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Music Media Wireless Networking Hardware

Mix Wi-Fi and Portable Digital Audio, Get Aireo 189

Posted by michael from the only-difference-is-that-there-is-not-cat dept.
Midwestern gadget freak writes "What do you get when you mix Wi-Fi and digital tunes? The Aireo, which syncs with a PC over a high-speed wireless link instead of a cable or dock. It packs in other features not found in an iPod, but has a measly 1.5 gigabyte drive and won't work with any of the top music-download services. Its maker isn't a household name, but Best Buy will sell the things in a few weeks."
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Mix Wi-Fi and Portable Digital Audio, Get Aireo More

Mix Wi-Fi and Portable Digital Audio, Get Aireo

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  • Measly 1.5 gig (Score:5, Insightful)

    by HappyCitizen ( 742844 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:25PM (#8016119) Homepage Journal
    The summary says it has a measly 1.5 gig hd. Yes, some MP3 players of 20g or 10 or 40, but 1.5 is still a lot for many many songs. Hours on end to be truthful. If you frequently have time to update with your computer, I can't imagine 1.5g being a limit.

  • I see a big dissapointment (Score:5, Funny)

    by Savatte ( 111615 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:25PM (#8016126) Homepage Journal
    When a female asks if you want to see her Aireo and doesn't lift up her shirt

  • If every mp3 player is dubbed "iPod Killer" (Score:5, Interesting)

    by revolvement ( 742502 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:26PM (#8016133)
    Why is it that the iPods are still the #1 seller? Is it brand name recognization, or is it just that maybe Apple's product is better in the long run?

    • Re:If every mp3 player is dubbed "iPod Killer" (Score:5, Insightful)

      by lukior ( 727393 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:34PM (#8016175)
      Apple has incredible marketing. I have never seen any mp3 player advertised except the IPOD. Well, actually I've seen magazine ads for Creative Muvo. But advertising for the IPOD is everywhere. The masses will go where they are told.
    • I think Apples product isnt necessarily the best, its just become a fashion accessory, and walking around with white headphones is so this year. I wouldnt be surprised if people just buy white headphones or another mp3 manufacturer doesnt make their product look similar. Until next year ofcourse when it will be all about blue headphones!

    • Re:If every mp3 player is dubbed "iPod Killer" (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jeffehobbs ( 419930 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @07:26PM (#8016478) Homepage

      It's the best product out there right now. It wins on:

      *ease of use (syncs and charges effortlessly with mac/pc)

      * player UI (you can find any one of 10,000 songs in less than 10 seconds, while driving... so I hear)

      * ease of music procurement (iTunes is a great mpeg3/mpeg4 ripper and it also hooks into the very good iTunes Music Store)

      *good looks (other mp3 players look like a robot's diseased ear that fell off)

      * cool accessories (there's a ton of iPod goodies out there, from car chargers to boom boxes to FR transmitters to...)

      Just my opinions, but sometimes things do well in the market not only because of marketing, but also due to actual quality and resultant word of mouth.

      ~jeff
      • Most non-iPod users aren't even aware of the ultimate feature of the iPod. You can use it for something besides music! You can use it for anything! I have a personally monogrammed 10 GB firewire harddrive that fits into my jacket pocket! I never e-mail family members movies (avis, thank you very much) or completely legal music ; I just bring over the iPod & transfer some stuff in about 2 minutes. Hell, I might finally be able to get all of my old files out of my older computer!

        Quoteth the raven:
        Just

  • Wireless is, for me, nice but not essential. The real killer feature which this has in my view is its ability to play OGGs up to a nominal bitrate of 180KB/s. This, combined with its 8Gb of musical capacity at 128KB/s, make this the perfect music player who find OGG much easier to use than AAC, FLA, MP3 and WMA. It also allows me to store even the longest Yes albums on a single device!

    • Nobody cares about ogg. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by xtal ( 49134 )
      Ogg is like beta. Technically superior, but (almost) nobody cares.

      • Re:Nobody cares about ogg. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by FrostedWheat ( 172733 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @08:12PM (#8016746)
        Vorbis keeps getting compared to beta. That's wrong. It's very easy to support multiple digital formats whereas it's very very difficult to support multiple hardware formats (vhs vs. beta).
      • Ogg is like beta. Technically superior, but (almost) nobody cares.

        Well, I thought that too, but try searching on google for "ogg". (gives more hits than "itunes").
        Among many things Ogg, that google will find, one can also see fake "search engines" and "directory" sites, using "Ogg" as google-bait. Somebody must think, that this will generate more traffic.
        I don't think that Ogg is an obscure format anymore.

    • Time after time slashdotters complain about there being no good OGG players, when iRiver's iHP120 has been out for months: iRiver iHP120 at Amazon [amazon.com] It has a 20GB harddrive, plays MP3, OGG, WMA, WAV and ASF, has high quality MP3 recording with adjustable bitrate, has an FM Tuner, optical out, in-line remote with backlit screen, a longer battery life than iPod (16 hrs), and acts as a USB 2.0 harddrive with no software. Note that a firmware upgrade is required for OGG playback, but most of my music is in OGG a

  • Why the cornice drive? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Valar ( 167606 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:28PM (#8016148)
    Did they just design the thing before the new 4gb mini drives came out, or could they not get a deal on them? I mean, with a 4gb drive, they could at least compete with an ipodmini on capacity. Right now they are in that awkward place between memory based and drive based players-- too heavy to jog with, but too little to store your whole collection.

  • An Analysis (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ten000hzlegend ( 742909 ) <ten000hzlegend@hotmail.com> on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:29PM (#8016152) Journal
    Once again, a contender enters the field with completely different hardware specifications, obtuse pricing and little forecast on who will be dominating the field in 2004 and 2005. From my point of view, it is an innovation of merit, wireless access to your computer, on the fly playlists and a iPod mini-esque agenda to annouce, but... 1.5GB is the bare minimum I would believe for an audio prepherial.

    Apple and HP should't lose too much sleep over this devices redeeming wireless factor, the fact it isn't a household name is becoming irrelevant as more consumers become aware of competing technologies but because it doesn't play buddies with iTMS or even Napster 2.0 is distressing, especially as the music download services enter maturity

    But still, cool technology, useful placement, wrong time

    Kudos to it
    • 1.5GB is the bare minimum I would believe for an audio prepherial

      I disagree. I have a 256 MB iRiver player and I have no plans to switch to another model.

      I dont have a need or a desire to carry my entire music collection around in my pocket. (At least not till all portables are WiFi enabled, and allow you to trade music with the 20 people on your subway car).

      I just want the MP3/OGG equivalent of the original walkman. My 256 MB player achieves this, and gives me the capacity to store four CD's
    • I agree. There seem to be a complete paradox stated in their marketing material. Have it automatically sync (while you sleep). Well that is nice, however my current MP3 catalog is 25GB, how are you going to sync it to 1.5GB (automatically)?

      Wireless is nice, and iPod could use a wireless dock also. Killer accessoriy, if there is one...

      Also think about the speed. The upload 25GB of music on wireless (802.11b = 11Mbps) versus FireWire (480Mbps), you can see how it takes the whole night to have your music tra
    • Sorry to rain in your parade, but WTF?

      1 GB is enough to store 16 CDs at moderate bit rate quality, perhaps half of that at top rate.

      That is 8 to 16 hours of music.

      I don't know others, but I don't hook up to a music player for more than 20 minutes or half an hour a day, mostly during my commute to work.

      If you have the damn player glued to your ears 4 or 5 hours a day, so in your mind you create the "need" to carry around your 200 CD collection at all time, I would suggest that it sounds horribly like a m
      • You sound like someone who has never used portable mass storage.
        • I don't have an iPod, but I do have a PowerBook with iTunes.
        • I have put ALL my CD collection on it, and I still have a fully functional laptop.
        • My PowerBook has a 60GB drive, 20GB of which is music.
        • I have gotten used to having ALL my music with me at almost all times.

        As I think about getting a (more) portable MP3 player, I realize that:

        • I want nothing less than the capacity to carry ALL my music.

        Yes, that means that I balk at the 10 and 15GB iPo

    • > it doesn't play buddies with iTMS

      But it's easy to fix that, thanks to M. Johansen.

  • I like (Score:5, Interesting)

    by lukior ( 727393 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:29PM (#8016154)
    I like this thing. I don't need 40 gigs or 80 gigs or whatever when dealing with a portable music player. I want it to be small and I need more storage than 128 megs. 1.5 gigs is pretty good. I also don't care if it doesn't work with any of the music services. I don't want that DRM'd crap. Until they get things right I can find all the music I need on P2P. I dissapointed that there biggest sell point is that it is wireless. But I guess I-pod wins design and lots of other players are smaller so you go with your strengths. What is the price I didn't spend enough time looking to find it.

  • Useless use of a good hardware combo (Score:5, Interesting)

    by t_allardyce ( 48447 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:35PM (#8016183) Journal
    It doesnt say anywhere (or does it??) that it can link up with other Aireo's so whats the point? sticking a wireless link in it just so you dont have to plug the cable into your computer!? Ok so it could be cool if you want to leave it in the car or something but its not designed as a car stereo box so you would have to be pretty lazy to justify that. What would be really cool is if it could communicate with other mp3 players on the street so you could listen to what others were listening to (like jacking in with headphones but wireless) or even better, swap music with people. Im guessing they didnt do this for "legal" reasons but hopefully someone will come up with a firmware hack.

    • But you can... (Score:2, Informative)

      by vraddict ( 653878 )
      According to the features list, you should be able to listen to what other people are listening to. It contains an FM transmitter, as well as an FM receiver. I suppose they put the transmitter in for use in the car, but you could techniqually search the radio waves for someone elses transmitter.
    • "It doesnt say anywhere (or does it??) that it can link up with other Aireo's so whats the point?"

      Now imagine that, a MP3 player which automatically shared your top-rated songs with anyone in the local area, get home and see what's on your /uploads/ directory...

      Try shutting that one down once it becomes a GPL'd utility for handheld computers and laptops...

  • depends on what you call top... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:37PM (#8016202)
    won't work with any of the top music-download services

    Sure it does, if it plays good ole' mp3s... because the "top music download services" are always going to be the free ones... perhaps the author meant "top pay services"...

  • natural evolution of the use of wireless (Score:3, Informative)

    by MrFreak ( 204353 ) <(sloppy) (at) (sloppydisk.com)> on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:38PM (#8016205) Homepage
    OS X users can do something similar with Nicecast [rogueamoeba.com] and an 802.11* connection -- listen to your iTunes music from home at work or a coffee shop, etc.

    You could also broadcast a live audio from anywhere with network access, as well...

    • Don't get me wrong, I love the iPod and i wouldn't trade it, especially if I had to pay, for this hardware being reviewed, but you have NO freakin clue what you're talking about. This device sync's wirelessly and broadcasts it's audio over FM. Nicecast is a network streaming audio server. They are not directly related at all. It's not like this device connects to your 802.11 network and lets you listen to the tunes on your mac while you're parked in the garage....
  • I don't know I still like the IPod it has alot of gadgets you can buy for it. Like the module you can add onto it to record meetings, or memos, or if you are a college student just record class sessions. I might buy this if the price is in the ball park.
  • Now this is the sort of music player I would be looking for. I ask: Do you really need an MP3 player with 10GB worth of storage space? Well, I'm sure some people out there have music collections that fill more than that, but seriously, 90% of people that will be buying MP3 players will use, at most, 1GB of space. Combine that fact with being able to transfer music wirelessly, and you get a useful little music player that I'd certainly buy...

  • It's a file server... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by (H)elix1 ( 231155 ) <slashdot.helix@nOSPaM.gmail.com> on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:41PM (#8016224) Homepage Journal
    Think of it as a wireless file server. Too bad about the drive size, but an interesting combo. Looks like the 'mini' computer intel(?) was pushing a while back. I suspect these are being made by the same folks who bought the polaroid name.

    • Re:It's a file server... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Bizarre isn't it. Just cos it's an MP3 player, everyone's looking at it from an iPod perspective, but if you look at it as a WiFi server, then it's pretty much the first one there.

      I've seen speculative products from Toshiba and Sony (I think Sony's was BlueTooth), so it'd be nice if this got to market - I'd buy one just for its wireless server capabilities. Damn cool for work backup and code transportation!
      • Bizarre isn't it. Just cos it's an MP3 player, everyone's looking at it from an iPod perspective, but if you look at it as a WiFi server, then it's pretty much the first one there.

        Reading between the lines with my conspiracy theory mindset going full blast brings up this tidbit from the specifications page.

        USB mass storage device.
        1 Gig SD card slot.

        This might not be an open wireless share. It may be a wireless client for your PC. I wouldn't get my hopes up that this is a wireless open share. I'll wa
    • If it has network support, it might as well ESD support. Both client and server. Other useful protocols would be http serving (remote control), NFS(larger file archive), and telnet/ssh for nethack on the go.

      Something like rendezvous for sharing music on the go would be a good idea, though the RIAA would pitch one hell of a temper tantrum.

  • 1.5GB defeats the purpose (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    you have to assume that almost everyone either has or will have soon, at least 1.5 GB of music. so, if you have more than that you _still_ have to sit down at your computer to tell it which albums/artists you want on the thing.

  • Almost the right idea (Score:3, Interesting)

    by sithkhan ( 536425 ) <sithkhan@gmail.com> on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:47PM (#8016278)
    I think that this product is a step toward what the majority of /.'s are seeking for portable audio devices. I am intruiged by this product, primarily for the wireless capabilities it possesses. I have been researching audio systems for my car which would allow me to wirelessly update my musical selections. I had looked at the CAJUN Car Audio Jukebox, but this device comes close as an option. I dream of finding a local merchant that makes custom Mini-ITX cases, and installs them in my vehicle inexpensively. But I will consider this, as an alternative to my dream car audio system.

  • Flash slot (Score:5, Interesting)

    by terradyn ( 242947 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:51PM (#8016291)
    And it has a built-in slot for small flash-memory cards to transfer photos from digital cameras to its hard drive, a feat the iPod can match only with a Belkin add-on. This feature isn't fully operational on prototype Aireos but is scheduled to be available with finished devices for sale.

    I find this to be the most interesting feature it lists. I do digital photography as a hobby and I've always thought this feature would be awesome for an mp3 device. I personally have a hard drive based storage device (the MindStor - discontinued) for offloading my media but it's still rather large and bulky. There are also a bunch of portable storage devices with video screens out that play mp3s but the mp3 functionality is an afterthought.

    I would love to be able to replace my ipod with a device that can function as both which still being compact. I would buy that in a second.

  • Wireless synching is gonna be sloooooww.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by GrahamCox ( 741991 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:54PM (#8016313) Homepage
    Firewire 400 Mbit/s (or 800 if you have the later type)
    Wi-Fi 11 Mbit/s (or maybe 54 if you're lucky enough to get it to work).

    I daresay if wireless synching becomes popular they'll put it in the iPod soon enough.

  • But... You still have to plug it in! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Cordath ( 581672 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @06:54PM (#8016315)
    Wireless synching is a good idea, but you still have to plug the thing in to charge. In that sense, it hasn't gained any physical advantage over any other player. The interface for the iPod, especially on windows, sucks ass. If plugging it in automatically synched it and it automatically un-docked itself when done it would be every bit as good as the Aerio. Now... If someone could just figure out a way to charge these gizmo's wirelessly we'd be set!
    • If plugging it in automatically synched it and it automatically un-docked itself when done

      It does (or, at least, can be set up to). What are you talking about?

    • Actually, iTunes can automatically sync the playlists you select when it sees your iPod.. I don't think there is a built-in way to undock when the sync is finished but I'm not sure I'd want that, especially if I wanted to use the iPod in disk mode..

      The iTunes interface on Windows is the same as it is on a Mac.

      With an dockable iPod you'll still have to "plug it in" but all you really need to do is place it in its dock and a few seconds later it appears on your desktop and begins automatically syncing..

      Geo
    • You swapped the word iPod with Aerio in two sentences.

      At least that must have been what the mods thought.
    • Err... because the server software only runs on Windows?
    • This is what I've been looking for for a long time. The only problem is the 20GB limit -- since I ripped my CD collection into 50GB of MP3s. What size drive is in the unit, e.g. can it be pulled out and replaced with a 80GB drive?

    • How about that it's $600 WITHOUT the 802.11 interface, which is an optional add-on?

      Where does this price come from? It should be harder and more expensive to make a super-tiny box that also needs to have its own battery and charger than to make one in a standard case that gets 12v from the car. More expensive to install the built in, and you need a remote control panel, but only the fact that you don't think you will sell many justifies paying twice the price for the car unit than for a Rio Karma or simi

  • Why use TCP/IP? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by bitflip ( 49188 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @07:14PM (#8016411)
    If you're interested in music around the house, might I suggest a low-power FM transmitter [ramseyelectronics.com]?

    Then you can buy cheap receivers, and put them all over the place, and listen to the music that's on your server.

    Virtually no server configuration required! And if you time it right, you can have it play your theme music while you pull into the driveway ;-)
    • If you're interested in music around the house, might I suggest a low-power FM transmitter?

      I believe that, low power or not, this is illegal in Britain.
    • One of the main reasons I never listen to the radio is because I can't stand the quality of the audio. As well, when I got my iPod, I tried 3 different FM transmitters before giving up on them because of quality issues.

      Note that I'm definitely not saying TCP/IP is the correct way to do this--I'm just saying that FM definitely isn't.
  • Where it doesn't matter whether or not the device is connected (ie because it's sitting next to the computer), use a cable and enjoy *significantly* faster syncs. A few years ago I spent some time building a computer for the car which would be connected to my LAN at night by UTP cable and/or updated by CD. It was to be connected to the stacker interface and controlled as a CD stacker would be (complete with track names, etc.). Fine if you've got a garage but I was a student at the time so the car spent most

  • Yet Another Flop (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Starquake ( 245822 )
    And that's not a troll. The market for portable music players is already crowded with 'almost-there' devices. iPod is slick but doesn't play OGG. Neuros plays OGG and has MyFi (the two things I look for most) but the interface is kludgy and it doesn't work with OS X. The iRiver has OGG capability but no MyFi. All have much larger capacity than this device. Why would I be interested in this if I'm already not buying the competitors' products that are already on the market with better specs? Seriously, why wo

  • WiFi Security (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'm curious. How hackable will this be? Does this include WEP encryption (or WAP)? Not that WEP will do much good. This may open up a new door as far as Wi-FI security goes. If this device is constantly looking for a 802.11x connection while it is on, (and if this device becomes somewhat popular) I suspect someone will come up with a rootkit to install malware on it, and then transfer to the users computer. Yet another wireless back door.

  • So? (Score:2)

    by io333 ( 574963 )
    My Dell Axim has been doing this for more than a year now, and does a lot more.

  • Music (Score:2, Insightful)

    by chunkwhite86 ( 593696 )
    This device is not revolutionary. It's evolutionary. It doesn't "reinvent" or "redefine" anything. It takes a good idea (portable music player) and adds build in FM transmitter and 802.11 song download.

    Those are two very useful features, but I'm not about to throw away my $300 mp3 player to buy this one.
  • I'd like to get an MP3 player for my Ford Taurus. A problem with the Taurus is that the built-in car stereo isn't shaped like a normal car stereo, it's this large oval thing in the dashboard. There's no where a normal car stereo unit could mount.

    It has controls for a CD changer (which we don't have). I'm pretty sure Ford built the stereo this way so you couldn't buy a stereo from anyone else but Ford. I find it very annoying.

    I admit to not having looked into it too carefully - but is there an MP3 pl

  • Points not discussed yet... no car player? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by iamhassi ( 659463 ) on Sunday January 18, 2004 @08:45PM (#8016934) Journal
    "Wireless 11mbps isn't fast enough"

    Ok the first time you connect the Aireo it'll take forever to transfer your mp3s, but future connections should only take a few seconds. Why? Because as soon as you download a mp3... or two, or ten... you wirelessly send them to the device. And how long does it really take to send a mp3 at 11mpbs? 3-5 seconds? Do I really need 400mbps to transfer a 4mB mp3? I think not.

    "FM Transmitter is worthless/unnecessary"

    Depends on what you do with it. This is the perfect mp3 player for your car: you can send mp3s to it wirelessly and listen to them through your radio with your stock radio, no wires needed. What could be a better mp3 player for your car stereo? You'd need to keep it powered while in your car though, so you'll probably end up leaving it running 24/7 plugged into the cigerrete lighter, but if it can play mp3s for hours with tiny built-in batteries then it can't suck that much power so your car battery will be fine.

    I really hope they come out with a car stereo version. A car stereo with a 10+ gig iPod drive, mp3 cd/dvd+-rw player with the ability to transfer songs from cd to hd and can play songs from mp3 dvds instead of cds, wireless 802.11 access, and of course FM and all the other features an aftermarket stereo includes.

    That's a lot to pack in a car stereo, but I'd imagine it would be possible. I'd also like to see a way to keep the 802.11 active with the car shut-off, since I don't want to run out and start the car just to transfer some mp3s.

  • I took a quick look around the site, and didn't see anything about battery life, which makes me all the more skeptical...

    The pictures make it look comparably-sized to the iPod, so assuming they haven't come up with some miracle battery technology, and factoring in the drain of a wireless connection, I can't see that thing having a large battery life, which means you'll end up having to plug it in anyways pretty frequently ... so where's the benefit of wireless again?

  • this looks quite useful (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ajagci ( 737734 ) on Monday January 19, 2004 @12:12AM (#8018035)
    For practical purposes, this thing has comparable capacity to one of those mini-iPods: it can hold far more songs than you can play on one charge, but it is far too small to hold one's entire music library. This really looks like a nice evolution of the disk-based player and technically like a great improvement over the mini-iPod.

    The fact that it doesn't work with "major music download services" isn't surprising either: major music download services are proprietary and they are trying to create and leverage monopolies. Their creators have neither the interest nor the engineering skills to support a large number of clients--it's both easier and financially more interesting to them to tie their services to players running their own software.

    Of course, if I pointed out that if Apple released this, people would be falling all over themselves saying how innovative the company was, I'd get modded down instantaneously by Apple's mod-squad, so I won't point that out.
    • When you say that it's a technical improvement over the mini-iPod, do you refer to the fact that it's

      a) much heavier
      b) much larger
      c) more expensive

      or even that it

      d) has a god-awful interface (according to the guy above who actually tried one)?

      Please respond, I'm anxious to know.

  • Drive-by Piracy! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Tokerat ( 150341 ) on Monday January 19, 2004 @04:05AM (#8018993) Journal
    • Drive past building with open WiFi network.
    • Download all their MP3s.
    • Profit.
    Warsharing?
  • While it's good to see another hard drive based player in the market with some innovative features, I can see some problems with it:

    Syncing over wifi is great, if a bit slow, but I don't think it will affect sales of devices like iPods for two reasons:

    1. Many people who want players don't have wifi. The most likely to have wifi are people who own new Powerbooks, who are also the most likely to buy iPods as it's also made by Apple. It wouldn't really be worth getting wifi just so you could sync with the pl
  • Here is why this is important.

    Think about the marketing forces behind commercial radio stations, their value can be summed up as "driving consumer preference by making music available in a channel that exposes users to advertising messages."

    Something like this (which I have been waiting for for a while now) can make it so that Pepsi, instead of paying to have Britney on their commercials, can just buy her new song from her for $1MM outright, and have access points which automagically d/l the song to you w

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