how to fix my emusic1 mp3 player?

I had the same problem and resolved it as instructed below. Now all of the menu functions are in chinese. Is there a way to switch it back to english?

Ed
September 2011

i have one and when i try to put music on the dang thing it tells me that the wpd file system volume driver is not working what the heck does that mean and now i cant down load any files if you have any idea how i can fix it email me at hottiebabymoma aol.com

Elizabeth
July 2011

my player is just stuck and tells mezat it has more space than it really has..like 500gb in 1gb player and it is corrupted

blake
January 2009

I tried it on this 1GB version of emusic1, it will go partway, but not all the way. Search shows that FM6652 is for the 256MB version - I got a broken TH103, and this program fixed that right up as it is a 256MB device. I have two 1GB devices that need fixing.

Try doing this trick when replacing the batteries - fold a strip of plastic tape in half, lengthwise, so that the sticky side is pressed together. When you are done, it should not be sticky, just a strip of plastic. (paper tape works, too.) Cover the top part of the battery so that only the + end is covered. Insert the - end of the battery, push against the spring, then insert the folded tape-covered + end in. Hold the battery in place and pull the tape out to connect the battery.

I never have problems like what you get when doing it the regular way since you are trying to fit the AAA battery, and it's like scrambling the FLASH memory.

You can wait until later to pull the tape out so the battery is ready to use when you want it.

After the battery is finished, make sure to remove the battery straight out. To make this easy, fold a piece of tape over the battery, so that the tape is wrapped around the battery, and there is plenty of tape extra to fold together to form a removal tab. Just grab this tab, press against the spring and lift right out.

Fumbling with the battery, or tapping it out, can also wreck the FLASH memory.

I think this is due to the manufacturer's decision to bring down costs by eliminating a power-buffering capaciator. No wonder they are no longer in business (the China manufacturer assigned to RCA MP3 production.)

Robert Roehm
September 2008

I tried this and held down the play button, but i get the error (unable to open bootmanager.sb file)

please email to jackig2002@yahoo.com

jack
September 2008

I bought 5 used emusic1 mp3 player. I Could not reformat them until I came to this Forum. Reformated them with the fat file.

Thanks to all

holywoman
August 2008

Thanks for the information, one thing I didn't realize and had to babelfish the chinese doc is that you should take out the battery then hold play and connect to your PC. the your computer should detect your MP3 player.

Thanks flashgoogler, for the informative post

_J
July 2008

Wow! Mine came back after applying the new firmware. I couldn't believe it. It had been dead for months, not only did I have the "suddenly all songs deleted and new transfers won't work," but I also managed to corrupt it when a formatting operation died half way through. I even opened it up and peeked at its insides (doesn't appear to have any user serviceable parts or internal reset).

Anyways, prior to reflashing it, it locked up my computer whenever inserting it. It was really unpredictable. I was actually about to give up when the formatting tool finally detected it and started working. Anyways, a big thank you to flashGoogler and david8888!

Jon
March 2008

hey!thanx alot!i downloaded it, followed the directions and it works fine now!i also tried it on an old one i had which had been lying around as a lost cause for a few months, and it started working as well!!!so thanx again!

Sarah
March 2008

The whole rca.net.cn site seems to be down. I don't have access to my copy at the moment, but I see that david8888 from fatwallet.com has uploaded the file to megaupload.com Here's his link: http://www.fatwallet.com/redirect/bounce.php?afsrc=1&url=http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MBBAL40C

Good luck. Let me know if you have any problems. My emusic1 is still working great by the way.

flashGoogler
March 2008

Hi!
i also have the same mp3 player, and after showing the same symptoms mentioned by flashGoogle, it stopped working completely. now i was very relieved when i found other people were facing the same problem, and a solution existed. Unfortunately, things are not that simple. The site mentioned by flashGoogler is not opening. Is there a problem with the site now, or is it sumthing only i'm facing?And is there any other way i can get access to the software to fix my mp3?

Sarah
March 2008

I got a few more of these since my last post, and they work great for the long haul...as long as I format to FAT(default size) and check the quick format box as soon as I take it out of the package.

mindbender89
December 2007

Dec-1-2007... I just did exactly what flashGoogler said to do, and it worked!!! Thank you so much. 3 glitches I had:
(1) I had to fart around with unpacking the .rar file. Winzip did not work, nor could I try Stuffit. I ended up using the trial version of WinRAR.
(2) I actually had to do it twice because I was impatient the first time, and had to reboot the computer and start all over. Then it would not recognize the mp3 player because I did a partial install. I had to load the .inf driver that you will find in a drivers directory. Then I reconnected to USB cable and started over. Lucky me it worked.
(3) As I indicated, it took a long time, and you have to follow the directions explicitly that flashGoogler says, like holding that button down. Basically, I held the button down on the mp3 player, connected it to the USB at the same time, and then I clicked on the .exe.

It worked awesome. I am listening to the RCA emusic mp3 player right now!

Chicky Babe
December 2007

RCA EMUSIC1 (FM6652) firmware found...

If none of the above solutions work, you can probably bring your EMUSIC1 back to life by reflashing its firmware. It's based on a SigmaTel chip, which is actually not a bad system, and their updater is very robust. Unfortunately, the firmware for my EMUSIC1 wasn't on the included CD, so when it died, I couldn't reflash it. RCA's western support sites also don't have the firmware available, and their email support is just an autoanswer stub. This product is packaged as a free giveaway when you buy 180 song downloads from emusic, so I guess RCA considers it a throwaway item.

But I didn't want to throw it away, and after much Googling, I finally used the Google translation feature to find a Chinese version of the firmware! Seems RCA takes better care of their customers in The Middle Kingdom...

In China the product is known as FM6652. This firmware is for the Chinese market I guess: It will first bootup in Chinese, but you can go through the menu and change the language to English, and from then on it will always boot in English. Note that ONLY English as well as the two variants of Chinese are available with this firmware. In the ReadMe file it shows version 1.716.2.001 If you use the device menu to show version, it shows version 1.01

Anyways, it brought my player back to life. I've been using it for about a week and it seems to work exactly like the firmware it originally had on it. BUT so far it hasn't exhibited any of the flakiness of the original (no more freezing of Windows during file transfers, etc! So far, at least...). I'm not making any guarantees that this is a better firmware version than the US market original, but it seems to be. The only bad news is, it hasn't improved the very short battery life - I get like two or three hours, same as before... OK, I do like my music LOUD!

Here's the link to the approx 5MB .rar download:

http://www.rca.net.cn/Down.asp?ID=0712711505835365&DownID=06121511170439198

To resurrect a dead EMUSIC1 on a Windows XP machine, download and decompress the rar file, then dive down through the folders, clicking on 6652... at each level until you come to stupdaterapp.exe Double click that and it will start looking for your EMUSIC1. Hold the PLAY button in on the EMUSIC1 while plugging it into the USB port. Keep that button down until you see that the program has started to find your player, then follow the prompts in the program. Note that the program will reformat the flash memory and erase any songs you have on it.

flashGoogler
November 2007

The Emusic1, a rather inexpensive and unspectacular MP3 Player, was essentially created to accompany an E-music trial. From my understanding, its a starter kit for someone who wants to try out the world of digital music. So basically your paying for a month of E-music and a generic MP3 player in hopes that you would continue subscribing to E-music.

Quality is not in the RCA E-Music1 player. It has minor functions and provides basic music playback. So don't expect it to be the greatest MP3 player.

My MP3 player became 'damaged' or 'corrupt' when I changed the battery (Like a few of you other people). After much evaluation, I believe the trouble is in the design. The USB 'guard', which must be removed to change the battery, is the main problem. When this is off, there is a high chance for electro-static discharge. So just touching the USB connector, which has a high chance as I may have hit it, can damage your MP3 Player. This is off the top of my head of course, but if someone can confirm it that would be nice.

To fix it, You must Format it. Either through Windows or through a program. Windows was unresponsive, so I had to do it through DOS, but I'm sure there are programs that can do this as well. The best way to ensure you don't lose your music is to back it up on you Hard Drive as perhaps a separate file. So you can upload your music easy without having to re-download or rip everything.

Jack Logan
November 2007

I have had the same problem with my emusic 1 to top it off when I called the RCA Support Line, the dingy on the other side of my line tells me that they dont have anything to help me and that she suggests for me to purchase another unit. UGH! I am so disappointed with this Emusic 1 player, even for the price :

mala
November 2007

I bought 2 of these pieces of carp recently at circuit city. after the first battery went dead on both, it corrupted the players and they froze on the rca screen. One was fixed formatting to fat32, but the 2nd player would not take. I formatted in fat after and it seemed to work. wrong.

After the fat format, it would freeze while transferring that first file, and not take that first mp3 without corrupting it. The first track became a medley of 3 or 4 different songs fused together, that were supposed to have been wiped out by the format. I left the corrupted mp3 on there, and proceeded to transfer files on it....the 2nd song and all thereafter transferred with absolutely no problems.

It took me like 2 hours and many format attempts to figure out that I had to leave that corrupted mp3 on there. I just advance track if it pops up.

Oh, I have a ton of grateful dead and other trade friendy/legal bands like phish, moe., etc. free mp3 downloads at brentmydland.net

Enjoy!

mindbender89
November 2007

be sure to reformat it in fat, not fat32. the problem you have with it flashing on and off is because its formatted in fat32. i did the same thing. just reformat with fat and it should work. it will not need to be reflashed.

cg
September 2007

REady
just format your player on MS-DOS
C:windows> Format F:
(f:) in my case
ANd joy your Mp3 player

aldinboy
June 2007

i also have a emusic1 mp3 player, when i plugged it into the computer it said file corrupted. I tried to reformat the player but made things worse. The player now just flashes the RCA screen over and over. I think it needs to be reformated and have the rca software put back on it. I don't know if this is possible or not with out sending it to RCA, but I'm researching it right now.

ben Jimenez
May 2007