Chosen Solution
Hi I’m 81 and I’m about to dive into the technology of the mp3 I’ve been given a Thompson 6722 Mp3 player by my daughter and grandchildren. When deleting music I accidentally deleted the files can I reload them ?. maxandpat@bigpond.com regards Max
Hi, I can’t find a user manual to see what the player looks like but does the mp3 player look similar to the one in this link If not, sorry to have wasted your time. If so it may, stress may, be possible to reflash the firmware in the device if is is using a TH1611 chip. Click on the Downloads > Firmware Updates Restore Utility to download the file. When you have the file (virus scan it to be safe as it is a .exe file) run it on your Windows PC. Here’s the rub - You need a PC with a Vista or older OS (Win XP) installed as the program won’t work with Win7 and up, not even in compatibility mode, as there are no longer any drivers for it. If you have a PC with this requirement, then run the program on the PC and then remove the AAA battery from the mp3 player and insert the player into the USB port of the PC with the player’s power on switch operated and pressing the Play button. When the program shows that it has detected that the player is connected which is almost straight away, release the Play button and it will reflash the firmware once you click on the Start button in the program. If it works the player will be renamed “Pearl” when you start it as this is in the firmware. After that it should work as before and be identified in any computer so that the mp3 files can be loaded. I happened upon this fix about 8 years ago when trying to fix my wife’s generic brand (rebadged Thompson) mp3 player which fortunately has the TH1611 chip (apparently common in this type of player at the time) and it wouldn’t start and have reflashed it twice since due to glitches which corrupted the firmware. I have a dual boot Vista/Win 10 PC just so I can fix the player as my wife thinks that it is too handy to dispense with.
That’s one of those grey area ones since it’s an older RCA/Thomson. It’s old enough to potentially require bespoke software because that was when the labels and RIAA went to war with consumers to force people to like DRM and copy protection (ask us how many resorted to using Limewire and stealing music despite Apple saying “don’t steal music” on the plastic wrap as a workaround if you want an idea of how well their crusade worked LOL). Look at how many people have DRM-infested iTunes libraries (as well as other providers) who have to waste time rebuilding if they removed it in new downloads, or find ways to remove it (ex: iTunes DRM comes off when you burn it to CD and re-rip it permanently). See how many people feel like it was worth the drama RIAA created back then… Thankfully even some of the really cheap Chinese ones of the era behave like a USB flash drive to the OS, but others from that time don’t. HOPEFULLY, it’s one which is known to not require bespoke SW, which was somewhat typical for Creative (which may make it so you can’t pull the music off without an old XP computer). If you’re asking to use it for nostalgia, replicate it with a cheap stick-based one (8-16GB, or no storage but it requires an SD card) from China or an old SanDisk without DRM problems (NOTE: Most aren’t plagued by incompatible copy protection, but really old ones MAY be). Bespoke ones aged like milk here too. If it requires proprietary software, you may need to pull a trick out of a hat and find an old XP laptop to keep files on this - it just has that look based on the design. That said, you may not need it but it may be needed since a lot of this piracy hysteria DRM relies on depreciated software only found in older versions of Windows and MacOS. This is old enough that even can’t verify it. If this is a DRM player with bespoke software with no modern value, don’t get mad at the person who gave it to you - they likely forgot. I only know about the problem because I’ve seen it before (and had them when the DRM hooks worked). Why do you think I know what Limewire is, and what the lime icon means? Exactly :-). It’s a joke in IT where we know what Limewire music looks like.
