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Neuros Review
An anonymous reader writes "MP3newswire.net has just posted a lengthy review of the Neuros digital music portable. Just recently the company announced native Linux support for synchronizing the Neuros and we all know that Ogg Vorbis support is promised in the near future, so the unit is drawing a lot of interest. For the most part they liked the player, though they found the unit to be relatively big and heavy for a new generation portable. They also found the file transfer interface to be both impressive and glitchy."
Much like Slashdot!
Ogg support? I wouldn't buy one UNTIL they actually have the support up and running.
This is slightly off-topic, but slashdot apple while we're at it requesting ogg-vorbis support! Do so nicely, but be firm. Let them know you have music that can't be played without hacking iTunes, and you can't play it back at all on your iPod.
Let them know your future business depends on it!
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
I hope it doesn't contain any unlicensed Unix code like linux has.
That link sends a nasty e-mail via feedback form to SCO. It has NOTHING to do with portable audio players.
I always based my buying habits on the premise that the two were mutually exclusive, but I guess I'm just a picky customer.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
Let them know your future business depends on it!
Not to try and flame you, but isn't that a bit of an empty threat at the moment, considering ogg-vorbis mindshare in the general public?
It'd be a nice "geek" feature, i'm sure, but I don't think it's really at the level where Apple will take lost business because of it very seriously.
Maybe i'll just buy an mp3 player.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Umm why on earth does a linux based mp3 player not have a way to sync or simply download music from linux itself? Or did I miss that while crawling all over their site?
Impressively glitchy? :)
Just make it work. I want a 100% certainty that I will be able to migrate music from my linux box to the player. No message board lurking, no sifting through google groups.
If this product cannot reliably transfer music without copious under the hood tweaking, I am not interested.
USB 2.0 would be a nice addition too but even on that I will make accomodation.
2.5 inch hard drives, the same drives used in notebooks can cost from 100 to 300 bucks. Here's a link. And the ipod is not for the rich. I have one, and I sure as hell am not rich.
...is from USA today. Bottom line, Neuros doesn't match up to the iPod, at least not yet.
apple is already a niche player, what makes you think expanding to other niches isn't important to them?
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
It's pretty expensive on amazon. 128mb for 240$ and 20gb for $380. You can get an Apple Ipod 10gb for 280$
Otherwise I wouldn't see full-page magazine ads touting 'the power unix', and giving details on power-user experiences converting from (insert your unix flavor here) to OSX.
Don't underestimate yourself before you make an effort at asserting what you want. You just never know...
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
Hmm. Let's see. If we want to support Ogg, we'll have to pay six guys for a year to add it to the iPod, QuickTime and iTunes. At which point, every nerd in the world will rush out and buy our stuff, right? Uh... wrong. Because they'll demand that it work with this "Leenux" thing they keep nagging us about. So then we'll port iTunes to "Leenux" and then they'll buy our stuff, right? Uh... wrong. Because they'll complain that our software isn't "free," even though we give it away on the web site. Yeah, I know, makes no sense.
But even if we bend over backwards, fuck ourselves completely, and give these guys everything they want, how many iPods will we sell?
Eleven.
That's right, eleven.
Fuck it. Let's stick to what we do best.
--Steve
I found today's PA comic kind of funny and rather fitting. I love my MP3 player, but it is a Rio500 w/128 MB of storage. I haven't seen the need to plunk down the cash for one of these big dogs yet.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Honestly, I'm impressed that companies are starting to get the idea that they can offer something for everyone. I think you'll start to see more devices with multiple storage options, multiple formats, etc. The next step I'd like to see (since most companies won't open source their code) is built-in "modules" so additional features (and/or hardware) can be added by third party companies. --Darren p.s. I still like my Archos Multimedia, especially for the price.
The best part about the Neuros is that it based on an open architecture. Basiclly gives you the option of making it into whatever you want.
My good friend has one, and he loves it. It is a really nice portable mp3 player. He was able to develop a program so that it automaticly sends his voice mail (in mp3 format) to his Neuros. The only thing that I didn't like about it is that it is bigger than most mp3 players. Especially when you add on the 20 gig backpack to it. Awsome features! Fm transmitter, ogg mp3 wma support, and good battery life.
Every Super Villan uses Linux.
What advantages does this have over the Archos player? It's cheaper, has the same amount of drive space, and plays video.
a il /
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/mp3/5b44/det
-Derick
Just for the lazy people who can't be bothered to check, on Amazon.com right now, the 20gb Neuros is the same price as the 15gb iPod - $380.
This means 5gb more for your money with the Neuros - you decide.
Also, drop me your mailing address, too; I might be able to send you extra goodies. Don't worry, I'll make sure your E-mail address and mailing address are kept private. Thanks!
Emmett Plant
Community Outreach
Neuros Audio
"drawing a lot of interest"? From who? Most of the world hasn't even heard of Ogg Vorbis, people. Most who have heard of Ogg Vorbis realize it may sound better at lower bitrates, but nobody wants to re-encode all their CDs and stuff. So let's can the editorializing, okay?
Oh, and to all the people who are rabidly trying to convince Apple via silly little petitions(I bet half a week's iPod sales are bigger than the # of people who have signed any such petition)- give it up. They've got AAC, they could give a crap about Ogg, and they've said as much. Stop trying to force your stuff on the world- if there's a genuine market for Ogg, companies will recognize the need to support it.
Please help metamoderate.
Good point, I think Ogg-Vorbis support would be a niche-niche, if there is such a thing, though.
Consider...It would be an area in which the consumer:
A) Knows that portable music players besides CD players and Walkmans exist in the first place, and wants one.
B) Is interested and knowledgeable enough to go after an (expensive) Apple product in the first place.
C) Knows that Ogg-Vorbis even exists in the first place.
D) Cares enough about format differences to have a need to play Ogg-Vorbis files.
Again, that just doesn't seem like a big enough market for Apple to care. Please feel free to correct me with actual statistics if you have them, though.
They let you replace the damn batterys ;)
Until then I have my trusty AM/FM radio.
Mod me down im a newf (wiki)
MyFi is Neuros' name for the novel FM broadcast feature on the player. Using this feature, one can set the unit to transmit music files remotely through an empty FM frequency on any radio. The advantages are self-evident for anyone who has ever user a cassette adapter to connect their CD player to a car radio, and it is one of the most innovative and convenient features of the Neuros.
Wow. And wow. This is an amazingly cool idea, and not confined to the car.
How about the fact that two years ago, there was no Apple iPod, and now roughly 1 in 4 portable music players is an iPod?
Or the fact that until two months ago WMA was second to MP3, in marketshare, but now (with something like 3 million tracks sold) AAC is #2, despite only 3% of the potential market?
So far, far, more unlikely things have happened than Apple support Ogg; I mean, Apple supported MP3, right?
GPL Deconstructed
I sure hope not. Then you'll have both SCO and RIAA coming after your ass. Run away!!!!
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
"...the Neuros offers features not only unavailable in the iPod..."
"The Neuros has features that could make it an iPod killer..."
It turns out that the only "killer" feature I could come across was "HiSi"(records 30 seconds of radio, then tries to fingerprint it and match the fingerprint to a central database), and the reviewers found it thought random noise was "Benditos Malditos". It thought a rap song was Van Halen. It only managed to recognize two popular songs- and what's the point? Everyone knows the titles of popular songs on the radio. That's a "killer feature"? Nevermind that you're handing them all sorts of listening habit data.
Oh, what's that you say? "It has a radio, that's a killer feature!" Um, if you've got 30GB of MP3s, and you can get the very latest songs off iTunes music service for a buck apiece, why would you want to listen to the radio? Maybe for news or something while riding the commuter train, but you can get practically microscopic FM receivers and just plug the headphones into that if you wanna listen to the radio. It's not about what you think is "cool", it's about what the consumer wants- and my guess is that Apple found most people didn't care about an FM receiver. Can't argue with them, the iPod's STILL the fastest selling player.
What's that you say? "Ogg Vorbis is a killer feature!" Most of the world doesn't even KNOW what Ogg-Vorbis is. The rest don't want to bother reencoding all their CDs, and you can't buy Ogg Vorbis songs ANYWAY. Ogg Vorbis, for now, is moot...and with AAC, do you seriously think Ogg Vorbis will ever be anything more than a plaything of the Super Nerds?
Sorry, this thing is a non-contender for the iPod. It's enormous, heavy, has a completely unoriginal design, and various issues in implementation, like the song title display problem they mention. The iPod is elegant, small, lightweight, and has a simple, good UI(not to mention, read-only address book/calendar stuff). Ogg Vorbis and a radio aren't going to make up for that.
Please help metamoderate.
Here.
Sorry.
"You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help" -- Calvin
RTF Produce Spec
Clearly states USB 1.1.
USB 2.0 support is coming, but not here now.
Aside from the radio features, this player looks way over-priced. I just bought a Mambo X for my girlfriend, and so far she and I have been really happy with it. In a nutshell, $200 gets you 20G, USB mass-storage interface (no need to use a sync manager -- you just have direct access to the drive), MP3 and WMA support (and yes, the vendor has committed to supporting Ogg Vorbis), audio record, and Li ion battery.
It isn't glorious or beautiful (iPods certainly are cute), but it works really well, is fast, CHEAP, high-capacity, and really light.
And, no, I'm not associated with the company in any way. But if you are already looking at the Neuros, you should be aware that there are products that cost half as much, and have 95% of the features. (The radio thing is neat, but we don't care -- headphones are the only thing that will be plugged into it.)
On the other hand, the Rio Pearl (though it's not shipping yet) does OGG, MP3, WMA, FLAC and WAV. And crossfading. And parametric EQ. And the battery lasts much longer. And it's very small and light. And it has 100Mbit ethernet (as well as USB2.0) with a built in webserver and Java music management apps for linux users.
What would you prefer?
See http://www.dapreview.com for more info.
Note: I'm biased. I'm working on it.
On the plus side, they do look cute, and fit in most pockets easily. Well done to Apple for figuring that a large proportion of potential MP3 player buyers are not interested in advanced features, and will pay a significant premium for compactness and a simple, constrained interface.
In the 90s, AOL similarly spotted that they could capture a large proportion of online users by offering a simple, integrated system. I think iPods are "training wheel" MP3 players for many people. It remains to be seen whether Apple can manage their new users' experience growth and release more compelling iPods using latest technologies so that these maturing users graduate to more fully-featured iPods and do not desert to other manufacturer's media player offerings.
Da Blog
I find it rather interesting that MP3Newswire gushed on and on about all the cool features, but said very little about how well they worked. Whereas USA Today reported various problems in detail. Is somebody sucking up to the manufacturer in order to get a freebie?