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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."
I'm so fucking sick and tired of people saying that things are ugly compared to the iPod. Yes, the iPod looks pretty decent, but who cares? I don't look, I listen! If you want to talk about size and ease-of-use, those are factors, but so are features and price. Not everyone needs a "good looking" mp3 player to validate themselves.
Not to mention the fact that this unit isn't even ugly. I think it looks pretty damn nice, and probably will cost about as much as an iPod with FAR fewer features.
You find the iRiver ugly???
I'm sorry not to agree with you, cheap plastic design "A La Apple" is definitivly not the norm in my book, actually the iRiver looks nicer than anything that was made by Apple. (Did my french head got the right "than" this time?).
P.S.: can't wait to be able to buy one myself!
Did anyone else originally read the subject as the iRiver PIMP-120?
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
I'm more concerned about the functionality and ease of use of it than the form.
The iPod is very slick looking, but I have issues with the functionality. So far, the best I have seen in the more complex players is the Rio Karma...by a mile. Now, that is a slick looking player.
[RIAA] says its concern is artists. That's true, in just the sense that a cattle rancher is concerned about its cattle.
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 think iRiver design is pretty slick, and I'd prefer to use that over something that's already too mainstream or too widely used.
:P.
It's almost the same case as phpBB, I don't like to use it because almost every phpBB forums out there uses the same look and colors (the subsilver), and I'm tired of it
Ugh...looks like it's designed for two-handed use...like some sort of gameboy-clone. I guess that makes it more suitable as a movie player or image viewer than an MP3 player. However, it looks a lot better (IMO) than the plasticy-toy type style of the iPod
Maybe iRiver could learn something about ergonomic design from Apple, but hey, at least it's got a replaceable battery. And it's sounds like going to be more "open" than an iPod. It's always nice to see "hackable" stuff (as the article writer noted), rather than consumer-orientated "appliances"
I find the white iPods ugly. White clashes with just about everything else I own.
You may think it's ugly but how can you hate the PiMP-120?
Don't be hatin'. That name pnwz!
Would Apple's version be iPimp?
=tkk
Bill Gates - Creationist?!?
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.
Sorry, but I don't see a reason to carry around a portable video player unless I can see stuff from my TiVo and/or a DVD on it without having to take a few hours prep'ing/converting the files.
... HELL yes, I would go for it. But not the current generations of machines.
I realize that is a long way off, I'm not expecting it tomorrow. I'm just trying to figure out the mass market applications for this other than to have a box that does a ton of things (that it often isn't used for) while listening to my music.
Part of the reason I use a portable player (Neuros, not iPod) is to have a device that is small enough to be convenient (ok, the Neuros isn't as good an example of that as the iPod) -and- is fairly rugged. As in doesn't have a screen that I am worried about cracking or scratching.
Now if it plugged in to a DVD reader of some sort, even if over a network share to my PC, and allowed me to rip content to it for travel
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
Ok, since my Archos broke down, I've been looking for a replacement.
So, some questions.
What kind of hard drive does it take, and how easy is it to replace the drive with a larger one. (Yeah, I know the size is 20GB -- what kind. I need 60GB, and I'd like it to fit the 60GB lap-top drive I bought for the Archos.
What's IRiver's reputation for quality? The Archos used decent parts, but they were put together shoddily. Thus the break down. (Yeah, I also replaced the drive with a 60GB, but I'm not at all the only one to have an Archos fall apart on me.)
That and Archos's crappy software and unwillingness to embrace a far better open source replacement, means I'll never buy from Archos again.
But reason I liked the Archos was that its crappy software could be replaced with the open source Rockbox. Just how hackable is iRiver's offering? Does the fact that it's linux based mean that iRiver intends to make the source available? If I can't hack it, I won't buy it: that's why I don't own an iPod or other MP3 players
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
"Linux-based" does not, I'm afraid, imply the use of open source software/firmware. I enjoy open source software as much as the next Slashdot user, but given the past track record of hardware media players, it's not likely to be "open" or "hackable", much as you and I would enjoy this. Nonetheless, this does sound like a really cool product. Now all we need is a software media player that handles all those formats and actually works without segfaulting a la mplayer.
--
GNAA
Pr0n to go!
Though I think that comparing things to the iPod is a bit overdone as well, I would'nt go as far as to say that nobody cares about looks either. If nobody really cared about looks, then why is it that the iPod is popular? As "crazy" as this sounds, for many people, features and price are not the paramount issues when selecting which product to buy.
This is an excellent device in terms of features, I agree, but on a personal note I would have to agree with the poster of the article and say that IMO, its looks could use some improvement. The control panels on both sides with the screen sandwiched in-between looks somewhat awkward.
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)
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That's a funny name! pimp my playa'
I could give a fuck if you think it's "really,really ugly". People buy ipods now simply because it's socially sexy to do so. The fact is, this company is breaking ground with an embedded linux solution for the masses that supports OGG and MP3 - something everyone up here has been pissing and moaning for, ever since the Neuros came out. I say good for them. iRiver is cool for taking this step. We need more companies to do the same.
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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.
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Well, that's cool, but can we install windows on it?
I have a few points.
1. I would like to see it include VP3 and Theora support... Theora has now ( FINALLY ) reached bitstream freeze, so including it would be safe. It wouldn't hurt to have VP6 support as well, but I'd be happy with just VP3/Theora...
2. Nothing is wrong with the design, despite what some may say.
3. The screen needs to be bigger (preferably 16:9 widescreen, since everything is going that way), and the battery-life needs to be increased. If they don't do that, it had better be less than $400, or everyone would just be better off buying a extra Notebook...
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
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