Slashdot Mirror
ZapStation Price Cut, Linux-Only Version
Richard Robison of ZapMedia
wrote in to say that their ZapStation stereo MP3 Box has had a serious price
cut to $599. If you put in the comments field 'JUST LINUX' they will ship you
the box with just Linux installed (and code to control the IR input and screen).
In other words, a $600 stereo component
PC ready to connect to your TV and speakers for whatever video or audio projects
you feel like rolling up yourself. I
reviewed this unit last December
and found a lot of problems, but many of those glitches have apparently been
fixed, and the price was the biggest problem, so this thing may deserve a
serious second look this time around.
Couldn't I just get a cheaper old ass pentium and put linux on it, and do the same thing?? 600 seems like a lot.
This seems reasonable, since it's not much different than the price of building one yourself.
bp
These boxes were selling for just over $1500.00, and now they are down to $600? Is this decrease due to getting cheaper bulk goods, or is this an unofficial liquidation??
Even at $600, it's a little pricey, but it definitely looks a lot better than throwing a PC in your entertainment center. I honestly might buy one of these now for a music server with screen overlay project I've been cooking up.
JUST LINUX
Putting out a brand new big offer, letting the world come in and scoop up your hardware for a much better price, and forgetting to make sure your web server is answering.
Hooray.
http://www.zapmedia.com/ just fyi.
Who would pay $600 for what essentially is an off-the-shelf PC with a custom shaped case. I can build the same thing with off the shelf components for under $400. I've also found that the S/N ratio on most consumer quality PC sound cards leaves something to be desired. Most low-end sound cards have a S/N ration of around 90 dB, which is completely unacceptable for even the weekend audiophile. I think I'll stick with my PC for gaming and web browsing and use REAL stereo components for my music listening needs.
-atrowe: Card-carrying Mensa member. I have no toleranse for stupidity.
I would rather pay $400 for a refurbished computer capable of playing all the formats this machine plays. Lets look at its problems:
Can't FTP properly if FTP sites have symlinks.
Can't do large FTP transfers.
Importing tracks from sources other than ripped CDs causes the track order to be lost.
No shuffled play.
Popping noises when listening to tracks via optical cable.
Shitty UI.
Can't change your playlist as it's being played through.
Can play MPEG video only.
Pixelated/jerky DVD playback.
Anamorphic issues with DVD playback.
Which of these issues have actually been fixed? A lot of them seem to be pretty important to me. ie: It may be nice if issues 1-5 are fixed, but if DVD playback is still pixelated/jerky, the device may be worthless.
I think my /. subscription's broken. I just read a feature-length ad for ZapMedia.
comment from original /. post:
Prediction (Score:5, Insightful)
by onion2k (onion@uberworld.spamspamspam.org) on 11:06 Friday 07 December 2001 (#2670973) Alter Relationship
(User #203094 Info | http://slashdot.org/) Its $1500 dollars now. In 3 months they'll drop that to around $799. And the Slashdot headline will read 'ZapStation now affordable'. This sort of market just begs for this kind of ploy. Sell way high to start with and recoup development costs from the early adopters with pots of cash (plus its Christmas), and then drop down to a sensible (?!) price.
The fact the media gives loads of free advertising to it when the initial production run is finished and the machine is market tested is the icing on the cake.
Examples where this has happened before? The Sony Clie, PSX, Dreamcast, PS2, lots of hifis.. if its desirable home entertainment, then this is the obvious sales plan.
Moral of the story? Wait and save.
so, can someone score a +5 informative for me and tell me where i can find the free/open source software to make this an easy to use component in my tv/stereo setup?
i mean:
- rip &play mp3/ogg/windows media, divx, dvd
- audio recording (some radio transmissions are really worthwhile saving!)
- video recording (analog).
and all this with a nice and easy interface that can be viewed on the tv i use for video output?
i know of some of the aplications i just mentioned (mplayer, xine, xmms, etc). it's just that they're all separate applications, which doesn't make it easy to use. i don't want to sit and watch a dvd, using a keyboard and mouse to navigate through the thing.
ps. don't tell me to code it myself or shut up, because i can't code, and most of the people interested in this kind of thing can't either.
"Yeah? What?"
"Well...the webserver will go down for half a day or so..."
doh. slashdotted already. http://store.yahoo.com/zapmedia/ is a direct link to buy the zapstation since their site seems to be slashdotted.
erm...
:^)
aren't a lot of audiofiles still totally in love with vinyl? you just show me an LP record that has a dynamic range of anything near 90dB and i'll eat my hat. gladly.
nonetheless, i completely agree with using a pc for gaming and a good hifi system for listening to music. there's more to sound quality than the s/n ratio of your soundcard
regards
If I had mod points I'd give you some.
"Anything is better than IE, and you can quote me on that." -- Wil Wheaton.
Indeed, Onion2k should be revered as a prophet, fearlessly and faultlessly predicting:
1) The drop in price
2) Roughly when this drop would occur
3) The value of this drop, to within reasonable error.
4) Slashdot's bent on the story regarding the price drop.
I know I'm gonna hang a plastic-moulded replica of him from my rearview mirror.
And so should you.
-l
An AC posts all this. Doesn't give the name of the 'supervisor' he talked to. Doesn't give the time this happened. Doesn't give anything to back the story up.
Hm. Given that this incident stands alone in this entire thread, doesn't it sound a little fishy?
Hey, lets put up a heavily graphic intensive site and then get 50,000 geeks to get on it all at once!!!!!
Flamebait
Serious inquiries only.
I'll give you $50 for it.
Perhaps this comment is true, but it looks like a standard MS Word 'Give a company a bad report' Wizard.
If it's true, then to the poster I say this: good luck.
... that's all i wrote...
What if you put 'JUST HARDWARE'?
Can I get it for let's say $.50?
Sheesh. $599 was the price we were all promised on a preorder.
;)
Still, it would fit nicely in my collection of failed "appliances." I've got a nice spot between the iOpener and the DigMedia Music Store.
(Anyone know where I can get an eVilla?)
You have violated Robot's Rules of Order and will be asked to leave the future immediately.
Take a look at
http://davedina.apestaart.org
The project is far from finished and i don't know if it will work on this setup. But you can ask around on the mailinglist.
We have a working box in our living room that does some of the things you want (no audio recording yet)
I know this has been said before, but here's another alternative... JVC sells a 7 disc DVD/audio CD/MP3 CD player for only $300. Why would I want to dick with a PC in my living room? If I want to listen to music/watch a movie, whatever, I want to do that, not dick with some stupid, overpriced PC. If I want to listen to music on my PC, I fire up Winamp. What does this product have to offer?
What this argument misses, when I hear it, is that a lot of people who considering building their own system are people who make computers their hobby and enjoy working on them.
Why not just get a 1ghz linux box from Wal-Mart for $200 less?
u ct _id=1731327&cat=41937&type=19&dept=3944&path=0%3A3 944%3A3951%3A41937
Wal-mart...
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?prod
If they refuse to honor the terms of the warranty - and you've made a good faith effort to prove that you legitimately own the box, they charged your credit card, you received it - you take them to small claims court. Disputing the charge with your CC company is the wrong move if the charge wasn't fraudulent, and you received the merchandise. Look at it from their perspective - you promised to pay for some merchandise by using your credit card, and then you went back on that promise.
In my state there is a very strict process for taking a business to small claims court. Before going to court you have to send a 30-day demand letter, allowing the merchant time to resolve the matter out of court. If you don't settle, you can take them to court. And if you've documented everything well, you will probably win.
I work at ZapMedia. If this actually happened, call me and I will take care of the problem. Since we never sold a box for $799, my guess is that this never happened. My number is 678-420-2720. -Richard
HP has a DE100C out, since November 2001. Smilar product, expensive though!
ZDNet intro article
Slashdot Article #1
Slashdot Article #2
HP's web site
Open Source Info
My cajun system uses a 486-133MHz for full quality mp3 playback, and only uses ~40% of the processor resources to do it, I just had to make sure mpg123 was compiled w/ 486 optimizations.
"Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
Um, maybe I should preface things like this with
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ WARNING @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
This post may contain a joke.
If you laugh, we share a sense of humor. If you don't get it, bug off. If it's really offtopic (which the above isn't since it relates to an article which reads like an advertisement) moderate it as such. If you take a second to look at my post history you will find I'm a perfectly well behaved karma whore not accustomed to posting crap requiring modding down.
My poetry site welcomes the unusual.
XML causes global warming.
Maybe because most of us aren't anally retentive and have a life to get on with? The average person doesn't log their calls to customer support noting names and exact times, they expect customer support to do that for them and then execute their orders. In reality it's trust that oils the work of commerce, relieving red tape and enabling us to lead more productive lives. I've taken items back to stores a number of times with no receipt and they have exchanged the item without question.
Much like computer security, you have to weigh up how much process you want to put in against how inconvenient it is. Time to time people will try and screw you. Like most people I live fairly free and easy, and each hiccup is greeted with a shug of the shoulder and a "c'est la vie". Life's too short. Warn your friends, and if it costs a fair amount of cash try taking them to small claims (though be prepared to write off the loss when the trader declares bankrupcy so they can spring up somewhere else under a new name without having to honour their obligations).
Once I put up a web page proving how a company who rented me a flat ripped me off. After they spend more on solicitors fees threatening me than the value they took from me I felt much better. I kept the physical proof safe and didn't post as an A/C unlike the parent post here.
Phillip.
Property for sale in Nice, France
ATTN Moderators: an unsubstantiated, undocumented report from an Anonymous Coward that blemishes the reputation of this company does not make for +4 insightful.
Why not? Did it ever occur to you that he could be sued if he used his real name to complain about a company in a public forum?
Apparently you don't see the necessity of anonymous speech.
Unfortunately, the way some companies behave in the light of criticism by customers/clients/posters (e.g. they often sue) one has to be careful NOT to include any specific identity. It is unfortunate that this is the case, as we now won't reliably know if a given complaint is true or not. Obviously this guy is pissed off, but I don't know if it's because he really got a defective unit, or dropped it while pulling it out of the box or while trying to install it. Still, I won't be buying one of these despite the fact that it may not be this company's fault at all, just because of the current very negative attitudes way too many corporations have (such as petswarehouse.com).
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
I think the post was a hoax. We never sold a unit for $799. The unit already has video out. There is a PCI slot, but the case is the size of a CD player, so there is no room for a full-size video card. If want want to cut up the back of the case, you might be able to do something. If you order the Linux only version, you can add more memory, change the HD, or upgrade the CPU.
I seriously doubt that he would be sued for posting on slashdot. Really, of all the outrageous, illegal, disgusting, inflamatory, or slanderous comments I've seen posted on slashdot (all of which have generated exactly 1 legal action I'm aware of), his is pretty damn mild. How do you sue someone for saying "this is what happened" if it did happen?. So even if he were sued (not bloody likely), they would have no case if he were telling the truth, and most likely would be to his advantage because he could countersue for original damages and for frivilous legal action, or for state laws concerning threatening use of lawsuits, etc. Furthermore, half his (supposed) complaint seems to be with his credit card company rather than the makers of this hardware.
Nice strawman. I never attacked anonymous speech. I just don't think unsubstantiated claims are particularly "insightful", all else being equal. That doesn't mean I think his comments should be banned - rather, I just don't think any fool who can click "Submit" is necessarily telling the truth.
XML causes global warming.
I am not sure who posted AC from here, but I am using my name. If this guy really got ripped off by us, he should call and get the issue resolved. He posted AC because it didn't happen.
My number is 678-420-2720.
AT&T operator to office techie:
What does "Slashdot effect" mean?
Office techie to AT&T operator:
Remember when the Britteny Spears concert tickets went on sale and we lost half the area code for most of the day?
AT&T operator to office techie:
Ooooh, Okay. Gotchya.
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
This kit is NTSC only. It will not work ourside the US, Canada (and maybe japan). Before you rant the there are other countries which use NTSC, they are few and far between. None in Europe, anyhow....
is a-okay at Slashdot. How much did it cost?
Great! How well does it play DVDs? (:
(Serious note: Good project.)
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
Go for the Broadcom 7031 platform instead. For $2500 you get a real embedded system.
Seems like it'd be an obvious addition.
Well, I really did do it, but I am using the older 3.x cajun software(ie no db, no apache, etc). All that I really did to optimize it was to compile mpg123 with the 486 optimization flag. It still will probably only play up to about 160kbps mp3s without skipping. Later I patched mpg123 to buffer the entire mp3 in RAM before decoding/playing - but that was just to reduce the noise I was picking up from the IDE bus. This guy built a dos based car mp3 player using the same motherboard that I did (scroll about halfway down the page, look for "Advantech PCM-4825").
"Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
That said, I agree (in the light of comments like this one) that it's almost certainly false. I posted at +2 to draw attention to it for the exact purpose of having someone authoratative confirm or deny it. If I had had mod points I would have modded it Interesting for the same reason.
As a side note: I find it funny that an AC is ridiculing me for believing what I read in an AC post. Hmm... what's wrong with this picture?
"Anything is better than IE, and you can quote me on that." -- Wil Wheaton.