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Beta Ogg Vorbis Firmware For The Neuros [updated]

Posted by timothy on from the but-does-it-play-cd-rs dept.

volsung writes "It's finally here! Xiph.org has made a beta release of firmware with Ogg Vorbis support for the Neuros portable music player. You can grab the firmware from the Neurosetta site. Note that this beta release only plays Vorbis files, and may skip on very high quality files, like average bitrates above 200 kbps. Also, you'll need to head over to the positron website for instructions on how to upload Vorbis files. Big thanks go out to Monty all of his hard work, and Digital Innovations for supporting the project. (See the DI press release here.)" Update: 07/01 15:26 GMT by T : Stan Seibert writes with an update: if you'd like to get one of these players, visit open.neurosaudio.com to find them on sale.

5 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. High Quality? by Mirell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What sort of portable system are you going to play it on that over 200 Kbps would even make a difference?

    --
    We have so much time, and so little to do - strike that! Reverse it. Tryn Mirell
    1. Re:High Quality? by 3.5+stripes · · Score: 3, Insightful

      192 Kbps mp3s sound as good as i need em to, I can't imagine needing more than that.

      I was also under the impression that Ogg Vorbis encoded ones sounded better at slightly lower bitrates. Should be a non-issue IMHO.

      What a convoluted way to say I agree.

      --


      He tried to kill me with a forklift!
  2. Open Standard by luzrek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not that everyone cares, but a major selling point for the OGG/Vorbis format is that it is an open standard (MP3 is not). Want to learn more (or about the other projects by the same people/groups) check out their website.

    --

    Galium Arsenide is the material of the future, and always will be.

  3. Don't make me laugh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    APPLE?!

    Go over to Apple's iPod forums and check out the humongous, multi-page petition for Ogg support. It has been growing for a long time now. And you know what? Apple does NOT care.

    I sent them many requests on their feature improvement page as well, and so did many others. The end result? AAC. Funny, I don't remember anyone asking for AAC, certainly not with a huge petition. But DRM is all the rage these days...

    I said "screw Apple" and got a Neuros. It just arrived this week, and now I see the Ogg beta firmware is available...I literally canNOT wait to try this. I've been waiting so long for something like this!

    Apple missed this boat deliberately. To hell with 'em. The Neuros is one cool device, even if is a bit bigger than the iPod. But Apple doesn't have Emmett Plant working for them either!

    1. Re:Don't make me laugh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      DRM ridden? Vorbis is every bit as capable of having DRM applied to it as MPEG-4 AAC is.

      Yes, Apple have used a form of DRM on MPEG-4 AAC encoded files with their iTunes Music Store. That is irrelevant. The codec itself is completely free of DRM. Hell, Apple's own QuickTime and iTunes software let their users produce DRM-free MPEG-4 AAC files.

      And remember all those freedoms attached to Vorbis; they let anyone who wants to use Vorbis in a DRM situation do so.

      This whole discussion is irrelevant - both codecs are capable of being used in a DRM scenario.