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MP3 Players (again...)


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I assumed there would be loads of discussion here about good, linux compatible, MP3 players. There are, but they all seem to be old - so I thought I'd start a new thread...

 

I want to replace my Ipod mini with something a bit bigger - 4Gb is proving far too small...

 

What I (ideally) want is:

 

Drag and Drop support

High capacity - minimum of 20Gb, preferably 60+

Ogg support

Video - ideally Xvid and/or DivX support

Relatively cheap...

An FM radio

 

The radio and Ogg support are not essential. The reason I'm not keen to go for another ipod is that I'd like the drag and drop support, and they're too expensive...

 

I've already googled extensively and reviews about the latest iriver's aren't positive - plus I'm not sure they're drag and drop these days. As far as I can make out Creative's high capacity aren't d&d either...

 

I was quite excited to discover a reference to the Neuros player in a thread around here - but they're discontinued... :sad: Equally the Iriver h340 looked a reasonable option but they're also discontinued and not that cheap anyway...

 

So - what do you think? And SoulSe - I already know that you think I should go for an ipod anyway ;)

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It depends on features.....

My GF uses her's far more than I do and more extensively.... my normal use is 15mins to 1hr on a train or such so battery is less important to me...however size was reasonably...

My Gf got an iRiver.... it does work D&D but then the songs aren't indexed in the database but you can select by album and directory...

Again depends on music... this part doesn't bother me that much but thats maybe the music I listen to...

I got a cheapo chinese made import REALY cheap.. plays MP4 (after a bit of messing about)

Another friend likes being a DJ... so he tends to use his iPod playlists in bars he knows??

 

Horses for courses?

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Unfortunate as it is, since ogg is much better than mp3.

This is a wrong claim. Considering files with "almost" equal sizes, ogg -Q 6 is of the same quality (or very marginally better) than lame -V 2, which has a similar filesize.

The ogg superiority over MP3 is marginal at best, the REAL advantage is that ogg offers cleaner tagging options and 100% copyright-free license, while MP3 is both free and non-free at the same time...

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Unfortunate as it is, since ogg is much better than mp3.

This is a wrong claim. Considering files with "almost" equal sizes, ogg -Q 6 is of the same quality (or very marginally better) than lame -V 2, which has a similar filesize.

hmm.... - the only read difference between what you said there and what I said here was that I added "much" :lol2:

 

I sat down, ripped a song in mp3 and ogg at their best qualities possible. I listened to them in very good headphones, and then on studio monitors with a subwoofer. I found the ogg's sounded much clearer - but I don't have any specialized equipment to actually test this.

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I support Tyme on this. I have often done the same test.

 

My sound experience goes back through to 50 yrs ago. When Stereo recording was slowly coming out, I was building Hi-Fi Stereo Preamps, Amps and Speaker systems to best studio quality at the time. I new I could never afford to buy such a system. I built the lot...Chassis, component circuit boards, Acoustically loaded Speaker Boxes and even the Output speaker transformers pluss the power supplys. (After all I was a fully qualified Technical Officer in Communications------Radio, Radar and Electronics so the effort was no big deal)

Mullard (UK) circuits and valves were the favourites for a very long time, being constantly R&Dd over the years and made freely available to everyone. Sure it was to sell their valves but any brand of applicable vave from other Manufacturers was able to be used. There was NO lockin but their valves were the best and beat anything that was made anywhere else. In many ways Mullard was an Open Source company long before the term came into being.

 

I only took to digital audio in the past couple of years because to my ears all earlier digital audio was too strident and tinny and no amount of Bass boost would improve it. Sure it was cleaner, meaning no noise but it had no body or warmth as one would hear with live music.

Thankfully the situation has vastly improved. Speaker design has changed significently to specifically suit digital input which even the very best analogue speakers couldn't handle too well.

 

When I first started ripping CDs to MP3s, I was using Windows and unaware of the Linux world. I also heard about OGG-Vorbis and tried it as an alternative to MP3 being totally unaware of the Linux world and opensource software. My choice preference for OGG-Vorbis therefore was only based on spec and my hearing taste and not on the anti-proprietary versus open source software or Linux arguments.

 

Since that time I have never regretted my choice, in fact it has been continually reinforced by everything I have ever read, and continue to read, on the subject.

 

I cannot agree that OGG-Vorbis is only marginally better than MP3 on equal size. My hearing tells me otherwise and I think my years of experience has trained it fairly well. And most articles I have read in the past stated that in tests it was on a par with the emerging MP4 which was claimed by its developers to be better than twice its predecesser, MP3, at the time.

 

I have noticed more and more of the personal music players are including OGG-Vorbis. Even though I do not own one and never likely to own one (I value my hearing sensitivity) I still read the specs on most of them, out of curiousity, to see if they include OGG-Vorbis.

 

I know a lot of this type of discussion is argued to be about personal taste but that argument is often used to brush off an argument based on something actually having better proven characteristics.

 

Cheers. John.

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OK, lets put some things straight: ogg Q 6 and Lame -V 2 are both almost "transparent". That means: if the files are fed to an expensive hifi, then they sound equally good (using ABX tests) to the original CD- or even if there IS a difference, it's hard to tell for any "non-specialized" ear.

The main issue is not so much the bitrate (any high VBR bitrate should cut the cake!), but the ripping program. A CD in a mint condition should be ripped properly by many, too many programs, but a secure ripping of a slightly problematic CD is a totally different beast.

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