mp3 player

Post by **glossy** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 2:25 pm

DiscoDave wrote:
Massive Quasars wrote:What about the 20gb and 30gb models of Creative mp3 players (not the jukebox models)? The mini-brick shaped units. Are they any good?
You mean like one of these?

[lvlshot]http://images.americas.creative.com/images/products/galleries/gal10274_full_1.jpg[/lvlshot]

If it is, then I have one. The touch pad is a little tricky to get used to but afterwards its fine.

Sound quality is superb and battery life is 24hours.

my sister has the same unit. not bad :thumbup:

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:23 pm

Massive Quasars wrote: What's the word on refurbished items?

Does Rio have a good record with their refurbished units?

Post by **Foo** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:31 pm

Massive Quasars wrote:
Foo wrote:One vote here against Creative's line.

If it goes wrong, their support is appalling, and they send you out used items as replacements.
The brick mp3 players from Creative apparently don't shield their HDs well from shock. If their support is as bad as you say, when they crap out, you could be out of luck.

What's the word on refurbished items?

The flash players are no better. Mine crapped out transferring a large MP3 file and was unrecoverable from that point onwards.

As for refurbished items, they sent me 2 out in total. The first one was the wrong model, colour, dirty, had someone elses music on it and was still broken. The second one was the right colour but all th e rest of the above problems.

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:38 pm

Sorry, I'm not asking about creative refurbed units, just Rio. Though this does support my suspicion about creative service and support.

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:03 pm

Massive Quasars wrote:
Massive Quasars wrote: What's the word on refurbished items?
Does Rio have a good record with their refurbished units?

well, back in the day i bought my little brother a refurbished Rio600. works to this day.

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:05 pm

Foo wrote:As for refurbished items, they sent me 2 out in total. The first one was the wrong model, colour, dirty, had someone elses music on it and was still broken. The second one was the right colour but all th e rest of the above problems.

ffs

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:08 pm

+JuggerNaut+ wrote: well, back in the day i bought my little brother a refurbished Rio600. works to this day.

Good to hear, Rio only offers 30 days of warranty on refurbed units. I assume you must stress test the unit immediately to insure you get a properly functioning one.

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:14 pm

you bet i do. i actually took my bro's with me for the first few days trail running. each of those days i'd empty it and refill with music to insure that it transfers ok. not too sure he was thrilled with the idea, but it was stashed in my Camelback hydration system. it had no music in it, the latest firmware, and was scratch free.

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:15 pm

granted that's a best scenario, but it was my experience with one refurbished unit.

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:28 pm

I've noted that, Jugg. One person's experience among many...

I'd personally be afraid of upgrading firmwaves on these devices, that seems like a good time for problems to crop up. If the firmwave upgrade goes bad, I worry the unit could become a paperweight.

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:55 pm

yeah, really depends on what the changelog is. i'm not one to slap new firmware on there without taking a look at what's being changed/added/fixed first.

good luck with this though.

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:57 pm

thnx for the input.

any other comments are welcome.

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 6:03 am

This may sound odd, but do custom firmwaves exist for some mp3 players?

I know someone managed to load linux on an Ipod.

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 7:28 am

firmware i presume you meant? i wouldn't bother with anything custom even if stuff existed outside of the <4 Gen iPod's community. too risky, buggy, and not worth your money spent to be screwing around with the firmware.

i'm curious why you're even asking

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 7:37 am

Interested in adding features and file support. You're right though, I wouldn't risk a device loading custom firmware.

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 7:49 am

If I'm interested in conserving space, should I stick to WMA (in a device which supports only mp3 and wma)? It appears that I can get comparable or better quality with reduced file size. An entirely noob question, your thoughts?

http://www.mp3-converter.com/wma/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Audio

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 7:54 am

.wma isn't for me. it's purely subjective as to what sounds better at any given bit rate to you.

if you don't have a encoder, google for dbPoweramp, download it, rip a .wav file from a cd source, then encode a 96kbps .wma and .mp3 and listen for yourself. iirc correctly you DO save a little bit of space with .wma, but i didn't care for the result.

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 8:01 am

I added those links because they claim improvements in the WMA format after WMA 8.

Regardless, I may do as you suggest.

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 8:06 am

my findings were perhaps pre 8 (i don't recall), but nonetheless, you should try it yourself.

Post by **Dave** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 9:10 am

I wouldn't touch wma if it were a 6 foot redhead. I prefer AAC and bar that, mp3. Everytime MS releases a new WMA codec, they claim "cd quality sound at 64 kbps" and it always sounds like ass. HE-AAC 48 kbps is the first codec I've ever heard that can even begin to live up to that claim.

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 9:17 am

Thnx.

My options are mp3 and wma.

Will mp3 VBR 256kpbs suffice for quality?

Post by **+JuggerNaut+** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 9:18 am

more than enough for portability and the environments you'll be listening in.

Post by **Geebs** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 9:20 am

You mean through earphones? TBH, I wouldn't bother with a bitrate that high unless you're going for "I can hear a bat fart from a mile away" snob value.

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 9:26 am

Geebs wrote:You mean through earphones? TBH, I wouldn't bother with a bitrate that high unless you're going for "I can hear a bat fart from a mile away" snob value.

I'd like to listen to the same files at home and not be disappointed.

If I were to take your advice though, would you consider 192kpbs VBR minimally acceptable?

Post by **Geebs** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 9:30 am

192kbps is generally considered reasonable quality for MP3s. I've never noticed a huge difference, but then again my room has fucking awful acoustics so I almost never listen to music at home...