Slashdot Mirror
New Generation of MP3 Players, New Features
i4u writes "We got our hands on new Flash MP3 Players from two Korean Manufactures. Both players feature audio functions not seen in MP3 Player before, like SRS, WOW and TruBass. The Muzio JM-200 uses a two color OLED display. The Eratech EMP-100 is betting on small size with measurements of only 30x75x16mm." The larger (and stranger looking) JM-200 also lists ogg playback as a feature.
It's funny how a lot of the "cool" stuff takes forever to get to the states. I mean MP3's players like this have been standard since I got here in Jan and probably long before that. You'll see grandma's on the bus with these guys.
Why is it that when it comes to tech like this, or cell phones or cool laptops that we always have to wait years???
"Curiouser and Curiouser" - Alice
These seem to be USB 1.1 devices. For all the snazzy features, high-speed data transfer should be a priority.
What's next, flutter?
sulli
RTFJ.
how 1990s :)
seriously though anecdotal evidence suggests that the new HD-based devices are fine even for jogging. I guess the only niche left after that is if you need something even smaller than an IPod Mini...
is integrate a cell phone! Oh, and a camera!! I'm a genius!
... these aren't iPods ...
They don't even have apples DRM nor work with iTunes.
So why is this on slashdot?
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Besides, these "innovative" new features aren't really all that innovative. So there.
I love the jargon they come up with to claim they have "features". Here's what they actually mean:
SRS - "Small rectangular sticker". This is a small sticker in a rectangular shape with the letters "SRS" on it.
WOW - "Works Over Water". this has been especially designed so that if you try to use it over a body of water it will still work.
TruBass - Much like TruCalling; If the bass dies it repeats the following day.
The moral - don't be fooled by marketing hype.
I find it strange that everyone needs all these "amazing new features" etc. etc. but 99% of the time it won't change how the music sounds at all. I don't see the point of buying a new VCR because mine still works, same goes for TV, GBA(not SP) and so on and so forth.
Why waste 300 on some new gadget which will work pretty much identical to the old ones when the global standard isn't changing much (global standard for MP3s will always just be the old MP3 untill replaced for example).
I like muppets.
Unless I can get a flash player for $50 that is the size of a AAA battery, flash players are dead to me. Nothing can stop the iPod!
-------
artlu.net
People seem to understand that iPod got it right with their circular controls, but all the other MP3 plays I've seen implement it ths far shrink it so much. I'm no giant of a man, but my fingers are still fat enough to mash a few buttons at once. Smaller is not always better. I never understood the benefit of OGG either. Could someone explain that? When I have 15GB does it really matter how great my compression is on the songs?
"...with measurements of only 30x75x16mm"
Great...I already can't find my keys half the time as it is.
You can't encode MP3s above 56kbps without paying a licence fee to Fraunhofer-IIS. You don't need to pay a licence fee for Ogg.
Cool laptops? You can't get those anywhere.
Only bollock burner specials these days.
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
Look, I'm an unabashed Apple fanboy, but I'd like to know why I should choose this over an iPod. None of these features matter to me. Tru-Bass? the iPod has a huge EQ selection, and you can assign an EQ to each individual song in iTunes and it carries over to the iPod.
If these gadgets aren't half the price of an iPod mini, I have no reason to consider them. There's no mention of disk space on the JM-200, but I want GB's, not MB's.
It's nice to see these new players support open source audio formats like Ogg Vorbis. It's even nicer to see services like Audio Lunchbox and others offer Oggs for download.
for Christmas of last year I did buy a Samsung Yepp' MP3 player (model YP-55 - 192Mb of storage). Mind you, it's not to be compared to any uber-fancy MP3 players that go for hundreds of $$$ but, it certainly does have features like WOW, SRS and TruBass .... and did I mention I got it in Canada? ;)
Googled up some info on these players, as I4U seems to be dead.
The EPM-100 has 512M flash, a very small 3-line display, and is about the size of a thumbdrive. I found it selling for $220.
The JM200 has 256M flash (unknown if upgradeable via cards), includes a FM tuner, and looks downright funky. It doesn't seem to be available for purchase yet.
Both players feature audio functions not seen in MP3 Player before, like SRS, WOW and TruBass.
At last check, my iRiver iHP-120 supports SRS, WOW, and TruBass in amongst its EQ settings. Don't know about their Flash-based players, but it would be surprising if some of them didn't.
http://www.eratech.co.kr/eng/prod/pro3_1.htm
Grab it while you can.
I've been looking to get an MP3 player as a gift for someone for a few weeks now, and I just can't seem to find one model that has the features I want:
Flash-based: she's a runner, so I don't believe the HD based ones could last
FM Tuner
USB 2.0
Voice Recording
256 MB internal, with the ability to expand via a card slot (SD preferable, but others would be considered)
Act as pen drive (in Windows) without additional drivers or the need for a cable.
It seems like relatively simple and low-end requirements, but I can't seem to find a device that fulfills all these. If you know of one specifically, I would appreciate feedback.
... the fact that, in quantity, these key-chain USB/MP3 players can be had for as little as $10 per item.
Why is this great, "in quantity"? Well, I know plenty of unsigned artists whose mp3's are floating around the internet, promoting them, who can now offer "Albums" on these MP3 devices, custom-like, to their loyal fans.
Mark my words: CD's are dead. Static MP3's are dead.
Long-live the value-added MP3-player-bundled-with-new-tracks website freelance musician upsell!
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
I have the Rio Karma, 20GB, which is pretty good all things considered, I really like it.
But the one feature I've never been able to find in an MP3 player that would be perfect for listening to audiobooks is variable speed playback.
Many audiobooks you could speed up the playback by 20% - 50% and still understand it and comprehend it. In many cases you retain more because your mind doesn't have time to drift off.
Very useful, but I haven't been able to find a player (or even software on a PC) that will do it on the fly, so each file has to be transcoded, which is time consuming.
- powered by a built-in Li-polymer battery
- Both players still feature only a USB 1.1 interface
I went to the Korean website and peeked at the specs page (it's in Korean, but #s are still #s) and found out the battery is 3.7 Volts. Anyways, even though it's a lithium polymer, it's still only got ~3yrs of lifespan before it's kaput. And USB 1.1! It's not horribly slow, but with all the stuff packed in their you'd think we could get our 400Mbps worth.The USB 1.1 isn't a deal breaker, but if i can't easily get to that li-polymer battery... It'd be the whole iPod story again. This time with an overseas manufacturer.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
But the one feature I've never been able to find in an MP3 player that would be perfect for listening to audiobooks is variable speed playback.
Many audiobooks you could speed up the playback by 20% - 50% and still understand it and comprehend it. In many cases you retain more because your mind doesn't have time to drift off.
Apparently a better thing to do is to reduce the length of silences between words etc. I remember seeing research (perhaps 20years ago!) into a variable speed tape recorder/player which would reduce silences in speech but leave the words at the normal rate.
That way you don't have to listen to mickey mouse or the chipmunks yet still save time and maintain comprehension.
Dear MP3 player manufacturers,
Lots of people have compact flash media why not make a model of your wonder device that supports compact flash? The semi-competant guys at Frontier Labs do (albeit the firmware from there products is less than perfect).
SD/MMC cards are useless because they are too fragile (physically and electromagically) so much so you can't just put one in your wallet and just carry it around for a week without the card dying.
Please support CF in your future products OK PLZ TKS.
--
Null
"Survival of the fittest Max, and we've got the fucking gun!" - Pi
Google is my friend and give me this link : http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/muzio-jm200-flash- player-with-twocolor-oled-017186.php :
i want one. Period. here the texts
A new Muzio from Korean manufacturer Jungsoft (promoting the hot new band, "Man and His Cymbals"), this one called the JM-200. Besides being sort of ugly, which is probably not a bullet-point feature, the Muzio supports USB Host functionality, SRS (some sort of surround sound magic?), OGG Vorbis support, FM radio, aluminum body, and recharging via USB. Plus, it has a two-color OLED screen, which probably isn't too much to get worked up over, but there you have it. I4U has some information, and apparently a test model, so expect a proper review in the next few days.
Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
I've always been an advocate of the Minidisc player, ever since they came out with NetMD, so you could hook it up to USB. These things have amazing battery life, unlimited storage capacity (switching disks), and are quite small. They never skip, are quite cheap, very durable, and as one poster was searching for, they allow you to fast forward while listening.
Also, for me, it just feels a lot more like a music player, then those memory stick or built in hard drive players. Something about putting disks into it just make it seem more fun.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
We ooh and ahh over our camera phones and neato-toys while the asian people I know have these wild phones that do decent videos and have respectably sized LED displays. Wafer thin laptops with split screens you can rotate, last year they were selling cellphones with 3D displays, teeny tiny Sony Viao laptops. They just can't afford to throw expensive toys into large scale production without gauging reliability and purchasability. That and the frequently have to redesign their products for meaty American fingers.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
since when, the iriver i picked up a couple of months ago has all those features
I'm me. I think.
The ideal mp3 player would be...
:)
1] A cell phone with bluetooth capability.
2] A bluetooth enabled headset.
3] All major music formats including ogg.
4] A "bookmark" feature (useful for book on tape or book on mp3).
5] Stopwatch with lap timing and counters. (For those of us who exercise)
6] FM tuner.
7] XM or Syrius Tuner.
8] Uses standard flash ram cards for expansion.
9] USB 2.0 at minimum.
10] Rechargable battery and docking station.
11] Garage door opener (for those who exercise and need a way to get into the house without lugging your keys around)
That's my wish list. To date, nobody has even come close.
because right now that would be the size of a laptop. :-)
I'm here in Korea and the people seem to use the players mostly in the subways and the buses.
In the States where the people use it in the car or perhaps in their work places, the capacity of the storage is a big deal since they may use it for up to 8 hours continuously.
That's certainly not the case for the people here. The average time spent in a bus or the subways is around 30min~1hr, and you don't need anything over a gig for that.
When you don't need the storage, wouldn't you want a flash player that you can put in your pocket along with your cellphone?
I think the US slashdotters would understand the reason behind the development of the new mp3 players when they understand the culture here better.
Essentially, these all mess with the audio in some way. These are all by SRS Labs, BTW.
This is all my opinion, more or less. Quotes from SRS are found here: http://www.srslabs.com/ConsumerTechMonoStereo.asp
SRS - Sound Retrieval System
Claims to be able to "retrieve the spatial information that is lost during ordinary audio compression from any stereo recording and restores the original three-dimensional sound field." Also claims to be able to eliminate the "sweet spot" and "isolate and restore the spatial cues and place them in the proper space relative to the direct sounds, such as a soloist or dialogue."
What it really does, as far as I can tell: It uses an algorithim to isolate the audio into various sets of frequencies, which it then amplifies on various speakers and introduces a slight time delay. The effect of this is to give a slight emphasis to various parts of the sound. In a 5.1 surround system, this will make it seem as if the various chunks of frequencies are coming from more specific parts of the room. This is a neat effect, but the truth of the matter is that you can't restore what isn't there. Not really. It's a trick that lets there appear to be spatial orientation on the sound, but the spatial orientation it gives is entirely made up. It's not really what it is supposed to sound like, and it's not "much closer to what the artist originally intended" as they claim. You think artists don't listen to their own work and talk to their sound engineers? The original source material you have in the player is what the artist intended because it's what you actually got from them. SRS is a neat trick, but not actually any better. It'll work on headphones, but works best in a 5.1 surround situation. On a 2 speaker scenario, the artifical delays it introduces really hurt the sound noticably.
WOW
WOW claims to "dramatically improves the quality, dynamics, image field size and bass tones of digitally compressed audio file formats including WMA, WAV, MP3 files."
What it really does, as far as I can tell: It enhances a small band on the high end of the frequency spectrum, compresses the low end, then sticks the whole thing through a phaser to make it sound kinda deep and slightly echo-y (a phaser, for those not into audio, basically eliminates very specific frequencies.. whatever ones you have it set to... you can do all sorts of weird things with a programmable one, but it creates a pretty distinctive type of sound). On cheap ass speakers, this sort of thing can make it sound like your speakers are bigger, but the actual bass output suffers horribly on good speakers, and the echo type of effect is annoying as hell once you notice it.
TruBass
TruBass claims to "produce the perception of lower bass tones and deeper, richer bass from products that contain small, medium or large size speakers."
What it really does, as far as I can tell: Basically it increases the Bass. What? You have a bass control? Well, TruBass does it better. Oh wait, no, it doesn't. It's using some kind of tricky harmonics deal to enhance the low end of the audio to make it seem louder without actually making it louder. In other words, TruBass will increase the *perception* of the bass without actually increasing the amount of bass there. The human ear is better at certain frequencies than others, and TruBass adds harmonics to the bass that increase those frequency ranges, increasing the amount of bass you hear. But it will not increase the amount of bass that you *feel*, which to me, is kinda the whole point of bass. TruBass will work best on small crappy speakers, in other words, where you don't expect to feel any bass anyway. And the distortion on the bass is pretty severe, if you have a song with good bass to begin with.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I have an IRiver iHP-120. My player already has all those "new" features. Whats the big deal?
My player is just slightly larger than an ipod. It lasts twice as long. It handles the Ogg format. I could keep going but I should get back to work.
Zarnce
uses a two color OLED display
Don't OLEDs still have a shorter lifespan than standard LCDs?
Considering how often an mp3 player is using the display when running, song info - etc., would the shorter lifespan of the OLEDs make a difference?
"Bah!" - Dogbert
One of the links in the post (i4u.com) asked people to send in a description of their dream mp3 player. Here's the (admittedly long-winded) email I sent them If someone knows a player that meets this description, I'd love to here about it.
(To be fair, flash cards are not essential. If they designed a 2 GB fixed flash player, I'd probably be happy with that as well. But HD is still too heavy and not rugged enough for serious exercise).
----
Hi. I'm writing to answer the question posed in your June 24 article regarding what would be included in my "dream" portable music player. Here's my version.
I primarily use my mp3 player to work-out. So the popular hard drive-based players are either too bulky, too heavy, or, most importantly, just too skip- and damage-prone for rigorous fitness activities. Thus, I want to design the ideal flash-based player for active use. However, the flash-based players currently out there geared for fitness lack several key features.
The first problem is memory format. Most flash-based players (like the Nike PSA) have a fixed amount of flash memory. With flash card technology, that's just an unnecessary limitation. Why would I want fixed storage when virtually unlimited storage is possible with just the addition of a card port? However, even among card-based players there is an incredible paucity of those that support CompactFlash. Even though this is the flash format of choice for the immensely popular Canon camera line, and is the cheapest flash format per MB, very, very few players (with the exception of the hard-to-find Nex line) support it. This puzzles me quite a bit. I own a Canon camera, and I want a flash MP3 player. Why would I want to invest in two different flash card formats? It seems that a manufacturer that shrewdly marketed the lower cost and ubiquity of CF for existing cams could take advantage of this.
CF is larger than other card formats, but it's still so small and light that its form factor really does not add bulk. Plus, it is now available in higher capacities (like 1 GB) than any other flash format, rivaling some hard drive players.
The second feature I would want in my player is playlist support. Especially when I'm listening to music for exercise, the songs I pick hugely impact my level of motivation and performance. I want to be able to choose on the fly the subset of tunes that fit the mood of the moment. No flash-based player I know of support m3u or other playlist formats. This is a HUGE drawback. On my Nex II player, I have to create new folders with songs dropped in the order I want to hear them every time I go work out. It's a pain. Plus, with flash capacities growing, I want to maintain a set organizational strategy for my music (like folders by artist and album) and not reorganize music every time I listen. The built-in song-flagging pseudo-playlist feature some of these players have is not a substitute for a standard, reusable playlist. This is a must.
The third feature I want my player to have is a quality digital FM tuner. Most gyms have TVs set up in front of exercise equipment (like stationary bikes, treadmills, etc.), broadcasting the audio portion on local FM bands. I want to be able enjoy this feature of my gym, as well listen to local stations from time to time. Another must for any gymrat.
Finally, the player must be ergonomically designed for use by someone who is exercising while using the player. That is, it should, foremost, come with a comfortable, washable, neoprene *armband* case that holds the player snugly. Tunebelt makes some great generic versions of such a case, but they are not tailored for particular players (iPod being an exception). Second, the player itself must have *large* controls, clearly discriminable by touch, and inuitively positioned so one can reach them on their arm while working out. A tiny stick-like player is useless while working out, as is something bouncing around on a lanyard around your nec
All that said, having to "load up" with music from my PC still annoys me.
Agreed, that is the part I like the least. I use the ifp-driver, so I think the best way, if you want to switch up music often, is to write a simple script to take off every file and upload a random set from a hard disk directory. That way you just plug it in and run one script. Of course having it all on the player would be most convenient, but a script might not be so bad.
Developers: We can use your help.