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iRiver Preps Linux-based Media Player
Mr_Silver writes "Infosync is reporting that iRiver is soon to release the Linux based PMP-120 media player which through its colour screen can support MP3, ASF, Ogg Vorbis, JPEG, BMP, AVI, MP4, DivX 3.x, 4.x, 5.x, XviD, MPEG4 SP, Advanced SP and MPEG1. Technically very cool (even more so if it is hackable), but really really ugly. iRiver really should learn how to design nice looking hardware from the experts."
Apple threatened to sue them. i-River had wanted to use a the rounded scroll navigation wheel with their ihp-120, Apple told them they would legal action to protect their intellectual property rights.
Just curious, as I have absolutely no need for a unit like this. I can't seem to wrap my head around it.
Who's going to buy them?
I recently bought the 40Gb MP3 player from iRiver. To me, looks of an electronic device doesn't really matter. I just want the features. Simple as that. Compared to the iPod, the iRiver has superb battery life, more hard drive space for the buck, built in voice recorder, and even a AM/FM tuner. Plus it plays OGG and using Linux, I can index all my music files.
So what iRiver lacks in looks, they more than make up for it in features and cost compared to the iPod.
All I need is a scroll button and play/stop/fast/rewind buttons.
iPod vs. iRiver PMP-120
Here's an older article (May25) about the iRiver and here's their accompanying picture. I wonder what that is around her neck?
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
So go buy one! Or go buy the iMP-250, 350, 550, etc. etc. which all support Ogg Vorbis (even the old iMP-250 aka Rio Volt 2) through firmware updates...
Wah!
Innodesign korea does the design of most of iRiver's products (warning: Flash site). They also do some samsung products, but the bulk of the work looks like outside styling and not actual operation design. One exception is a laptop designed for presenting: the main screen swivels around to point to the audience, while a smaller screen is on the backside for the presenter.
Contrast this with frogdesign, which seems more innovative. (or maybe their clients give them a longer leash)
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
I own one of their cd based mp3 players, and that thing is the best portable cd player I've ever used. Its user friendliness, firmware updates and general quality of construction is unbeatable.
The only problem with the unit in question here, apparently, is that it doesn't look like an iPod. Duh.
Proletariat of the world, unite to kill conformity
In Soviet Russia, I ruled you
Most of the Iriver players (I own an H120) require no software required at all. They simply show up as a USB mass storage device. Drag and drop. If you want a database structure (which I never use.. filetree works best for me.) there are several options. Iriver has their own utility that scans the drive and creates the database. There are a couple user-made programs for this as well which you can find at the www.iriver.com user forums. The other option is Red Chair Software who makes a line of programs for interfacing with various MP3 players. Gets lots of good reviews.
Unfortunately there are some stupid limits to filename length in database and playlist modes (which users have been harping on for months) - but that dosen't concern me since I use the file tree.
All in all, I like my Iriver alot more than my old 2nd generation iPod.
I used to own (one of?) the first cd/mp3 players ever; I think it was later named the Tavura. Forget who it was by. I actually had to change the batteries once about halfway through each mp3 CD, so I'd always have 2 pair charging and one in the device.
... you guessed it ... iRiver. I wore my Soul into the ground, and immediately bought a top-of-the-line iRiver player (the imp-550). I love the thing.
Later I bought the AVC Soul (same thing as the Rio Volt), both of which were made by
iRiver has had a history of putting out decently priced hardware that _does_ look good, is functional, is upgradable, and has pretty much anything you could ask for. (Though I'm still waiting for more than one song dynamic playlists(?)).
Their players have nice battery life too (hell, the 550 shipped with a pair of 1450 mAh prismatic-type batteries; I couldn't even FIND ratings that high for the same battery type online...)
If I needed this kind of a device, iRiver would definitely be my first pick to buy from.
That aside, I'm kind of curious -- does anyone have any idea why nobody has put out a media player with open source upgradable firmware yet? It seems to me that if they put the right hardware in the thing it'd be a huge attraction both to geeks and non-geeks (who would benefit from the doubtless interesting firmwares put out by OS people). And the company wouldn't have to put much money into developing the firmware itself! I don't see what the deal is...
Well, in some sense yes, but in another sense no. The problem is it's not entirely like inventing a "metric pint", because that would be redefining the pint after the fact. In this case, computing took already-defined metric prefixes: k, M, G, T, etc. But these are already defined as a thousand, million, billion, and trillion! The M prefix has meant 1,000,000 for quite a while now; the same with k (1,000); and so on. A km has been 1,000 m since quite a bit before the invention of computers.
The use of kilobyte for 1,024 was just sort of sloppy notation: it was close enough to 1,000 that it was convenient to reuse the k that they already knew from the metric system. Then apparently they decided to stick with metric prefixes when the megabyte came along, only with new definitions for each of them. And now they're getting increasingly far from the actual values, so it's turning out to have been a bad idea.
To rectify the situation, someone-or-other came up with mebibyte as the binary form, with megabyte retaining its standard definition in keeping with a megaton or a megawatt. But these haven't really caught on, although I do occasionally see them in some Linux programs (kiB, MiB, etc.).
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
For the needy Warning: PDF
I remembered something similar with the normal iPods, but this is what came out in a google search.
Etiquette is etiquette. He kills his mother but he can't wear grey trousers.
And to answer my own question: The 2nd Generation iPod
Etiquette is etiquette. He kills his mother but he can't wear grey trousers.
I have a GP32 with exactly the same screen... 3.5", 320x240, and it is PERFECT.
:))
:D Biggest difference: GP32 has no hard drive, only 128MB SMCs :P)
3.5" is nice and big, but JUST small enough so you can still fit the unit into a breast pocket. Widescreen movies look just fine on it. (If I wanted a bigger movie watching unit, I'd buy one of those portable DVD players)
320x240 is perfect because that's essentially TV resolution (and 256 colour VGA), so it will work great with stuff ported over meant for TV or VGA output. (Imagine an SNES emulator on this thing, or Doom?
Anyway my point is, this isn't a dedicated movie player, it's a pocket-sized multipurpose entertainment system. From my experience with my GP32, I would say a 3.5" 320x240 screen is ideal for that.
(BTW, my GP32 can play MP3/Ogg, DivX/XviD, Doom and many other PC ports, plus a plethora of emulators from Atari and C64 through SNES, TG16, and Genesis. And all for $150. You might want to check em out.
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson