Fourteen Digital Music Players Reviewed 497
prostoalex writes "The PC Magazine reviews 14 digital music players that can play MP3, WMA or AAC files. The editor's choice among the models compared includes Apple iPod Mini and iRiver iFP-390T. The editors decided to conduct a single review of both Flash- and HDD-based music players. Of special interest is the battery life test as well as sound quality test. Even though the entire article is published online in HTML, the summary of the features is available in PDF only."
Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:4, Interesting)
Marketers, manufacturers, and capitalists: LISTEN UP!
* I'm 29, single, and work [si20.com] in the computer [trotch.com] industry. Therefore, I like gadgets and have disposable income.
* I'm a hobbiest musician [madtracker.net] and I have been encoding everything, no exception, in OGG VORBIS since 2003. Like the teenagers say, so last year.
* It is feasible to port the Vorbis decoder/encoder to a platform without floating point support. [vorbis.com]
There's your demographic. Stop reaching for the teenagers and start making products for people who can afford them and desperately need them.
Your profit margins will thank you.
PS: I'm posting this from an iBook. I won't buy an iPod until it supports OGG!
Rio Karma (Score:4, Interesting)
Christ where is the Karma? My Karma just kicks ass, It uses USB 2.0 and Ethernet. Supports Linux. Sounds great, gets loud when I want it to be. Came with decent earphones Sennheisers no less. Has amazing battery life and weights just a few ounces, and holds 20 gigs.
And get this, it does ogg and flac, why would I want anything else?Strange Selection (Score:5, Interesting)
FM support (Score:5, Interesting)
But it makes some sense - most walkman's, even CD based ones, have AM/FM radio support. A MP3 player shouldn't be that different.
Though, maybe there is a very small portable XM radio player. Hm - something to look into.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:2, Interesting)
Let's face it, teenagers make up a very large percentage music consumers.
When was the last time you spent $15 on a CD? I can't remember the last time I paid for any music or even listened to a radio station that played new music. The vast majority of music listeners on any age use MP3s or CD's. Why not cater to those people first? It just doesn't make sound business sense to cater to the minority.
With that being said, I'd be much happier myself if they'd support all music formats.
Missing choices (Score:5, Interesting)
Who else had their favorite player ignored in this?
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:5, Interesting)
The manufacturers have heard the Cry of the Hardcore Ogg Fan, and they've responded with a collective "meh." Most of them simply don't give a damn about your niche. Rio does. Support Rio and quit acting like you're all downtrodden.
How could they miss the Jens i-bead? (Score:3, Interesting)
It was the editor's choice for one of those sites (ziff davis or pcweek or something) a few months ago when I bought it. It's the size of a stick of chewing gum, has 512MB Ram, USB connector at one end, and it's also an FM Radio and a voice recorder. Even better, it comes with a really cool neckstrap with built-in earphones. The icing on the cake is that it is delivered in a really sexy black aluminum tube.
Oh well... (warning: very loud flash-enabled homepage!)
http://www.jensofsweden.com/ [jensofsweden.com]
-Jim
Why wouldn't they include the regular iPod? (Score:4, Interesting)
Headphone Amplifier (Score:3, Interesting)
Picture [dansdata.com] These things are fairly simply to make & I'm going to do it as soon as i get around to it (I even have a few empty tins of Penguin Mints). I realize the thing is equal to or bigger than some of the tested players, but it is pocketsized.
iRiver! (Score:2, Interesting)
Microsoft offering a competitive environment? (Score:1, Interesting)
If you use Real's offerings, you need to have your head examined. There aren't very many players out there supporting Real's file type.
Strangely enough... Microsoft's the one coming to the plate offering a competitive environment.
WMA is the most popular "secure media" media format among the players being reviewed. There's several music stores competiting for your business on a song-by-song basis, with Wal*Mart as low as 88 cents a song and BuyMusic as low as 79 cents for hit songs, blowing Apple's 99 cent offer out of the water.
Also... Microsoft has the most exposed API. If you want to build your own application to control your digital jukebox, Microsoft has a full SDK for its Windows Media Player 9 Series, with a powerful ActiveX object and the ability to go deeper if you want to. Real has no open API for playing its scrambled files, and Apple's is only available to C++ programs with a lot of time on their hands. In short, if you think you can design a better interface for digital music, Microsoft's giving you to the best tools to do so.
other mp3 player review source (Score:5, Interesting)
Also missed Dell DJ (Score:2, Interesting)
One problem with it (Score:0, Interesting)
I don't want a remote. I don't care if its wired or wireless. Its a wast of money and space.
Re:This might be off-topic (Score:2, Interesting)
This might be off-topic, but does anyone remember the name of that MP3/etc player that is shaped like a cassette and plays inside a cassette tape player?
This one? [digisette.com]
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:5, Interesting)
Furthermore, 20 gig for $400 MSRP isn't cheaper -- it's the SAME PRICE as the iPod. I know, street prices are cheaper, but MSRP was the comparison used in this article as well.
The FM tuner, voice recorder, Vorbis support and optical out are worthwhile features for some, but then again so are AAC support iTunes integration, iTMS support, FireWire and the seamless design with only three ports.
The size -- both physical and storage -- is dead on, as is the battery life. And I'll give you this: while the iPod looks kind of like a cross between a plastic Easter Egg and a shaving mirror, this thing looks like a high tech cell phone. If you don't like the looks of the iPod because it's too postmodern, this is what you want.
This is no iPod killer. But is an agressive iPod competitor. That's good for us iPod fans as well as the detractors.
Re:Where are the CD-R/CD-RW media based players. (Score:3, Interesting)
On my iPod it's
"It sounds good and I can just drag-n-drop tracks or folders onto it and then it uploads the playlist - takes about 5 seconds to make a whole new playlist, and then I can carry around the iPod pretty easily."
Another benefit: Live playlists. Imagine this playlist:
Songs rated 3 or higher
Songs not played in the last 5 days
Songs played less than 10 times
That's the iPod for you
Re:Rio Karma (Score:4, Interesting)
The 15hr battery life is another big plus.
The hard drive *is* a problem though. My one started making clicking noises, and I feared the worst, but it has got better.
Try the N-Gage, seriously. (Score:3, Interesting)
* State of the art phone
Tri-band GSM (I live and am using it in France, but it worked flawlessly during my trip to the Bay Area a few months ago) with the IMHO great Nokia usability.
And please, the whole sidetalkin' stuff is really overblown : I see no reason not to always use it as I do with the included hands free kit (2 earspeakers and a speed dial remote to take incoming calls or make new ones using voice-recognition)
MP3/MIDI ringtones, etc... and Bluetooth (improves your sex life! [theregister.co.uk])
* MP3/AAC player.
Ok, MMCs aren't cheap and space is rather limited (we're talking a few hundred megs, not gigs), but my 128Mb one easily holds a few games + one album, which is more than enough for the daily commute time if you think about it.
Before leaving, I just connect it to my laptop using a standard mini-USB cable, and it shows up as a regular USB mass storage device under Windows or Linux, like your average digicam. That also makes it a USB key you're less likely to lose than a real one (because it's also your phone, so you'd better pay attention to it
And OGG support is coming through third party software [sourceforge.net].
* FM tuner
with instant access key, and which you can record to AAC.
* Games
Looking at Tony Hawk Pro Skater or Tomb Raider, I'd say the N-Gage roughly has the horsepower of a PlayStation 1.
I'm not using that much actually, but all the other features still make me love my N-Gage
* Software : Symbian S60 system
That means a beautiful, consistent UI, and a stable OS.
The included software is good : WAP browser, SSL-enabled IMAP/POP3/SMS integrated message center, the usual calculator/pda stuff, RealOne player...
I also love CityMaps, paid $5 for the single city version of this map software/route planner and it's so much handier than carrying a map or a separate device (also no recurring costs to use it since it's offline)
* It's ONE device
That's what buys me with the N-Gage : I don't like carrying too much stuff around, having to reach for it when I need it, and risking to forget them before leaving.
There I have MP3/radio/phone/games/basic PDA/internet client(+bluetooth modem) in just one device, and I've found this nowhere else.
(I don't care about the games, just the MP3/phone/internet/3rd party software capabilities, and even that I can't seem to find anywhere else)
Forget Ogg, I want FLAC (Score:3, Interesting)
The only real format is FLAC. Lossless compression. Anyone with a good ear (or a good system) can hear how much lossy compression sucks. Moving the industry to flac (50-30% WAV size, no loss) will do more for demand of players - they'll want more storage because the songs are bigger, that will drive the need for higher and higher capacities.
Of course, this all comes down to what is the speaker? Most of these are cheap ear-bud kinds of things that suck.
But my empeg (0 or days of battery life (car battery), 10-60 gigs, FLAC, OGG, WMA, MP3 by Rio Corp.) still takes the cake. And it gets hooked up to a decent system. It can stram MP3s across the net, via a built-in webserver. It is truely sweet.
But it took playing MP3s in my car (witha complete aftermarket sound system) to hear the difference. I'm actually ashamed to blast MP3s while driving. I'll throw in a CD. The bass is punchier, the treble is clearer.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:3, Interesting)
It's not like they're preventing that as it is. I know "people" who've done ALL OF THAT.
2) RIAA would sue them into the next century if they tried to do otherwise.
Doesn't Apple own their own software and hardware anymore? They can still sell AAC on iTMS, but they can also allow iPods to play OGG and it won't hurt anybody. And the costs to implement OGG support are very low.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:1, Interesting)
Currently, Ogg Vorbis support can be found on the:
o Rio Karma series
o iRiver iHP series
o Neuros series
FLAC/Ogg FLAC support can be found on the:
o Rio Karma series
There is demand for Ogg Vorbis support in devices and it *will* appear in new versions of firmware and/or devices as their capabilities increase. Since the players listed above do enough (and then some), they are just fine for people who want Vorbis or FLAC support in their player immediately.
No one ever expected getting Vorbis support would be an easy task. But no one expected it to be impossible, either. It wasn't and now we've gotten what we wanted.
Disclaimer: I own a Karma and am listening to my Vorbis-encoded Massive Attack album on my Rio this very minute.
Yes, ogg does sound better (Score:2, Interesting)
For part of a project I did a while back, I administered blind listening tests of several samples of music in various formats. If I recall; LAME VBR (nominal 128, 256), Ogg (nominal 128, 256), WMA8(128, 256), & the original wav.
Listening device was a set of Sennheiser HD600s [sennheiserusa.com] piped from a MAudio Audiophile 2496(?). First I played the wav file for them to hear, then I played the other samples in random order, including the wav file. I eventually had around 100 volunteers. (17 years to 65 years, avg. 22 years) They were asked to rate each sample from 1 to 10 and comment on the sound if applicable. I also asked them to guess which one of the samples was the original wav, as a check on their hearing
Results: Most people could pick out the original wav. The few times they didn't, what they picked was the Ogg/256. The Mp3/256 came in next, but significantly under the Ogg/256. Next came a close grouping of ogg/128, mp3/128, and wma/256. wma/128 was at the bottom.
I (in my own subjectivity) have encoded a couple of albums with FLAC because I thought even the Ogg/256 [Well, now I generally use the -q tag rather than -b] didn't reproduce some of the original recording's nuances on my home audio system.
As an aside, I used "Duel of the Fates" as one of the samples, since earlier encoders had 'issues' encoding it correctly. The usual response to the WMA encodings of it was for the listener to screw up their face, look at me, and mouth 'yuck!' To be fair, I later did a smaller study on low bitrate encoding and wma did better.
The final point is that none of the above means a damn for a portable system...you probably wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference. But for playback on moderately good equipment, let the Ogg be with you. I just wanted to refute the parent comment's assertion.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:4, Interesting)
Even if there were tons of audio codecs, but all of them open and unencumbered, I believe that the situation would be better because we could all concentrate on making our products and not worry about codecs, because they'd all be cheap to implement, and no licensing to worry about.
So, in my eyes, that's a good *ideal* situation. Can we get near to that ideal situation? Is it worth getting to that ideal situation?
Of course, most people are generally lazy, but is there anything that a few people that do care about Vorbis etc. can do? How can we encourage adoption of Vorbis/FLAC?
Off the top of my head:
* In whatever next kick-ass all-in-one media playing/ripping solution comes with KDE/Gnome, make it rip to Vorbis by default.
* A community effort towards making optimised hardware implementations of the Vorbis/FLAC codecs designs freely available. That would allow the chips to be made relatively easily once some company wants to pick it up.
* A vorbis-biased portable media player made by Vorbis enthusiasts who know what they're on about? Perhaps in the same vein as that Linux-only HDTV PCI card?
* Bundle said portable media player with the latest packaged version of Linux Distribution XYZ? Proclaim loudly "free portable music player!" all over it.
I *know* that few people care. A bit like lots of people don't care about voting, or who runs the country. But it's still pretty important. We certainly don't want to be in the situation (heaven forbid this should ever happen) where WMA is the only format around and licensing costs are continually hiked up by Microsoft.
Re:What about digital restrictions management? (Score:2, Interesting)
What I care about is the really awful DRM software that comes with it that you are forced to use rather than a simple drag and drop model that it should use.
There may be a DRM argument for the big HD players, but for small flash players it does nothing but inconvenience the legitimate use.
So for me DRM does ruin the player. I end up leaving the same tunes on there for months because the software is so bad I am loathe to use it.
I will never buy another DRM player.
Re:I dont use apple earbuds with my ipod (Score:3, Interesting)
Sound supression is something that is good, but it doesn't help the actual sound quality, just the listening experience - a good set of over the ear headphones do the same. But that's format, and I was talking overall quality - once you're at a fairly low quality, you've wrung all you're gonna get out of an mp3 source.
--
Evan