Re: MP3 players useless?

Nigel Cliffe said:

Michael Klontzas said:

Call me Bob said:

On Tue, 24 May 2005 22:33:17 +0100, Michael Klontzas
<[email hidden]> wrote:
Perhaps other budget players would give a better account of
themselves but I'd warn anyone considering that sort of purchase to
be ready with the return/refund packaging.

On the other hand, a few months back I bought an iPod mini and I
absolutely love it. It's superior in every respect to the first one,
by orders of magnitude.

I can't see why a quality keyring MP3 player wouldn't be as good as an
iPod really. These days they come with 1GB memory and are sold by the
likes of Sony and Creative. There is even an Apple iPod version:
http://tinyurl.com/asp8h In fact some of them get impressive user
reviews. I take your point though that there are a lot of cheapos
around ATM.

I have one of the 1Gb Creative Nuvo models, cost about £100 a few months
back. I think its better than the Apple iPod equivalent because of its
screen; if you organise your music into folders (only one level deep is
supported), its easy to jump between different sorts of output. The
backlight causes audio buzzes, but I run mine without the backlight.

It does all I would expect; USB2 is fast to load it. Sound is decent
(depends on the original source and compression). Headphones acceptable
quality (though I am tempted to get something else). The FM radio works on
reasonably strong signals. Battery life is around 15 hours (I use a
rechargable metal hydride battery).
The audio-record function from line-in does a tollerable job, though I think
I should have forgone this feature and bought the other version which has
its USB plug integral with the unit, rather than a separate lead (I made up
my own 6cm long lightweight lead in the end).
Audio record from radio is OK. The in-built microphone is dictation machine
quality only.

Sound is loud enough for cycling in quiet conditions, though wind whistle
can drown things out.

I usually use it for time-shifted radio output rather than music; and the
move to "podcasting" of various bits of Radio4 is wonderful.

And it doubles as a file-shifting device between computers.

I'm content with the product, decent value for the money spent.

- Nigel

I have a K700i which I use for it's MP3, I currently have about 12 hours
of music on it. I find it works fine on the cycle at any speed and
allows me to hear the traffic also. It even works on the motor bike up
to about 45/50mph.
For those of you who have 3GP/MP3 players, try this, MP3 your tunes at
16 bps Stereo, I use Sony Sound Forge, then itune AAC @16bps and convert
them in mono, use CKRename to change the file suffix to 3GP and load to
your phone. The resultant file is about 140k for 3-5 mins as opposed to
1-1.5mb and the quality is very passable.

Sniper8052

Nigel Cliffe <[email hidden]> wrote:

: I usually use it for time-shifted radio output rather than music; and the
: move to "podcasting" of various bits of Radio4 is wonderful.

I've only ever seen R4 in Real Audio format. While I can convert that to
mp3 its a PITA since it has to run in real time. What's available in
other formats?

Arhtur

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
Don't get me wrong, perl is an OK operating system, but it lacks a
lightweight scripting language -- Walter Dnes

Roedd <<Arthur Clune>> wedi ysgrifennu:

Quoted message said:

I've only ever seen R4 in Real Audio format. While I can convert that
to mp3 its a PITA since it has to run in real time. What's available
in other formats?

R4 are running a podcast trial http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/downloadtrial/

--
Rob

http://www.asta51.dsl.pipex.com/webcam/

in message <[email hidden]>, Arthur Clune

(') said:

Nigel Cliffe <[email hidden]> wrote:

: I usually use it for time-shifted radio output rather than music;
: and the move to "podcasting" of various bits of Radio4 is wonderful.

I've only ever seen R4 in Real Audio format. While I can convert that
to mp3 its a PITA since it has to run in real time. What's available
in other formats?

MP3, direct from the beeb. The 'In Our Time' mp3 download is on Radio
4's home page just now; more and more programmes are to be made
available in mp3. More details here:
<URL:http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/downloadtrial/>

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; I'll have a proper rant later, when I get the time.