Thank you guys for the help. I'm back at it again trying to tackle this damn mp3.
Success! I think I got it! The WikiHow instructions do work, but they are incomplete. It is also geared towards Linux users. With more research I was able to do it in Windows. Also I was having trouble downloading files from datafilehost.com. (you need to uncheck the little gray shield)
I knew it wasn't bricked because I was still able to browse the mp3 in Windows Explorer when the device was powered DOWN. When it was powered on, Windows would not recognize it.
So what I did since my last post was: I did a quick format using right click>properties in my computer. I did this to wipe the mp3 and start over. I used the right click method because I did not feel like going back into diskpart. I then powered down and plugged it back in.
I then used Win32DiskImager to write the patched-rockbox.bin file to the mp3. Unplugged and powered down. I was able to boot into sansa on the second attempt. Windows was having trouble recognizing the mp3 so I unplugged and powered down. Did this twice. On the third plug in, windows recognized it, but I could not browse the mp3 without doing a quick format. After the quick format and another power down, power up and plug in, the Sansa updater came on automatically. (This part of the process was glitchy for me. I was getting a message on the mp3 player that was saying "FAT system is corrupted, connect to a computer" the other error message I got was "*PANIC* usb-drv: EP0 completion while waiting for SETUP" this is probably why Windows forced me to do another quick format.)
I don't feel as good about it because I was having trouble with the process and it may not have been a perfectly "clean" install. As long as it works though I am good.
My only question is: Out of an 8gb mp3 player, how much should be available for use? It is only saying 7.14 gb available out of 7.35 gb. Before the last format it was saying 7.4 gb. Is some of the space being taken up by junk files as part of my crappy install?
If so I suppose I could go back to step 1 and put it MSC mode using the two pins on the PCB, repartition it, and reformat it in FAT32.
Right now my next step is to try the RockBox Utility and see if I can customize it a little bit. I would also like to post all my findings in a later post to help those trying to crack the BOP mp3 player.