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Linux-based Digital Audio Player with Ogg
asv108 writes "MP3 Newswire has a story about a new Linux based home player that supports OGG vorbis among other features. The MPST Digital Jukebox is currently under beta test, interested parties can aquire a beta version of the product for the cost of the parts. The Hardware breakdown for the device has a host of options including: wireless support, expanded storage, and a larger LCD display."
Will it record my brand new Celine Dion album? I so wanted to hear it in my car.
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
Of course, this dedicated box may be a little cheaper, but then it also isn't quite as versatile.
I don't think the Nomad Jukebox is linux based, but I could be wrong... The real point is to counter the argument that ogg just needs a software update. At the momement, there is no real free ogg library that uses integer math. Many mp3 products don't have floating point hardware. The product I have the most experience with is the riocar/empeg car player, and this is the main stubling block to implementing ogg support on it.
The MPST Digital Jukebox reminds me of that unit. Not because it could play MP3s, or didn't play Ogg, or because it ran an embedded OS. No, it reminds of the ARQ1 because I wouldn't buy it for the very same reason: There's no way to get your music off the thing except through an audio cable. I looked through the MPST web site for this unit. I know it's Linux-based. But how can I log into it? I want to be able to get music off of it as easy as I get music onto it. I have a PC upstairs, and a stereo downstairs. If all my music is on the MPST, then how do I listen from my PC? Hell, how do I back my music up? You can't.
Someone needs to make a simple music appliance like the MPST, but it needs that one crucial feature: you need to be able to get your music off of it as easily as you can get it on to it. You have an smbd running which shares the entire /music slice, or export that music partition via NFS. Or even let me stream from it via HTTP (and then I can write LWP scripts to mirror/spider/play my tunes). But just let me get my music off it somehow. It would also be cool if it had a PCMCIA slot so that you could stick in additional drive space/RAM/802.11b. And a way to get custom software on it would be cool. A bash prompt would be really cool
Oh well. But as long as we're in the land makebelieve, with cool music appliances that do everything everyone wants for only like $100, I want one more thing: Can I have a pony?
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
Obviously, you shouldn't. This device is made for people who don't have the time, skill, or inclination to build their own box.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
I just sent an email to Apple, asking if there were any official plans for ogg vorbis support in the near future, as the tech spec page says that the firmware is upgradable to enable "support for future audio formats"
.sig in the mail, stating my address and phone number. Two days later Apple called(!) me on my cell phone (they even got me a person speaking my own language) and told me that thay could not give me an unofficial anwser to that, but they had noticed that at least one person (me), was interested, and that they off cource would act on market needs.
I put my usual
I therefore suggests that other people do likewise. The email for public relations on the iPod is found here.
sveinhal
Its sitting right next to my tivo and dvd player... well its not the same one as mentioned above but it has:
ogg support, with mp3 and cd
110 gig of storage space
burns cds
internet connectivity (p2p) and usb support
linux
a java compatible browser
a beautiful ui running through a huge screen
2 processors and a whole hell of alot of memory
if you haven't guessed its called a "computer" and is availabe from parts at pricewatch.com
for about 600 dollars, i really suggest you get one (they're great). It also plays dvds flawlessly (in linux), plays divx (again in linux, hell thats all i have on it), and acts as a tivo using simple bash scripting and some good old fashion c/c++. We won't even get into the fact that its dream console, capable of playing all your favorite games from nintendo and sega
can't sleep slashdot will eat me
Okay, I don't see who would want it, other than to have something that plays OGGs. This thing looks like an old PC (and probably is), only supports MP3 and OGG (where's FLAC or WAV or anything else?), requires an internet connection, and the thing is huge (there's no excuse for it being anywhere near that size). The display is a 20 char by 4 line LED backlit LCD display. While this is easy to implement, they could have used a graphical display and had different font sizes, cool graphics, and maybe a better user interface. I also have to wonder how noisy it is, considering that most PCs have at least two fans. This thing really looks like a hack: if someone built one of these for himself it might be impressive, paying $1000 for it is simply a ripoff.
I don't see what the market for this thing is: the real geeks would simply build their own that's both cheaper and has more features, while the average users would simply shrug it off for being ugly and for lack of features. Worse, it probably won't play any copy protected CDs^H^H^Hshiny plastic discs with music encoded on them.
Because that's all it is. This is just one geek who's put together the hardware and software himself, made from old PC bits + a small LCD screen.
He isn't some big company selling at a profit. in fact he says
"...testers can purchase the Digital Jukebox from me at cost (+shipping) or I'm happy to help anyone build one themselves. The software is free. See the Hardware page for cost breakdown information."
Ogg Vorbis is superior, save it's not as wide-spread as MP3. And it's free in both of the cliche senses. I'd recommend reading the FAQ.
Would you say Linux and BSD geeks just think that they are nonconformist when they don't use Windows?
Nice one,
? vorb123
we should make sure Apple gets hold of Bejamin's signature list ( about 1300 now ) , make sure all of you sign in : http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi
If we have 10.000 signatures is should be possible to raise interest in Vorbis .
they used standard pc parts. for around $350.00 they could have used a DCT/Allwell box that looks like a dvd player, has the cd drive,room for the HD, sound,video,etc... all on the board with 2 nic cards and had a nifty place to mount a VF display instead of a lame lcd to make it look super professional.
Please please people.... if you are prototyping something... buy a public display type of system to make it pretty so you dont look like a couple of college students slapping S.A.N.E. in a box with an lcd and a remote and calling it an innovative product.
mpg123 the backend to SANE play's ogg's so everyone that has a SANE player has this.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I'm not sure why this was modded up as it is full of missinformation.
:PJBExploder: which has been out for at least 6 months one can play songs through your PC with the PJB or download your music files off the player to a computer. It will also allow you to push up non mp3 files.
There are a couple of SDKs for the PJB including an open one which you can find either on sourceforge or freshmeat. The openPJB project is quite old and has been out for a while.
Also using a program called
It will only plays mp3s however, but so what? The PJB design is an old one.
Check the yahoo PJB group, there are quite a few 3rd party user created programs out there.
--- I do not moderate.
Why not get an iMac? They cost around $1000 (the CRT-based one), have a slot-loading CD drive, and come with a nice color screen. I think the Graphite one looks pretty good--nicer than a big, black box. And iTunes is very convenient for both capturing and playing back MP3s.
... since I wouldn't own one of the ugly buggers (though I do lust after a high end G4 laptop with DVD-RW support, if they ever make such a beast) I don't know. But your post does seem to kind of miss the entire point of the story and the article it links to.
The whole point is that the hardware and software hack presented in this story supports Ogg Vorbis format. Many of us have our entire CD collections, several gigabytes worth of music, encoded in the Patent Free Ogg Vorbis format because (a) it sounds better that MP3 at similar bitrates and variable-bit-rates and (b) no one can go pull a Unisys on us and start demanding back royalties down the road or effectively make every free(dom) player/encoder illegal at the date and time of their choosing.
Now perhaps Itunes and Imac supports Ogg Vorbis playback as well
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
From what I can tell this is still in early production stages. A lot of people are complaining about the case while the head of the project is still working on software and things like power supply.
In the spirit of the Open Source community I though this would be welcomed with open arms. The device is open in every way and yes they offer software downloads.
Do you think that fancy HP device was pretty when they started working on it? I'm sure the early testing was done on parts wired together on a safe table.
Packaging is last. I would say get the machine and fiddle with it [if you can afford it] and try to make it better.
Get your Unix fortune now!