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40GB RCA Lyra: Apple Fans Needn't Fret
PaulEshoreLives writes "The Globe and Mail isn't taking too kindly to RCA's Lyra 40GB iPod 'competitor.' Amongst its gripes are a crazy-slow FFW. How slow? Like 6 minutes to get to the end of a 60 minute file. Gotta wonder how these things get missed at the beta stage."
I believe what is being referred to is a ridiculously slow "Fast Forward" function.
Will it make your iPod quit working? Or make you love your iPod less?
Why are there only 19 people folding@home for slashdot?
.. are conducive to rapid-scan indexing of frames.
..
Sure, on an uncompressed mpeg4, you can just fseek() where you need to go and pick right up, but some codecs (not gonna mention names) are designed with limitations that make faster-than-1x speed indexes exceedingly difficult for simple lower-power processors
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Why does every new hard disk mp3 player have to be labeled an iPod competitor? Some of these devices aren't even close to the iPod.
I have a Lie-ra too. The 128MB version. It claims to play MP3s but you must convert them to MPY format using a MusicMatch plugin!! (BTW: it plays WMA files too but without a conversion to MPY )
I wonder if this Lyra play MP3s or MPYs?
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
In the software development world that would be the alpha stage. I can just see it now.
Engineer to Management.
We are trying to work on the fast forward function and we would like to do that before shipping.
Management to Engineer.
We must ship by this date, we don't care if the software is done correctly or not, just get us revenue.
Engineer to Management.
Ok, me must remove the FFW button from the machine.
Management.
No, leave it we have a great idea.
Management to end user and press.
"This is a new feature of the ffw button, we think that it should be a super slow function, for those times when you just have a little too much time on your hands."
Happens all the time
So the forward-scan button gives you a 10x speed ffw. And? Why is this bad?
But then, I'm not getting my head round having single mp3 files that are 60 minutes long either, so that might explain it. I mean, there's Eno's Neroli, but I can't think of any others off the top of my head.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Most cassette players and VCRs can go from start to end of a tape in about 1-2 minutes. That's sad.
It always strikes me as strange why a company would believe that simply jumping on the MP3 Player bandwagon, and not actually producing a superior product to the iPod, would yield better sales results than the iPod. Absolute insanity.
IGB: More fun than eating oatmeal!
Gotta wonder how these things get missed at the beta stage."
PHB: Beta stage? What beta stage?
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
I have a few that are MUCH longer then an hour..
And are not split up by chapter... so its one huge file..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Apple Fans Needn't Fret
What is that saying about a group of people, that a competitor's product to Apple might cause you to "fret"? I guess its implying that Apple users don't like competition? But beyond that, why should competition cause anyone outside of Apple cause any stress for anyone that doesn't make a living selling Apple realted products? Its just wierd thats all. I understand that we can all get caught up in fandom every now and then, but geez louise give it a break.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Gee, you'd think someone with views as meticulously thought out as yours would realize that the Globe & Mail is a Toronto paper. Perhaps you have a similar screed about consumenadians, eh?
I believe "apple fans" have a reason to fear iRiver and the Nomad Zen more then this.
since IMNSHO both of these give you far better bang for your buck, not to mention the iRiver has more features.
Just my two cents really.
In that case: have a look at the Rio Karma. 1. It's cheaper 2. It plays Ogg 3. It has a better screen resolution 4. It has cross platform support (a java client that uses an ethernet connection to download/upload music from/to it)
"I Just Want You To Hurt Like I Do" - Randy Newman
According to the article (sorry):
The 154 gram unit comes in at 8.5-by-13.8-by-7.2 centimetres and 2.5cm thick
Should we fret about the 4th dimension instead?
It seems the Rio Karma hasn't had a feature bump since it's introduction last year. Sure, it's pricing is on par with the 20 GB iPod (and the Karma comes with a dock, featuring an ethernet port, not to mention native support for Ogg Vorbis and FLAC), but I think Rio can do even better. =)
I didn't see anything about 17-minute file copying in the article. What's that about?
Aside from the author's pro-ipod bias, I only have one issue with the article:
With the original OS, my Archos Jukebox Recorder required me to hold down the On button for something like 5 seconds to turn it on, and I found that to be a real PITA. With the Rockbox OS I only have to hold it down for about 1/2 a second to power up the unit, and I've never had it turn itself on in my pocket (or anywhere). My point is: Don't make the user hold the button down for any length of time to avoid accidental power-ups; design and place the power button properly instead!
-Rich
It's the Lyra RD2840. It's got it's faults but overall it's a great player for what I need it to do. Initially, it had lots of problems. You couldn't resume a track from where you left off if you turned the unit off and back on, the track would start over. If you had both mp3s and wma files on it, there was static when it switched between the 2 formats. Shuffle was buggy, etc... these were all fixed in a recent firmware upgrade though. FFW is slow on mine, but not as slow as the review says it is on the new model. Playback isn't gapless, but it's "pretty close." Battery life so far seems to be about 10 hours continuous play, 7-8 if I shuffle around, so that's not bad. It comes with an AC adapter, cigarette lighter adapter, carrying case, and the headphones are better than the typical stock headphones. The downside: For some reason, the line-out is a 1/16" jack instead of the usual 1/8" headphone sized. An adapter is included though. Also, it requires a 5.5v AC adapter, which I have had trouble locating online... so if you lose your adapter I'm not sure what you'd do. Occasionally, if you shuffle around to songs that aren't in order, the song will start about 1/2-1 second into the track. The one feature that sold me, over everything else, is that it's one of the few players that doens't require any special software. It's recognized as a standard external USB drive, you just copy files over to it like you would any normal drive (so you can also use it to store other files besides music). There IS a Windows system tray application that you use to "profile" the device, which scans all the id3 tags so that you can browse your songs by artist/genre/album/etc. But you don't need to use it, because the player has a profiling feature built in! It's just a little slower than using the windows app. In other words, this player is PERFECT for linux users. And, they're cheap. I got mine refurbished on ebay for only $160. At that price, for a 40 gig player that includes all the accessories and requires no software and runs effortlessly under Linux I don't mind the few faults it has!
iPod does not convert everything to aac. It plays mp3, as well as several lossless formats (aif, wav, apple lossless) without converting anything at all. It does not play ogg or wma, true. But that does not make it dependent on 1 format.
Initially, it had lots of problems. You couldn't resume a track from where you left off if you turned the unit off and back on, the track would start over. If you had both mp3s and wma files on it, there was static when it switched between the 2 formats. Shuffle was buggy, etc... these were all fixed in a recent firmware upgrade though. FFW is slow on mine, but not as slow as the review says it is on the new model. Playback isn't gapless, but it's "pretty close." Battery life so far seems to be about 10 hours continuous play, 7-8 if I shuffle around, so that's not bad. It comes with an AC adapter, cigarette lighter adapter, carrying case, and the headphones are better than the typical stock headphones.
The downside: For some reason, the line-out is a 1/16" jack instead of the usual 1/8" headphone sized. An adapter is included though. Also, it requires a 5.5v AC adapter, which I have had trouble locating online... so if you lose your adapter I'm not sure what you'd do. Occasionally, if you shuffle around to songs that aren't in order, the song will start about 1/2-1 second into the track.
The one feature that sold me, over everything else, is that it's one of the few players that doens't require any special software. It's recognized as a standard external USB drive, you just copy files over to it like you would any normal drive (so you can also use it to store other files besides music). There IS a Windows system tray application that you use to "profile" the device, which scans all the id3 tags so that you can browse your songs by artist/genre/album/etc. But you don't need to use it, because the player has a profiling feature built in! It's just a little slower than using the windows app.
In other words, this player is PERFECT for linux users.
And, they're cheap. I got mine refurbished on ebay for only $160. At that price, for a 40 gig player that includes all the accessories and requires no software and runs effortlessly under Linux I don't mind the few faults it has!
I'm thinking you kinda invalidate any right you may have thought you had to grouse about American "consumer marketplace economics" when you lazily request Hollywood warez sites be e-mailed to you in your perch in Germany.
Maybe we're just supposed to send you warez sites for those great German movies. Yeah, that's it, that's what you meant...
As far as America's "innate desire for fascism" goes, uhhhh, don't you think might be just projecting a teensy bit? Fascism is on the rise, all right. But we Americans are dorky amateurs at it. You guys remain the world-class professionals at it.
Secondly, AAC can either be lossy or lossless, depending on which format you choose. AAC Lossless is, by definition, lossless (er...hence the name).
So apart from getting both of those facts wrong, you were almost right :-)
"This is why men never share their feelings; because women always remember." -Just Shoot Me.
Who's this "we"? I'm a US citizen, but I committed none of those crimes. I am a peaceful individual, not an aggressor. I will NOT be held responsible for the actions of other individuals, let alone the actions of government.
I am exactly responsible for my own actions. No more, no less. I take offense that you imply that I somehow had something to do with those crimes.
What are you talking about?
Apple fans WANT something to fret about because thats what makes thing better. The worst thing that could happen to the industry is for no one to bother challenging Apple.
See what happened when no one challenged Microsoft?
Apple fans WANT some one to beat the pants off Apple, 'cause it means that after Apple has gotten up off the floor and brushed itself off, it is going to come up with something freakin amazing to get back into the game.
Thats what makes healthy competition great.
First, give us non-proprietary batteries. Not only to keep it from becoming a paper weight after a couple years, but also to be able to toss in some other batteries if you forget to recharge it.
Second, give us an easily to use intuitive interface. In other words, TEST IT WITH REAL PEOPLE BEFORE YOU EVEN ATTEMPT TO SELL IT!!!
Third, allow us to sort and organize our music without any proprietary software crap. Simply let me transfer my MP3s by artist/cd name folders. If you want proprietary crap for newbies, let that be an option, not a mandate.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
(obligatory ad-hominem)
You're a dumb ass.
cr
"You know, that White-Picket Fence "keeping up with the Joneses" agitated nervousness that comes as a result of being breast-fed consumerican ethics from the day you were born .."
Nothing of the sort.
The fact is, most other companies have proven that once they get to the point of being in a monopoly state, start building crap and giving the consumer shit they don't need, ignoring all their failings.
Apple, on the other hand, acts as if their market share nor do their users wishes and needs expectations exist. This is actually a good thing under the right influences. If you listened to all the fanboys, you'd have a 120G iPod that could play full motion pictures in Xvid and play Ogg and maybe hook up Mame and a few controllers and heck, we need a projection unit on this and otherwise. I have one of those things from Apple...its called an Powerbook. It doesn't need to fit in my pocket. I want something that makes music and nothing more.
Apple is one of the few companies that once its in a position of power, it isn't trying to shore up the power with artificial bullshit that no one needs for its product class. Instead, they focus on making the shit better. Personally, I don't care for the photo bit of the new iPod...but it was almost the least they could do considering color screens are nearly as cheap as the screens they current use (they'd had to mode to the 2 color screen on the cheaper model it displays Black and Blue as it was what the company that made the old screen moved on to). Its a nifty hack, but I really don't want more than that, even if it had power to do more.
Apple puts out good products. If others put out an inferior product that caught the attention span of the public, we'd all suffer. Its happened in the past. The iPod won't be at its 70% mark forever, and it will eventually happen again. The fact that Apple is at 70% and the next highest is at like 5% even though its selling for half of Apples price and 2x the features (what ever the fuck that means) probably means that its past the point of consumerism -- it means folks are buying it almost solely because they realize its the best of class and its worth just a little more to have.
And just to make certain this doesn't get modded up:
Fuck All Ya'll
I misread the post, I thought the complaints were about the speed of its FFTW, the Fastest Fourier Transform in the West! I thought the author wanted to criticize the quality of its fourier transform functions.
This got moderated +5 insightful? The hell? Was someone blinded by the low UID and edgy sounding pseudo-postmodern claptrap? The first paragraph/sentence doesn't even end -- it's a goddamned fragment.
The whole comment reads like some frothy liner note from a Rage Against the Machine album. "Consumerican"?! Holy shit.
Glad to see that freshman Social Psychology class is going so well for you...
The big revolution from, say, 1973 to 1980 was making computers affordable, an activity which the IBMs of the world had no interest in whatsoever. They saw microprocessors as a direct thread to mainframes and sought use them in limited ways and protect products like the DataMaster from cannibalization by cheap general-purpose PCs. The result was that the personal computer revolution was fueled by technies and hobbyists.
From 1980 to 1990 it was all about making computers usable and seducing ordinary people who had no interest in learning how to program in BASIC or learn a traditional CLI. The result was a revolution in usability. The overall computer usability experience (not just the GUI shell, but quality, installability, and usability of applications, ease of adding peripherals, etc.) probably peaked in the Mac world circa Apple System 7.
Ever since then, it's all been slowly downhill, as user familiarity and "computer literacy" have increased the tolerance of the general public for complexity, crashes, and other things that are now accepted as "what computers are like." Usability has been in a slow but perceptible decline.
You can see it in all sorts of little things. The latest Dell computer we got has six USB ports on the back, two of which are totally unlabelled and four of which are in close proximity to the letters "A," "B," "C," "D" in circles which are spaced closely together and are not aligned with the USB connectors they are probably labelling. There are color-coded, iconically labelled jacks for speakers and headphones, and but no obvious clue as to where mouse and keyboard are supposed to plug in.
Meanwhile, every new gadget I buy has a microprocessor in it... and usability problems. The $10 thermometer I bought in a drugstore has several different measurement modes, all incomprehensible, controlled by two unlabelled buttons and an LCD screen which displays not only the temperature but smiley faces and pictures of a running stick figure while emitting incomprehensible beeps. I can guess that if it tells me my temperature is 98-something degrees it is probably in Fahrenheit mode and if it tells me it's 37-something degrees it is probably in Celsius mode, but I'm darned if I know how to set it, or what it is that I'm doing that causes the mode to change.
My cell phone comes with a 100-page manual but frequently emits strange beeps and displays messages that the manual does not explain. (In this case, the explanation is that the cell phone user interface as experienced by the user is a combination of what the phone itself does and what the specific set of services offered by Verizon does. But the user experience is one of a low-quality UI.
Thank goodness there is at least one arena in which the market is apparently still rewarding usable design.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Canadian (n): An American in all but name, who is proud that s/he doesn't have the name.
(Yes, I'm Canadian.)
More, eh? Maybe more that you care about, but that's not what you said. The iRivier iHP supports MP3, WMA, ASF, WAV, and OGG. That's 5 formats. The iPod plays AAC, MP3, Apple Lossless, AIFF, Audible, and WAV; a total of 6.
People like you are exactly the reason why I claim to be Canadian when I travel outside the country. Not because I'm unpatriotic, but because people like you have made it dangerous to be an American
Oh, man, you mean you don't like me?
Now I'm going to be sad all day long, you big bully!