Build Your Own MP3 Player

rdnk writes "Here's something for the DIY people, a home made mp3 player built into a mint case. Total (minimum) cost for parts: ~50$. At least it's something different."

Comments

What's the point?

[Staos]

I just don't see the point of mp3 players. I'm never further than a meter away from a computer, so I can have music there, sure the quailty may not be the best but what can you do? I can only think of about 3 occaisons where I would be away from a box for longer than a half hour:

1. The commute to work: Dangerous/I have the radio 2. Exersise: I ride my bicycle from my house to the local park, and I need to cross some streets to get there. Dangerous 3. Geocaching: I like to listen to the nature, not the latest teeny-bopper chart topper :).

So, while this is a neat project, I just don't see the point of this (and more expensive) mp3 players.

Re:What's the point?

[spac3manspiff]

Well then you're too old

Re:What's the point?

[crow]

While I tend to agree with you--I have never used a protable MP3 player--obviously, many people do. As evidence, look at the iPod sales. Sure, many of us don't have a use for them, but for anyone who wants a portable music device, they're usually the best option.

Re:What's the point?

[RobertTaylor]

Apple and the rest of the MP3 player producers must be quaking in their boots at the shock revelation that their target market 'dont see the point' of their product.

"I'm never further than a meter away from a computer.....only think of about 3 occaisons where I would be away from a box for longer than a half hour"

Ah, hang on ;)

Re:What's the point?

[thryllkill]

So what you are saying is that you do not have a reason for one? Then don't buy/build one. Plenty of other people do use them, as they do get more than a meter from their computer and would like to enjoy music where ever else they are. Also, there is a lot of music out there that is not teeny-bopper chart toppers.

Reasons I do use MP3 players:
1. I hate the radio (especially because of the teeny-bopper chart toppers). 2. Exercise, I run on a closed to traffic course. 3. I hate the radio.

I don't understand the point of your post. It seems to me that you are trying to justify your decision not to purchase (or in this case build) one.

Re:What's the point?

[zeath]

Your own music preferences and social life aside, not everyone is always next to their computer or listens to the latest teeny-bopper chart toppers. There's lots of good music to be found out there that isn't maintstream. The boss at my old job has an mp3 player that he has loaded up with classical music. That's the nice thing about them - you can put whatever you like in it.

My current job requires me to constantly run from my computer to the printers and back, which is about 30 meters away and down a flight of two dozen steps. The workout is good, I won't complain about that, but after a few weeks there I'm starting to consider buying an mp3 player to keep myself entertained during the relay runs to the printers and back. On my 40 minute commute I listen to the radio as well, but if I were to get the mp3 player I would definently wire the mp3 player into my car so I can listen to my music in there as well. You don't need headphones to listen to it in the car; there are plenty of cheap cassette adapters available, or you could use an FM transmitters if you don't have a cassette player. There's a few examples of purposes and uses for you.

Re:What's the point?

[ilikejam]

The requirement for an MP3 player is exactly proportional to the amount of time a person spends walking.
I walk everywhere, and I can't remember the last time I didn't have an MP3 / MiniDisc player in my pocket.
None of my friends who drive ever carry a Walkman type thing.
I think a scientific study may be in order.

Re:What's the point?

[afra242]

I do see your point, however, I love my mp3 player. I live in Chicago, and one has to walk a lot around this city to get to most places, or you'd use public transportation. Having an MP3 player in these cases is good.

Also, when I'm on the plane, music keeps me occupied. And when I workout at the gym. I'm not constantly around a computer, however...

Re:What's the point?

[cobalt27x]

Go on and mark my comment off-topic, Mods :D

*spoons out some ice cream for the troll*

Speaking from personal experience, I myself was in much the same boat as you. Since I rarely spent more than a half-hour or so away from some computing device which contained my entire music collection, I could not come up with a reason to grab a portable MP3 player.

For reasons still unknown to my conscious mind, I actually gave in to the hype and purchased an iPod 20GB, gen 4. Ever since then (it has been nearly 4 months now), I find that I can't live without the damned thing. Now, I spend much more time away from the computer, and even make more frequent long-distance driving trips (with a hookup to my car stereo, of course).

So, if you are at all like me, you probably won't really "get it" until you get it. I am glad I made the jump. Your mileage may vary.

*confidently returns to walking off a cliff with the rest of the lemmings*

Re:What's the point?

[Unknown Lamer]

I drive a lot (and walk quite a bit during the semester) and I'd never leave the house without my Neuros in my car (WLME only plays True Metal (tm) and not the stuff I don't like that's on the radio). It sure beats the Hell out of lugging around 300 or so CDs in two binders everywhere (and would be a lot less expensive to replace if someone stole it).

Re:What's the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

Also, depending on your employeer, you might not be able to load 40 GB of music on your work computer. I use my iRiver all day every day at work.

Re:What's the point?

[thebudgie]

I tend to walk everywhere now, but when I was cycling I used to always listen to a minidisc/MP3 player until I moved to Edinburgh. And almost got run over on several occasions. I can't cycle or drive with loud music in heavy traffic- it scares the hell out of me being unable to hear where traffic is. Of course in saying that I spent 12 days in hospital with liver damage after a mountain biking accident when I wasn't listening to an MP3 player, so it goes both ways.

Re:What's the point?

[goneutt]

3 occaisons where I would be away from a box for longer than a half hour

Would you please, please, get a life.

Re:What's the point?

[tylernt]

Depending on your employer, you might not be bringing your iPod or other MP3 player to work -- because they're afraid you'll cart off company secrets with it.

I wish I were kidding.

Re:What's the point?

[gl4ss]

wow, you're really crap at seeing the world from anyone elses perspective(or just trolling). why would the music from the computer suck btw? digital hookup to proper stereos - damn fine sound.

1. the commute to work: radio sucks.

2. you could go to the gym. music they play there sucks.

3. geocaching - you magically teleport yourself to the forest? and forgot that you could like, upload music you would like to listen to the mp3 player.

of course there's no point in a mp3 player if you SIT NEXT TO ONE all day long and would load one up with CRAP MUSIC even if you had a portable one.

Re:What's the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF! troll? Its your real life you. At least a +3 insightful or a satori +1

Re:What's the point?

[BosstonesOwn]

Ok hand over the porn stash or the ip atleasst. jacking off to much can make you go blind, trust me i know.

/me looking for the coke bottle glasses.

Re:What's the point?

[discogravy]

or a dictionary...

Re:What's the point?

[uberdave]

There are geocaches in most major cities. No need for magic forest-targetting teleporters.

Re:What's the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

posting in between those exciting Playmate parties again, goneutt?

Re:What's the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

he 'listens to the sounds of the nature' in the major cities?

more probable is that he just doesn't listen to any music, anywhere..

Re:What's the point?

[khellendros1984]

Quote: For reasons still unknown to my conscious mind, I actually gave in to the hype and purchased an iPod 20GB, gen 4. Ever since then (it has been nearly 4 months now), I find that I can't live without the damned thing. Yea, I hear ya, Cobalt. I did exactly the same thing! In fact, I'm listening to the damn thing now. Even though I'm sitting at a perfectly good computer..... And I think I came even farther. There was a time that I didn't care about music much at all, let alone enough to shell out $300 for a device dedicated almost completely to MP3 playback....although it's also useful as a hard disk!

Re:What's the point?

[dbIII]

you might not be bringing your iPod or other MP3 player to work -- because they're afraid you'll cart off company secrets with it.

I wish I were kidding.

While I, on the other hand, have a USB stick in my watch with a linux distro containing an assortment of cracking and encryption tools, and a virtual machine to run it under windows. A small workplace full of educated people that can trust each other helps, they all just think it's stupidly geeky and not a security risk - people are the risk not the tools, I could do as much with a CD and nearly as much with a floppy. The reality is that if you let people get to almost any machine with bootable media for a few minutes they own it - banning the iPod but letting CD-R, DVD-R and floppies enter and leave the building just shows that HR have to do something visable to justify their existance but don't have to do it well.

Re:What's the point?

[Veamon]

Never further than a meter away? What a loser...go get some air every now and then...
besides, this story is old, it was on hackaday.com 2 days ago...yay slashdot...

Re:What's the point?

[LookWhatIFound]

Just because you wouldn't use them, how ignorant are you that you just don't see the point? Let's look at your ridiculous points. 1. It's not dangerous because you can make it a radio station or cassette. Additionally, radio has commercials and isn't the songs you choose. 2. Many people exercise a lot more than you do, like at the GYM. Stationary bikes and whatnot. Amazing that you don't see the point of mp3 players. Also, others stay away from computers for more than 30 minutes. Your lifestyle obviously doesn't need an mp3 player, but to consider mp3 players pointless is simply absurd and ignorant.

Re:What's the point?

[mistermark]

>I'm never further than a meter away from a computer, so I can have music there

Then my iNO is just the thing for you, Apple-logo, no MP3-circuitry and no cost :-)

Re:What's the point?

[xanadu-xtroot.com]

I'm never further than a meter away from a computer

1. You say you're "
2. never" further than a meter from your box, yet you claim to bike for kilometers?
   
   Interesting...

Re:What's the point?

[peawee03]

Nevermind the Chicagoland radio stations for the most part suck major ass... FCC deregulation and corporate buyouts has only hurt Chicago's radio.

Re:What's the point?

[nurb432]

Depends on what sort of box hes talking about...

Re:What's the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

Some of us work in the depts of defense or state.. We most certainly are not allowed to take these devices into work. And with good reason.

Re:What's the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

away from a computer you moron, perhaps the bike has a computer onboard for a speedo, distance travelled etc. he could take an mp3 player with him, or hell even a watch, mobile phone etc. etc.

Re:What's the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

lol!!!

Xan.

And people say...

[AEton]

the Media Lab is obsolete!

Talk about daring technology. :p

Re:And people say...

[Domini]

AEton,

- And times being what they are...
- What are they?
- Indifferent!

Been Done

[Anonymous Coward]

I've seen this on slashdot before. In the hardware hacking section, a salute to DIYers.

Re:Been Done

[tylernt]

You guys think mp3-players-in-mint-tins are cool? Well, the amateur ("ham") radio guys beat you to the punch when it comes to mint tin innovation:

http://www.byonics.com/pockettracker/ (scroll down)

Re:Been Done

[dogfart]

Wow! Even cooler than the tuna-tin HF transmitter:

http://www.electronicsusa.com/tt2.html

Down Already?

[AO]

No post and the site is slow to load...does this mean /.'s are actually RTFA?

Re:Down Already?

[PoopJuggler]

More likely the guy built a $50 webserver also

Re:Down Already?

[Curtman]

does this mean /.'s are actually RTFA?

Nope, that's just one of the limitations of a tic-tac web server.

Re:Down Already?

[digitalchinky]

Build your own 'robust' webserver might be a better topic for discussion.

Re:Down Already?

[sumdumass]

becaue they are running the webserver on the same media player device they built.

And yes i used a spell checker. The poroblem is she got pissed and left.

Re:Down Already?

[Anonymous Coward]

Lucky for me, I've seen it already, after being featured on http://hackaday.com/

Re:Down Already?

[f()bz]

More likely the guy built a $50 webserver also

actually it wasn't a GUY that built this project but a woman, gal, chick, person of the female persuasion.

and something tells me that grad students at the media lab aren't in charge of the web servers...

~fab

Wake me up

[AtariAmarok]

Wake me up when you have the iPod built in a cigarette carton for $90 in parts.

Re:Wake me up

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't it interesting... slashdotters laugh at some users for equating MSIE to the internet, while at the same time, some slashdotters equate the iPod to all mp3 players.

[Here come the Apple zealots, saying that "iPod is the only mp3 player that matters!" Sheep...]

Re:Wake me up

[AtariAmarok]

What in the parent implies that the iPod is more than just one of the mp3 players out there?

Re:Wake me up

[Anonymous Coward]

thats not just funny, but a good idea too!

Re:Wake me up

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the carton alone pushes it more than $90... Or maybe that's just here. I don't know how the smokers can afford it!

Re:Wake me up

[Anonymous Coward]

by that time, the ipod will only cost $60.

Re:Wake me up

[Anonymous Coward]

I get it.. Cigarettes, or as they're known in the UK.. Fags..

Apple... Fags... Heh

Re:Wake me up

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it's magical! *rolls eyes*

Re:Wake me up

[jcostom]

[Here come the Apple zealots, saying that "iPod is the only mp3 player that matters!" Sheep...]

What the parent neglects to say is that the iPod is in fact the only portable music player that matters. Apple happens to own over 90% of the hard-drive player market. (source).

When one vendor owns over 90% of the market for a specific device, the competition is a complete non-factor in shaping the direction of the market. Are users going to throw their $250-$600 iPods in the trash tomorrow if Archos comes up with something new? Not likely.

The comparison between MSIE and the iPod just doesn't ring true. The iPod is a piece of hardware that requires a monetary investment to acquire. MSIE is a piece of software that you can download for free if you're on a supported platform, or an unsupported one if you're a Crossover Office kind of person. ;) The alternatives to MSIE are also free, especially my favorite browser, Firefox.

Re:Wake me up

[Misanthropy]

Wake ME up when I've got 20gigs in a cigarette lighter...for $100.
I love my ipod but it's a little heavy for a shirt pocket.
And after being used to having all of my music with me in a little box I refuse to accept smaller storage! You can keep your 512MB and 5gig players.
I remember when I was impressed with the 5GB creative jukebox. Looking back that thing was huge!

/spoiled

Alternatives

[RobertTaylor]

$50? Might as well get one of these for $99 :)

And you can take it back if it breaks.

Re:Alternatives

[spac3manspiff]

I guess you missed the point of the article...

The point was that YOU built it and it's something to showoff to your friends.

Re:Alternatives

[OneDeeTenTee]

But that doesn't come with free mints.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess you missed the point of his post: humor! Try it sometime; it really works!

Re:Alternatives

[fimbulvetr]

He has a point. You can also replace in batteries in the one you built. Assuming you put some time in, you're also not tied to particular formats.

Re:Alternatives

[RobertTaylor]

Beat me to it :)

I apologise for forgetting this is slashdot and posting something with humour in that was not some half arsed m4d l33t catchphrase.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

Plus people won't look at you funny.

But someone has to do projects like this, or we might not have the devices we have today.

Re:Alternatives

[modifried]

" But that doesn't come with free mints."

Neither does the Altoid tin. Unless they're giving them away for free now?
(On another note, only on Slashdot would a post stating an MP3 player doesn't come with free mints be modded as 'Informative'.)

Re:Alternatives

[MrLint]

The point was that YOU built it and it's something to showoff to your friends.

You know that /. ppl dont have friends:)

Re:Alternatives

[TheOnlyCoolTim]

If I saw someone dumb enough to buy an MP3 player that doesn't have things like a SCREEN I would look at them funny.

Tim

Re:Alternatives

[Wraithlyn]

Or a Frontier Labs NEX ia+ (don't have time to find link sorry)

It's an MP3 player that costs about $89, BYOCF. (Bring Your Own Compact Flash/microdrive), and runs off a pair of AAs. Also records microphone, radio direct to MP3.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

$50? Might as well get one of these for $99

The concept of hacking is really lost on some people. I think the project is fantastic. The lost $49 dollars and warranty would be more than made up for in learning, experience, pride, and just the general joy of creation. Check if those 4 qualities are in your fancy new Apple package.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

$99? Might as well get one of these for $150 :)

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

$50? Might as well get one of these for $99 :)

Yeah, who in their right mind would possibly want to pay half price for something?

Seriously, "Informative"? WTF? Here is a link to a similar but cheaper product (see here to get this thing for even less). Do I get modded "Informative" now? Or do mods actually think that informing us that such products exist is actually news? Simple screenless flash mp3 players have been around for a while, folks. Apple didn't invent them just this week.

Re:Alternatives

[really?]

Err ... slashdotter with friends? That would imply we have some kind of social life.

You must be new here. :-)

Re:Alternatives

[Mononoke]

Assuming you put some time in, you're also not tied to particular formats.

Yes, because some days MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Music Store, M4A, M4B, M4P), Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4) and WAV ain't enough.

Re:Alternatives

[gl4ss]

you'd have to buy itrip as well.

"Exxxtras - Unlike some other mp3 players, this one comes with a 3.3v boost regulator (for running off of 1 or 2 alkaline or rechargable batteries) and an FM transmitter, for when you're on that road trip to Canada and you forgot your #@&*ing tape-adapter dongle thingy. Also, a really cool volume control button."

besides, it's a diy project.. (mirrordot.com has the front page)

Re:Alternatives

[really?]

I have one. Let's see:
1. Put earbuds in.
2. Plug the other end of the cable into the MP3 player.
3. Press play
4. Hook it to my t-shirt sleeve and throw it inside. (t-shirt keeps it from bouncing around too much.)
5. Get on the treadmill, and run whatever "programme" I do on a particular day.
6. Get off the treadmil.
7. Search, usualli in vain, for some dry corner of t-shirt to whipe the MP3 player and the earbuds/wires.
8. Unhook from t-shirt and whipe the sweat off.
8. Press stop.
9. Unplug the earbuds and throw them and the player in my gym bag.

Which of the steps above would require the screen?

Re:Alternatives

[someonewhois]

I wouldn't want the temptations of eating it, despite the disclaimer telling me otherwise. Oh wait, mints are even tastier than an iPod...

Re:Alternatives

[fimbulvetr]

My point still stands.

Re:Alternatives

[anethema]

You sure went thru a lot of work to make 4 formats sound like a lot, which it isnt.

Especially when people will only ever use two of them.

Note: Not bashing the iPod, I just bought one 3 days ago. It all came down to the wheel. No other player has a way to scroll thru your list wihtout lifting your finger. It should be a requirement damnit. Even something like the volume control car cd decks use would be perfect. Not sure what other companies are thinking there. Look at the iRiver..superior in almost every way..except of course the hardware interface is a pain in the ass. Just cant win.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually the mints were free because the cost of the altoids is included in the $50. Think of it as buying the tin for your project and getting free mints with it.

Re:Alternatives

[timeOday]

The day MIT discourages projects like this because you can buy something similar off an Asian assembly line is the day we're truly screwed.

Re:Alternatives

[jhobbs]

The link, oddly enough, is www.frontierlabs.com. I have the previous model, the NEX IIe, and have loved it. No matter how many times I have dropped it at the gym or jogging it still works. The NEX ia is now just $69, BYOCF. I have to also say, running for a week off one set of AA batts is nice. I keep a few sets of rechargables in my gym bag and never have to remember to plug in the actual player. If I'm not at home to recharge, there are still AA batts for sell somewhere. Their 20gig player is nice also.

As far as customer support they are absolutly top notch. The NEX IIa's battery cover wasn't all that well designed. It was not attached to the unit and therefore somewhat easy to loose. I have lost 3 personally. Each time, I emailed them and they mailed me a new one for no charge. (They fixed the design flaw in the NEX ia, BTW)

I love their new motto, "FL: Lucking Fovely Entertainment"

Re:Alternatives

[Guy Harris]

Or, if you'd rather have an MP3 player in a cookie/biscuit tin, try one of these, although they're a bit expensive at USD 499 (but you can also use it as a general-purpose computer if you want).

Re:Alternatives

[elmegil]

Has Apple fixed the 2 sec gap between songs yet?

Re:Alternatives

[TheKidWho]

you can thank patents for that :-D

Re:Alternatives

[anethema]

Yes but what about my idea. The same kind of small volume knob like car CD players have?

could just spin it to do all the things the ipod does. This is (i'm pretty sure) different enough to not run into apples patents.

I'm pretty sure its just a small encoder wheel so it would be easy to do too. Maybe i should have bought that huge open source player and modified em and sold em haha ;)

Re:Alternatives

[Monkelectric]

Nope it isn't. I want full Ogg Vorbis support. I don't want to hear excuses about how it requires too much processor power, how its a niche format, DPSs won't do it, whatever. iRiver supports it, rio supports it, their products are cost competitve with apples products, end of story.

Until then Im happy with my iRiver h340 :)

Re:Alternatives

[anethema]

Not sure, but if you are genuinly curious ill let you know when i get it in however many weeks apple.ca takes to ship it out (had to buy it there so i could get my student discount..10% or so)

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

How about you have a number of exercise routines on your mp3 player; how do you select the one to listen to?

By exercise routine, I mean for something like interval training, which is something like "situps for 30sec, pushups 30sec, rest 10 sec". This is the perfect thing for people like myself, and is the sole reason i didn't buy an ipod shuffle. If I wanted to do the same thing there, I'ld need to listen to the start of each track till I found it. Screen makes it easy to scroll thru until today's exercise is found.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

doubt it - the guy has an electronics shopping link as his home page .... I think his idea of fun is just different from Ladyada's

Re:Alternatives

[BosstonesOwn]

god forbid we burn the extra calorie lifting the finger.

Re:Alternatives

[elmegil]

Somewhat curious. That and the price are the main things curbing my lust for one myself.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

just think -- your home-made mp3 player, residing in an old atari 2600 paddle.

Re:Alternatives

[wayneh]

Do not eat iPod shuffle.

Re:Alternatives

[Eideewt]

But you can bump a knob. It would be very hard not to when you carried it in a pocket. If you made it really stiff to compensate, then early-adopter geeks couldn't turn it.

Re:Alternatives

[really?]

It's a 256MB player. I plug it in to get it recharged, and push on the "set" of the day. I have a bunch of "playlists" that I load onto the player to match the routine of a said day. I mean, with only 256MB one wouldn't want Rammstein to take any useful space on a LSD day. No?

Re:Alternatives

[Foolhardy]

What? My friends list is full of people ;)

Re:Alternatives

[Harlockjds]

funny i don't have to lift a finger to scroll in my CL Zen...

Re:Alternatives

[Mononoke]

You sure went thru a lot of work to make 4 formats sound like a lot, which it isnt.

Not really, I just copy/pasted from Apple's site.

That's just the list for the Shuffle. The real iPod does more.

Re:Alternatives

[MonMotha]

Part of the problem, especially with very low end MP3 players that use dedicated hardware decoding is that (to my knowledge) there is no integrated solution (I hate that word, but it's appropriate here) for decoding Vorbis in hardware.

There are a few chips for doing MP3 easily (I've actually got a couple of STA013s here that I've been meaning to make into an MP3 player very similar to this one, but using an 8051 or z80 instead of a PIC). I don't know of any like that for doing Vorbis.

Of course, this doesn't apply to systems decoding in software. There is a fixed point decoder for Vorbis available, so the lack of an FPU (common) isn't a problem (it was until about a year ago). Decoding Vorbis does require a little more CPU time than MP3, but it's not too big if you're already decoding in software, the problem is dedicated hardware decoders. There's no STA013V (or whatever) that will do Vorbis in a nice package like there are for MP3.

Re:Alternatives

[Valiss]

But that doesn't come with free mints. ...or free U2 music. Blah.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

did anyone else notice the footnotes on that ipod shuffle website?

"Do not eat iPod shuffle."

i'm speechless...

Re:Alternatives

[Sensible Clod]

You could have it stick out normally, and press in and lock (thus preventing rotation) when you put it in your pocket.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

Dang, I thought that apple zealots were screwed up, but not to be retarded enough that apple had to put a disclamer telling them not to eat it.

Re:Alternatives

[jmb-d]

The point was that YOU built it and it's something to showoff to your friends.

Amen!

Following the logic of the original poster, why would one ever bother to learn to play an instrument when there's all of that recorded music out there?

Answer: for the sheer joy of playing.

I play bass (sort of). Am I going to quit my day job and go play in a band? Hell no! I lack the talent, and my wife and kids depend on my income. Do I love playing? You bet...

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

I count nine, three of which are probably imaginary, two that are gay 50 year olds who have not come to terms with their homosexuality; who are posing as girls, and maybe a couple of dead accounts.

But I... I could be your friend.

Re:Alternatives

[roseblood]

The iPod SHuffle is a POS. I use my MP3 player for AUDIOBOOKS. Imagine listening to a book with everything out of bloody order? A 10 hour book broken into 300 parts (my Mp3 player only supports 300 tracks in a playlist.) would be hell of a beast to deal with in a random play mode. Worse than just the first read-through, imagine the pain when you try to re-start at track 135 (having had to turn off the mp3 player while at work.) This thing has no damned display to even know it was track 135 you were listening to when you sat down at your desk to start the work day.

Re:Alternatives

[sik0fewl]

I guess you missed the point of the article...

That's quite easy to do if you don't read the article.

--
Ryan
Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils.

Re:Alternatives

[anethema]

you cant put a ipod in your pocket either. the touch wheel gets touched. thats why the hold button is there.

Re:Alternatives

[anethema]

If you are a student they are about 10 percent cheaper.

When i get it will cut a solid tone into two files, see if i hear a break.

and then ill let you know.

Emal me at

anethema at (nospamnospam) gmail.com

obviously remove the (nospamnospam) to really send a email :)

Re:Alternatives

[Daedius]

WTF, am I the only one who sees on apples website about the iPod shuffle. http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/

iPod Shuffle: smaller than a pack of gum, and much more fun! (2) ...

(2) Do not eat iPod shuffle.

Re:Alternatives

[anethema]

while its a neet idea, i think that would make the player very fat. could just have a recessed (flush) wheel n the first place and use the hold button like you have to on any ipod.

Re:Alternatives

[Magic5Ball]

I'd love to know where one can make a one-off PCB for $50...

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

Being touched by your pants won't move the wheel. I never use hold and the wheel never moves accidentally in my pocket. Retard.

Re:Alternatives

[andreyw]

Uh, it doesn't shuffle unless explicitely told to do so. RTFW(ebsite).

Re:Alternatives

[ricka0]

if I'm understanding whats being talked about... PDAs have knobs like you are describing and to keep you from hitting it in your pocket it has a lock (sliding switch).

Re:Alternatives

[anethema]

Ah well, the consensus i seem to read from other people indicates otherwise.

I'm not even saying my idea is better than the ipod, but i bet you its better than anything other than the ipod. Just talking about the hardware part.

I mean something like the wheel at http://www.logitech.com/lang/images/0/750.gif in the top center. Except maybe flush.

Basically you gotta have a wheel/knob to turn wihtout lifting your finger.

Re:Alternatives

[anethema]

No, you leave your finger on the button while you
*click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click* *click*

No fun.

Re:Alternatives

[SCVirus]

you know that anyone who makes this doesn't have friends.

Re:Alternatives

[bs_02_06_02]

How do you get rated informative for not getting the point of the story? Do we have sheep moderating tonite?

Frankly, I'd like to build one myself... and I'd like to re-use some of the dozen or so old CompactFlash cards I have laying around. In fact, instead of up-and-downloading to the player, I'd rather just use my cardreader.

Too bad no one has a decent mirror... I'd really like to see the fabrication page... none of the images are coming through the google cache.

Re:Alternatives

[Jace of Fuse!]

Why would I want one of those?

It says right at the bottom of the page in the footnotes that you should not eat it.

(Seriously, it does, see for yourself!)

Re:Alternatives

[DrSkwid]

yeah, that day is when your music is in OGG format

you know, the compressed audio format that is libre

Re:Alternatives

[wertarbyte]

Yes, because some days MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Music Store, M4A, M4B, M4P), Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4) and WAV ain't enough.

Where is OGG vorbis, you insensitive clod!

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

"That's quite easy to do if you don't read the article."

It's not exactly difficult if you do read it.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

Remember, that if YOU build it you propably know a thing or two about it. And therefore propably YOU are able to repair it if it breaks.

Re:Alternatives

[sl4shd0rk]

Huh? Does that only plug into a Mac (not surprised)

Apple computing - brought to you by Microsoft

Re:Alternatives

[Fred_A]

What, don't you have IRC ?

Re:Alternatives

[Fred_A]

With the new iRiver H300 series firmware you can even play movies on the screen :)

Not to mention onboard FM radion , recording, USB on the go to dump my Camera files...

And I still have people ask me why I didn't get an iPod... Bah

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod parent up you pinko commie bastards!

Re:Alternatives

[jacksonj04]

Knowing Apple, the iPod Shuffle will deal gracefully with audiobooks *providing they are in an audiobook format*.

Alternatively you just use iTunes to send over the playlist in order and select the 'Play In Order' mode as opposed to 'Shuffle' mode.

Simple!

Re:Alternatives

[niiler]

Er...wrong... (about the wheel, that is :-). The rest of your point is taken.)

http://www.kanguru.com/micromp3pro.htmlKanguru Solutions has one. Actually several. You can scroll through the song list (and actually see the names and length of the tunes). And you can replace the batteries. My only issue with them is that the largest size storage you can get is 1 GB.

• High Quality MP3 & WMA Playback
• Up To 1GB of internal storage
• High Speed USB2.0 Transfer Rate
• Skip Proof Playback
• Built in Digital Voice Recorder
• Back-lit LCD with ID3 Tag display
• 5 Mode Equalizer
• (Rock/Pop/Jazz/Classic/Normal)
• 17 Hour Battery Life
• Just over three inches long
• Withstands up to 1000Gs of shock
• Driverless on most Operating Systems

Also, there is no proprietary encoding of what you put on it, unlike the iRiver stuff. You plug it into your Linux, Windows, or MacIntosh box and it just works like a USB harddrive.

(fstab entry: /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb vfat defaults,noauto,user 0 0)

Only *.mp3 and *.wma files are played when you unplug it. The others remain there for your temporary storage needs.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

No problem:
http://www.olimex.com/pcb/
http://www.c ustompcb.com/

Re:Alternatives

[Fishead]

Recess the knob. Make the surface of the knob flush with the surface of the player. The knob still spins mechanically instead of the tactile surface, without all the annoying legal stuff. Would need some sort of bushing to stop dust and debris entering alongside the edge though.

Re:Alternatives

[MemoryAid]

Following the logic of the original poster, why would one ever bother to learn to play an instrument when there's all of that recorded music out there?

Listening to music can get you sued by the RIAA.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

the differance is (apart from the $49) that it is cool.

you: Hey look everyone look at my new apple Ipod shuffle!

everyone: STFU stupid sheeplike apple fan boy!

or

you: Hey look at this MP3 player I built myself!

everyone: WOW! that is teh rule, u r so clever, U R da nerd god, U rox! will u make me one?

you: no you are unworthy peasant, now bow before your god!

everyone: yes oh great nerd god, we are your foolish servants.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

of course you missed grandparents point on lack of LCD to display track number and position withing a track

have fun trying to figure out where you left off

bitch

Re:Alternatives

[m3talsling3r]

I would continue this further.

Because you built this, you can expand it!

Wireless p2p mp3 players anyone? ...

Re:Alternatives

[Threni]

> Listening to music can get you sued by the RIAA.

So can eating food (if you stole it).

Re:Alternatives

[Monkelectric]

Wasnt the USB to Go stuff disabled in the US version for some reason?

Re:Alternatives

[Fred_A]

Ah yes, the US version has some disabled features, I think it's so that DRM sellers don't make a fuss. I didn't look closely at the differences between the regular model and the US one though. Maybe US buyers have to buy an iPod after all :)

Re:Alternatives

[Monkelectric]

You can re-enable the function with some slight modifications to the hardware, but it seems silly to disable it in the first place.

Re:Alternatives

[TheKidWho]

Apple has patents on the mechanical and touch sensitive wheels :-D

Re:Alternatives

[anethema]

You're saying i was right about the formats but wrong about needing a wheel ?

I honestly think the wheel is the main reason stuff like the iriver isnt popular. You have to have some quick yet accurate way of doing it.

The wheel sprinning your finger slow moves nice and slow of accurate pics...move very fast and it jumps super fast...just slow down when you need accuracy its so nice.

Re:Alternatives

[niiler]

No...I think you misunderstood me. The iPod isn't the only mp3player with a wheel. The kanguru mp3 players have something similar that is like a wheel, only it's spring loaded so that it returns to its original position.

If you want to either skip ahead or go to the next song, you just pull it to the right. If you want to go back or go to the previous song, you just pull it to the left. And you can lock it so that it doesn't inadvertently skip on you.

Does this clarify things?

Re:Alternatives

[anethema]

Yes, but that is not at all how a wheel should work. Thats basically like a toggle type joystick.

You need something that keeps spinning so you can zip thru your list.

Re:Alternatives

[niiler]

The toggle has some sort of timer built in. Flicking it once gets you to the next song. Holding it down scrolls through continuously (looping back to the beginning), starting slowing, and then accelerating the longer it is held down. The same control is used while a song is playing to fast forward or rewind.

It's really NOT that different from what you are talking about.

Re:Alternatives

[Wraithlyn]

:P I was looking for a link directly to the unit itself, with a nice pic and description, and the first few from my google weren't so hot and I had to run.

Yeah these units are pretty sweet. The removable CF (no moving parts, and you can keep expanding your capacity), and the fact it runs off of standard AA cells is what made it the perfect unit for me. It fits great in most accessories (like an armband) designed for a MiniDisc player.

It also sports very decent sound quality... 95dB S/N ratio, 0.5% distortion, 30W @ 32Ohm. It blows the hell out of my friend's iPod when we hook them up to externals.

I only wish it had an auto shut-off... I keep hitting Stop and fogetting to turn the unit off, pull it out of my pocket the next day to discover the batteries are toast. Oh well that's why we use rechargables. ;)

Re:Alternatives

[MemoryAid]

Stealing food can get you prosecuted (on behalf of fast-food companies) for anti-competitive practices.

Re:Alternatives

[anethema]

Its totally different. Its like using a joystick to try to control a FPS.

rahter than a mouse. TOTALLY different. One integration vs two.

Much easier to just slide your finger a distance than try to measure a time and stop at the right instant.

Very slow...

[Krankheit]

Server is very slow. Are they hosting the site off of a homemade mp3 player?

Re:Very slow...

[Anonymous Coward]

You too fail the something different litmus test...

Re:Very slow...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope. A George Foreman grill.

They apparently didn't....

[geekfat]

...spend a "mint" on their server. Slashdotted immediately!

Re:They apparently didn't....

[Rob T Firefly]

Why should they have a decent server going? It's only MIT...

Re:They apparently didn't....

[TWX]

It's MIT. Of course they spent a mint on their server. What they should do is spend a mint on the Systems Administrator; maybe people would be more inclined to be around him if the halitosis is cured...

No thanks

[flamesrock]

If it were worth the cost in labour, maybe..

Gumstix

[Anonymous Coward]

The lil gumstix boards have a stereo i/o addon now.
I bet they would make great portable media players.

Re:Gumstix

[andreyw]

Too bad the basic gumstix (with the case) costs > $100 and has only serial as the connectors. No USB or audio connectors + tiny amount of flash. It would be a fun project, but the end result would cost more and have significantly less capacity than the $99 ipod.

It's got potential

[digitalgimpus]

I've got a feeling, give it about 2-3 years, and mp3 players will be pretty cheap. This just proves that it could be done (limited) in a somewhat low cost method.

What I really wish would happen is someone would turn my cell phone, pda, and iPod into 1 good product that doesn't require me to take out a loan.

I know it's a dream. But how many more pockets do I have? I have my cell phone on my belt, pda in one, wallet, ipod... come on!

I'd be a bit more impressed if this person managed to squeeze an mp3 player into the battery of his phone (granted a bit bulkier), or PDA. That way it's possible to carry less, and have more.

I'm walking around like I have a "geek boner" in my pockets. With all those things in there.

Re:It's got potential

[fimbulvetr]

Does that mean there will be a quality ipod someday, like one that you can replace batteries in?

Re:It's got potential

[ambienceman]

Sadly those "geek boners' you speak of overshadow when I have a REAL boner...thereby blowing any chance of a woman being impressed by my package.
I sympathize with your point, brother.

Re:It's got potential

[Unknown Lamer]

My Nokia 7610 works really well as a phone and a PDA. It can also play movies and music, but the sound output is limited to mono 22.5kHz so the music playing functionality is of limited to use (I keep a copy of my band's album on there to show people if they ask).

The Nokia 7710 is a bit larger (same height and width as a SE P900) and is the same thickness as my 7610 (half as thick as a P900). That gives you a touch screen, great battery life, and a 640x240 screen. It uses regular MMC card (IIRC) so you can get up to 1G of storage into it. From what I've been hearing, the sound output is fairly decent but I don't think it's stereo yet.

So you can ditch the PDA but not the iPod yet. Well, you should ditch the iPod for a Neuros ;)

Re:It's got potential

[yuriismaster]

It's 'kind of' done already...

See the HP iPaq h6315 (courtesy of T-Mobile)

You have your cellphone (with all those contacts imported from MS Outlook), PDA, and (granted not an iPod capacity) mp3 player through Windows Media Player. Includes an SD slot for memory, so you can add a few more mp3's (depending on your budget). Its a few steps from the good device you listed. Main concern is battery life. With all the functionality comes watts.. lots and lots of watts...

Re:It's got potential

[FlipmodePlaya]

There are at least 565 different digital media players out there, why is it people only know about the iPod? I'm sure dozens of those have replaceable batteries (most of the flash ones use AA/AAA), and hundreds are 'good'.

Re:It's got potential

[pavel_987]

See the HP iPaq h6315 (courtesy of T-Mobile)

You have your cellphone (with all those contacts imported from MS Outlook), PDA, and (granted not an iPod capacity) mp3 player through Windows Media Player. Includes an SD slot for memory, so you can add a few more mp3's (depending on your budget). Its a few steps from the good device you listed. Main concern is battery life. With all the functionality comes watts.. lots and lots of watts...

But does it run linux?

Re:It's got potential

[Anonymous Coward]

Because here on /., we are infatuated with Steve Jobs and Apple. He can do no wrong. We advertise IPODS on our frontpage everyday, just so we can get it the publicity. We proudly support Apples legal department, and we hope to one day all collect as many sweaty Steve Jobs turtlenecks as possible. (We masterbate with them.) We also think Apple did an excellent job with the G4 cube, and hope they don't throw the design out.

Re:It's got potential

[Anonymous Coward]

Sadly those "geek boners' you speak of overshadow when I have a REAL boner...thereby blowing any chance of a woman being impressed by my package.

Maybe you should add a pocket right behind the zipper on your pants, then all your gadgets would supplement rather than hide your package.

Re:It's got potential

[zurab]

What I really wish would happen is someone would turn my cell phone, pda, and iPod into 1 good product that doesn't require me to take out a loan.

The answers are out there. Your cell phone service provider doesn't want you to have them easily because it's potentially cutting into their add-on services revenues. You can get the E680 for about $300-$400 (if you look) without your typical U.S. 2-year service contract bullshit.

Re:It's got potential

[Sj0]

If it's that horrible, just buy a big microdrive for your pda and get it to do a bunch of stuff by running different programs, really; there's a difference between being a geek and being just a tech consumer, and that difference is ingenuity.

Re:It's got potential

[Moofie]

So have you had to replace the batteries on your iPod, or did you just read on /. that somebody somewhere had to do it?

Re:It's got potential

[Moofie]

Be sure to get some extra baggy pants to store the Neuros in. Or maybe a little cart you can drag around behind you.

That thing is GI-NORMOUS. And not in a good way.

Re:It's got potential

[fm6]

But how many more pockets do I have? I have my cell phone on my belt, pda in one, wallet, ipod... come on!

They keep trying to do the all-in-one thing, but there are some fundamental conflicts. Multitasking phone management, PDA-centric tasks, and your MP3 playlist all one one little screen is a pain. Not to mention battery issues -- if you run down the battery on your MP3 player, you're just stuck without tunes for a while. But if that also runs down your cell phone and PDA...

Everybody's ideal solution is different (you could always buy a safari jacket, but few people are that dweebish). Here's mine: instead of a cell phone, you have a little black box that's your portable wireless access point. You still have to find room for it in your pocket, but you never take it out, except to recharge it -- there's no control except the on-off, and no display at all. It uses Bluetooth to talk to your PDA and your headset. With voice recognition, you can use the headset to place and answer calls. To program the thing, you use your PDA, which also uses it to connect to the Internet. Maybe you have a separate MP3 player to avoid running down any of the other devices, or maybe you care more about pocket space, so you combine the MP3 player with one of the other devices. (There are already PDAs that double as MP3 players.) Then you've only got two devices in your pocket, and one in your ear. And one of those devices only comes out when you recharge it. Simple enough?

The beauty of this approach is that all these devices already exist, except for the wireless access point. And there's only one reason it doesn't: cell phone makers focus on adding features, when they should be focusing on interoperability. But then, they make more money charging you for extra features on their own product than they could make providing interoperability with other peoples' products.

Re:It's got potential

[Unknown Lamer]

Yeah, that's the one issue with it.

I use it in the car for the most part and it fits in my jacket pocket with no problem so it's not an issue, except in the summer. I don't mind holding it in the summer or wearing loose shorts (loose shorts are more comfortable when it's 90F out).

The size can be an advantage since it uses a standard laptop drive. I accidentally killed my 20G (uh, I won't go into details about how it fell from above my head onto concrete while the drive was spinning...) and it only cost me $160 to buy an 80G to replace it. My battery is shot too (18 months of a daily charge/discharge cycle) but it only costs $15 to have a new one sent to you (and it's hella easy to replace; you literally remove two T-6 screws, flip up the case, disconnect the battery [it's connected via standard two-pin connector], plug the new one in, and screw it all back together).

It's not sexy but it's functional. A lot like the first few Series60 phones from Nokia. Now we have the 7610 and the new "fashion line" that combine power and style into one...(or at least not giganticness).

Re:It's got potential

[Moofie]

Glad it works for you. I wouldn't want anything physically larger than my 40gb iPod.

Sure, the Neuros' features are nifty, but the size...eww. And the screenshots make the control scheme look a little kludgy.

All that aside, I would never give up the iTunes database.

Re:It's got potential

[Unknown Lamer]

It's really not that big. The interface is also easier to use in my experience than the iPod's, unless there is a way to make the scroll wheel thing be held down.

The GPLed firmware is cool too. As is the Vorbis support. And the line-in recording.

Your iPod is sexier though. People think that my Neuros is from the 80s :) It fits in well with my 91 Camaro.

Re:It's got potential

[TheKidWho]

probablly could if you wanted it to.

Re:It's got potential

[Moofie]

Easier to use? I haven't gotten to play with one (they don't exactly sell them in stores), but I find that pretty hard to credit. How is it easier to use?

GPL firmware...cool, if I were a programmer. Vorbis support...don't have any, don't need any. Line in recording...available if I want it.

I'm glad your Neuros suits you. It wouldn't suit me.

Re:It's got potential

[notthe9]

I've been using PDAs for my portable music player needs for years. I have had decent success, but am soon getting an iPod (via freeipods.com, shockingly enough). I originally was just going to resell my iPod, but am thinking it might be my prefered solution. It will be really nice to be able to take my whole music collection. It will be nice not to have to whip out the stylus to skip a song. It will be nice to have a well thought out navigation system, which no PocketPC Media player I've seen has. I would love to use a PDA for my music, but I need something that was built for it.

Re:It's got potential

[bob beta]

Likely he avoids the kind of sealed-unit devices that don't have replacable batteries on principle. I know I do. It means I got a Visor Platinum back in the day, instead of the fancy Color Visor that had to be charged on it's base. It's nice to be able to walk into any convenience store and pick up a set of batteries.

Re:It's got potential

[Moofie]

I've got a Visor Edge, and I don't have to think about batteries anymore.

I also have a device called a screwdriver, which is good at disassembling "sealed" hardware.

Re:It's got potential

[secretsquirel]

I got my archos 6GB a couple years before the iPod came out, love it, but before ipod was out most people that saw it just "didn't get it." For like two years it blew my mind why these things weren't insanely popular. Each charge lasts substantially more than ten hours, and it came with four replacement bateries(which I didn't need until last month). And six gigabytes of storage in a handheld mp3 player was all anyone would ever possibly need, back then, but still plenty. Not to mention the fact that it had no DRM, was built to last, and IMHO is much easier to use and connect to than an iPod. It shows up at as a HD, you just drag'n drop or cp files or directories to it and your done. Using itunes to upload feels like when cd burners first came out, and all of a sudden to write a disc you needed separate cd burning software while with floppy disks it was automatic, just without all the advandtages that cd's have over floppies.

Anyway, sorry to be such a fanboy, I guess its really all just up to marketing.

Re:It's got potential

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, your comment is the height of greedy narcisistic selfishness.

Re:It's got potential

[Unknown Lamer]

When I tried to use an iPod I couldn't figure out the weird scroll wheel thing until it was explained to me. I never did figure out how to get it to keep scrolling when I stopped moving my finger either (which is really useful when you are scrolling through 3000 or so tracks).

The joystick on the Neuros, OTOH, is easy to figure out. Up goes up. Down goes down. Left goes left (back), Right goes right (forward). Hold it in a direction and it keeps going in that direction until you let go. Play plays. Press it again and it pauses (it is labeled as such). Fast forward goes fast forwards, rewind rewinds. It's the same basic UI that has existed on basically every sound device ever. Except with a little music db on top (operated via the Easy to Use (tm) four way joystick).

Oddly enough, the music database app on my cell phone works in exactly the same way (sans the play/ff/rw buttons because it doesn't have those, but the joystick is five way and the middle button does play/pause). I know that the iPod works in basically the same way but I don't like the scroll wheel because it wears out my thumb. This coming from a guy who uses a trackball.

iTunes is easier to use than the Neuros sync software. Well, sort of. I haven't used Windows in about five years now so I have no idea how NSM is. Sorune (one of the three or four GNU/Linux sync managers) works fairly well (tell it to sync /music/ripped with /mnt/neuros and hit go). It has a little music db built in that lets you play music but I have no use for it (XMMS + wmusic + xmms-xosd works for me).

Your iPod works for you. I find them too limiting to use. Keep in mind that I do have a smartphone and find normal phones limiting...I'm not trying to say that the iPod sucks. Some people like small devices that do one thing well, others don't care if it's large as long as it has the features. When your entire music collection is Vorbis, you need FM broadcast for your car (let's be honest: the radio sucks), and you record the line-out from sound boards a lot then a Neuros wins out against the iPod by a lot.

If you just want to play mp3s the iPod works. Albeit far more expensively.

Re:It's got potential

[spotter]

posting this from my treo 650.

ptunes makes it a pretty decent mp3 player when combined with a stereo headset (mine was $12 on ebay) and a 1gb sd card.

and it is of course a fairly decent phone and pda (albiet with it share of problems documented here but they really haven't bit me)

I have a 30gb ipod but have doubts I'm going to continue using it for my short commutes as the treo is much more convinient, especially if I get a call while listening to mp3s or ogg on it.

Re:It's got potential

[CaptainCheese]

There are at least 565 different digital media players out there, why is it people only know about the iPod?

The answer? Because there are at least 565 different digital media players out there. The market is saturated. If you don't make a stonkingly great product and advertise the crap out of it no one will even be aware youur product. Advertising and word of mouth recommendation = brand visibility. It also helps that Steve Jobs repeatedly beats the Apple engineers with his big Stylish-And-User-Friendly-Hammer 'til they do what he wants.

According to the figures Jobs was touting at MacWorld, they've got ~70% of the market share, the other HD based players have ~6%, and the remaining 24% is little flash-based players. If they play the iPod shuffle right, Apple could completely crush the competition, making themselves the kings of the market and people won't own a digital audio player - they'll own an iPod or an iPod clone.

I'm sure dozens of those have replaceable batteries (most of the flash ones use AA/AAA), and hundreds are 'good'.

Replacable batteries are a mixed selling point - I, like many others, do not want to feed the battery-eating gods. The down side is, of course, that you have a limited life away from a power supply. Both are substantial drawbacks.

Also, 'good' doesn't cut it. 'great' is what gets your customers recommending the product to friends. Apple simply did it better (in some ways, mainly style, size and usability) than everyone else, and the market has rewarded them accordingly.

Disclaimer: I own a 3G iPod (my first and only Apple product) and am very very happy with my purchase...

Re:It's got potential

[andreyw]

Yeah... for me its so far cell + wallet + pda, but even then it looks absolutely ridiculous with my Khakis. Good thing Apple's new $99 toy is small enough to go someplace OTHER than my pant pockets. I figure if I have to wear a lanyard to work... might as well wear an mp3 player as well *g*.

Re:It's got potential

[Moofie]

It's really hard for me to understand how the scroll wheel could be difficult to use. I'm seriously confused...you move your thumb, the cursor moves. You push the select button to, well, select stuff.

How long does it take to scroll a list of artists on your Neuros? The velocity sensitivity of the scroll wheel is The Killer Feature of the iPod. The clickwheel is awesome...I don't have to take the thing out of my pocket to move track to track.

Myriad features are fine...IFF they work smoothly. I don't know what smartphone you use, but every one that's currently on the market has a critical flaw that would prevent me from using it effectively. (Each has their own flaw.)

Yeah, if your entire collection is in .ogg, you're not going to be happy with the iPod. I've got FM broadcast through my iTrip, and it's still smaller than the Neuros. If I needed to record, I could. (Never missed that feature.)

Yes...the Neuros has a killer feature set. If it could use my iTunes database and not be huge, it would be a great player for me.

But it doesn't, so it isn't.

Re:It's got potential

[jsebrech]

Replacable batteries are a mixed selling point - I, like many others, do not want to feed the battery-eating gods. The down side is, of course, that you have a limited life away from a power supply. Both are substantial drawbacks.

Actually, I think rechargeable batteries are FAR preferable above replaceable batteries. Since if your players does not support recharging its batteries just by plugging it in, you can't add that feature later on, but most players DO support adding aftermarket battery packs to the outside.

The ipod has many clip-on battery packs. If you need it to last more than 12 hours, you can have it, as many hours as you want (some of those packs use regular AA batteries).

Besides, I don't want to feed the thing tons of batteries either. I think the whole replaceable battery thing is a red herring. It has never mattered to anyone I know who owns an ipod.

Re:It's got potential

[Anonymous Coward]

I know it's a dream. But how many more pockets do I have? I have my cell phone on my belt, pda in one, wallet, ipod... come on!

Well, after you find and purchase this magical all in one device, you'll have no need for a wallet. That would save you another pocket, yes?

Re:It's got potential

[Anonymous Coward]

Likely he avoids the kind of sealed-unit devices that don't have replacable batteries on principle. I know I do.

The ipod is not sealed, so you can replace the battery yourself if you really wanted to. But besides, that's a silly thing to be avoiding on principle. Avoiding Nestlé on principle because they have supported the assassination of labor union leaders in south america, that is an acceptable form of principle. But avoiding ipods because they have difficult to replace batteries? Give me a break!

Re:It's got potential

[jsebrech]

What I really wish would happen is someone would turn my cell phone, pda, and iPod into 1 good product that doesn't require me to take out a loan.

Motorola is working with apple to produce a cellphone/ipod combination. Let's see what it turns into.

I can't help you with the 1 product or the not taking out a loan aspect of what you want. But if you want the combined functionality in an easy to carry way, your best bet is probably an ipod mini and a htc typhoon platform cellphone. Still two devices, and rather on the pricy side of things, but they won't make your clothes sag or bulge from carrying them.

Well, that or adding some sort of microdrive to a pda. Something like a HTC magician combined with a hard drive SD card would work pretty nicely. Battery life would suck ass, and it wouldn't play itunes-bought music, but you can't have it all.

Re:It's got potential

[iwan-nl]

But does it run linux?

Sure, here you go. http://www.ipaqlinux.com/

Re:It's got potential

[mr_sas]

I just setup my devices directional buttons for skip, back, play/pause and volume. It's still a PITA to use, but it's far easier than the stylus.

Re:It's got potential

[rikkards]

If it came with an armstrap (without having to buy it as a separate option) I would get it when my Rio Cali dies. I hate the lanyard thing while running as it bounces all over the place.

However the price for the 512M at 129 CDN is quite attractive. My wife has the Nike psa128 and is finding on her LSD day that she ends up repeating music since it has not memory expansion.

Re:It's got potential

[Unknown Lamer]

It's really hard for me to understand how the scroll wheel could be difficult to use. I'm seriously confused...you move your thumb, the cursor moves. You push the select button to, well, select stuff.

But is there a way for me to stop moving my thumb and have the wheel continue to scroll? I couldn't figure that out. It gets tiring to keep moving your thumb around in a circle when you are going to a track in your songs list instead of finding it by artist or album (keep in mind that I have well over 3000 tracks on my 80G Neuros). It was immediately obvious how the scroll wheel both scrolled as was four buttons. The lack of tactile feedback was really weird to me too.

What flaw prevents you from using Nokia's Series60 Smart Phones?

Re:It's got potential

[jone1941]

So here's the problem. The archos is hideous, not to mention way too big. It probably isn't much bigger than the original iPod, but then that wasn't widely marketed since it was only for the mac. It does look sturdy, but then so do those military grade laptops, and you don't see everyone carrying those around either. The ipod's appeal is as much about looks as it is about size and usablilty. The archos really doesn't score terribly high on any of those (except according to you usablility). I don't know it, just doesn't seem like people would look at it and love it.

Re:It's got potential

[Walkiry]

Well, I have a Fujitsu-Siemens LOOX PDA with the cell phone add-on. If you couple that with a 1 Gb SD card, I have a pretty good mp3 player as well (and if you don't need the phone you can take it out and put a X Gb CF card in, I have a 1 Gb one that I use for both my digital camera and mp3s, depending on my needs).

Re:It's got potential

[Tassach]

someone would turn my cell phone, pda, and iPod into 1 good product

The problem with that is that the form factors for a cell phone and a PDA are mutually incompatable.

If you make a PDA/palmtop any smaller, you sacrifice essential functionality and usability. If you make a cell phone much bigger, it's unwieldy. Look at the devices you have now: you have good PDAs which make crappy cell phones, and cell phones with crappy PDA functionality. Fortunately, an MP3 player doesn't require much in the way of a user interface, so it's pretty trivial to add it to either one.

Personally, I *like* having seperate devices. That way, I don't use up all my cell phone call time listening to MP3s on my morning commute. I can leave one or more of them at home when I don't need them -- I don't need my PDA or MP3 player if I'm going out to dinner or to the movies. And if one of them breaks, gets lost or left at home, I'm not totally screwed.

Re:It's got potential

[Moofie]

Move your finger, move the cursor. I can scroll a list of 7000 artists in about four seconds. Velocity sensitive==good.

You seriously had trouble with the tactile feedback on the clickwheel? I mean, you push it down, and it clicks, and something happens. I can do it without looking.

Re: the Series 60...Software library. The Series60 can't run my PalmOS software. The smallish screens also don't blow my skirt up. I need a PalmOS smartphone with a largish (and high resolution) screen, and no thumboard. I loathe T9 text input, so I require a Graffiti area. The Samsung phone is almost there, but I can't make myself spend $500 for a PalmOS 3.5 phone.

Re:It's got potential

[Unknown Lamer]

The iPod I used didn't click when I pushed. I guess the mini is different.

I have trouble using trackpads too that could be why the velocity never worked.

I can understand why you don't want a Series60 phone. If you want a smartphone for less than $350 you're going to have to wait for a long time though.

Re:It's got potential

[Moofie]

my iPod has the same control as the Mini. The 3G units had touch-sensitive buttons, and I'm never a fan of those. No idea why "move finger faster, list scrolls faster" was anything other than intuitive for you.

I don't mind spending $400 for a phone, but at that price I won't compromise on the features I want. For now, my rig of choice is pda and phone via bluetooth. The Tungsten T3 seems to be my PDA, unless and until the Tungsten E gets Bluetooth.

Re:It's got potential

[Unknown Lamer]

I must be cursed because I can't use trackpads either. They literally just don't work reliably for me. They pick up my fingers very spottily.

I'm happy with my S60 phone but I've never owned a real PDA before. I've also net had a laptop and, with the way things are going with phones, probably won't for a while (when I can afford one for mobile recording then I'll get one, but not until then). Same for a dedicated PDA; especially with a 512M RS-MMC card in my phone I don't see the need.

One day someone will release the SmartPhone that you want. I doubt that it'll be more than a year out (especially if your only beef with the Samsung phone is the old version of PalmOS on it).

Re:It's got potential

[Moofie]

Yep. Yer cursed. : )

I've had a PDA for several years, and I've got a non-trivial investment in PalmOS software that I simply won't walk away from. Samsung has been promising me The Phone for two years, and they continue to not ship it.

Now with Palm doing some sort of stupid LInux-related strategy (which seems to me to consist of "Look at our OS! It gots Linux in it!") I might have to go a different route. One thing I won't tolerate is relying on my phone provider to rent me applications. Not gonna do it.

Re:It's got potential

[Unknown Lamer]

I try to avoid paying money for software on my phone :) The one thing I ever purchased was Opera. If there were a better note taking app I'd probably pay for that too (bluetooth keyboard + phone + 512M of storage = yay).

I'm tempted to buy a Nokia 7710 but Series90 as of yet has no software. It would be interesting if there were a note taking app that integrated the keyboard and the stylus. Type text, scribble in diagrams and equations with the stylus. With a 640x320 screen it is entirely possible. Being able to do that is the one thing that makes me maybe want a tablet PC. GNU/Linux support is spotty on them though so I doubt that I will own one ever (especially if Series90 catches on or touch screen is added to Series60).

It's funny how I never really use my phone as a phone (90% of my phone usage is Opera and AIM over GPRS, or SMS [unlimited text = $9.99 so I send several thousand a month]. I use about 150 peak minutes a month, maybe 500 off-peak).

Re:It's got potential

[Moofie]

Pocket Quicken saves me money, so I spend money on it.

Me, I can't see running a browser on a phone. I've used my buddy's Treo 600, and the browser is a browser, but the connection....

is...

so...

slow....

that it's useless. I'd rather cache the information I want on the road (AvantGo) than wait for it to download to me.

I strongly dislike SMS on T9 (I mentioned that before) so that's not a draw for me.

When I get a color PDA, it'll be able to run the HP 48 emulator I like, which will save me some space in my manbag.

Re:It's got potential

[Unknown Lamer]

When I bought Opera, it came with a 90 trial of their web proxy that resizes images and trims HTML for you (removes comments and stuff). This sped up the browser noticeably and I plan on paying for a subscription when I have to (it's only a few bucks a month). The proxy did mess up .sis files so I have to disable it when I download programs.

I have a little Java app on my phone that lets me store financial stuff. In theory I could export my GNUCash stuff as a QIF and import it but I don't bother. I just scratch down transactions when I make them in the phone app and then copy them to GNUCash when I get home. This is why I'm the only college student I've met who has never overdrawn his bank account :) I've come within pennies of it though...

I've gotten used to T9 to the point where I can type around 45WPM with it (except when the word isn't in the dictionary but then the penalty for tapping it out only exists the first time). My handwriting is too terrible to even think about using any kind of handwriting recognition (I tried grafitti and failed miserably). A thumbboard is either going to make the phone too big or the keys will be too closely together for me to use them.

T9 does tend to piss me off occasionally though...one misstep and it's a PITA to fix the word because pushing back returns you to the beginning of the word and so I have to delete back to where I wrote the wrong letter or switch out of T9 mode [#,#], go back to the letter [arrow,arrow,...], change it [tap,tap,tap], then go back into T9 [#, #], and back to the end of the word. If I could replace T9 with something else I would (hrm, I wonder if it's possible, time to crack open my Series60 docs).

Just dont accidently recycle it

[CSIP]

Might be a danger of confusing it with the empty pack of mints in your pocket and tossing out the wrong one.

Re:Just dont accidently recycle it

[Rob T Firefly]

Mmm.. curiously strong flash memory.

10 comments

[sometwo]

and already slashdotted- must be a new record.

Here's a link where you can by mp3 player circuit boards: http://www.pjrc.com/tech/mp3/

Re:10 comments

[Anonymous Coward]

Um....

$150 with no hard drive, ram, or power supply?

$42 for buttons?

$9 for a CABLE??

No OGG support???

I couldn't find the link for "smoke crack here".

You would have thought ...

[ProfMoriarty]

that MIT could withstand a good slashdotting ...

Evidently not

Re:You would have thought ...

[Anonymous Coward]

eh, it's the Media Lab......

Mirror

[ikkibr]

Well, first page is mirrored http://www.mirrordot.org/stories/342d79c8dead68d75 bbc15920a7987cc/index.html

Re:Mirror

[CarbonUnit_718]

Mirrordot is getting slashdoted. It's very slow.

Re:mirror

[Anonymous Coward]

Bedankt!

What's the point of messages like this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Obviously other people do see the point of mp3 players, just like they saw the point of portable cd players, minidisk players, portable radios and walkmen.

So it's like, what was the point you were trying to make? That there isn't a point to these devices in general? Obviously there is. That you don't want one? Nobody cares dude!

Yeah, but they ain't MacGuyver

[AtariAmarok]

$50 in parts to built an mp3 player into a 'toids-tin? Sounds impressive until you realize that McGuyver can do the same thing using nothing more than belly button lint, a broken LCD watch, and a hairpin. All fitting inside a matchbook, no less.

Re:Yeah, but they ain't MacGuyver

[darthpenguin]

But the question is: Did McGuyver pay his mp3 patent licensing fees?

Re:Yeah, but they ain't MacGuyver

[JeanPaulBob]

McGuyver can do the same thing using nothing more than belly button lint, a broken LCD watch, and a hairpin. All fitting inside a matchbook, no less.

You're out of date. Nowadays, he would need a little naquadah to finish the job.

Of course, it would only be useful for jammin' to the latest Goa'uld pop hits.

Re:Yeah, but they ain't MacGuyver

[1000101]

Not quite. McGuyver would need a little duct tape to hold it all together.

Re:Yeah, but they ain't MacGuyver

[Anonymous Coward]

No, you're thinking of Red Green.

Re:Yeah, but they ain't MacGuyver

[AtariAmarok]

"Not quite. McGuyver would need a little duct tape to hold it all together"

This is McGuyver we're talking about. He doesn't carry duct-tape with him, but if he needs wants it, he can quickly fashion a roll from a stick of chewing gum and a pair of sweatsocks.

This Limor Is Really Cool

[thenewcloo]

I actually saw this a while ago -- its majorly cool. Since the site is down, you might find it interesting to know that the page's creator is a woman by the name of Limor Fried. In addition, when her page is back up, theres some other really really neat stuff that she's made like a Nixie Clock and a Bike Light. You might like to check out her resume too (care of google's cache). http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:1W86JlyhfWUJ:we b.media.mit.edu/~ladyada/bio/resume.pdf+%22limor+f ried%22&hl=en

Re:This Limor Is Really Cool

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but does she run Linux?

This is all well and good, BUT...

[Sartak]

How much more money do we need to throw out there to get a nice shuffling feature?

Re:This is all well and good, BUT...

[AndroidCat]

Since the code is there, just change it to shuffle any old way you want it to.

Re:This is all well and good, BUT...

[Anonymous Coward]

I know. I was poking fun at the iPods for finally adding the shuffle feature and making such a huge deal out of it.

are they serving it from a mint box too?

[0xdeaddead]

21 comments and it's /.'d.....

B.A. Baracus says...

[Jack Action]

I ain't gettin' on no planes.

Try to take an "mp3 player in a mint case" through security, and you'll be taking the greyhound bus for the rest of your life.

Re:B.A. Baracus says...

[twilight30]

What I would like to see is someone making these out of dope tins ...

Guess I ain't getting on no planes eeeeder.

Re:B.A. Baracus says...

[Anonymous Coward]

Only in USA buddy. Most of the rest of the world provides more freedom to their citizens.

Re:B.A. Baracus says...

[Hibernator]

I pity the fool who thinks that! I sometimes take my home-made geiger counter with me when I fly, and I've never had problems with security. And it is significantly more radioactive up there, by the way...

Re:B.A. Baracus says...

[smchris]

Make sure the track time counts down to zero.

Maybe "Stairway to Heaven"?

(I envision a modern variation on Penn Gilette's article on airport security about setting up a startup program for your laptop that flashes 10....9....8....7....6....5.....)

Re:B.A. Baracus says...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, airport security isn't that good anyway. I brought back 10 airsoft guns from Venezuela (they were a buck each!), and I made it through US customs without even being searched!

Re:B.A. Baracus says...

[jrockway]

Absolutely right. Security is there to make you think you're safe, not to actually make you safe. You are vulnerable...

Re:B.A. Baracus says...

[RobertLTux]

jsut remember kids the same article says at least one airport has a sign that says "All Bad jokes will be taken seriously" so Do Not Try this at Home^H^H^H^H Your local Airport WE ARE PROFESSIONALS.

Google cache

[christopherfinke]

Here's the Google cache of the main pages of the site:

Overview
Hardware
Firmware
Software
Fabrication
Downloads

[Apparently, this comment has too few characters per line. What can I possible type to add some characters?]

Re:Google cache

[Fnkmaster]

I cannot believe we just Slashdotted the Media Lab. MIT, bow thy head in shame.

Re:Google cache

[shark72]

Get a free iPod Shuffle! [efinke.com]

Now this is just getting silly. Trying to get people to sign up for a pyramid scheme for a product that you can buy for less than a hundred bucks?

Re:Google cache

[Planesdragon]

*sigh*

It's not a pyramid scheme. It's distributed / multi-level marketing.

the former are illegal and wind you up in jail. The latter qualify as ethical business practices.

Re:Google cache

[shark72]

If you have to get five other suckers to sign up in order to get your iPod, it's a pyramid. At least with MLM outfits like Herbalife, you can theoretically make money selling the pills and without building a downline.

Turns out that only 4% of the FreeiPods.com suckers have gotten their units and they're being spammed, too. It most certainly is a pyramid scheme.

"ethical business practices." Funny.

So dont build it, you hump!

[detex]

Danger, HA! You have issues... But then again I am a warrior and danger is my middle name!

Please dig the folowing

[gamekeeper]

This article was assertained from
www.hackaday.com

pretty cool stuff.. Especially the Coke machine Hack..

Have fun,, /.'ers

Re:You would have thought... - NOT

[Anonymous Cowherd X]

An old 486 with 32 Mb of RAM is still an old 486 with 32 Mb of RAM, even at MIT. And it's not only a webserver, but it also doubles as their backup mp3 player when the mint goes stale.

do-it-yourself vs. consumer electronics

[Antonymous Flower]

I hope their mp3 player isn't as fragile as their web server :D

I'm not sure how in-depth this article is but the joy of do-it-yourself is understanding the technology most take for granted. If everyone understood the ideas behind that TV set they love to glaze their eyes over too, we might not be so bad off. As I stated in a previous comment if people understood the ideas behind the internet they wouldn't get infected with spyware and they wouldn't give up on the internet. Don't be so quick to spend your money on something when there is an opportunity to learn for free.

Re:do-it-yourself vs. consumer electronics

[Jeff DeMaagd]

You have a point, but I don't think soldering together someone else's project design helps anyone learn the underlying principles of the design, any more than Toyota's assembly line people know how to design a car. Not that they are dumb, doing the assembly just doesn't cut it.

The best, I can think is inspire to learn.

I'd rather see a Vorbis player

[Trogre]

That's great and all that it can play mp3 files, but for those of us that want more freedon and quality a Vorbis player would be much nicer.

I realise that this is just another "Look what I can cram into a small case!" story which has an intrinsic nerdy cool factor, but honestly mp3 players this size are a dime a dozen.

Re:I'd rather see a Vorbis player

[ThisNukes4u]

The problem most likely is that hardware Vorbis decoders are not as cheap because they are not as popular. I agree with your point, but the only route I see to get around this is to build a software decoder which could get messy in this small of a device.

Re:I'd rather see a Vorbis player

[Anonymous Coward]

well the source is there go to it

Re:I'd rather see a Vorbis player

[Anonymous Coward]

I realise that this is just another "Look what I can cram into a small case!" story which has an intrinsic nerdy cool factor, but honestly mp3 players this size are a dime a dozen.


Comments whining about lack of ogg support are a dime a dozen as well.

Re:I'd rather see a Vorbis player

[syukton]

If you want an OGG player then get off your ass and start writing letters to microchip companies asking them to make a chip that can encode/decode OGG. The entirety of this mp3-player-in-a-tin project is centered around a very specific mp3 decoder chip. That's right, the MP3 decoder is a piece of hardware.

This isn't "just another Look what I can cram into a small case!"

This is:
- An inspiration for female EE's the world over (yes, the creator of this project is female, and from the looks of it she's a very intelligent one at that)
- A stepping stone for others to create their own DIY projects around this decoder chip (using an ATA interface to pull data from storage means that while it does work with compactflash, it could also work with a microdrive or a DVD-R drive...)
- A framework for other people to format their DIY/Howto articles around (I like the left nav thing and how it's broken into sections)
- Really fucking cool.

Fine, the altoids tin doesn't trip your trigger: how about 40 gigs of music inside a teddy bear? Give that one to your kids (or what-have-you) for christmas and they'll love you forever... And hey, you'll be able to make one yourself, because Limor told you how to do so on her cool webpage about the DIY mp3 player she built. Squeeze the left hand to go back a track, the right hand to go forward, push the nose to play/pause, headphones plug into the base of his neck (in the back)...c'mon, the thing is almost building itself while you read this.

Re:I'd rather see a Vorbis player

[Trogre]

I'd love to, but I'm afraid I just can't afford the royalties to Thomson/Fraunhoffer every time I want to encode my favourite music to mp3.

how about 40 gigs of music inside a teddy bear? Give that one to your kids (or what-have-you) for christmas and they'll love you forever... And hey, you'll be able to make one yourself, because Limor told you how to do so on her cool webpage about the DIY mp3 player she built. Squeeze the left hand to go back a track, the right hand to go forward, push the nose to play/pause, headphones plug into the base of his neck (in the back)

Squeeze the groin to pay your subscription to Fraunhoffer.

In related news...

[Wraithlyn]

MIT is trying out their new mint-case sized $50 web server this weekend.

Re:Real Price!

[ambienceman]

that's for a case of altoids. you can head to you local gas station and get them...

Re:Real Price!

[Anonymous Coward]

Your link is to a site selling a pack of twelve tins of Altoids.

You can buy a single tin at your local convenience store or Wal-Mart for $1.50 to $2.00.

Re:Real Price!

[mikeb39]

So go to the nearest gas station and pick up a single case. Volia: no shipping fees and you don't need to buy 12 cases.

Hmmmmm

[ambienceman]

I smell a stalker...

Re:Real Price!

[achew22]

What the FUCK! Do those altoids cure cancer!?!?!?

Does MIT stand for....

[geekfat]

Massive Internet Traffic?

Re:Be careful (anti-troll'd)

[TobyIRC]

I read that thing, the first 4 pages, skimmed the rest. He was arrested because he refused to sign a citation for receiving his speeding ticket. He was arrested, therefore, for speeding. He did have an altoids container (as well as some other candies) in a little bag which he put in the glove compartment, and did not want to open it. The fact that this guy was a total idiot and wouldn't just sign the citation and instead try to injure the officer with his window has absolutely nothing to do with the altoids box, except for the fact that the altoids box was in the bag.

You sir, are a terrible troll.

Re:Real Price!

[Mooga]

"My digital camera went bust so I had an extra 128M compact flash card. The nice thing about CF is that it's pretty damn cheap (you can get a 512M card from CostCo.com for $50)."

The $50 is also WITH OUT a CF card. Add $50 for the card and you have a $100 slightly larger iPod shuffle with a FM trasmiter. I guess you save $15 for the trasmiter but when you add in the man power... I would rather get a REAL MP3 player.

Slashdot needs

[zymano]

We need to start Bittorrenting these web pages !

Can someone PLEASE tell Slash to do this.

Very annoying these websites getting obliterated by the masses.

How hard would it be to torrent these sites ?

Re:Slashdot needs

[Antonymous Flower]

A world where the "frist psot" not only gets ridiculed but also indicted for copyright infringement? This is the best idea in ages, friend.

Re:Slashdot needs

[kschawel]

We need to start Bittorrenting these web pages ! Can someone PLEASE tell Slash to do this. Very annoying these websites getting obliterated by the masses. How hard would it be to torrent these sites ?

I can tell you that is definately not the intention of BitTorrent. The intention of it is to be used for large files. What we really need to do is use the Coral cache on every url on the main page.

Re:Slashdot needs

[gl4ss]

..and the .torrent would be almost as big as the site.

anyways.. mirrordot has it. www.mirrordot.com

Re:Slashdot needs

[Anonymous Coward]

You could do it yourself..set up a script to grab all links off slashdot and create a torrent which will automagically be posted an your site. Of course step 2 is to spam your link and gain karma, then profit.

Re:Slashdot needs

[La Camiseta]

No, they need to start using Coral for the webpages, or some other cache network...

Here's the Coralized link.

Re:Slashdot needs

[elmegil]

Nope, they only have the first page of it, which is just a picture.

Re:Slashdot needs

[foobrain]

Error: 408 Request Time-out

Server CoralWebPrx/0.1 (See http://www.scs.cs.nyu.edu/coral/) at 169.229.50.14:8090

Uh, Coral Web Cache also seems to be Slashdotted... :D

Re:Slashdot needs

[Tim C]

Two words: copyright infringement. Just because something is published on the web, doesn't mean anyone has the right to reproduce/republish it, even if you're trying to do the site's owner a favour. Without permission it's infringement.

Re:Slashdot needs

[Anonymous Coward]

Without permission it's infringement.

No, it's theft! The original is nowhere to be found, so those dirty communist /.ers must've taken the original and used it to make their bittorrent file...

Re:Slashdot needs

[kjamez]

okay, give me a firefox extension that i can setup to coralize all href's (toggle on/off) on a page ...

that'd work.

Re:Slashdot needs

[DeckardJK]

Good idea... but I'm just wondering about the legality of doing that. What about copyrighted pages? Speaking of... what about the legality of mirroring or archiving old copyrighted web pages? I wonder if that has/will become a problem in the future if say the original creator of the content wants a page taken down. What about http://www.archive.org/

Re:Slashdot needs

[DeckardJK]

I'll answer one of my own questions... from http://www.archive.org/about/faqs.php But I still wonder if someone could throw a fit because they didn't opt in...

How can I remove my site's pages from the Wayback Machine?

The Internet Archive is not interested in preserving or offering access to Web sites or other Internet documents of persons who do not want their materials in the collection. By placing a simple robots.txt file on your Web server, you can exclude your site from being crawled as well as exclude any historical pages from the Wayback Machine.

Internet Archive uses the exclusion policy intended for use by both academic and non-academic digital repositories and archivists. See our exclusion policy.

You can find exclusion directions at exclude.php. If you cannot place the robots.txt file, opt not to, or have further questions, email us.

Ogg support?

[Anonymous Coward]

I sure am glad there's a free high quality open audio compressor. Wouldn't cost anybody anything to incorporate it into an IC...

Lots of DIY MP3 players

[wrmrxxx]

There are quite a few do it yourself MP3 players around. A particularly nice series of players can be found at the YAMPP (Yet Another MP3 Player) site. The site includes both hard drive and flash based players, and even a colour screen version. They have a web shop that sells PC boards, kits, and components.

There is also list of mp3 projects at http://ee.cleversoul.com/mp3_projects.html

Re:Lots of DIY MP3 players

[Kenshin]

One of these days I'm planning on building an MP3 player into an old transistor radio (1969) I bought at a surplus store a couple of years ago.

Low bitrate MP3s through a crappy built-in speaker will be wonderful in ways you can't describe.

Re:Real Price!

[fimbulvetr]

Yes, we need to help Apple profit, so their legal department can continue to set things straight.

Altoids tins are great.

[big_groo]

I have a Pentax Optio S4i camera - not an incredible camera by any stretch, but it fits in one of these tins. Talk about a durable, cheap camera case. They're a little big for an MP3 player though...

Re:Altoids tins are great.

[Cytlid]

Yea they are. I have a usb pendrive, usb 802.11b adapter and a usb infrared (for older cell phone) in one of mine. Call it x-ray protection.

eBay

[webteeth]

Those would go for a lot on eBay - they're all in mint condition.

Re:eBay

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes! I love it. Someone PLEASE mod that up!

Re:eBay

[Anonymous Coward]

Bwhahahaha! Another "mint" pun. Priceless. I guess you could say it's worth a "mint".

Re:Be careful (anti-troll'd)

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you for drawing attention to this post. I would not have read it otherwise.

Altoids (iPod) battery pack

[yelohbird]

Now if only it could draw power from firewire so that I can get longer battery life with the Altoids battery pack!

YOU can replace dead batteries

[Crouchy]

Try a simple search on Google for finding replacement batteries:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=ipod+batter y+replacement&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Or if you would like an additional 15 hours battery life, try a Belkin Backup Battery Pack for iPod:

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process ?Merchant_Id=1&Product_Id=148969

Well I like it.

[blackest_k]

This design has a couple of really nice points in its favour.
The built in fm transmitter which means its a doddle to tune in your car radio to listen to your mp3's or your passengers MP3's

2ndly because its designed to work with Cf cards it is ata compatable which means you could run a hard drive instead which would allow you to go direct from pc to player with a drive in one of those quick release players.

thirdly Its diy aspect means you could easily remotely wire the controls where you want them.

Ever tried hooking an mp3 cd player to a car never a good place to stick it and even if you get it in the cubby hole the controls are inaccessable.

the memory stick players are better due to size but you are kinda limited in storage space unless you pay a lot for a decent capacity.

I guess my ideal player would read from dvd with a fm wireless connector and a remote keypad.
4.3 gig will cover the first couple of days driving.

actually when it comes to it this project could be adapted to do this.
dvd drive is fairly cheap. the psu would be a little more complicated to do and it wouldnt be out of this world to be able to fit the electronics inside the dvd drive case. Add a couple of buttons to the front of the drive or a small remote keypad and you could have a superb in dash dvd mp3 player.

think this article might be worth looking at a little closer.

really

[Anonymous Coward]

So, $50 is pretty much the same as $99?

You obviously drive to work

[Ezza]

Lots of people (esp. outside the US) don't and for those who take public transport (or just plain walk) to work, an mp3 player is a very convenient way of staying entertained while you are on the bus/train etc.

Besides all that, building your own MP3 player is just plain cool. This is Slashdot isn't it?

Re:You would have thought... - NOT

[AndroidCat]

Holy frack! I hope it wasn't controlling the beer brewing too!

don't forget the RockMite

[Anonymous Coward]

http://smallwonderlabs.com/Rockmite.htm

Mine is in an Altoids box and I added the audio filter from Steve Weber KD1JV and the Finger Tip Tapper flat iambic key! A REAL pocket size, compact 20 meter transceiver. I can talk to Europe while having lunch at the picnic table at work ...

Re:don't forget the RockMite

[tylernt]

"I can talk to Europe"

Presumably, *from within Europe* you can talk to Europe, right? ;) I can't see a little mint tin transceiver putting out more than a few hundred mW, and with a tiny antenna at 20 meters, I can't see you getting out too far. But then again, I just got my license so I could just be completely clueless when it comes to low-power HF propigation.

Re:don't forget the RockMite

[leighklotz]

>I can't see a little mint tin transceiver putting out more than a few hundred mW, and with a tiny antenna at 20 meters,
I worked Finland from California with an 8ft antenna and a 4.5W transmitter on 20M recently, and it was no big deal. In a few years, when sunspots start up again, 500mW on 10M will get you Europe with some regularity.

And similarly, their web site...

[mh101]

...appears to be hosted by a web-server-in-a-mint-tin.

Aha!

[Anonymous Coward]

Tired of your boss confiscating your mp3 player out of fear that you may smuggle sensitive information out of the workplace? Fear no more. Using this, all you carry in and out is a box of mints. Smuggle with impunity, my friends.

Bullshit ...

[taniwha]

I just spent 2 hours this morning with my daughter teaching her how to solder and watching her build her first electronics kit - she's been bursting with pride at her accomplishment all day and can't wait to build another. It's the same reason my son and I built him a PC for xmas (he got a stocking full of boards, cpu, case, memory, etc),

You build stuff for yourself to learn and because it's satisfying to make stuff ... the same reason other people work in wood or in wool or whatever ... I think we forget this sort of stuff in our modern mass produced world.

And to your point - if it breaks you don't have to take it back ... you can fix it yourself.

Seeing Ada's article today was particularly usefull because I could show it to my daughter - her response was 'cool can I make one?', (she already has an MP3 player ... so it is the making not the having that's important here), being able to say I could say I vaguely knew Ada (from the long ago xenu-wars) was great too ... now my daughter want to go to MIT :-)

Re:Bullshit ...

[leighklotz]

You should get your daughter to get a ham license...

Re:Bullshit ...

[Jeff DeMaagd]

It's the same reason my son and I built him a PC for xmas

Wait a minute, is your son going to be bursting with pride over a PC you assembled for him? I'm not sure what the accomplishment is to be able to assemble a PC, putting together a bunch of off-the-shelf components doesn't necessarily make a custom unit. It kind of annoys me is people talk about "building" a PC when it is just rote assembly. I take it as being on the order of a novice modeller saying they just built a snap-tite model, it just doesn't ring as anything special to me, no special skills required. I don't think putting together a system enhances one's knowledge of the underlying technology and principles any more than putting together a sandwich enhances the understanding of how bread is made.

You build stuff for yourself to learn and because it's satisfying to make stuff ... the same reason other people work in wood or in wool or whatever ... I think we forget this sort of stuff in our modern mass produced world.

Interestingly enough, most people are using mass produced parts and tools to "make" stuff. With electronics, it is really silly to try to go homemade with everything, I don't know anyone that can fab a transistor, much less an IC.

Re:Bullshit ...

[taniwha]

in some sense I agree - he didn;t learnbh the same stuff that she did (and having watched his little sister this morning wants to do the same) ...

But he was really happy and excited building his (linux) PC (note I didn't do it - he did) - and did learn a lot - we worked through issues of CPUs, memory, buying stuff within a budget, trade offs (well you can't afford a fast graphics card AND a DVD writer .. what will you do? how much disk space do you think you will need? etc etc) - while he didn't learn how to solder he did learn how to make something and learned a lot about computers - yes he did build it - not from scratch - but with not that fewer components than my daughter used in her project this morning. She wants to build a computer too (next xmas) .... but we have to work through the 'I want to build a Mac' issue :-)

Their dad however does build chips (no I don't run a fab but I do have 10 years experience doing VLSI logic design ...)

Re:Bullshit ...

[Nyder]

I hear people say this all the time, "What the big deal building a PC?"

I always remind them of that when I get the call to fix their computer.

I've also notice the people that say that are people who usually never actually put a PC together.

Plus, building a PC is more then just plugging the parts together and flipping it on. You need to make sure the bios is correct, and that the OS is setup correct.

Re:Bullshit ...

[jacksonj04]

Building a PC is much the same as building a house. You get the components, you put them together, you wire it up and you make sure it works.

You would be stupid to try make your own bricks, mortar, insulating foam, cabling, piping, joists, roofing, nails, switches, paint, sealant, glass, coping etc that all goes into a house, much as you would be stupid to try make every component that goes into a PC. Other people do that bit for you, you just assemble (build) the finished product.

Re:Bullshit ...

[Anonymous Coward]

being able to say [...] I vaguely knew Ada

Did you know they named a programming language after her?

Re:Bullshit ...

[nurb432]

While i agree totally about the building experience, please.. building a 'pc' from 'modern parts' isnt an achievement of any kind..

Get him to build a computer from scratch.. buy him breadboard, a box of chips.. And a data book... Then turn him loose...

And no I'm not joking or being cute.. Get him enough stuff to build a simple z80 based machine. ( or 6500, whatever ). and you would be amazed at the things he would learn.

Then he can feel proud he really did accomplish something, other then learn how to use a screwdriver.

Re:Bullshit ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Building a PC is much the same as building a house.

It's more like setting up a prefabricated house.

Re:Bullshit ...

[RumorControl]

I was that kid 20 years ago. Dad and I built a Zenith HeathKit Hero Robot and I learned about programing as well building analog and digital circuts. I look back fondly on those days, it truely was a life shaping experience. It enabled me to excel in school, get jobs, write code and build custom devices to sell for insane money. and now I don't have to build that shit any more. thank god.

Re:You would have thought... - NOT

[Anonymous Cowherd X]

Naa, the really important stuff like beer brewing control and webservers with all the porn^Wvital files are on dedicated Dell PowerEdge servers on a multihomed triple OC192 network. The 486 that got slashdotted is hooked up to a 10 Mbps hub which has probably melted by now. Can you smell the fumes all the way there, too?

I want one

[CastrTroy]

I want one just to see the look on people's faces when I pull the tin of mints out of my pocket and see my headphones plugged into it. That would definitely generate a few stares.

Re:I want one

[ConceptJunkie]

Not so many as when you would open it up and take out a mint.

Really, I bet you could save enough room for a couple in there.

Re:How come...

[eno2001]

Maybe because you're a fucking retard? Ever thought of that? For the record, this is exactly the kind of article that should be on Slashdot. Not crap about the G4 network, improperly filed articles in "Your Rights Online" that don't pertain to online matters, or crap reviews of movies by assholes (Southpark creators).

Re:Slashdotted!!

[Scott Robinson]

Not every .edu is funded by a government.

Just leave the circuit board

[mistermark]

Just leave the mp3 player circuit board...

and you can have those iPod-looks for no cost!

Project iNO

Re:Just leave the circuit board

[Anonymous Coward]

Leave it where?

mostly full mirror

[lart2150]

I allmost have the full page including pictures http://students.depaul.edu/~bengert/minty/index.ht ml

Re:How come...

[michaeldot]

How come stories posted by Michael consistently get the lowest comment count, and are by far the least interesting?

How come Michael can probably see your IP address and send you a nice friendly mother of all ping of deaths...

What is this, be-bitchy-about-Slashdot-editors-week or something?

And then you can post on slashdot...

[MuckSavage]

...about how it is the next "iPod Killer".

Re:You would have thought... - NOT

[AndroidCat]

Oh! I thought that was the fumes from the beer. (Ole kill -9 stout.)

Has to be said...

[michaeldot]

[2] Don't eat minty MP3 thingy.

Re:How come...

[Anonymous Coward]

Scared

Who wants to bet...

[Darkangael]

That some of the sites will stop offering free samples once they discover thousands of /.'ers "sampling" their next mp3 player :P

Re:YOU HAVE NO DICK, FAG

[Eideewt]

It can be dangerous to block your hearing where there's traffic. It could, you know, like, hit you when you're not paying attention. Or at least scare you when a driver honks right behind you. Sure, you can look around frantically, but then you look like a jogging prairie dog.

Interesting

[Orion Blastar]

someone can build these things and make a profit off selling them.

I'd RTFA but the site has been Slashdotted already. :(

buld your own ......

[thephydes]

I just love reading about build your own stuff. Takes me back to my youth when everyone did just that. Believe it or not I can still remember the old cats whisker crystal radios. Them were the days.

Are you serious?

[JQuick]

From that link you can buy a kit, containing a bare circuit board and components to solder onto it.

The cost of the kit is $150 + shipping.
On the order page it says:

This MP3 player circuit board contain all the components require to build the new MP3 Player design. After the board is assembled, a hard disk drive, standard 72-pin SIMM memory, and power source are needed to make a complete player.

So after adding a hard drive, cobbling together a useful power supply, and building a case for it, you are already well over $200.

Though it is fun to build things, you'd end up with a really crappy mp3 player, with an even lousier interface.

This reminds me of those ass-hats that make outdoor planters out of car or truck tires. Planting the flowers in the ground or in a simple raised bed would be far better looking.

The "ooh, look what I built" factor, in this case is overshadowed by the question "why?"

Why build something so lame and shoddy when for the same (or far less) money one can buy something far better, far more enjoyable to use.

low cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

This device uses a chip that costs $12 and you think it's low cost?

The parts in this device are more expensive than most cheap flash mp3 players. And they do more than this device does.

This is a step backwards.

Re:low cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

You must of missed the part about "in 2-3 years".

FM transmitter!!!! why?

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe any geek attempting this project would have previously moded the car radio to connect any audio device hard-wired/aux-in.

No comarison between the best wireless modulator and the least expensive hard-wired audio input, especially if the mp3 library is ripped at a high frequency.

Offtopic... are most Satelite Radio connected to the car radio wireless (fm modulator) or wired (aux-in)?

Finally....

[Drakonite]

*Looks at stack of altoid tins*

I need to do this, simply because it would finally give a use to these altoid tins I never got around to throwing away!

Ideal mp3 player

[ShieldW0lf]

1) Attaches to and detatches from my keychain.
2) Is small enough to be a convenient keychain.
2) Is in every way tougher than my keys.
3) Holds a retarded amount of data, enough that I can keep all my music on it incidentally to being a massive portable data store. Half a terabyte would be good.
4) Has wireless earbuds.
5) Beeps when I call for it

Re:Ideal mp3 player

[crow]

The key feature for an MP3 player in my mind is the ability to integrate with existing audio systems. The iPod is getting there--some cars are now designed to use one. The next step is a (cheap) stereo component that you can plug an iPod into.

Re:Ideal mp3 player

[BinLadenMyHero]

Just wait some years more.

Re:Ideal mp3 player

[goosman]

It's not quite what you describe, but www.sonance.com has a in-wall docking station called the iPort. It's not cheap at $598 (list) but for the geek who has everything.....

Re:Ideal mp3 player

[jacobhoupt]

uh...this DIY player has a built-in FM transciever(sp). tune your existing car stereo to it.

Re:Ideal mp3 player

[Archvillain]

Wireless intergration would seem to be better for some people than plugging in, so wireless as-well-as (rather than instead-of) plug-in would be cool...

I have a great old pocket hdd mp3 player that predates the ipod, but among the numerious useful features it has that ipods are still shunning (DRM being all the rage nowadays) is a good old digital input and output, which allows you to plug it into a surround-sound system, and let that system do the final DAC/analgue amp stage, since the analogue sound componentry in any pocket mp3 player is pretty crap compared to most modern entertainment systems simply by the necessity of making the analogue stage fit into the most minimal space possible.

So... wireless+docking port, both using digital sound output where availible, but analogue where not, and recharging on the dock.
Mmmmm, feature-creep... :-)

The real advantage to DIY is that no-one ever makes a device with exactly all of the features you actually want, and none of the "features" that you don't want. Custom hardware rocks.

Re:Ideal mp3 player

[aurispector]

You guys are all off base talking about fm transmitters and docking ports. Radio Shack carries a simple Y adapter so you can run a wire from the headphone output jack of ANY portable music device and the AUX RCA jack on the back of a stereo. Costs about $5. I use one to run the output of my computer sound card to a small stereo, giving me great sound and desktop hardware control of the sound level. (a "volume knob" in archaic parlance)

I also just had a nifty AIWA stereo installed in my car that has an input jack to plug in any player you like. Basically for about $5 I can play my mp3 player, cd player, etc., through any stereo with higher quality sound than that produced by those crappy mini-transmitters.

Re:Ideal mp3 player

[maddskillz]

I had line-in on my old stereo. In my opinion, this is such an underated feature!

The problem is...

[BlastM]

that MP3 hardware decoders are abundant but Vorbis hardware decoders are non-existant AFAIK.

That's why homebrew MP3 players are so easy to put together: you just throw together a PCB with an MP3 decoding chip (OK so it's not quite that simple).

In contrast, in order to play Ogg Vorbis you'll need an embedded integer processor (don't need a floating point processor thanks to Xiph.org's Tremor codec) with a decent amount of portable grunt (I'm thinking: the likes of an ARM7).

Then you'll have to write the software for the player, but having a CPU will allow greater flexibility (i.e. add support for other formats).

Re:The problem is...

[KozmoStevnNaut]

I have a Jens Of Sweden MP-400, and with the latest firmware it plays Ogg Vorbis up to and including Q9 quality.

I have a very hard time imagining how they would shoehorn an ARM7 into a device not much larger than my thumb, what with also fitting a rechargeable LiIon battery with nearly 20 hours playing time inside.

Re:The problem is...

[lisaparratt]

I wouldn't - ARM cores are ridiculously small. On the original Acorn machines, the ARM chip on the ARM processor board is smaller than the power regulator on the x86 processor board.

Re:The problem is...

[KozmoStevnNaut]

Ah, I see.

I just imagined it would be roughly the same size as the ARM processors I've seen inside various PDAs. But then again, they're probably a lot more powerful, anyway.

Doomed to failure

[Anonymous Coward]

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Peppermint.

mirror

[JustinHoMi]

Here is a more complete mirror: http://www.justinmitchell.net/minty

A tip for you:

[Anonymous Coward]

You should spend more time enjoying life--rather than wondering why others do.

Think about it.

Re:stop stealing posts from hack a day

[Anonymous Coward]

sure this is flamebait, you moderators have no life lmao

Neuros is another choice to play Ogg Vorbis files.

[jbn-o]

And at least some of the Neuros devices play Ogg Vorbis files. For a while, Neuros was distributing the firmware to their devices at open.neurosaudio.com. They say:

Due to a potential licensing conflict with one of our vendors,we have temporarily suspended downloads of the Neuros firmware source code.

We expect to have this resolved shortly, please check back on open.neurosaudio.com for further updates.

They are still distributing specs for the hardware and source code for some supporting applications.

How much for labour?

[Anonymous Coward]

How much is it after parts, labour and time spent sourcing out the parts?

I suppose that it has "hobby" value but I can buy an iPod shuffle for less than a day's wages.

Cartons are rather large.

[Strudleman]

Perhaps you meant a pack of cigarettes?

Okay, gonna go put another nail in the coffin now.

automatic link conversion

[Zyrill]

i recall there being a post about coral here on slashdot quite some time ago - why don't make people a habit of posting all urls with that stupid .nyud.net:8090 appended and slashdotting won't be that much of an issue anymore

note to self

[Anonymous Coward]

don't try to take this on an airplane

Has to be said...

[Anonymous Coward]

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

but the real question is

[Anonymous Coward]

...can i date her?

Re:but the real question is

[taniwha]

My daughter? not unless you're ~11 years old, living south of the 45S parallel and she doesn't go something like 'ooh yuck boys icky' at the sight of you

Re:but the real question is

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm 48, live out of my van, and have a roll of duct tape.

Is that close enough?

Ogg on iPod

[cgenman]

From Gizmodo, and a rebuttal. There is also a way to do it, albeit with a hack.

Engineer Dastardly Slaphapple took a break from his day job as a hardware and firmware designer at Bumbrubbley Audio Studebakery (maker of the iPod competitor Slompet player, among other things) to give us some more info on the OGG-on-iPod plausibility, including why the iPod mini (and future iPods) might have a better shot at getting OGG support than the older, whiter iPods. There's even information about why Apple may have chosen to implement their 'Lossless AAC' instead of the more widely adopted FLAC lossless format.

Dastardly's analysis after the jump:

Firstly, CPUs:

The current iPod gen3 has a PP5002D CPU, the same as the gen1 and gen2. The gen1/2 stored their code from flash, not SDRAM, meaning they had a more limited codesize, and their SDRAM took more power to operate.

The iPod mini has a PP5020 CPU

The Rio Karma (developed in Cambridge UK) uses a PP5003 CPU. It plays OGG (and FLAC and MP3 and WMA).

The old 5002:

The 5002 has a "broken" cache (1 wait state per access for program or data, meaning you effectively have half the effective clock rate when running code from external memory). This means that running code that doesn't fit in the internal 96kbyte SRAM of the player is very inefficient, both in terms of CPU cycles and power. MP3 and AAC just about squeeze into the internal memory (one at a time, obviously!), but anything that didn't would result in a big power hit - my guess is 30-40%+. This would be a bad user experience, considering the already short gen3 battery life.

The newer 5003:

The 5003 in the Karma has this particular silicon deficiency fixed. The Karma plays OGG, though it's still a resource hog - you get about 25% less battery life - about 11-12 hours compared to 15+ for MP3 due to the extra cycles and memory requirements when compared to the more svelte codecs. We didn't do a lot of optimisation, so it's running the Vorbis-supplied tremor decoder with only a few tweaks.

The even newer 5020:

The 5020 is based on the 5003, and so has the cache bug fixed. It's capable of playing OGG with 25% or less hit on power (depending how much optimisation is done). I would suspect the 5020 will find its way into the next iPod, as it's cheaper and integrates both the firewire MAC and the USB2 mac/phy blocks which are separate chips on the gen3.

So in summary:

gen3 - In theory possible, but unlikely. mini - Very possible. gen4 (or my guess at what a gen4 would have in it) - Very possible.

Dastardly Slaphapple is not speaking for his employer Bumbrubbley Audio Studebakery or Slompet Heavy Industries or anybody else. He's just sharing.

Re:Ogg on iPod

[John Harrison]

Apple knows that Ogg support is possible. The reason Apple doesn't implement the Ogg support is that they think they might get sued for it. They have no desire to be a test case.

Re:Ogg on iPod

[wed128]

Why would they get sued? the ipod already plays non-drm Mp3 and WMA, am i wrong? are the makers of the Neuros or the Archos sued? this doesn't make any sense...

Re:Ogg on iPod

[John Harrison]

They are afraid that they would be the big target and that the owners of the mp3 patents might think that Ogg Vorbis violates some patents. I am not saying that Apple believes there is a valid claim, but they don't want to get sued.

Re:Ogg on iPod

[Scrameustache]

I am not saying that Apple believes there is a valid claim, but they don't want to get sued.

My "system beep" says otherwise...
;-)

Re:Ogg on iPod

[John Harrison]

I get the sosumi joke. Given that I am posting with my real name, I am not going to say how I know this info, because I am not willing to say sosumi for myself.

So in other words...

[Anonymous Coward]

...by taking an MP3 player, you can build an MP3 player? This boggles the mind.

This is one scary sentance

[AndreyF]

Once it is accepted that Clark (the cop) reasonably thought he saw a marijuana pipe in the red pouch, then there was probable cause to search the pouch, even though Clark turned out to be mistaken.

I dunno about you, but that's pretty scary...

Re:Alternatives REAL ALTERNATIVES

[killawatt5k]

why not use gEDA and make an OGG player, it would not only be something to show off, but would be useful for spreading the 'good news' of free 'ware!

Girl Geek Alert!

[syukton]

I think it's worth pointing out that a girl-geek is responsible for this mp3 player creation. The username in the URL is what tipped me off, and the bio page seems to confirm it.

For extra points, anybody want to venture a guess where the name "Limor" originates from?

Re:Girl Geek Alert!

[Anonymous Coward]

limor is an israeli name, stems from 'li' (posessive) and 'mor' (myrrh) which means that i have the scent of myrrh.

limor
ladyada -at- mit -dot- edu

Re:Girl Geek Alert!

[Anonymous Coward]

I haven't been able to really read all of the page.

I got this far "The code is clobbered from the FileTree and SerialDemo code by Sun. It was written in 5 hrs, I refuse to explain what I thinking."

I think I'm in love

Now I know what to do...

[Anonymous Coward]

...with the tins I have from the 2 BOXES of penguin mints that it took to get me through 5th semester. Also, if anyone is looking for a good use for old mint tins, they're great for short-term condom storage, since they're not going to get bent and chafed like they would sliding around in a wallet. Just be careful about offering your date a mint after dinner.

been around a while...

[mako1138]

I saw this project some time ago. It's pretty neat. There's a PIC that manages everything -- it basically takes data from the CF card, feeds it to a MP3-to-PCM chip, which feeds PCM in turn to a DAC, which outputs analog audio.

Sure it's not groundbreaking, but the important thing is that you can make your own MP3 player with off-the-shelf components. These chips are widely available, and they're amazingly small. If they were any smaller there would be no reasonable way to solder them without resorting to industrial processes, or custom silicon. This project represents the most cutting-edge DIY that's still Do-able.

iShuffle sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

The iShuffle is worth about $10. With a screen, it might be worth $25, but even that would be stretching it. Apple couldn't make a video iPod, so they panicked and released this piece of crap.

cunts all of you

[Anonymous Coward]

thank you fucktards for slashing the link.

fucking faggot americans.

Re:cunts all of you

[Anonymous Coward]

thank you for you're comment, you foriegn fucktard. btw, fucktard is a cool word. so is assfuck, slobberdick and troll, all of which you are.

Re:cunts all of you

[Anonymous Coward]

It happens to be a link to an AMERICAN university. Now shut the hell up and enjoy your suffocating tax burden, you Eurotrash faggot.

Recode the processor circuit remains the same.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ie the mp3 part replaced with the OGG part.

So all that is really need to do is copy circuit into gEDA and give maker credit.

And write your fireware own . Even depending on space in chip add OGG and Flac to the MP3 player.

Note if you use the bootloader you can even change the Fireware so rewrite the Fireware.

Not a bad DIY project, but...

[Rhalin]

.... I dont think the pricetag of $50 is entirely accurate. She lists out all the parts you need on the hardware page except one, which is mentioned further on under "fabrication." "Make the PCB at a reputable PCB manufacturing house. " Could someone a little more experience fill me in on how much -that- little gem is going to cost?

Re:Not a bad DIY project, but...

[seltzered]

Actually, I've gotten PCB's (about 6in by 6in, double-sided w/ silkscreening) made for about 33 bucks under academic manufactuing pricing, which I think a lot of american pcb companies do. If you're really interested in doing this project, I'd google for pcb vendors and ask them about their pricing. If it still seems too costly, you might want to think about replicating the mp3 player PCB design on one large board. Then you can break the board up and try to sell some additional mp3 players to your friends or have an altoid-player building party!

But...

[BillX]

PIC18LF452 running at 20mhz (For v2 the crystal has been changed to 29.4912MHz

But.....but....mine plays 320Kbit/s at 8MHz! :-P

Re:But...

[Anonymous Coward]

i picked 29MHz for the serial rate, im pretty sure it could run at 16mhz or so...the bigger issue is that the compiler sucks. if it were an atmega, it could probably run at like 4mhz. crikey.

limor

Oblig.

[PoprocksCk]

One question lingering in my mind is... ... can the homemade mp3 player boot a Linux distro?

Not just a profit...

[PornMaster]

...they could make a mint!

compared to an ipod

[Anonymous Coward]

"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."

thanks, slashdot!

[ladyada]

ladyada% ssh ml.media.mit.edu

ladyada@ml.media.mit.edu's password:

Last login: Sun Jan 16 03:59:19 from dialup-4

Digital UNIX V4.0F (Rev. 1229); Thu Apr 8 10:01:53 EDT 2004

Could not chdir to home directory /mas/u/ladyada: I/O error
No directory!
Logging in with home = "/".
You have mail.
>

Re:thanks, slashdot!

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL

Re:thanks, slashdot!

[Anonymous Coward]

Whoops, sorry. I'll stop.

PS: How the hell little bandwidth does mit.edu have that Slashdot can take it down?! I mean, it's MIT, for chrissakes, not community college.

Re:thanks, slashdot!

[Aristotelis]

It's not the main MIT network we are talking about. It's the Media Lab network, which is somewhat independent from the main MIT network. You can see that from here:
http://mit.edu/maps/networks/mit/mit-topology.pdf
The Media Lab subnet (18.85.0.1/18) uses the e19r2 router (you can verify this with a traceroute), and the media lab network connects to the router via a 100Mpbs ethernet interface.
Also, note that the Media Lab network is not operated by IS (Information Systems). IS is responsible of the main MIT network. The media lab network has its own sys admin.
So it's not the MIT network that's been slashdotted, but it's the Media Lab network.

Re: Dickless Fag

[Anonymous Coward]

ever heard of volume control????? its this way cool invention that lets you mix outside sounds with music, .. try it sometimes, its great

Re:Neuros is another choice to play Ogg Vorbis fil

[Monkelectric]

I really like the neuros -- but, its a brick man. My archos 6000 was unweildy, and that is *much* larger.

Re:How come...

[michaeldot]

I see you posted AC though...!

My Lazy Bastards(TM) iPod case mod...

[Kris_J]

I really was going to be all handy with the neoprene cutting until I found out that my existing Marware case was perfect for stuffing my iPod in a newly gutted Sony Sports Walkman. Can I have a Slashdot story please? PLEASE?

But extra fresh breath! Think about it!!!

[Kentsusai]

Don't you want that extra fresh breath? You'll get that from building this MP3 player! ;-)

party like it's 1999

[mex666]

Some friends of mine made their own mp3 players back in 1999, again using a mint's tin and some bits from radio shack. I think they might have read about it on slashdot.... sheesh talk about old news. I've moved on to matchbox beowulf clusters.

Re:party like it's 1999

[mex666]

Well here's a similar story that was posted in 2000 anyway:

slashdot april 2000 article

A build your own player for 8000 yen uses 32 meg flash card. 8000 yen = approx $78 USD

Gotta love Slashdot!

[Phantasmo]

Hm... is it just me, or is Slashdot turning into del.icio.us/popular?

not true

[roman_mir]

most of them are slashbots

Dischord ;-)

[Scrameustache]

Following the logic of the original poster, why would one ever bother to learn to play an instrument when there's all of that recorded music out there?

Answer: for the sheer joy of playing.

Hi,
Please reduce the amount of sheer joy in your life.

Sincerly,
Your neighbor's association.

Anti DRM Movement

[nurb432]

Im sure this stuff really pisses off the *AA.. The fact that the people can create their own hardware that doesnt have any of those encumberances.

And using FPGAs, we can avoid DRM in the 'comptuer' market too... Just say no to non open IP cores...

MOD P. D.

[Scrameustache]

The iPod SHuffle is a POS. I use my MP3 player for AUDIOBOOKS. Imagine listening to a book with everything out of bloody order?

"The space shuttle is a POS. I use my car to go from home to work. Imagine having to blast into orbit and then go through reentry every morning!"

Yes, not catering to your specific niche needs makes equipments pieces of shit. Sure it does. Off course.

Also, it don't shuffle if you set it at "don't suffle". Read beyond the product name before you troll, next time.

Re:MOD P. D.

[Anonymous Coward]

of course you missed grandparents point on lack of LCD to display track number and position withing a track

have fun trying to figure out where you left off

bitch

also firefly sucks and i've already taken away your sky

OT: Sig/Name goodness

[Tink2000]

Woo hoo! I found the other person on the planet who knows who Mike Oldfield is outside of Tubular Bells!

*dances around*

"Taw nat ib ommadawn egg kyowl
Ommadawn egg kyowl" !

Re:OT: Sig/Name goodness

[AtariAmarok]

"Taw nat ib ommadawn egg kyowl Ommadawn egg kyowl" !"

Translation: "The cat is in the kitchen, drinking milk, I'ma fool and I'm laughing"

Mod parent +5 "not a cloth-eared nincompoop". Add another +2 for the Oz reference in the sig.

Re:OT: Sig/Name goodness

[Anonymous Coward]

Done anon so as to avoid the revenge of the Mods:
I actually heard that particular translation, but I've also heard it as "I am the fool with the music, fool with the music."

Either one works well for me :)

Re:How come...

[eno2001]

What the hell are you doing here if you don't have an interest in either computer programming, electronic circuit design or soe other aspect of engineering? If you don't have an interest in any of that, then you are personally one of the reasons why Slashdot sucks so bad these days. There was a time when they actually had "news for nerds, stuff that matters". Now it's just news for poseurs.

Re:Real Price!

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah the man power is expensive, it is only free if your time is worthless and all that bullshit.

ever hear of people doing such things for fun?

iPod shuffle remembers where you left off

[Anonymous Coward]

It keeps a global songnum/position across power cycles and it keeps a per-song bookmark for audio books (.aa or .m4b) so even if you skip to a different track, the book will pick up where you left off.

Also, books are not played in shuffle mode.

Re:How come...

[ericdano]

What the F*ck? Look at your user number. Then look at mine. I've been here a hell of a lot longer than you. STFU!

The quality of articles has gone down. Gone down a lot. Plus Duplicates, and lame ones, like this one.

Now go back to drinking your Kool-aid

Re:How come...

[Daneurysm]

Nothing personal... I try to stay away from "free service provider bashing"...if I don't like it, I'll not read it.

But, back to my main point:

What is this, be-bitchy-about-Slashdot-editors-week or something?

Uhh... You must be new here.

If it isn't pedantics of spelling and grammar, it's probably editor-bashing.

(yes, I understand the irony folks)

Re:How come...

[eno2001]

You mean you only have one account? I've been here since the 50000s. Get a life asshole.

Re:How come...

[Beavis!]

Just to prove it you ass, I'm posting from my older account...

Re:How come...

[ericdano]

*YAWN*

Is that from your mom's computer as well?

Re:How come...

[Beavis!]

Hehehe. Amateurs.

GAWD I hope that the URL you have listed for your home page isn't really YOUR homepage. With my background in music and audio production, I can tell you that whoever owns that page is a bitchy git.

Re:How come...

[ericdano]

Ha!

"Your background in music and audio". Yeah, working with MC Hammer or something?

Whatever. Go wash your mom's hair.

Re:Altoids battery pack

[ian2000611]

The v.2 player on the site has usb, you could fassion the same thing with a usb port.

Why not play OGG?

[prtsoft]

here is a hardware/software design that allows a a chip to decode ogg: http://oggonachip.sourceforge.net/ now THAT is geeky! :>

Re:How come...

[Anonymous Coward]

You probably moderate wrong, therefore you suck. Fuck off piss ant.

Re:Your Lame SIG

[Beavis!]

Anyone who thinks they "rule" is automatically a loser. Check and mate.