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Component DVD/MP3 Player for $170
JohnDonagher
among many other sent this in. I still haven't had a chance to get to Circuit City to confirm this, but apparently Apex Digital is selling a component DVD/MP3/Karaoke player for $170. The model number is AD-600A, and you have to ask for it because its not being kept on the shelves. The player will play any MP3s on an ISO formatted CD, and you can use the standard CD controls, although apparently you can't scan around within tracks. MP3 CDs aren't bad. 600 megs is getting a lot closer to that 'I don't need to insert physical media' line that I'm itching for.
Some people have been able to find them, others haven't. Some have problems, others don't, etc. etc.
I bought one a few days ago. It reads all of the discs I have burned (with Easy CD Pro 95) for archiving my mp3s. I was impressed that I didn't have to re-burn a special cd for it. The on-screen interface is a little dis-appointing, as it only displays the first 8 characters of the name of a dir or file, but if you have one album per directory, its pretty easy to naviagate. Quality seems very good to me. I have played a bunch of dvds and they all look good.
The links are from an Ars Technica blurb
Check it out here.
It plays DVD,VCD3.0,VCD2,DVCD,MP3 all the standard stuff, even copied DVD's work on it. And for the Europeans under us (like me
Cheers,
Arno
Frys in Southern California has been selling DVD players that can play mp3s for some time now. In November they had a sale on a model from RAITE for $150. That model was particularly interesting because you could include lyrics and pictures to be displayed while the song is playing! And they are proudly displayed on the sales floor - not hidden in the back.
The portability of the media notwithstanding, I still would like an mp3 network appliance -- a simple system with:
- a decent processor
- an os in flash for upgradability (with some careful consideration of security)
- a local drive for cacheing
- network connectivity (dhcp capable, since a lot of dsl and cable bridge/routers provide this)
- http, ftp, and maybe nfs protocol support
- a stupidly simple browsing mechanism (lcd touch screen?) that would allow you to pull files or playlists
- subtle styling so that it doesn't look out of place on top of a tuner
Hook up the cat 5 right alongside the RCA plugs, enter a couple of starting points (small keypad?), and browse for music. Now THAT would be a component mp3 system.J
I think not...(*poof*)
I have had the SAMPO for over a month now and it is my favorite customer electronic gear I have. Here is what is great about it:
1. It plays MP3s great. Unfortunately it's menuing for MP3s uses 8.3 naming. Also, it will only play MP3s encoded in 144kbits or higher.
2. It plays VCDs off both CDRs and CDRWs. The only thing that plays VCDs better is the Konka, but that player has other problems.
3. It has *NO* problems with complex interactive menus. I have had the Bug's Life Deluxe Edition crash other DVD player but this one handles that disc (and others) just great.
4. The SAMPO has a "hidden" menu that allows you to disable CSS and Macrovision. This has a legitimate use too. You can not daisy chain your VCR between your DVD player and TV if Macrovision is activated. Also, this allows you to tape your DVDs on your VCR.
If you have any questions about it, please email me.
I just visited my local Circuit City.
Go to the video section and ask them to look up the following:
Vendor: APX
Model: AD600A
To their amazement, this little beauty will pop up. My local store had 4 (3 now).
The unit looks fairly clean on the front, and sparse on the back. The remote looks like my cd-changer's. The manual is nothing special, but looks readable.
Steven Yelton
Just picked up two (one for a friend), they had one on Display, two in the back.
m l
$149 each, normal price, no special sale or anything.
Display says nothing about MP3, box has a small line of text saying it supports MPEG3 Audio.
Salesman said it's a new item, had them a couple weeks.
It really does play MP3 CD's, even with complex directory structures and long filenames.
The 8 character limit is far worse than you suspect. First for any duplicates (in the first 8 chars, which is darn likely) it immediately chops off 2 characters to put a 'N' and '1' to '9' to handle the duplicate names. If it hits more than 9 duplicates it chops off another 4 characters (leaving you with 2 unique chars), putting a 4 digit hex checksum of some sort, then a 'N' '1' (assume that's there on the 1 in 65536 chance of a duplicate hex checksum).
So it's really quite hard to figure out what the tracks are!
Even when playing a track there is no extra info, no more filename, no track number, no MP3 tags. Only an elapsed time for that track (which defaults to off, you have to use the display button to get it). You have to read the track number from the front display.
As for VCD, it will actually play a PAL format VCD on a NTSC TV! So all those pirate movies from Hong Kong on VCD will now play on your TV. Even plays slightly messed up VCDs (like a couple I burned with Adaptec CD Creator 4.0 which would never play on my Phillips play fine on the APEX).
Still at $149, it's a STEAL!! I am so happy to be able to play my MP3 CDs directly without a computer, if I was richer I'd buy one for everyone in my family.
The drive is a standard DVD drive with IDE interface and 4 pin power connector.
It's based on the ESS 4308A chipset (which I assume is a newer version of the 3308 since the default Adult password is 3308).
Here is a press release from ESS announcing APEX using their chipset:
http://www.esstech.com/Newsroom/1999/9-23-99.ht