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iRiver Ships Linux Media Players
prostoalex writes "The Register talks about new Linux-based portable media players available from iRiver. PMP-120 and PMP-140 feature 3.5'' color screen and 20 and 40 GB drives. The price tag is $500 and $600 respectively. The players support MP3, WMA, WAV and ASF music formats as well as MPEG, ASF, AVI and DivX video formats."
Does it run Linux? ... Oh wait...
perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10);'
Another /. toy I can't afford :-(
Kenny P.
Visualize Whirled P.'s
Aaargh! Although it is nice and well, this isn't what the average free software Joe is crying out for. We want Ogg Vorbis capable players!
$500 and $600? Lucky they're using Linux to keep the price down.
Oh, the shame, the shame! ;)
clearly the pmp stands for pimp
When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
All my tunes are in *ogg format. You'd expect a Linux player to handle oggs :S
Does it not have FLAC support?
The real question is, did IRiver release the source code for their new Linux players?
If they did, have they made it easy for people to change the software on the player?
Do they support open-source software for their player?
We have companies that make cool stuff that look like props from a very bad b_class scifi movie/series.
And we have apple.
I'll Switch to another player when it can make me a proper espresso, walk my dog and do the dishes !.
retep.
I have an i-river player. It's great except you need special software to access (as opposed to other players that are seen as removable storage). It's (the software that is) also not very good and I don't think there's a linux version.
Frequency range at 20Hz~20kHz
Isn't this a little low? or am I getting confused by the fact all my audio files are at 44Khz?
Although it looks really neat it is way too expensive. I mean, the iPod is pretty overpriced and I thought Archos players to be on the upper edge but this beats them both. I mean isn't the whole purpose of using Linux on such a device to bring the costs down? I hope they are very successful with this device so it might get affordable in the near future but right now this is way out of reach for the average geek.
;-)
Slightly offtopic: In case you are looking for a feature laden, flashbased player you might find the VaioX miniXen interesting. It is pretty cheap and can do everything you might ever want from such a small device. It plays nice with your Linux OS too, of course. I was comparing prices and features of these players for half a year now and finally settled on the Vaiox. I am very happy with it, although I am not sure where to get it in the US!
Now i've heard some manufacturers say that they don't try support for certain formats because the cpu power on the units is too low.
Being a new unit, and the price, I really think that's BS now.
Of course, the format is ogg. I would consider one (though NOT at that price!) if it had it... Sigh.
-- Note: If you don't agree with me, don't bother replying. I won't read it.
I have an iriver. I have the iHP-120 specifically for the ogg and longer battery life (16 hour) Plus you don't need software to connect to a PC (just a usb port).
Go here for UK availability on the PMP-140 .... and prices... and a photo it looks a bit like a pre-gameboy era electronic game gadget... and it's gold are they all gold I wonder/
The pmp120 looks more like it belongs in with the "now"...
UK Laptops
Anyone know what processor they're using?
You insensitive clod!
Now it can't compete on storage space, I admit, but my palmone treo 600 has been my exclusive portable music player for about 6 months now. Combined with the pocket-tunes software and a sd memory card, the treo 600 becomes a rather fancy mp3, wma, wav, and ogg player. In addition to that, it's also a cell phone, plays games, browses webs, etc. You can buy a 1gb sd card for about $80, and the pocket-tunes software is $30. The phone itself is only $350 with a contract from the evil phone company of your choice. If you get their unlimited data plans, then you can stream your favorite shoutcast streams straight to your phone.
Ever since I bought this phone, my archos jukebox 6000 has been sitting on the shelf collecting dust.
If you don't want the phone you could always get the tungsten t5. Also be sure to check out the yet unreleased treo 650.
It's very close to being enough to get me to buy one save for the lack of software adaptability (Can I hack it and add features?) and lack of wireless connectivity.
I mean, it'll play ASF... right? So ASF will accept mms: and other sorts of streaming filenames as well. Give this damn thing wireless connectivity and you've got a portable "internet tuner" - a device capable of playing all your favorite streams anywhere you're near a wap.
With all the features this thing has (and the price!) I wouldn't expect such a glaring oversight. Gimme this thing with wireless (get rid of the useless FM tuner if you have to - and provide at least a modicum of user-customizationability) and I'm there.
Just curious, but what's the big draw for FLAC? Isn't compression in the 2:1 range? I don't think I would bother compressing for the small gain.
They do support ogg. It just didn't register with the submitter of the story (or the editor who approved it) that .ogg was a music format popular in geek crowds.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
Is anybody aware of any reviews _of the final product_ that are available? I can't wait to see what The Reg will say when they get their hands on one.
... as a large chunk of my music collection is in this format, I bloody hope it's in there...
I am reasonably sure that Ogg Vorbis support is included (most all other iRiver products support it)
On some other sites, I have read that the devices support 8 bit games, however I can't find out any details, or an SDK for developing them, does anybody know anything about this?
it's awsome. Neuros, plays mp3, ogg, it can record with onboard mic, broadcast FM to your car stereo, and much much more. :)
it's grrrreeeeaaaat!
music - http://www.subatomicglue.com
the neuros plays oggs, and connects as a standard USB hard drive. I didn't need any software to plug it into Win2k or WinXP
music - http://www.subatomicglue.com
I've heard rumors that the iRiver was planning to support gapless playback, but their latest update doesn't work at all. Until they do, I'll just stick with my CDs when I want to listen to music on the go.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
Why not join your mp3s using your PC ?
There was a display model at a Best Buy near me (I think, it was one of those stores). I found it difficult to navigate through the menus and such and it took me about 5 minutes before I could get a song to play. There were no video files on the device so I couldn't test the video quality. All I know is that at the price they wanted, this player was too much of a hassle to use. And now that I'm reading about the lack of OGG support, that almost defeats the purpose of buying an iRiver.
Seriously! Oh, look at us we managed to make a player that runs Linux and still isn't Linux-friendly. How stupid can you get?
It's like some marketing guy came in and said "You know what's hot? Li-nux!" and then no one ever bothered to figure out why or how or with who.
adam b.
This is a misconception made by many slashdot readers.
Ogg: It's not popular with most geeks either. It's a minority within a minority. I don't know a single person, in real life or online, who uses OGG.
Until these players are gapless I am simply not interested. Too many of my albums are continuous movements. There's nothing more frustrating than a two-second moment of silence during the music.
The other thing these players seem to be missing is a simple text reader. My #1 use for my PDA is an e-book reader. It would be really sweet if the PMP could double-up as an e-book reader.
No FireWire, no sale.
And someone has to provide Mac support.
And AAC. At least unprotected. I'll never use the iTunes Music Store.
The obvious problem with hardware MP3 players is that they're all but unusable without plugging into a computer. Its actually quite easy to encode mp3s and other formats to support gapless playback, but you do need to play around with software on the PC (or Mac) I'd be nice to just plug into any stereo receiver and get MP3s (or Ogg or whatever)
iRiver delivers another great product. The features on this thing are awsome. The design, quite futuristic. The price, well...but it does do video.
I've always felt that iRiver really knew how to make a great product. I've got one of their SlimX CD players and was troughly impressed with the ability to upgrade the firmware and the number of options that I had when it came to keeping the device powered (rechargable, alkalines, and good old wall socket.)
The only drawback to their products is the amount of plastic. The iPod is a good example of case design. They are almost completely closed. iRiver products just don't seem as hardy.
Anyone else feel the same or am I just being a Troll?
"Give me taste, give me funk, give me fury, gimme some more."
/had to be said
At least using it under Linux, my Neuros needed some special software to upload stuff into the neuros 'database'. My iriver just shows up as a standard usb device I can drag/drop to, without any extra software needed.
creation science book
The IRiver PIMP ... Awesome.
The new ihp120 firmware does support gapless playback. I was sad that it wasn't included at first, but customer demand drove them to make it happen.
It's not true gapless, mind you, but it's like iTunes' deal where they mix the songs together at the gap. It's barely noticible on techno stuff, and on Pink Floyd albums, for example, it's not noticible at all.
I won one of these beasts PMP 120 and I have not yet received it. I may have the option to exchange it against something of similar value.
:)
I was wondering if anyone had feedback. In particular, I would like to know:
- if they think I can switch hard disk easily. I have had so many hard disk failures that I don't trust them anymore. I also have a 60Go spare disk, and I could use it there
- if they think that there is a better alternative, such as an Archos player
- if it will be hacker friendly. The fact that it is using Linux proves nothing. I would love to have an open firmware, but I don't see this coming from iRiver.
Any other input appreciated.
Sneak teach kids Algebra using a game
$600!? That more than I paid to build this computer. Wow.
Speak truth to power.
The Karma has the HonestToGoodnessZeroSecondOneTrackPlaysIntoTheNex
From what I've heard that is noticably different from true gapless playback. If you have had personal experience suggesting otherwise, maybe I'll try one out.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
In case the frequency of "What about ogg" posts on this story didn't clue you in, the format is indeed popular within the geek crowd.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
that read the model # as "pimp" - so and so ??
You can't play two arbitrary MP3s "back to back" without the potential for silent gaps. It doesn't mean anything to ask for this, and so when you do, what you get is a cross fade.
MPEG audio layer 3 was not intended for ripping your CDs onto a flash memory device and walking around listening to the music. It was conceived as the high performance variant in a family of algorithms for use in streaming media. When you change TV channels or radio channels it isn't "seamless" so this wasn't a requirement. As a result the last block of audio in an MP3 must be a fullsize block, so the encoder fills the remaining fraction of a second with silence or something equally uninteresting. During playback there is no reliable mechanism to determine where in the last block this filler material begins.
(You may see a similar phenomenon if you try to skip to a particular track in a "seamless" CD album. CDs are also stored as individuals blocks, and a track can only begin and end with a whole block, so tracks actually don't start and stop exactly where you'd like them to. In fact with Red Book Audio as written there has to be a short silent gap between tracks. Customers don't much like this, so the CDs you buy in the shops don't always obey this restriction, they simply put the track start/ stop markers as close to the real start and end of the track as is possible)
Ogg Vorbis includes the necessary tweaks to make gapless playback possible in theory. So a CD track can be stored as an Ogg without tagging any silence on the end as filler. Of course the player still has to do the necessary buffering to smoothly transition from one track to the next without a pause of any kind. But it's at least possible to really do gapless playback instead of silly cross-fading tricks.
Who said anything about MP3s? I know the MP3 format does not support gapless playback. Thats one reason I have my music collection ripped into ogg vorbis files (this is slashdot you know, people here are familiar with the format). Thus I can listen to them with no gaps. What I'm looking for is a portable player which can also do this. I've heard the Karma supports it, though it has its own problems.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
A Beowolf cluster of these.....
(sorry - couldn't resist)
People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
This drives me crazy with SOFTWARE MP3 players. Winamp claims to support gapless but I just can't get it to work. I might have some kind of hardware problem, but can anyone recommend a good software player that is verified to do it right? Windows or Linux preferably both.
Is it just me, or does it seem that most of the posters here have completely missed that this thing plays videos?
The cake is a pie
XMMS has it bundled with the crossfade plugin. I also seem to remember it working with winamp2 (though not with later versions). Also you will probably need to use ogg vorbis files as I think mp3s have gaps stuck at the ends of the file.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
In 1998 I like dance music - most of my albums were continuous mixes. I remember distinctly when WinAmp got the ability to play back albums continuously.
If WinAmp could do this in 98, then it surprises me an embedded player couldn't do the same six years later.
If the iRiver doesn't do it, I bet another can.
PMP? Come on, take a gander at that thing. Surely they missed an 'I' in there somewhere!!
--- "End Of Line" - MCP
and the first thing that came to mind was portable pr0n. I can think of no other useful reason for a 20gb portable device that can play movies.
Question everything
So, I guess this puts the lie to how we can all relax and the market will provide? Now it seems we're being told that even when what we want is available at low cost (last I recall, Ogg Vorbis support was royalty-free and non-copylefted free software is available), it's still too much to actually ask for what we want and hold out buying until we get it.
On a more technical note, perhaps it would be better to make a small portable more generic computer and load it with software that will do what we want. We might not get the stylized interface, but it could give gapless playback of all the free software/open source codecs we like.
Digital Citizen
Then tell them.
I know for a fact that Apple reads this feedback, and bases new features around it.
Then tell them.
I know for a fact that Apple reads this feedback, and bases new features around it.
The same 20 people who use it ask for it's support every time.
You are guilty like me. Just because there are people on slashdot who like OGG it doesn't mean it's popular. Just like I don't know a single person who likes OGG it doesn't necessarily mean it's not popular.
I didn't say popularity for it was non-existant, it's just very small and people don't seem to recognize that.
My theory is also that the portion of these people who always demand OGG support that actually buy these products are even slimmer. I probably wouldn't decide to include OGG support in my products either. Look at the products that support OGG, they haven't been shot into popularity because of its OGG support.
Second, we are not talking about whether or not iRiver should support ogg vorbis, they already do. We are talking about whether or not the omission of ogg vorbis in the list of supported formats in the /. article summary should have occurred. Thus the only group that should be considered are /. readers, for whom I feel there is sufficient evidence that ogg vorbis is popular (again, read the comments for this very story).
Third, I am not basing this merely on the opinions of /.ers. I know people in the real world as well who use .oggs. In fact I even first heard of .ogg somewhere other than /.
Fourth, yes products that support ogg vorbis are popular. Check out amazon.com's top selling portable music players in the 11-20 GB range, 3 out of 8 support .oggs (the karma and the iRivers).
Anything else?
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.