I recently got a SanDisk e280 mp3 player, and I've been using it with napster (yes I'm one of the very few people who actually pays for music). Its pretty much the only reason I ever boot Windows anymore so I installed windows on VMware and I've been trying to get the mp3 player working on the VM to avoid having to reboot every time I want to add music to it but I haven't been having much luck. The problem is that it uses MTP to transfer songs so it doesn't work under linux (or at least I haven't been able to get it to). I actually got the VM to recognize the device and install the drivers for it but napster freezes every time I try to use the device. I really have no idea what to try next so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or tried something like this before.

I assume you are using USB to transfer the data to your MP3 device. Use Windows 98 instead of using Windows 2000/XP. Both Windows 2000 and Windows XP handles USB differently than Windows 98. Some people used only a USB 1.1 hub to force the device in 1.1 mode (12 Mbps) when using Windows 2000/XP in a virtual machine.

Another way is using TightVNC with a LittlePC unit that runs Windows. The LittlePC unit should fit in a 5.25 inch drive bay.

Oh yeah I probably should have mentioned that. I haven't posted here in a long time and forgot.

It is a USB device, and I'm running Ubuntu 6.10 with windows xp pro on the VM. The problem isn't connecting USB devices to the VM, I have a USB flash drive that works fine in the VM. The problem is that the mp3 player doesn't connect as a mass storage device. It uses MTP to transfer music which as far as I can find out so far isn't compatible with linux (it recognizes the device when I connect it but can't mount it or transfer any music). So Windows can detect it and install drivers for it in the VM, but because it's running inside linux it freezes whenever I try to transfer music to it on the VM.

I only have a laptop as of right now, but I'll keep in mind the littlePC idea for when I graduate after this semester and finally get some money. That seems like it should work since windows would be running natively on the machine. It seems a bit pricey though if I'm only going to be using it occasionally to transfer music.

I'd like to stick to the VM idea because I already have it up and running and it would also be free. So if anyone knows how to get MTP devices working in linux let me know, or if anyone has another idea that wouldn't be too expensive that would work too.

USB flash disk has a very low transfer rates than what people have thought. Flash memory is as slow (throughput) as double to quadruple speed CD-ROM drives. A USB flash disk is actually a 1.1 device even though they advertise as USB 2.0 device. Using a USB 2.0 device in VMware virtual machine running Windows 2000 or Windows XP will either crash, freeze, or reboot. The only way to use USB 2.0 capable devices in VMware virtual machine running Windows 2000 or Windows XP is to use only a USB 1.1 hub. The hub will force 1.1 transactions instead of using 2.0 transactions. If you still think I am wrong, visit VMware's site and browse through their knowledge base. Look for DOC ID number 774. I have no trouble when using USB 2.0 devices in Linux and Windows 98 running in VMware virtual machine.

There is a an MTP library for Linux which many programs can use. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol to learn about MTP and what Linux programs uses it. Amarok is not my favorite because it is unstable, unreliable, and bloated because it uses KDE.

Yeah I actually just came across that page a few mis ago. My computer has 3 USB 2.0 prots, but I'm still a bit confused though. Does it mean that I have to set up the VM to use only USB 1.1 or do I have to do something with the host machine. Basically how do I go about setting this up.