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Dell DJ: Yet Another MP3 Player

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?"

8 of 547 comments (clear)

  1. Archos av340 by way2trivial · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I may have spent twice the cash, but for 652 shipped, I have a "twice the hard drive" 40 gig device that I can watch movies on..

    I do wish to christ my pc's TV recording software could record to the format the Archos uses for input.. conversion of every file is a pain in the ass..
    but I can take my weekly shows with me when I want them

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  2. Dells Dud by Tomeck · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Interesting and relevant article: http://daringfireball.net/2003/10/dells_dud.html Tom

  3. Why is the iPod so much better? by bjb · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I keep reading about these iPod wanna-bes, but after never really using any of them, I have to wonder: if the big thing is that the iPod has a built in hard drive, ample memory for caching, and good sound, why can't the several competitors make something good as well?

    In other words, what makes the iPod the "gold standard" over all the others which seem to have similar specs?

    --
    Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
    1. Re:Why is the iPod so much better? by Golias · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Several things make the iPod the one to get:

      1. Firewire connection for fast synchronization. This feature is huge. When I add a couple albums to my iTunes playlist, I can dump them into my iPod almost instantly.

      2. Small and light. When I unplug the headphones, it's less weight or bulk than my wallet, and I often carry it in the pocket of my jeans. This not only makes it nice for jogging, but at serves double duty as a "pull out" media player for my car when I park in bad neighborhoods.

      3. AAC support. Okay, Ogg Vorbis is more Stalmanist, blah blah blah, but AAC at 128 sounds as good or better, at least to me, as VBR MP3 while taking up less space on the HD.

      4. It can double as a portable Firewire/USB2 hard drive. It serves as massive storage for your digital camera, or a great way to "sneaker net" a Linux distro to another building.

      5. Price. For once, Apple is not selling the most expensive product on the market. The iPod sells for very little above what the HD alone would sell for.

      If there's something I would improve about the iPod, it's RAM. Bumping up the memory to 64MB would mean even longer battery life and better support for really long tracks. If an iPod were available for $100 more that doubled the memory, I would definitely trade up.

      Another improvement that would be nice would be to somehow get rid of the momentary pause between tracks. I hate joining tracks just to avoid that interruption.

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  4. Can't load music from outside sources by abe+ferlman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    According to the review I read, this device only lets you load music through the musicmatch jukebox service- is this their way of trying to enforce DRM?

    Is it really too much to ask for a USB mass storage interface? It's so simple, and everyone who has a computer understands it- it's just a new disk.

    Geez.

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    microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
  5. Anything that relies on MusicMatch Jukebox by Polaris · · Score: 5, Interesting

    is to be avoided. Thank God Apple released iTunes for Windows, so I don't have to use MMJB any more; dumb, painfully unintuitive, annoying and just plain incompetent (told me my iPod was "full" after loading about a hundred songs!)

  6. Another player crippled... by PurplePhase · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...because it's missing a second interface: 1394

    I'd also like to know the playback time with the backlight on continuously - that should have been given so we know the other end of that spectrum. Unless, of course, everyone knows what music they want to listen to over a 16 hour period when they program the playlist back at home while the battery is charging...

    8-PP

  7. Vorbis hardware players that exist *right* *now* by Z-MaxX · · Score: 3, Interesting
    From the current and rapidly expanding Vorbis Hardware list: Consumer products that support Vorbis natively:
    --
    Dr Superlove 300ml. I use my powers for awesome