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Microsoft's Tips for Buying an MP3 Player
An Anonymous Reader writes "In another extension of Microsoft's 'Plays for Sure' campaign, the company has launched a web page with six tips to help consumers purchase the 'correct' MP3 Player for them. Among the insights of the article hard drive-based players suck and a stopwatch is a useful feature to have on your player. Unsurprisingly, the iPod meets none of Microsoft's criteria. A humorous commentary is available, of course." From the article: "6. Don't get locked into one online store. Have you ever been on the hunt for a particular song? Some obscure indie rock tune or rare jazz performance you heard on the radio? You might have to shop at more than one store before you find the song you're looking for."
I know about Linux PDAs and such but is there a Linux-based mp3 player. It seems like a great idea since you wouldn't have to pay fees on the OS. Plus Linux is pretty customizable. Open the player up so people can write plugins and new features. Why hasn't anyone thought of this?
The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. - Paul Feyerabend
few with fm radio
how come mp3 players with fm radio are so hard to find?
doesn't it occur to manufacturers/ consumers how much functionality is added with so little effort by adding fm radio?
i have an iriver IFP-180T solely on the basis of it having an fm radio
how much does the fm radio circuitry add to the cost of an mp3 player? 50 cents?
will someone please enlighten me then how come fm radio is so hard to find in mp3 players?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
From the article:
"*Approximate figures based on CD-quality WMA (64 Kbps)"
Am I the only one who don't think 64kbps WMA is "CD quality", or is it because the quality of todays recordings on CDs are quite a lot worse than they used to be, of could I just be insane?
Make me doubt one fact, and I'll start doubting all facts...
Anyone know if this is true?
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
Interesting. Archos devotes the top of its Gmini page to the freaky giant-head guy. I can't find any information on whatever software they expect me to run on my computer to put music onto the Gmini. I can't find any information about a charging dock, or what carrying cases are available. And the photos of the Gmini don't make it clear how to navigate, which fits well with one review I just read saying navigation is "clumsy."
It's small, it's cheap, but... does it suck?
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
Microsoft says 64kb/s WMA is CD quality.
What does that makes 128kb/s? Or 192kb/s? Sooperdooperaudiophonicbeyondcompare quality?
The only thing that is CD quality is...a CD. And while 128kb/s AAC is fine (and somewhat better than MP3 and WMA), it isn't even close to CD quality.
64kb/s? That isn't even FM radio quality. I'm not talking Clear Channel 99.something playing the top five hits over and over FM. I'm talking real FM quality (i.e. WGMS in Washington DC, or hundreds of PBS/NPR stations across the U.S.). Heck, I've not heard a WMA that I would compare to CD, and I'm not talking expensive stereos; I'm talking about listening on a stock car stereos.
I realize this is a silly rant, and there are people who listen who really can't tell the difference. But lets stop pretending on audio quality. It reminds of the 60's when every amplifier manufacturer was claming the most ridiculous power outputs until the government stepped in and made them stop.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
"CD's were a cheap way to get loads of storage before flash sizes increased without the costs of HD. Now all but useless. Big, vulnareble to skipping and limited to something like 640mb."
I really don't know where you are getting your information from, but I have a CD based MP3 player and I have never had it skip. You can jog, bike, and hike with the thing and never have a problem. Probably because with the internal cache memory in the player, it doesn't really have to hit the disc that much for more data once it is prebuffered. Plus, if you make sure to keep all of your songs in a library somewhere on a computer the size issue really isn't an issue, considering you can put enough songs on a 700MB cd to not have to worry about needing a new one until you can get to your car/house/tent/hotel or wherever else you can keep a CD wallet. I've had my player for 2 years now, and never had a real complaint with it. I use NiMH batteries in it and they last forever when im playing MP3's. It even sounds great, and I can burn to real cheap media, and make a million different combinations of songs without ever having to worry about deleting anything. As far as the size, the thing may not fit in your shirt pocket without looking funny, but it is the round super slim one so it will fit in just about any jacket pocket, or pants pocket. Provided your pants aren't super tight.
I just think you should look at all the pros and cons of things, not just the cons of one and the pros of another.
I rather like the shuffle because I excercise daily. The IPod or IPod mini is too big and bulky. The Shuffle is perfect and because it plays in random mode it is great that no song will be repeated too quickly.
Here is how I use the shuffle. Load up the device with songs for your mood. Then excercise, but that might take 45 minutes or an hour and a half. Repeat for six or seven times. At the end of the week reload with new songs.
If you don't like the shuffle, well the shuffle is not for you. It is for me for people who literally count the grams that they have to carry when they are out and about.
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
The Gminis do support a proprietary database format, ARCLibrary. If you create the database and enable this functionality you can use it as well as the directory structure. Archos tells you that you need to use MusicMatch Jukebox to create the library but now there's an open source program that does it.
Regarding navigation, scrolling through a long list like a list of all albums is kind of annoying. However I organize my music in a more intelligent hierarchical way and I don't have any complaints about navigation.
I do have some complaints about other things though. The Gmini 220 sometimes ignores button presses while the hard drive is being accessed. The FM remote crashes once in a while and needs to be unplugged and plugged back in. The player also sometimes skips for no good reason.
Let me be the first to think you for dumping lots of "fun" chemicals into the wastestream by using AA batteries to power your portable electronics.
Of course, you refer to using recordable CDs as an "utterly disposable format" so I guess you're one of those folks who thinks that plastic comes from the magic plastic tree and that when you put things into the trash can, they magically "go away".
Unfortunately, in the world I live in, we have landfills, batteries and plastic require raw materials and energy to create and are difficult to actually degrade into their components.
But hey - why consider anything but your own convenience when buying a product?
And for those ready to complain about Apple's "proprietary" battery, I think $100.00 every couple of years for a thin-pack L-Ion battery, proper disposal of said battery, and a product that doesn't eat little toxic sausages constantly is a pretty fair price to pay. YMMV.
The player and jukebox software combo should support music formats of AAC with Freeplay DRM. After all the iTMS gets exclusive deals for those hard to find songs you might be wanting occasionally.
- Tjp
I am in wallow with my inner money grubbing capitalistic pig. ... Oink!