Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the no-beefs-with-better-battery dept.
X Bass writes "Available Tuesday, Dell's 15 and 20GB DJ adds to the growing field of iPod wannabes. Is it worthy or is it just another player that falls short of the iPod's greatness?"
I'm probably not the only one more interested in photos than in learning that it has a 3.6h charge time.:)
Re:a link that doesn't suck
by
Ianoo
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I'm starting to get fed up with review sites that have so many adverts they don't bother to actually include a picture of the product they're talking about. CNET is a big offender, as is Anandtech, but the site on the end of this link is just as bad. I mean, it's a cliche but a picture really does tell a thousand words.
Re:a link that doesn't suck
by
jared_hanson
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Imagine that, offering up a download from a reasonably popular band. Huh, who woulda guessed?
Hoobastank made a significant amount of airtime on MTV a year and a half ago, or so. It was their first album, and I assume this single is from their second (possibly forthcoming?) album. Not sure the name of the single, but I'd look it up if I was at my main computer. Descent CD too, real Incubus sounding (though you probably aren't aware of that name either).
It is telling that the page they have on it has no pictures... http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topic s/segtopic.as px/brand/delldj?c=us&l=en&s=gen
compare that to the apple one... http://www.apple.com/ipod/
ugly beast if you ask me. there is a lot to be said for looking good if you're selling to teenagers and 20 somethings. i know which i'd rather have.
A summary of what's up
by
Schlemphfer
·
· Score: 5, Informative
1) How does it look?
The form factor is exactly what you'd expect from something with Dell on the nameplate: it's totally nondescript. It's actually made by Creative Labs and rebranded. As far as looks go, it's not an iPod any more than my 1990 Accord is a Porsche 911. In other words, it's not bad looking, but it's not good looking either.
2) What advantages does it have?
It looks like there's one, and only one, big advantage of this over the iPod -- this thing has a 16 hour battery life (The Tech TV people tested it and says you will get 15 hours.) That is a really compelling feature; when I spend an entire day driving, or have a long flight with a nasty layover, I can toast my iPod's battery.
The Dell is also a bit cheaper, but not by a lot. A 20 MB unit goes for $329, while Apple sells its 20 MB iPod for $399 at its store. I'd personally want to see the Dell more like 50% cheaper than the iPod for it to be a compelling alternative.
3) Is it an iPod killer?
In battery life, yes. In price, sort of. In looks, absolutely not. Tech TV gives a slight nod to the iPod, but without saying why.
Dell's entry into the field just means that digital music players are no longer cutting-edge products, and are about to be commodified. Expect to be able to get a good one, though perhaps not an iPod, for under $100 within the next couple years.
-- I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
And what about the iHP-120
by
NtwoO
·
· Score: 3, Informative
As if Iriver didn't make a suitable match to these dogs. The I river comes with Ogg support and a whizz of cool features. They may be a little more expensive, but it tends to be worth every penny.
-- !/* */
It doesn't look so bad
by
gsdali
·
· Score: 2, Informative
not as good as my 3rd generation iPod but good nonetheless. It looks pretty big to me but the photos may not do it justice. It doesn't appear to have PIM features , which I find very useful on the iPod, but I'm sure a small software updates would sort that out.
I'd like to see some real world battery life figures. I get much less than the Apple advertised 8 hours but then I use it to drive fairly high impedance headphones.
We'll have to see how it sells though and how it faces up in a marketplace dominated by the iPod in terms of marketing and brand recognition.
Re:iPod greatness!?
by
Golias
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I have to agree about the 8 hour battery life, though; it's not enough to commute to and from work and to use at work, which is what I'd like.
I use the Belkin 12V cigarette-lighter adapter, which also uses the firewire port's line-outs, to listen in the car. If my iPod is slightly depleated in the morning, it gets charged up for the day during the commute, so I've yet to run the battery down while in the office.
As for battery replacements, some hackers have already done it, and it's not quite as hard as you would think, as long as you can get your hand on the right battery.
--
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Deactivating a PC is permanent?
by
weave
·
· Score: 4, Informative
What is this bit in the fine print?
Deactivating a PC is permanent and cannot be reversed, ever. Should you decide you no longer wish to play Musicmatch Downloads on a PC because (1) You already have three PCs activated and you wish to activate an alternate PC, or (2) You no longer use a particular PC, see ?Deactivate a Musicmatch Downloads account? from within Musicmatch Jukebox Help to learn more. Remember, deactivating the account will permanently prevent that PC from playing or downloading Musicmatch tracks.
I know of quite a few people who deauthorized a Mac before doing a clean install of Panther this past weekend to be safe, then reactivating it when done.
So what do they mean by "permanent?" If someone wants to wipe and reinstall their OS, what happens?
The Problem with Many Players
by
Robert+Hayden
·
· Score: 2, Informative
One thing I really hate about the iPod is that it requires you to make a playlist for everything. I have a large MP3 collection all sorted into directories by Genre/Artist/AlbumName/Tracks. I just want to move up and down the directories and select a starting point to play at and just go.
Two years ago I purchased an Archos Jukebox (20GB) that does it. It has problems with lousy battery life and USB1.1 but it at least works given my directory-based layout.
Who makes a current-generation player that does this?
Re:The Problem with Many Players
by
GreenHell
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Playlist for everything? You've got to be kidding me. Just to prove a point, let's dig out my iPod and take a look, shall we?
Starting from the root menu screen: Browse -> Genres -> Genre Name -> Artist Name -> Album Name
Well wadda ya know, there's all the tracks for that album, and in the proper order too.
As long as you've bothered to provide your MP3s with ID3 tags then you're fine. iTunes, XPlay, and all the other iPod software out there just read the tags and creates the iTunes DB entries using that info.
-- "I won't mod you down - I feel the need to call you a twit explicitly, rather than by implication."
Re:The Problem with Many Players
by
twbecker
·
· Score: 1, Informative
If you would have bothered to RTF iTunes help, you would have seen that unchecking 'Keep my iTunes Folder Organized' will stop it from rearranging you directory structure and filenames.
-- "The problem with internet quotations is that many are not genuine"
-Abraham Lincoln
Not much compared toiRiver's entry
by
Xeth
·
· Score: 2, Informative
The Player I've been looking at is definately the iRiver IHP-120. It's got an extremely slick chrome and black case, a wired remote, and it plays OGG files. The only thing is that it has a bit of a hefty price tag.
-- If your theory is different from practice, then your theory is wrong.
Opinion based on previous experience.
by
CFBMoo1
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Given my recent encounters with Dell's support people. I'm not really interested in their products just because I want good support to go with them. After a three hour session where I was forwarded to a fax machine, hung up on, warned that their support service center was under attack by the latest virus and put on hold again indefinatly, and finally tossed on hold in India several times about a month ago.
I'd recomend against buying products from them. Doesn't matter how good the product is, if the support is lousy like Dell's, your going to suffer. I'm still regretting paying $2800 for a laptop that had full at home service coverage. Especially if it takes an act of God to make their support people move.
-- ~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
Re:iPod greatness!?
by
jpkunst
·
· Score: 5, Informative
I suspect the iPod becomes a throwaway item after a couple of years when the batteries won't hold a charge any more.
Price? I don't think so...
by
ZipR
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Ipod 20 gig $399
Ipod 40 gig $499
Archos Recorder 20 gig = $309
Recorder 30 = $369
Recorder 40 = $389
Recorder 60 = $439
Recorder 80 = $609
Of course it's not as sexy and only plays mp3s, but I think $100 dollar differences in price are substantial.
(Prices from Apple.com and newmp3technology.com)
Re:iPod greatness!?
by
SithLordOfLanc
·
· Score: 1, Informative
Archos makes a Jukebox 20 unit that appears to do all than you say the iPod does PLUS has a gadget available trip video from TV and VCR as well as a 1.3 MP still AND video camera attachment. Add USB 2.0 OOB and Optional FW and you've got a killer piece. They have larger available as well. The newest one has a 3 inch screen on it too. I've been using the older 20GB version for over a year and have never had a bit of trouble.
Re:same OS as iPod
by
gutter
·
· Score: 2, Informative
It was a company named Pixo, which has now been purchased by Sun:
Re:Why is the iPod so much better?
by
radish
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I'm sticking with my Rio Karma thanks:
1. USB2 for sync - basically just as quick as firewire.
2. Just as small and light. Actually, it's smaller in terms of width and height, but thicker to make up. Overall physical volume is about the same.
3. Support for Vorbis, FLAC, mp3, wma and a bunch of others. More coming.
4. It can double as a portable USB2 drive although you do have to use an app to load stuff onto it.
5. Price is pretty similar to iPod I think.
Oh and it plays whatever length of tracks you want, does proper gapless playback (or at least it will when the next firmware release comes out of beta), way more options from a UI point of view, and has built in ethernet with a webserver running right on the unit. Battery life is much better than iPod too.
Rulez;)
--
----
Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
Check out the Rio Karma.
by
Gondola
·
· Score: 2, Informative
It's tiny; 2.7" by 3" by 1". It's got USB 2.0 and *ethernet*. The unfortunate thing is, the ethernet connectivity requires proprietary software, it's not just an SMB server on ethernet, and it's not a mass storage device with USB. However, there is a Java version of the software, and it runs on just about any platform that can run Java.
Battery life is fifteen hours, about double the iPod's.
It comes with a DOCK so you don't have to plug in power, usb, whatever, every time you go home. It's got a rechargable battery, and you just put it in the dock to charge and connect to your LAN/PC. The dock has RCA out, ethernet, and USB.
MSRP is $399, but you should be able to get better deals online, and there's a $20 rebate right now.
30 Gigs for $250
by
erik+umenhofer
·
· Score: 2, Informative
The Nomad Zen NX can be had for 250 bucks and holds 30 GIGs. This is suck a better deal for the geeks out there.
Re:Why is the iPod so much better?
by
radish
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Yes it is supported under Linux. You can use the ethernet hookup to connect and then the music manager app is served from the unit itself as a Java app. So it works on any os which supports ethernet and Java. There are native versions of the software for Windows and (I think) Mac, but the Java one does everything you need.
I'm not sure if you can use the USB hookup under Linux, maybe. Check out www.riovolution.com for a decent forum with a presence from the developers.
--
----
Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
Re:Absolutely iTunes
by
cens0r
·
· Score: 2, Informative
You should have tried using notmad explorer from redchair software. It's one of the best pieces of software I've ever used, and lets you use your nomad like god intended.
-- Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
Use Smartlists
by
meehawl
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I have a large MP3 collection all sorted into directories by Genre/Artist/AlbumName/Tracks. I just want to move up and down the directories and select a starting point to play at and just go.
No doubt many Pod People have posted responses, lauding the iPod's ID3 tag approach to playback. It is a nice touch. Unfortunately, like many Apple design constraints, it's a Henry Ford "any colour as long as it's black" all-or-nothing approach that makes you buy into their way of doing things or not at all.
But you can get the same functionality with the Archos (or any other directory-based player) and using J River's Media Center. MC9 offers Smartlists, which allow you to create on-the-fly playlists that aggregate songs accordig to logical parameters (based on ID3 tags or playlist membership). Just create a bunch of playlists and dump them in a playlist directory. Then pick and mix.
MJ has had the "make a playlist out of query parameters" feature for years, but takes it further: you can define custom fields in the database and search on them (though to be fair, iTunes already includes the things I used those custom fields for.) More importantly, its notion of (non-dynamic) playlists is much more flexible -- you can use a song's presence on a static playlist as a query parameter for a smartlist. I've come to think of playlists as a way of attaching attributes to songs. It's a much more flexible, nuanced way to represent things like genre, where multiple values can easily apply to a song.
You can then dump those generated playlists to the audio player and select a mood- or place-based playlist according to your whim.
And as regardes battery life, the first thing you should do is load Rockbox, if you have not already done so.
The next thing (a bit more tricky) is to replace the old, degraded, low-capacity NiMH AA batteries with some modern 2300 mAh ones. You will double or triple your battery life immediately for a cost of around $5. This site shows you how to modify an Archos safely.
A third option is to expand the Archos from 2MB to 8MB -- this lets the RAM cache more data and reduce the energy required to spin the hard drive.
Slashdot Mirror
here
:)
I'm probably not the only one more interested in photos than in learning that it has a 3.6h charge time.
Nice interface, smooth, curvy, and durable design, sweetly glowing blue lights...
But the best I could come up with is the animation on their USA site
Also, I thought this was an interesting subhead for the article:
An Affordable and Easy Way to Legally Download Your Favorite Songs and Albums emphasis mine.
Can I bum a sig?
The form factor is exactly what you'd expect from something with Dell on the nameplate: it's totally nondescript. It's actually made by Creative Labs and rebranded. As far as looks go, it's not an iPod any more than my 1990 Accord is a Porsche 911. In other words, it's not bad looking, but it's not good looking either.
2) What advantages does it have?
It looks like there's one, and only one, big advantage of this over the iPod -- this thing has a 16 hour battery life (The Tech TV people tested it and says you will get 15 hours.) That is a really compelling feature; when I spend an entire day driving, or have a long flight with a nasty layover, I can toast my iPod's battery.
The Dell is also a bit cheaper, but not by a lot. A 20 MB unit goes for $329, while Apple sells its 20 MB iPod for $399 at its store. I'd personally want to see the Dell more like 50% cheaper than the iPod for it to be a compelling alternative.
3) Is it an iPod killer?
In battery life, yes. In price, sort of. In looks, absolutely not. Tech TV gives a slight nod to the iPod, but without saying why.
Dell's entry into the field just means that digital music players are no longer cutting-edge products, and are about to be commodified. Expect to be able to get a good one, though perhaps not an iPod, for under $100 within the next couple years.
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
As if Iriver didn't make a suitable match to these dogs. The I river comes with Ogg support and a whizz of cool features. They may be a little more expensive, but it tends to be worth every penny.
!
not as good as my 3rd generation iPod but good nonetheless. It looks pretty big to me but the photos may not do it justice. It doesn't appear to have PIM features , which I find very useful on the iPod, but I'm sure a small software updates would sort that out.
I'd like to see some real world battery life figures. I get much less than the Apple advertised 8 hours but then I use it to drive fairly high impedance headphones.
We'll have to see how it sells though and how it faces up in a marketplace dominated by the iPod in terms of marketing and brand recognition.
I use the Belkin 12V cigarette-lighter adapter, which also uses the firewire port's line-outs, to listen in the car. If my iPod is slightly depleated in the morning, it gets charged up for the day during the commute, so I've yet to run the battery down while in the office.
As for battery replacements, some hackers have already done it, and it's not quite as hard as you would think, as long as you can get your hand on the right battery.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Deactivating a PC is permanent and cannot be reversed, ever. Should you decide you no longer wish to play Musicmatch Downloads on a PC because (1) You already have three PCs activated and you wish to activate an alternate PC, or (2) You no longer use a particular PC, see ?Deactivate a Musicmatch Downloads account? from within Musicmatch Jukebox Help to learn more. Remember, deactivating the account will permanently prevent that PC from playing or downloading Musicmatch tracks.
I know of quite a few people who deauthorized a Mac before doing a clean install of Panther this past weekend to be safe, then reactivating it when done.
So what do they mean by "permanent?" If someone wants to wipe and reinstall their OS, what happens?
One thing I really hate about the iPod is that it requires you to make a playlist for everything. I have a large MP3 collection all sorted into directories by Genre/Artist/AlbumName/Tracks. I just want to move up and down the directories and select a starting point to play at and just go.
Two years ago I purchased an Archos Jukebox (20GB) that does it. It has problems with lousy battery life and USB1.1 but it at least works given my directory-based layout.
Who makes a current-generation player that does this?
The Player I've been looking at is definately the iRiver IHP-120. It's got an extremely slick chrome and black case, a wired remote, and it plays OGG files. The only thing is that it has a bit of a hefty price tag.
If your theory is different from practice, then your theory is wrong.
Given my recent encounters with Dell's support people. I'm not really interested in their products just because I want good support to go with them. After a three hour session where I was forwarded to a fax machine, hung up on, warned that their support service center was under attack by the latest virus and put on hold again indefinatly, and finally tossed on hold in India several times about a month ago.
I'd recomend against buying products from them. Doesn't matter how good the product is, if the support is lousy like Dell's, your going to suffer. I'm still regretting paying $2800 for a laptop that had full at home service coverage. Especially if it takes an act of God to make their support people move.
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
I suspect the iPod becomes a throwaway item after a couple of years when the batteries won't hold a charge any more.
There are third-party battery replacements for the iPod available: http://www.pdasmart.com/ipodpartscenter.htm. (First item on the page.)
JP
Ipod 20 gig $399 Ipod 40 gig $499 Archos Recorder 20 gig = $309 Recorder 30 = $369 Recorder 40 = $389 Recorder 60 = $439 Recorder 80 = $609 Of course it's not as sexy and only plays mp3s, but I think $100 dollar differences in price are substantial. (Prices from Apple.com and newmp3technology.com)
Archos makes a Jukebox 20 unit that appears to do all than you say the iPod does PLUS has a gadget available trip video from TV and VCR as well as a 1.3 MP still AND video camera attachment. Add USB 2.0 OOB and Optional FW and you've got a killer piece.
They have larger available as well. The newest one has a 3 inch screen on it too. I've been using the older 20GB version for over a year and have never had a bit of trouble.
http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/2003-07/sunf lash.20030717.1.html
Check out DRM-free movies at http://www.bside.com
I'm sticking with my Rio Karma thanks:
;)
1. USB2 for sync - basically just as quick as firewire.
2. Just as small and light. Actually, it's smaller in terms of width and height, but thicker to make up. Overall physical volume is about the same.
3. Support for Vorbis, FLAC, mp3, wma and a bunch of others. More coming.
4. It can double as a portable USB2 drive although you do have to use an app to load stuff onto it.
5. Price is pretty similar to iPod I think.
Oh and it plays whatever length of tracks you want, does proper gapless playback (or at least it will when the next firmware release comes out of beta), way more options from a UI point of view, and has built in ethernet with a webserver running right on the unit. Battery life is much better than iPod too.
Rulez
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
The Rio Karma is on my Christmas list this year.
Check it out here.
It's tiny; 2.7" by 3" by 1". It's got USB 2.0 and *ethernet*. The unfortunate thing is, the ethernet connectivity requires proprietary software, it's not just an SMB server on ethernet, and it's not a mass storage device with USB. However, there is a Java version of the software, and it runs on just about any platform that can run Java.
Battery life is fifteen hours, about double the iPod's.
It comes with a DOCK so you don't have to plug in power, usb, whatever, every time you go home. It's got a rechargable battery, and you just put it in the dock to charge and connect to your LAN/PC. The dock has RCA out, ethernet, and USB.
MSRP is $399, but you should be able to get better deals online, and there's a $20 rebate right now.
The Nomad Zen NX can be had for 250 bucks and holds 30 GIGs. This is suck a better deal for the geeks out there.
Yes it is supported under Linux. You can use the ethernet hookup to connect and then the music manager app is served from the unit itself as a Java app. So it works on any os which supports ethernet and Java. There are native versions of the software for Windows and (I think) Mac, but the Java one does everything you need.
I'm not sure if you can use the USB hookup under Linux, maybe. Check out www.riovolution.com for a decent forum with a presence from the developers.
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
You should have tried using notmad explorer from redchair software. It's one of the best pieces of software I've ever used, and lets you use your nomad like god intended.
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
But you can get the same functionality with the Archos (or any other directory-based player) and using J River's Media Center. MC9 offers Smartlists, which allow you to create on-the-fly playlists that aggregate songs accordig to logical parameters (based on ID3 tags or playlist membership). Just create a bunch of playlists and dump them in a playlist directory. Then pick and mix.
iTunes does a kind of Smartlisting as well but the iTunes implementation of Smartlists is rather limited. You can then dump those generated playlists to the audio player and select a mood- or place-based playlist according to your whim.
And as regardes battery life, the first thing you should do is load Rockbox, if you have not already done so.
The next thing (a bit more tricky) is to replace the old, degraded, low-capacity NiMH AA batteries with some modern 2300 mAh ones. You will double or triple your battery life immediately for a cost of around $5. This site shows you how to modify an Archos safely.
A third option is to expand the Archos from 2MB to 8MB -- this lets the RAM cache more data and reduce the energy required to spin the hard drive.
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