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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 8:08 am Post subject: Music Players

My poor old first generation ipod is about ready for replacement. The battery now lasts about 20 minutes. Sometimes less. I know I can get a new battery for it, but I figure I'm ready for something a little newer. So, here's what I'm looking for:

A minimum of 4GB. I'm used to 5GB, so 4GB probably won't be too bad. Ideally, I'd like to up that though.
More format support. I have lot's of FLAC files, so flac support would be good, but not essential. I also have lots of ogg files, and transcoding sucks, so ogg support would be nice too.
Tag based file sorting. I don't really like the file-tree based systems. I don't want to have to all the organizing. All of my files are well tagged, so I want the music player to organize based on the tags.
Relatively small. I don't really want anything bigger than my current ipod.
Less than $250.
linux support (not essential, but nice)

Those aren't all essential. For the right price/featureset, I can be flexible. I really like the ipod interface, so I might just give up ogg/flac support to stick with what I know.

The ones I've looked at are:

ipod classic 80GB (maybe a little over the $250)
ipod nano video (4gb or 8gb)
Cowan iaudio D2 4GB
Creative Zen 8GB
Cowan iaudio 7 8GB

The ipods have the edge because I know and like the interface, but I would like added format support. The cowan's have the ogg/flac support I'm looking for, but I'm nervous about the interface. I like the fact that the D2 is expandable with the SD slot, but then it sounds like the implementation of the SD slot is less than perfect. The Zen is cheaper than an ipod for the same size, but it is only an MTP only device (WMP and the like), and linux support is questionable. The interface seems alright from what I've seen. The Zen also has an SD slot, but the implementation of it is almost useless.

Anyone have any recomendations? Any that I should be looking at that I've missed?

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:38 am Post subject:

Cowon iAudio 7 FTW.

I have the 8GB version plugged into my car right now. It rocks. Ludicrously long battery life, intuitive user interface, and it looks nice, too. Support for silly numbers of formats, not just AAC.

Get one. You won't regret it.

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 3:43 pm Post subject:

Actually, I have just disassembled my 3rd Gen iPod and removed the now non-charging battery, and I will stop by Maplins (UK equivalent to Radio Schlock) and pick up a replacement, which is sold in blister packs.

Cheaper by far than a new iPod, and I'm being very parsimonious right now, but I can't justify a new iPod when I haven't filled up this one.

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:52 pm Post subject:

this one from MEE plays damn near everything...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855627005
no experience myself, but considering this one since it supports micro sd cards for adding storage.

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 2:41 am Post subject:

There may be one small issue with this 1

Quote:
Cons: Just got it today and hooked it up via USB -- it booted and charged beautifully. The CD with video-conversion software on it was, unfortunately, corrupted. DRIVERS AND SOFTWARE ARE NOT AVAILABLE ON THE COMPANY'S WEB SITE. The rep did, however, promise to mail me a new CD right away. (We'll see if it arrives.) Then, after fully charged, I loaded some mp3 tracks on it, plugged in my earphones and listened. Then I switched it off, and it COMPLETELY DIED from that point on. Utterly frustrating. I hate to rate it "1", because if it worked, it would be amazing -- but something that dies within the first two hours of ownership has GOT to be a "1". If you buy this, better luck to you. I'm exploring alternatives and returning it immediately.

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 3:04 am Post subject:

T wrote:
Cowon iAudio 7 FTW.

I have the 8GB version plugged into my car right now. It rocks. Ludicrously long battery life, intuitive user interface, and it looks nice, too. Support for silly numbers of formats, not just AAC.

Get one. You won't regret it.

Nearly forgot; it uses a bog-standard mini USB connector, and presents itself as a perfectly ordinary UMS device. No messing around with any crap proprietary nonsense.

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 6:00 am Post subject:

agrogod wrote:
There may be one small issue with this 1

Quote:
Cons: Just got it today and hooked it up via USB -- it booted and charged beautifully. The CD with video-conversion software on it was, unfortunately, corrupted. DRIVERS AND SOFTWARE ARE NOT AVAILABLE ON THE COMPANY'S WEB SITE. The rep did, however, promise to mail me a new CD right away. (We'll see if it arrives.) Then, after fully charged, I loaded some mp3 tracks on it, plugged in my earphones and listened. Then I switched it off, and it COMPLETELY DIED from that point on. Utterly frustrating. I hate to rate it "1", because if it worked, it would be amazing -- but something that dies within the first two hours of ownership has GOT to be a "1". If you buy this, better luck to you. I'm exploring alternatives and returning it immediately.

read the comments on the 2GB version and then decide.

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:23 pm Post subject:

Well, I pulled the trigger, and ordered the IAudio 7 8GB. It was onsale, and it does everything I want it to. I'll let you all know what I think of it once I get it.

It surprises me there isn't more support for ogg. In my opinion mp3 is a somewhat tainted format with the whole fraunhofer license issue etc. ogg vorbis doesn't suffer from that at all, and is a completly free and open format.

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 1:30 pm Post subject:

hummer010 wrote:
Well, I pulled the trigger, and ordered the IAudio 7 8GB. It was onsale, and it does everything I want it to. I'll let you all know what I think of it once I get it.

It surprises me there isn't more support for ogg. In my opinion mp3 is a somewhat tainted format with the whole fraunhofer license issue etc. ogg vorbis doesn't suffer from that at all, and is a completly free and open format.

As well as being free and open, it also offers slightly better compression, usually, than MP3 for the same quality.

But MP3 has achieved preeminence in the marketplace. Just like in the 80's and 90's "walkman" became the eponymous term for personal cassette players, regardless of brand, so has the term "MP3 player" become synonymous with any portable digital audio player, regardless of supported formats.

OGG is better, yes, but I can't see how Xiph can get it into the mainstream consciousness. I think it's - sadly - destined to remain a niche codec, used only by those who have a clue about what they're doing. I'd like to see it do better.

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:44 am Post subject:

Are you going to eBay your old iPod? I would think about buying it but it would probably cost me a fortune just to ship it to the US.

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:33 am Post subject:

squashman wrote:
Are you going to eBay your old iPod? I would think about buying it but it would probably cost me a fortune just to ship it to the US.

I haven't decided yet. I might try and get a battery for it and give it to my wife.

She had been using it for working out, which was fine, except that meant I had to have "her" music on there. We have rather different music tastes, so it might be nice to have his and hers players so I don't have to occasionally get some shit music every now and again on random play.

If I decide to get rid of it, I'll let you know.

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:34 am Post subject:

T wrote:
As well as being free and open, it also offers slightly better compression, usually, than MP3 for the same quality.

And here, I only used ogg for moral reasons, not technical reasons.

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:11 am Post subject:

Alright, I've had the device for a total of about 12 hours now. It's time for a quick initial impressions review.

Pros:

Small. Lots of reviews complained about how large it is, and I was surprised at how small it is.
The display is great. Very bright and easy to read considering it is a 1" screen.
Controls. The controls work really well. The touch part was a little sensitive initially, but that is adjustable. I like the audible feedback as well.
I really like that it is just a USB drive. No need for any special software to load music on it. Also, no propriety plug. It is a standard mini-usb.
Sound. It sounds great. Comparing with my old ipod using the same mp3 and the same earbuds, it sounds less muddy. Very clear sound all round.
The file based music browsing works much better than I anticipated. Which is good because:

Cons:

Using the tagged browsing doesn't read the tags from ogg or flac files. Any mp3's are listed sorted by artist, album etc. (just like an ipod), but all ogg and flac files show up as unknown. What's interesting is on the now playing screen, the title, artist, and album are displayed for all tracks - mp3, ogg and flac. Weird.
Waking up the display is a bit weird. If I press one of the three buttons on top, the screen wakes up, and the button doesn't perform it's normal task, just like you would expect. If I use one of the swing-touch buttons, the screen wakes up, but the button also performs it's normal task. For example, if I hit the play/pause button while the screen is off, the screen comes on, and the device pauses. If I hit the volume + button while the screen is off, the screen turns on, but the volume doesn't increase unless I hit the volume + button again.
I haven't yet managed to get any album art to display. Period. I have some art that is tagged in an .mp3, but most of it is stored in the directory with the music. I've tried a few different file names for the art in the directory, but it still hasn't displayed.

So far, I'm pretty happy with it. I'm a little dissapointed with the browsing by tag thing, but the sound quality has more than made up for it.

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:04 pm Post subject:

Try a firmware update. I'm on v1.15 and the buttons work as expected.