| Author | Comment |
allynfolksjr
Administrator
Posted: 24 Feb 2004
19:25 GMT
Total Posts: 1892 | Since everyone is telling everyone else about their new, cool stuff, I think I will, as well.
I finally had it with CD's and got a mp3 player. Well, a .wma player, since thats what I use.
I got the Dell DJ, 20GB version. It's pretty cool, even thought every review thinks it's ugly, I don't think so. It's affordable, with 20gb for $300 (I got it for 270 though). Plus it's got a really good battery life (over 20 hours, I've tested it as).
I'll find a link soon. |
Billy
Ultralisk
Posted: 24 Feb 2004
20:06 GMT
Total Posts: 260 | Very nice allyn!
There are programs out there to convert that wma file to an MP3.
However, there really is no point since it supports WMA files.
EDIT: since I don't think it's necessary to create a new bragging thread, I'll put this here. I got a 200 Gig 8MB cache hard drive! I love it. It's surprisingly quiet too. I put it in 2 partitions: one 10 gig for Windows, office, drivers, documents, pictures, and necessary software. And the rest is a big 176GB partition for data storage.
I also have a 100 Gig hard drive with 8MB cache in my PC, which is filled except 2 GB... heh. Meaning a total of 300GB. However, next week I may put in an old 8.4GB hard drive in it solely to boot up on, then have the 300GB dedicated for data storage purposes. This will also save my new 200GB drive from wearing!
The 8.4 GB hard drive is my old xbox's hard drive. I put a 120GB 8MB cache hard drive in its place. I also love my modded xbox. But that's a different tangent.
[Edited by Billy on 25-Feb-04 05:14] |
spiral
Wraith
Posted: 24 Feb 2004
22:40 GMT
Total Posts: 958 | I have a 120 gig and 60 gig, partitioning my 60 gig was really quite a bother, so i deleted the partition and reinstalled win xp (part of this was I had a virus, needed to reinstall anyways).
Gratz allyn on the mp3 player. The Dell has pretty impressive battery life and decent features for the money. The pictures of it all make it look like it's potbellied and the middle bulges out, i found one picture from the side tha tmade it look it was just an illusion, I'm not sure. The center jog isn't up to the Ipod, but nice still. |
allynfolksjr
Administrator
Posted: 25 Feb 2004
08:39 GMT
Total Posts: 1892 | It's actually pretty flat, The only thing that sticks out is the wheel, but it's not that noticeable.
Theres a new 300gb drive http://www.internetnews.com/storage/article.php/3317511 |
calculatorfreakCG
Wraith
Posted: 25 Feb 2004
10:30 GMT
Total Posts: 739 | Actually, I don't have any new cool stuff allyn. But nice that you got an mp3 player. I actually just listen to the radio . . but an mp3 sounds great. Hope you gets lots of enjoyment out of it. :) |
ShockTroop
Goliath
Posted: 25 Feb 2004
12:19 GMT
Total Posts: 170 | I'm going for a MiniDisc player. A CD player, but much smaller. |
Billy
Ultralisk
Posted: 25 Feb 2004
13:12 GMT
Total Posts: 260 | 300GB hard drives don't sell for 99 bucks after rebate ;) |
Digital
Guardian
Posted: 25 Feb 2004
17:06 GMT
Total Posts: 1051 | If they did, I'd have one already. I know I need a backup solution by summer since my 18.6 GB external (internal in external holder) is too small for backing up much of anything. |
allynfolksjr
Administrator
Posted: 25 Feb 2004
18:41 GMT
Total Posts: 1892 | Thats the reason I got the player, all of the Seattle radio stations (1077 the end, a specific example) turned into 'original alternative, which apparently means playing early 90's songs... |
spiral
Wraith
Posted: 25 Feb 2004
21:58 GMT
Total Posts: 958 | "I'm going for a MiniDisc player. A CD player, but much smaller."
FYI, the new HI-MD's are coming out soon, which can hold a lot more data using slightlyd ifferent disks and canon's technology.
I never really cared for radio, I listen to KPBS once in a while. |
allynfolksjr
Administrator
Posted: 26 Feb 2004
21:18 GMT
Total Posts: 1892 | Billy, I didn't see about your xbox before, thats a pretty good idea.
Also: Has anyone seen/used/bought the new iPod yet? Is it worth all of the hype? Is it worth the $50+ a GB? |
spiral
Wraith
Posted: 27 Feb 2004
04:54 GMT
Total Posts: 958 | My friend bought a 40 gig iPod, I've used it a bit. It's not 50+ a gig, more like 15-30.
Quite small, battery life is ok-ish, it'll drain fast if you play the guessing song game, because it has to spin up the hard drive a lot. the back is very polished metal, almost can be used as a mirror. This is bad because any scratches are easily visible and you can leave fingerprints easily. The scroll wheel is such a good idea, it's a little odd to have no tactical feedback from any of the buttons, they're all touch sensitive. |
Billy
Ultralisk
Posted: 27 Feb 2004
10:55 GMT
Total Posts: 260 | I have two friends with iPODs. One has a 20 gig, the other a 30.
I'll admit I'm biased against Apple, but the iPOD is one thing they did right. I love it. It's an amazing piece of hardware. Smaller than I anticipated, it looks sleek, both the unit itself and the interface was well designed, the LCD screen on it is very clear, and you can have it lit up if necessary. I also found out you can play breakout on it while listening to music. The combination of the two is a good way to let boredom pass by in a long car ride, plane trip, or just in a waiting room for an appointment.
If I ever need to purchase a large capacity MP3 player, I'll definitely be getting an iPOD! |
allynfolksjr
Administrator
Posted: 27 Feb 2004
15:13 GMT
Total Posts: 1892 | Oops, I meant the brand new mini-iPods. You know, the 4gb credit card sized ones...They were released last week. |
zkostik
Carrier
Posted: 28 Feb 2004
20:00 GMT
Total Posts: 2486 | i'm am biased against apple and i think the only thing they do right is lcd screens, they're great. ipod is okay, but for that money you can get better stuff. as for mp3 player, i have a SlimX imp 350 but i don't use it much anymore. i now use my palm tungsten-e for that purpose and its great. i have 3 256meg cards for it but one card is really enough. on a usb 2 reader i can update my music really fast and since i only play mp3s in my car i don't need to carry every single song with me. btw, batter life is truly awesome on that pda (even with the screen on). i can also watch my xvid movies when i feel like it :). i probably wouldn't get a harddrive mp3 (if i were though, i'd get iriver's ihp-140 or whatever the model is for their hd mp3 player) player since i'm faily happy with my cd-mp3 and with cd capacity. okay, i guess that should be enough for now.
[Edited by zkostik on 29-Feb-04 05:22]
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dysfunction
Goliath
Posted: 29 Feb 2004
13:20 GMT
Total Posts: 122 | I have an mp3 cd player, which for all intents and purposes is a 750mb mp3 player with incredibly cheap memory cards. Plus it has an FM tuner, remote, 4-line lcd, 2 bass boost modes, 5 equalizer settings, a car adaptor, and street-style headphones, or earbuds, depending on the noise level in the room I'm listening in. Ear buds block extraneous sound better, but my street styles have better sound quality. |
spiral
Wraith
Posted: 29 Feb 2004
13:55 GMT
Total Posts: 958 | I have a SlimX IMP-350, I also only use my PPC because I have a 512 megabyte card (only like a hundred megabytes of music), and I can watch movies. Oh yeah, I use my slimx even less because I accidently tried to plug the charger in a 220v outlet, unlike the last time I did that 10 years ago, it didn't cause a burning smell though.
The iRiver mp3 harddrive and ipod are pretty much the only two mp3 players I'd buy right now. Well, if money were no object I'd get the Gigabeat X20, smaller than ipod, bettery battery life, plays .wma's, it looks like an md player.
I prefer my earbuds, which have like equal quality to most full-size/street headphones I've heard. But they block out a lot of extraneous sound, a bit too much (sony fontopia with silicon tips) |
zkostik
Carrier
Posted: 29 Feb 2004
14:46 GMT
Total Posts: 2486 | btw, have you guys seen the new Archos entertainment studio? this thing is nice, it has like a 320x240 16bit screen and you can play divx, xvid, mp3, radio, etc. it has an organizer and can play games. i think it comes with a 20gig hd and the only thing that kinda sucks about it is it's relatively short battery life. as far as reliability goes, Archos players are good. my friend have had one for over two years and it works great and sounds very good too.
btw, i use sony's mdr-g73 street style headphones. these are very nice and sound very good too and have good bass. though, they cost $30.
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allynfolksjr
Administrator
Posted: 29 Feb 2004
14:50 GMT
Total Posts: 1892 | I use my 80buck street headphones when sound pollution isn't a problem. But it usually is, so I use earbuds most of the time.
Earbuds are comparable to low-end headphones. But if you have a magnolia Hi-Fi near you, go and check out the high-end sony street style headphones. The quality, especially in Bass, is extreamly better.
I considered the mp3-CD players, but they're rather large, and, personally, I hate CD's. They're easily broken, they take up alot of space to store, and are easily lost. But I guess that depends with your own view.
Never heard of the archos studio.
[Edited by allynfolksjr on 29-Feb-04 23:51] |
spiral
Wraith
Posted: 29 Feb 2004
15:10 GMT
Total Posts: 958 | Sometimes saying Divx, Xvid support means that videos have to be converted from the original computer codec to the same codec as the one on the player though. I knwo my friend swore off archos after his experiencing with his archos player, and got an ipod.
You should try out the Sony Fontopia Ex-71's, they sound a lot better than the average earbuds, huge amounts of bass, their quality is as good and often clearer (because they go in-ear) than street style headphones, but they block out a lot of outside sound, so if you want to have a conversation, you'll have to take out one earbud.`
Mp3-cd players are a bit too large to put in your pocket (i do know one weird guy tho...), which makes them a bit less convenient. |
allynfolksjr
Administrator
Posted: 29 Feb 2004
16:36 GMT
Total Posts: 1892 | I think I tried those Fontopia earbuds. But that was a couple of years ago, so it might have some similar product. |
Billy
Ultralisk
Posted: 1 Mar 2004
14:31 GMT
Total Posts: 260 | The fact it's cumbersome to carry, not as easy to browse through MP3 file lists, and possibility to skip due to moving parts are among the reasons MP3players are preferred over an MP3-capable CD player.
Also, the ability to easily add/remove files is a plus compared to burning a whole new CD... |
spiral
Wraith
Posted: 1 Mar 2004
16:10 GMT
Total Posts: 958 | Actually, mp3/cd player is as easy to browse through mp3 list as any flash based player. |
zkostik
Carrier
Posted: 2 Mar 2004
14:07 GMT
Total Posts: 2486 | problem with ipod is its lack of features. in that respect archos is a much better entertainment choice. btw, what exactly is a default computer video codec? i don't think there is any. if you're referring to an mpeg2 codec used for dvd then it's a very good idea to convert it into xvid or divx 5.1 becuase they have far more superior compression. for instance if you have a fast computer that'd allow you to max out postprocessing, you can squeeze a dvd (90-100 mins, 8000kbps, 5-6gigs) into a two cd xvid. quality wouldn't be as good on a single cd compression, but on a two cd you probably won't tell any difference at all.
yes, cd mp3 players are cumberson so that's why i'm using my pda.
these fontopia headphones do look nice, but man, these are $50! they have a nice frequency responce btw.
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Lunchbox
Carrier
Posted: 2 Mar 2004
17:10 GMT
Total Posts: 2007 | i personally have a nomad II, bout 2yrs old w/only 64 mb of memory :(
But, i suits me well. problems with the iPod include:
1. u must pay $1 for each song u get from apple (maybe thats just a rumor)
2. MY COMP IS SO OLD IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE 30 GIGS OF HARD DRIVE, AND IT SURVIVES WELL ENOUGH, SO I DOUBT AN MP3 PLAYER WOULD EVER NEED 20+ GB OF MEMORY.
3. it costs $300 dollars, and thats alot of money out o my pocket.
4. the scorller is really twitchy.
5. Made by apple, *shudder* I am biased against apple also!
Some good things about the iPizzle (iPod)
1. It has good quality music
2. If u can afford it, its worth it (like upgrading from an 83+ to an 89)
3. u can blind people during class w/ the shiny backside :)
|
allynfolksjr
Administrator
Posted: 2 Mar 2004
19:19 GMT
Total Posts: 1892 | My memory 20(gb) is only half used. Actually, only 1/3 of the total space is music. (.wma is quite efficent). I use it as a external hard-drive. And as backup (outlook files and digital camera photos)
The songs are $1, if you buy them from iTunes. If you already own the songs, then you can put them on your iPod for free. |
spiral
Wraith
Posted: 2 Mar 2004
19:30 GMT
Total Posts: 958 | "what exactly is a default computer video codec?" I said "original computer codec" what I meant is tha tmany video players don't actually play divx natively. They use an desktop/laptop computer converter to change it from divx to another format, and then that other format is the one played on the handheld, because playing divx is hard to do on handhelds (even palms/ppc's can't do it that easily)
"1. u must pay $1 for each song u get from apple (maybe thats just a rumor)"
That's only if you buy music online, you can put all your mp3's, ripped or downloaded on just fine.
"2. MY COMP IS SO OLD..."
once you get enough music...or like me and like to have all songs with you.
"3. it costs $300 dollars, and thats alot of money out o my pocket."
it's a bit more, but all hard drive mp3 players are petty expensive
Scroller is ok not enough tactile feelback, but i like non-moving better than the moving scroller of the original, if you're biased against apple i can't help you.
Acutally, the shiny backside is BAD. It gets fingerprints and gets scratched really easily. |
Lunchbox
Carrier
Posted: 2 Mar 2004
20:58 GMT
Total Posts: 2007 | thank u for the $1 clarification allyn, but if u don't mind me asking, about how many hours of music can u store on an iPod? |
spiral
Wraith
Posted: 2 Mar 2004
21:57 GMT
Total Posts: 958 | depends on bitrate and which ipod, at 128 kbps, which is ok-ish quality, i think it should come out to about 200 to 600 hours. |
Lunchbox
Carrier
Posted: 3 Mar 2004
14:39 GMT
Total Posts: 2007 | :O
wow, that's amazing. that's how many batteries, about 10-30 sets? :D |
Billy
Ultralisk
Posted: 3 Mar 2004
16:37 GMT
Total Posts: 260 | The iPod doesn't use conventional batteries. It has a special Lithium-Ion battery inside I believe. Or is it Nickel-Cadmium?
Anyways, I failed to see any problems with the scroll wheel; at all. In fact, I think it's a great idea and it works perfectly.
As for costs of songs, sure the legal way is $1 per song. And that's at 128KPBS... of course that's ONLY if you download them using iTunes the legal way. There are other legal alternatives, such as specific websites, but there's always ofther ways. ;)
I am also biased against apple, but they've done one thing right - the iPod. Make that two, that 21" LCD screen is amazing. |
Lunchbox
Carrier
Posted: 3 Mar 2004
17:51 GMT
Total Posts: 2007 | "I am also biased against apple, but they've done one thing right - the iPod. Make that two, that 21" LCD screen is amazing."
took the words right out of my mouth, billy.
Two of your other points prove that iPods are way too expensive to be conventional.
1.The batteries: has anyone ever bought lithium batteries before? they cost about $15.59 for a pack of 4. i'm sure if they're nickel-cadmium, or whatever they'd be just as expensive.
2.the songs: one can store over 1000 songs on the iPod (unless they're all 8-minute, led-zeppelin-style songs) and even if you get only 5% of them through that [for better quality or legality ;)] that's still $50 dollars down the drain.
Also, the batteries run for 20 hrs like allyn said. vacations included, one probably listens to it about 200 hrs a year (at least). that's $77.95 per year[don't need an 89TE for that math], just for batteries. plus the $300 charge for the player itself and the approximate $30-$50 for iTunes (hi-quality) songs comes out to about:
$409.95-$429.95
just for the first year!!
that's much too rich for my blood.
my mp3 was $60 for player plus headphones, free dowwnloaded all software :), and batteries cost aboot $10 per year, which totals:
$70
that's just my opinion and rough statistical estimates.
EDIT: i was listening to said mp3 player wwhile writing this message, specifically Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix (one of my favs)
[Edited by Lunchbox on 04-Mar-04 02:57] |
Digital
Guardian
Posted: 3 Mar 2004
18:06 GMT
Total Posts: 1051 | If the battery weren't Li Ion it would be NiMH since NiCad oxidize on deep discharge or overcharge (memory) and is much heavier. For portability Li Ion were chosen since they are the lightest and logest lasting of the three. Furthermore Li Ion will be the batteries of the future. They are so expensive because they are still under developement. Also Li Ion, NiMH, and NiCad are rechargable so you'd drop that 77.95 to 15.95. iTunes is free and you could copy your CDs to the ACC or MP3 format for no charge at all -$30 to -$50. So to recalculate that would be $300 bucks for the iPod (overhead) and the yearly price is ho ever much you pay for CDs or downloads. The iPod its self has a HDD so you can also use if for backing up a drive if so compelled, the Hardware and software are probably the some most reliable on the market, the design is engineered for general intuition, and other stuff too small to put my finger on.
Thats my opinion and adjusted stats. BTW, is theis the iPod or iPod Mini? |
Lunchbox
Carrier
Posted: 3 Mar 2004
18:09 GMT
Total Posts: 2007 | dunno, i don't think any1 actually has one, we just started talking aboot it after allyn metioned her dell mp3 player
BTW, does anyone know how much the TI-84 SE will cost?
[Edited by Lunchbox on 04-Mar-04 03:12] |
allynfolksjr
Administrator
Posted: 3 Mar 2004
18:17 GMT
Total Posts: 1892 | The iPOd, I believe. Every rechargable battery that's hardwired into a tech unit is LiION these days. But they're really expensive though.
Read the past news on ticalc.org i think they have a link for that TI press release. BUt I'd guess about 100-120 |
Lunchbox
Carrier
Posted: 3 Mar 2004
20:12 GMT
Total Posts: 2007 | Thanks allyn, i actually might upgrade to the 89TE if i can scrape the dough together. I have an 83+ non SE right now |
spiral
Wraith
Posted: 3 Mar 2004
20:57 GMT
Total Posts: 958 | Lithium batteries aren't the ones sold in a pack of 4, those are NIMH, but those are ALSO rechargeable, so you'd only need one pack if you were using a piece of hardware that uses these batteries (my sister's Minolta camera uses these, some dSLR's use these too)
I think Ipods might actually use Lithium-Polymer, which isn't able to hold as many recharge cycles as Lithium-Ion, but last longer.
You'll probably get about a year or two of life from Lithium batteries till they start to lose their charge. This is due to the aging of the battery, which is the main cause of Lithium batteries to die out.
Besides downloading and buying CD's you can also borrow from friends (which still isn't illegal, but it's convenient). |
allynfolksjr
Administrator
Posted: 4 Mar 2004
09:02 GMT
Total Posts: 1892 | I use my local library system for most of my CD's. I've gotten over 150 from them. |
Lunchbox
Carrier
Posted: 4 Mar 2004
16:06 GMT
Total Posts: 2007 | I had Kazaa lite 2.0 until i had to Re-OS my PC, then it got deleted and i haven't gotten it back yet. that's a great way to get music, videos, etc. but it's not perfectly legal :) |
Billy
Ultralisk
Posted: 4 Mar 2004
18:29 GMT
Total Posts: 260 | KaZaA lite 2.0 with speed hack and participation hack - good times. I still have it, but I think the current server for kazaa logs IPs and such, which is a bad thing. So I stopped using it |
jessef
Goliath
Posted: 4 Mar 2004
21:40 GMT
Total Posts: 192 | I know someone that has an older ipod. it stil has the original battery but I don't think that it can be replaced easily. The battery capasity is not what it useto be though. |
