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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."
No Ogg? No Way!
Put identity in the browser.
Aren't all the iRiver HD players Ogg Vorbis capable?
The H100 and H300 series are and the PMPs are too.
***Quis custodiet ipsos custodes***
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.
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!
Required for me: FLAC, MusePack, Vorbis. In that order.
Nice to have: APE, WavPack, OptimFrog, MP3+APEv2 tags, and every other audio format I've seen in use (I mean, isn't that the entire point of a portable media player, that it plays all your media? Duh)
No, I'm not holding my breath either.
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.
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.
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
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.
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."
I never meant to insinuate that the product supports OGG Vorbis. I posted that excerpt to point out the discrepancy between their company policy and their actual product.
Nevertheless, omitting OGG Vorbis from the specifications does not necessarily mean that Vorbis isn't supported on the product now or in the future, especially considering how it apparently is important enough to include in their 'About' blurb.
I suggest we either ask iRiver directly or wait and see what the final product can actually do before performing anything knee-jerk related.
This seems strange, since iRiver does make players which support ogg.
You would think this "linux versions" would support it by default or something.
$600!? That more than I paid to build this computer. Wow.
Speak truth to power.
I've often wondered: was the rather unusual sampling frequency of 44.1kHz chosen to be an exact multiple of concert pitch, where A is 441Hz?