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iRiver Announces A New Ogg/MP3 Player
An anonymous reader writes "CD Freaks and Mobile mag are reporting that iRiver has unveiled a new Ogg-capable mp3 player. Featuring 20 GB of HD space and USB 2.0 connectivity, the iHP-120 might just be the answer to the question all us Apple-fearing geeks have been asking...
Although the new product has yet to show up on their website, the older model iHP-100 is similar in design but with half the storage space (10gb). New software will be released in October to update it and other players from iRiver with ogg compatibility as well."
The awesome thing about the iPod is that is a huge chunk of mobile storage that happens to have a nice LCD navigation screen and the capability to play mp3s. If this new Ogg/Mp3 Player is castrated by the industry, i.e. you can only store and delete, not download from it, then it won't stand a chance at replacing the iPod. I hate when dumb copyright-protection schemes get in the way of a good product, but it's happened before, and I'm afraid to say, it will likely happen again.
Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
but how's the GUI? It can have all the cool features and abilities, but if usability sucks, you might as well not bother. It's amazing how many companies get this wrong.
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
"New software will be released in October to update it and other players from iRiver with ogg compatibility as well."
Banaaaana!
Bloody hell, it's different alright. It looks different, it has a remote control doovy with a screen on the headphone band, it has a different UI... IT'S DIFFERENT!
Apple didn't create everything for god's sake, there were hard-drive based MP3 players around before the iPod...
let me refresh your memory
FLAC?!?!? WTF for?
I'm sorry, none of these portable plays have significantly good analog stages to make lossless output worth anything. Maybe one will come out with a good digital output, but that still will need to have an external DAC.
Plus, using a lossless format really hampers the amount of music that you can store on such a device.
20gb of MP3 = 15000+ hours of music (200+ CDs avg 50min/cd)
20gb of lossless = 4000 hours of music (80+ CDs avg 50min/cd)
Why not transcode your music from your lossless format to MP3/Ogg/AAC and use that on your portable? You can even do this in batch mode at night. The other advantage is that you can transcode the files to a much lower bit rate than you might ordinarily do, since you probably won't hear the difference between 128kbps, 160kbps and 190kbps+ files, when using your headphones or when plugged into a car. This has two major benefits.
First, it gives you an extra 10-40% more space.
Second, since you are loading smaller files into memory, the devices don't have to run their power hungry hard drives by a similar amount. This can increase the length of time that you can listen to your device between recharges.
I see these two benefits far out weighing having lossless playback on a device where you won't really hear the difference.
As for those people who will comment that they get their concert bootlegs as FLAC or SHNs, and they don't want to change them? Why not? MP3s are so small? You'll be able to carry 2-3 times as many concerts with you.
Heck, with a 40 gig iPod, you could keep your entire music library.
I'll never understand the logic behind shooting down a technology in its infancy because it is in its infancy. There are reasonable arguments for preferring Vorbis over mp3. Let them try to make it succeed and the market will make the final determination. Declaring it is dead before it truly is strikes me more as a fear-induced comment than anything.
I'm not "declaring it dead" I'm merely pointing out the large disconnect between it's actual, present importance as opposed to the importance ascribed to it by readers of slashdot.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?