Neuros Gets (Beta) Linux Support

Jahf writes "/. reported awhile back that the folks at Digital Innovations (makers of the Neuros portable MP3 player) were teaming up with Xiph.org (makers of the Ogg Vorbis audio format) to release both native Linux support for synchronizing the Neuros and firmware support in the Neuros for Ogg Vorbis files. Today they announced in this forum posting that the native Linux client has reached beta. Nice to see this happen ... I can ditch my last Windows install (well, I'll keep it for a couple of games). It is a command-line utility, no amazing fancy UI, but I'm sure plenty of folks will work to remedy that in some fashion or another and I'm happier with a rock-solid command-line util than a buggy GUI app anyway since I already do all my ripping/encoding/freeDBing/etc from scripts in a shell (so I can just add this as the final step). Next on the list is Ogg Vorbis support ... not done yet but hopefully close. w00t!"

Comments

I keep hopin

[Gyorg_Lavode]

I keep hopin they finally get an ogg vorbis digital music player thats reasonably sized. I don't want one of the big, fancy players; I want a small, pocket sized one that doesn't have the kitchen sink. I want one I can put a 512mb memory stick or compact flash or whatever card in and throw in my pocket while I run, bike, fence, or whatever.

These players are great. If I wanted a nice big music player I'd chomp down on this fast, but 4.5x2.5x1.5 (not exact) is a bit big to just throw in my pocket considering the size of some of the players out there.

I'm happy that companies are starting to tune digital music players for the linux crowd and starting to get ogg support on them, but would it kill to have a small, no frills player that can play vorbis files?

Re:I keep hopin

[IO ERROR]

And this is why I still rip to MP3. I'd love to use vorbis more, but until I can walk into Best Buy and buy a Vorbis player, it's just not worth it.

Now when I DO get a vorbis player, I'm going to have to spend about 300 hours re-ripping my entire collection.

Re:I keep hopin

[Gerry Gleason]

Smaller is always nice, but the feature set of this player well justify the size. Besides the OGG format and the Linux support, the built in FM transmitter is very cool. You could just stick this thing in a waist pack and get one of those headphone/radio receivers and your totally wireless. As a biker and non-jogger, this setup is really better anyway, although you still need a way to get to the controls more easily.

On their forums, the feedback was very strong in support of the OGG format, and probably they will make a lot of sales based on this. Since these pure digital audio devices are pretty geeky things to begin with, I would think that any surveys of current and near term potential customers would show very strong support for OGG in general, so it is puzzling to see how slowly it is being adopted. There are many MP3 players, probably a number of small ones like you want, but apparently none for OGG. For the same reason that this product gets a strong positive responce on /., the first company to add this to a very small device will have an immediate market for a good number of these. In general, I think there is a lot of pent-up demand for digital audio, and it is mostly amound early adopter types who are geeky enough to hold off on the next purchase until the formats and features they want and need are supported. Many of these people already have one of more devices that they consider adaquate and won't purchase until they see the features they are lacking, and maybe even more, like myself, who are holding off on the first purchase for similar reasons.

Personally, if I had the budget for it, I would get one of these immediately. I need the FM transmitter so I can easily adapt it to my boat stereo (CD and radio with no aux inputs). Radio shack has an FM adapter for around 30-40 bucks, but built-in beats this easily. Plus mike and line recording, and I'd almost be ready to buy without the OGG stuff. The Linux sync support is also key for me as I have rather limited Windows resources at home.

Re:Buy One

[Goldberg's Pants]

I concur. Linux support would be a big selling point for me, despite the fact I don't use it that much anymore. Mainly I'm concerned with the company supporting something other than Windows. A company that does is worth supporting.

I just can't believe Slashdot has a story that ends with "w00t!"...

Quality Ogg VS Mp3

[Kurt Russell]

License issue aside, which sounds better (VBR)ogg or (VBR)Mp3? I can't tell them apart.
This seems to be all the rage on UseNet.
That Neuros device looks pretty sweet.

Re:Quality Ogg VS Mp3

[Anonymous Coward]

An mp3 encoded with lame , when invoked with the --r3mix flag, is
generally considered the absolute best in compressed audio quality.

Re:Quality Ogg VS Mp3

[Anonymous Coward]

Prior to lame 3.93, "--r3mix" was considered best. As of lame 3.93 "--alt-preset standard" is considered on par with "--r3mix", some claim "--alt-preset standard" is actually better. It is a close call. I would be very interested in seeing this in a double blind test. I have not heard much discussion of "--alt-preset extreme" so I can't comment.

Ogg vorbis only on Neuros HD? not light versions?

[AceJohnny]

From the Neuros Forum thread pertaining to ogg Vorbis, from the head of the Neuros product development:

(...)we do wish to open up our system so that third parties can contribute to the product's development amd leverage our own efforts.
Good! another smart company who wants to help the user community rather that stop them!

On their site, Digital Innovations say the NeuRosetta (ogg vorbis for neuros) should soon (sometime in June?) be available for the Neuros HD... I was really hyped up by the Neuros 128MB / 20GB Upgrade Bundle (tho does the upgrade bundle include the Neuros 128? If not, the price tag is beyond my limited student resources...) But will NeuRosetta work on other versions of the Neuros than the Neuros HD? Coz an HD mp3 player is maybe a bit big for all my uses...

Right, indeed.

[Balinares]

Well, in my experience, it usually goes like this: 1) user installs some Linux distro, 2) user keeps Windows around just in case, 3) user ends up not using Windows anymore at all. Once in a blue moon at -most-.

That is the scenario I've seen happen most often, anyway.

In my own case, last time I booted to Windows, a few weeks back, it told me, "We have detected it's now Winter Time, do you want Windows to update your clock accordingly?"
I hadn't used it for over six months.

Now of course, I post on /. so I'm likely to be a geek, you're thinking. Well, here's something for you to chew on: I installed Mandrake on my girlfriend's own machine in a dual-boot with Windows, so that she could try it and see how she liked it. A few weeks later, she had stopped using Windows. Interesting, isn't it?

Windows is -NOT- inescapable, my dear AC, oh no. It -does- a few things right (games mostly), but let's face it, Linux has become a more pleasant desktop environment for quite a number of uses. Want to read DVDs without being -forced- to watch the FBI warning (and in some case the ads)? Can't do that on Windows, sorry. Want to read any video file (DivX, Quicktime, Real) with one single unobstrusive player? Can't do that on Windows, sorry (though I hear there's a new player trying to imitate Xine and MPlayer in that regard -- 'twas about time). And then there's the viruses, the sub-par IE browsing environment, the perpetual risk of having pieces of crap software trying to take over your computer for their own purposes (that last point being the one that sealed my switch to another OS -- too tired of having to run AdAware everytime I installed something), etc, etc.

Now don't take me wrong, Linux -does- have it's issues too, but trying to pretend that Windows is inescapable is at best uninformed.

From a previous Neuros Owner

[sequential]

As a previous Neuros owner, I'd like to share my experience with you, since I learned about the Neuros at this site.

As of the last week in May, when I returned my unit, I had owned the Neuros for three months. During that three months, I spent more time attempting to get the software and firmware to work than I did actually listening to the Neuros outside of sitting at my desktop. Though during that time I saw a committed effort to improve the software, firmware and hardware, be warned that the Neuros was at that time for early adopters who had the time and patience to post bug reports and wait for a commercial company to release updates.

From corrupted on unit databases to a firmware that randomly deleted the entire contents of the unit, the problems were constant. Every time I took the unit with plans to listen to it, I was dissappointed. During the short periods I managed to make it work, I had other problems. From the MyFi functionality being only listenable in mono to the UI of the unit not allowing you to search for songs while one is playing, the enitre experience was not worth the $399 I paid for.

If you don't fit into the early adopter catagory or have $400 to loan a company for beta software while you "test" their products for them, then buy another MP3 player.

Please don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the concept of the Neuros. The hardware was well designed, but not in the same catagory as an iPod. The UI was livable, but again, not in the same catagory as an iPod. The software and firmware were unusable and required hours and hours at a time to find the bugs that wouldn't allow useful listening to the device. And then, the worst part of it all... it's USB 1.1. No device with 20 Gb of storage should have USB 1.1 There's nothing worse than transfering data for 5 hours to find out you discovered a bug and had to transfer the data again.

Digital Innovations has great customer service and they actually care a great deal about what you have to say. However, for $400, I'd rather purchase company stock than either of their units.

I have to say that the mic on the unit and the line in are nice features. There's nothing like recording your drunk friends at 2:00 am while they think you're listening to MP3s. And the MyFi is a real nice idea, it's just the performance of the MyFi is inadequate. HiSi is a nice idea, though I never found it useful since my unit never made it very long outside of my desktop.

Before I posted this, I checked out the Neuros website. They seemed to have released a serious update to the software. Hopefully this one is spot on or a huge improvement to the versions I had previously used.

Re:Open Formats and MS/Linux

[NonSequor]

Xiph is also working with them for support for FLAC.