when the volume down button is long pressed after starting up my Alien:

First long press: Album repeat mode (folder repeat)
Second long press: Default mode
Third long press: Song shuffle mode
Fourth long press: Default mode

I have noticed that when the battery gets low, long pressing the down volume button does not always result in an audible click and automatic change to first song in next folder.  Therefore, I'd try this with a full battery.

Personally, my preference is to listen to entire albums in sequence, so I likely won't engage the shuffle mode very often, but I thought I'd share in case you all were not aware of this feature.

looool thats brilliant man,

We have been searching for this function like crazy !

I tried it by luck before, but never in million years i would have understood, it turns to the next folder i just thought it was something wrong that occured once

but i tried now and it seems to be working, 3 long presses on volume down gives shuffle.

BruceBanner might find this interesting, since he offered the closest way to shuffle

 

[Tympan]

  I can confirm the shuffle mode, in addition turning off the alien disengages it.

Just tried with mine. Doesn't work I have the signs painted white so maybe the early Alien version? Does your wheel have painted or engraved signs?

 

[jaker782]

  Just tried with mine. Doesn't work I have the signs painted white so maybe the early Alien version? Does your wheel have painted or engraved signs?

 
Not sure what you mean by painted or engraved signs.  My Alien looks just like the black one shown on the Shozy website.  The function wheel is black with white signs and white "shozy" logo.  On the back, it also says SN: 00319.  I have seen photos of units with a silver function wheel and shozy logo with a darker color, which I assume is an older version.

 

[jaker782]

looool thats brilliant man,

We have been searching for this function like crazy !

I tried it by luck before, but never in million years i would have understood, it turns to the next folder i just thought it was something wrong that occured once

but i tried now and it seems to be working, 3 long presses on volume down gives shuffle.

@BruceBanner might find this interesting, since he offered the closest way to shuffle

 
I also stumbled upon the shuffle feature by luck and thought it was a glitch at first because it takes 3 long presses to get to it from standard mode.  By dumb luck I realized a single long press puts you in repeat folder mode.  I must have been in that mode when I noticed the album I was listening to repeated after the last song instead of proceeding to the next folder.  What I don't get is why a second long press puts you back into default mode instead of going into shuffle mode.  Regardless, I am glad i played around with it enough to realize there was a pattern.

 

[jaker782]

  Just tried with mine. Doesn't work I have the signs painted white so maybe the early Alien version? Does your wheel have painted or engraved signs?

Just thought of something.  If you long press the volume down button, are you getting a click after maybe two seconds then a change to a new song?  I just turned on my Alien and tried to engage shuffle mode and nothing happened after holding the button down for maybe 5 seconds.  However, I think it still works if you don't get the click.  If you aren't getting a click and change of song, try long pressing the down volume button for 2 seconds, release, press again for two seconds, release, and press again for 2 seconds.  Now if you advance to the next track, does shuffle mode engage?  I am not sure why sometimes I get a click and sometimes I don't, but when I don't, long pressing 3 times in a row still puts me into shuffle mode.  Try it!

 

[Tympan]

   
Not sure what you mean by painted or engraved signs.  My Alien looks just like the black one shown on the Shozy website.  The function wheel is black with white signs and white "shozy" logo.  On the back, it also says SN: 00319.  I have seen photos of units with a silver function wheel and shozy logo with a darker color, which I assume is an older version.

Got the same model as yours and Shozy web site (SN: 00366)
 
I tried again and I don't get any clicking noise after 2 seconds. I was in the middle of typing to say no shuffling is happening as it played the 2 first songs in a row but it just switched on a different folder in the middle of an album on the third song !!! More testing to come, I'm a bit confused... I'm currently using it with Focal XS2.1 computer speakers and it sounds better than the XS2.1 internal DAC. Sounds great! 
Yeap, it is in shuffling mode now. When I press forward, it chooses random songs from random albums. Great! Not sure what I did wrong earlier...

 

[OJNeg]

My SN: Tree-fiddy
 
I kid you not.

 

[Tympan]

Tree-fiddy?

 

[kingdixon]

Just thought of something.  If you long press the volume down button, are you getting a click after maybe two seconds then a change to a new song?  I just turned on my Alien and tried to engage shuffle mode and nothing happened after holding the button down for maybe 5 seconds.  However, I think it still works if you don't get the click.  If you aren't getting a click and change of song, try long pressing the down volume button for 2 seconds, release, press again for two seconds, release, and press again for 2 seconds.  Now if you advance to the next track, does shuffle mode engage?  I am not sure why sometimes I get a click and sometimes I don't, but when I don't, long pressing 3 times in a row still puts me into shuffle mode.  Try it!

i think i know whats happening,

The normal attitude is nothing should happen, no click no song changed, just soft clicking volume down 3 long times, engage shuffle mode.

what happened with us, we use excessive force so our long hard click, as if we click on both volume down and forward at the same time, so it changes mode and switches folder,

But the right way to do it, is soft clicking volume down, and you will get no signs, just 3 long clicks, then moving forward will shuffle.

 

[NLNH]

  Well mine turned up today, and I'm very impressed and very disappointed.
When it's working, and playing the tracks I put on, it's bloody brilliant, the best input I've heard to my IE8's ever.
But, it's an absolute joke trying to get tracks on there. I converted 10 tracks from 1 album, 3 play, 6 skip/don't, 1 crashes the alien. I've recencoded them them identically to flac with two different pieces of software. The tracks play faultlessly on any other device I play them on.
I don't doubt this player is brilliant when you get it going, but getting tracks on is a nightmare.
 
*edit*
 
I'm only getting about 50% of tracks to play on it, and it's even playing tracks that are deleted off the sd card now....

 

 
simplest way try converting with foobar again and everything should be playing... charge it full then some skipping/crashing won't happen
 
Treat this like film cameras and you will feel happier haha, this is a tricky toy

 

[Tympan]

   
You know, that's a potentially great idea for me to try with my Ihifi 770. It's touch screen, and I have difficulties finding where the "buttons" are in low light (or when in a pocket). Having "raised dots" would be perfect!
 
What were you thinking of using? I'm thinking of something like the silicone things I have on the bottom of my E12, except much smaller...
 

 
Anyway, thanks for the idea!

 
I couldn't find dots that stick good enough so I made my own using Sigru modeling rubber. It's not perfectly symetrical but feels great on the touch once cured (kind of hard silicone, firm enough but still a little flexible)... Anyway, that's what it looks like