Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, Captain Ned
FubbHead wrote:Why not a cell phone with those features, and that takes memory sticks?
FubbHead wrote:Why not a cell phone with those features, and that takes memory sticks?
z-man wrote:FubbHead wrote:Why not a cell phone with those features, and that takes memory sticks?
Cause it is going to be used between my wife and myself, in cars and around the house. A phone isn't going to be useful in this case. My fault for not mentioning that.
But if she is going to travel for the weekend for a conference or something, I would rather not be without my phone.
morphine wrote:LOL. But if by "memory sticks" you mean those Sony M2's, then you are not following the "no proprietary ****" requirement. Micro/Mini SD's are fine.FubbHead wrote:Why not a cell phone with those features, and that takes memory sticks?
He's in the US, dude :lol
morphine wrote:And the CDMA providers are pretty good in coverage to give up sometimes.You can't just pick a phone and get it, the carriers have very limited selection, most of which is crap.
morphine wrote:If he's with the GSM providers you might as well just buy an unlocked one at your place and ship it to him.A couple of months ago a US friend asked me to recommend a phone and there were only a couple valid choices, after much looking.
FubbHead wrote:Take good care and keep that K800i, the new SE ones are not too good in the stability department.Well, then I'm not much help. Since I got my K800i, which probably is an outdated brick aswell these days, my other MP3 players have been collecting dust. And then there's the fact that you don't miss calls when the loud music's drowning everything else out.
Flying Fox wrote:FubbHead wrote:Take good care and keep that K800i, the new SE ones are not too good in the stability department.Well, then I'm not much help. Since I got my K800i, which probably is an outdated brick aswell these days, my other MP3 players have been collecting dust. And then there's the fact that you don't miss calls when the loud music's drowning everything else out.
axeman wrote:I like some of the Samsung flash players. Awesome OLED displays and purty interfaces. And best of all no Apple tax. A decent site for info on players is http://www.anythingbutipod.com
ludi wrote:Pretty similar to the Cowon unit FlyingFox listed, just without the razzledazzle.
ludi wrote:The audio quality is fine. No high-frequency artifacts, "smearing", or any of the other garbage that comes out of a bad DAC. I also had BB's Insignia MP3-only player with an OLED display for a while -- thing was already tiny three years ago and it sounded fine, too. And the new product revisions keep getting better.
These things are massively undersold, probably because BestBuy doesn't want to canibalize the healthy margins on their iPod products and accessories, but there's no reason why the Insignia media players shouldn't be compared 1:1 on features and price with the other available options. The hardware is solid and the firmware is well-behaved, and flashable bug-fixed firmware updates do get posted on the brand website when they are needed.
titan wrote:I really like my Cowon iAudio 7. The earbuds that are included with the player made me question whether or not I should buy the Shure in-ear monitors I wanted to get. The radio works pretty well, but the controls are a little funny. It seems to want to do presets over scanning, and I haven't figured out how to get it to rescan the presets now that I'm in a new location. But I'm sure if I spent more than two seconds trying to figure it out I wouldn't have those problems.
Flying Fox wrote:Interesting stuff especially with the Bluetooth thing (not sure if the OP wants BT though). Funny the BestBuy link you posted is not working anymore. I have a further question: is it UMS or MTP, or both?
Flying Fox wrote:titan wrote:I really like my Cowon iAudio 7. The earbuds that are included with the player made me question whether or not I should buy the Shure in-ear monitors I wanted to get. The radio works pretty well, but the controls are a little funny. It seems to want to do presets over scanning, and I haven't figured out how to get it to rescan the presets now that I'm in a new location. But I'm sure if I spent more than two seconds trying to figure it out I wouldn't have those problems.
Any real life battery life numbers to share?
titan wrote:I should also mention what I think the best feature about the Cowon iAudio 7 is: having the Hold switched to on won't keep me from adjusting the volume.
The volume buttons are on top of the player and I have never had them get pressed accidentally. This isn't to say those buttons are hard to use, but it keeps them from doing unintended volume changes. The Hold switch is also important because the touch interface can be sensitive, and the Hold switch will keep the player from recording an FM station without the user knowing it.
Flying Fox wrote:The ABI site also has a pretty good review on the Cowon iAudio 7.
Flying Fox wrote:titan wrote:I should also mention what I think the best feature about the Cowon iAudio 7 is: having the Hold switched to on won't keep me from adjusting the volume.
The volume buttons are on top of the player and I have never had them get pressed accidentally. This isn't to say those buttons are hard to use, but it keeps them from doing unintended volume changes. The Hold switch is also important because the touch interface can be sensitive, and the Hold switch will keep the player from recording an FM station without the user knowing it.
Yeah, how finicky is that touch interface? How small are the letters?
z-man wrote:Flying Fox wrote:The ABI site also has a pretty good review on the Cowon iAudio 7.
It looks interesting but the biggest gripe seems to be the user interface and/or lack of improvements. Along with the fact it has fallen behind. Also I find the thought of Superior Audio Quality MP3 player to be an oxymoron.
Granted it is in consideration.
The Best Buy player is out of the running...well cause it is a best buy product. Lets just say they've hung me out to dry before, so I am not really interested in dealing with them.
z-man wrote:I have tried it in a shop and yes the interface can be finicky, but overall it is pretty usable, especially once you come to grips with it. Lack of improvements over what? Keep in mind that Cowon's devices have been at the top so there is not much to improve from. At the very least, support for OGG and FLAC is class leading that not a lot of players out there can still catch up, or they choose not to (this is just one point as I know you probably won't care less about those "obscure" formats). That battery life is just ridiculous, and battery life is one of the top things you look for when choosing a mobile device. For the wife or even yourself the relatively smaller letters (compared to say, the Samsung P2) may be an issue, but I would say you have to try one in your hands first before passing final judgement. The iAudio 7 does not have SD card expansion I believe, so that may be a minus in your selection criteria. I don't think you want the D2 since it is also a video player and is slightly larger, but you can look at that too if you are seriously considering the P2.It looks interesting but the biggest gripe seems to be the user interface and/or lack of improvements. Along with the fact it has fallen behind.
z-man wrote:Unfortunately it depends on so many factors that no one can say if someone is right or wrong on that. When I plug my ancient 256MiB player to a speaker or the car I can definitely tell the output quality sucks compared to say a CD Player plugged into the same output. The earphones are also a factor. Finally the source material is another problem, if all your MP3 files are 128kbps then it is not going to be very good. People from various forums do swear by the differences, but it is up to you I guess.Also I find the thought of Superior Audio Quality MP3 player to be an oxymoron.
morphine wrote:All it does is mostly sit in the car, connected via line-out to the radio, and sometimes it goes with me to the gym (where it's never been dropped).
Corrado wrote:Theres your problem. It gets VERY VERY hot in a car in the summer. 150-170+F. Solder can melt as low as 190F. You're getting awfully close to that and that could be part of the problem.
Corrado wrote:Theres your problem. It gets VERY VERY hot in a car in the summer. 150-170+F. Solder can melt as low as 190F.
z-man wrote:The Best Buy player is out of the running...well cause it is a best buy product. Lets just say they've hung me out to dry before, so I am not really interested in dealing with them.
Flying Fox wrote:Unfortunately it depends on so many factors that no one can say if someone is right or wrong on that. When I plug my ancient 256MiB player to a speaker or the car I can definitely tell the output quality sucks compared to say a CD Player plugged into the same output. The earphones are also a factor. Finally the source material is another problem, if all your MP3 files are 128kbps then it is not going to be very good. People from various forums do swear by the differences, but it is up to you I guess.