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Media Handhelds Hardware

iRiver Preps Linux-based Media Player 353

Posted by michael from the holds-thousands-of-baby-pictures dept.
Mr_Silver writes "Infosync is reporting that iRiver is soon to release the Linux based PMP-120 media player which through its colour screen can support MP3, ASF, Ogg Vorbis, JPEG, BMP, AVI, MP4, DivX 3.x, 4.x, 5.x, XviD, MPEG4 SP, Advanced SP and MPEG1. Technically very cool (even more so if it is hackable), but really really ugly. iRiver really should learn how to design nice looking hardware from the experts."
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iRiver Preps Linux-based Media Player More

iRiver Preps Linux-based Media Player

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  • Enough already! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jargoone ( 166102 ) * on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:00PM (#9403120)
    I'm so fucking sick and tired of people saying that things are ugly compared to the iPod. Yes, the iPod looks pretty decent, but who cares? I don't look, I listen! If you want to talk about size and ease-of-use, those are factors, but so are features and price. Not everyone needs a "good looking" mp3 player to validate themselves.

    Not to mention the fact that this unit isn't even ugly. I think it looks pretty damn nice, and probably will cost about as much as an iPod with FAR fewer features.

    • Re:Enough already! (Score:5, Funny)

      by nizo ( 81281 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:03PM (#9403150) Homepage Journal
      I think the submitter meant they should make it in a pretty shade of lime green or mulberry purple to make it less ugly perhaps?

    • Re:Enough already! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by wooby ( 786765 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:12PM (#9403228) Journal

      Absolutely dead on. Function is beauty when it comes to something that feature filled. The only problem I can see with the unit, that is related to aesthetics, is the usability factor. I can't tell from the pictures how intuitive its interface will be. Even slight interface problems can really be annoying with devices that have few human inputs.

    • Re:Enough already! (Score:5, Funny)

      by L4ck_0f_54n17y ( 779496 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:13PM (#9403233)
      I agree that the ipod is very sexy, but do you really want to pay hundreds more and/or sacrifice features, just for a few ounces of molded plastic?

      I have a simple solution to those who find the PMP-120 ugly: print out a picture of the ipod, and tape it on the back, and voila! You have an awesome multimedia device AND it looks like an ipod!
    • Here's some direct links for those people too lazy to RTFA

      iPod [hollandsentinel.com] vs. iRiver PMP-120 [infosync.no]
      Here's an older article (May25) about the iRiver [ign.com] and here's their accompanying picture [ign.com]. I wonder what that is around her neck?

    • The things not ugly, but that god damned ipod min in fuschia/purple/pink/mauve whatever that color is is horrible.

      When I buy a media player I care about 3 things

      1. Price
      2. Storage space
      3. Size (smaller=better)

      Leave the highly subjective judgements about beauty (which is after all in the eye of the beholder) out of your review.

    • If people didn't care about "looks" (Score:4, Interesting)

      by gotr00t ( 563828 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:15PM (#9403258) Journal
      Yes, the iPod looks pretty decent, but who cares?

      Though I think that comparing things to the iPod is a bit overdone as well, I would'nt go as far as to say that nobody cares about looks either. If nobody really cared about looks, then why is it that the iPod is popular? As "crazy" as this sounds, for many people, features and price are not the paramount issues when selecting which product to buy.

      This is an excellent device in terms of features, I agree, but on a personal note I would have to agree with the poster of the article and say that IMO, its looks could use some improvement. The control panels on both sides with the screen sandwiched in-between looks somewhat awkward.

      • "The control panels on both sides with the screen sandwiched in-between looks somewhat awkward."

        Awkward? Why? The sides are where your hands go when you hold it, much like a game controller.

        Actually I'm hoping this turns into a great game platform.. it has the controls and the horsepower for it. And 320x240 resolution is PERFECT for porting console emulators and old 256 colour VGA games. :D

    • Re:Enough already! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Jugalator ( 259273 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:15PM (#9403259) Journal
      I actually don't like Apple's designs, but it seems like people like me are in minority... :-P

      Sure, I found Apple's anonymous white boxes being cool for to their innovative minimalism but now I'm so fed up with this design in everything Apple makes.

      Same goes for Aqua btw. It's about as exciting as Windows XP's Luna is to me now. Of course not as candy-like and colorful, but still just as overexposed. Still just as boring and dull. Get rid of the fucking jelly buttons already! Oh well, I guess I just like new things every now and then and Apple don't. Probably to preserve their brand...

      I personally think that iRiver thing is perfectly fine for use amongst people without getting ashamed of it. And then the visual requirements are satisfied for me, and I proceed to look at the features. *gasp*
      • I'm glad it's not just me! I was thinking of buying a Mac laptop, but two things put me off, one of which was the fact that Aqua is ugly as all hell.

    • Re:Enough already! (Score:2, Insightful)

      by senzafine ( 630873 )
      Because everyone isn't a computer geek. Look and feel matters. That's part of the reason why the Ipod is so popular despite it's price tag. Marketing helps as well...and so does a good user interface. Simply put, there's a reason why the Ipod is still the leader when it comes to portable music devices. Samsung, Dell, iRiver, and Creative all have comprable products. But the buyers determine the market and the buyers want Ipods.
    • I would agree if the company hadn't modeled its name on Apple's products.
    • You are not the target audience that Apple is running television ads to capture.

      So be fucking sick of it all you want, but Apple isn't sweating that you haven't bought their product.

  • Ugly? you're wrong! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Quebec ( 35169 ) * on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:01PM (#9403121) Homepage
    You find the iRiver ugly???
    I'm sorry not to agree with you, cheap plastic design "A La Apple" is definitivly not the norm in my book, actually the iRiver looks nicer than anything that was made by Apple. (Did my french head got the right "than" this time?).

    P.S.: can't wait to be able to buy one myself!

    • I second that (Score:3, Insightful)

      by teko_teko ( 653164 )
      I think iRiver design is pretty slick, and I'd prefer to use that over something that's already too mainstream or too widely used.

      It's almost the same case as phpBB, I don't like to use it because almost every phpBB forums out there uses the same look and colors (the subsilver), and I'm tired of it :P.

      • Re:I second that (Score:2, Interesting)

        by jest3r ( 458429 )
        Actually the iRiver PiMP 120 is pretty much a knockoff of the Archos av300 [archos.com].

        Both are beastly and just big enough to be uncomfortable in your pocket.

        Everyone has a different taste for looks ... but I think these things should be designed much slimmer so they can be truely portable. Anything over 1" thick seems a little bulky especially wioth that much surface area. My PDA has a big screen and is only .4 inches think.

    • I definately agree! (Score:3, Insightful)

      by cbreaker ( 561297 )
      It doesn't look bad at all. It's pretty minimal - Screen, some buttons on the sides.

      I'm not sure where all these folks are coming from about the iPods. I have a Sony Minidisc player that is extremely small and very easy to use with only a few buttons. I know it's only good for Minidiscs, but the design is quite on the money. I guess my point is that Apple didn't really do anything special if you ask me, and there's plenty of setups and looks that are great even if they don't have the name "iPod" on
    • Because the first thing I though upon reading the summary was:

      "Shoulda said 'Ugly-ass Media Player Born'."

      Before, of course, Reading TFA.
    • I think it looks gorgeous. If the price is right I'll definately be picking one up. ogggg.... mmmmmmm
    • (Did my french head got the right "than" this time?).

      I think so, but my English-native head can never get in right either, so I don't think it's much of an issue...

      P.S.: can't wait to be able to buy one myself!

      Ditto!

  • PIMP-120 (Score:5, Funny)

    by TubeSteak ( 669689 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:01PM (#9403129) Journal
    Did anyone else originally read the subject as the iRiver PIMP-120?

  • I don't think it looks all that bad. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by scootr1 ( 159749 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:02PM (#9403132)
    I'm more concerned about the functionality and ease of use of it than the form.
  • Seriously though, looks pretty nice, it's no iPod but it has a lot more functionality anyway, if I was in the market I'd consider it.

  • iPod isn't that pretty (Score:5, Interesting)

    by charnov ( 183495 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:03PM (#9403147) Homepage Journal
    The iPod is very slick looking, but I have issues with the functionality. So far, the best I have seen in the more complex players is the Rio Karma...by a mile. Now, that is a slick looking player.

  • The last time i-River tried to do that... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:05PM (#9403160)
    Apple threatened to sue them. i-River had wanted to use a the rounded scroll navigation wheel with their ihp-120, Apple told them they would legal action to protect their intellectual property rights.

  • Design from the experts ? PMC-100 (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Animaether ( 411575 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:05PM (#9403162) Journal
    "iRiver really should learn how to design nice looking hardware from the experts"

    I don't think they need to. The PMC-100 looks really, really slick to me.
    Random linky for image [cnet.com]

    And even this PMP-120 isn't all that ugly imho. likes/dislikes is always subjective, of course.

  • Who's the market? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Skynyrd ( 25155 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:05PM (#9403169) Homepage
    Just curious, as I have absolutely no need for a unit like this. I can't seem to wrap my head around it.

    Who's going to buy them?
    • Oh, you know--people that want to watch their ripped movies and TV shows while jogging, biking, driving, or at work... ...

      OK, maybe that's a bad idea.

      Seriously, I'd guess it would be the same niche market that is buying the current batch DivX capable portable media centers. All 5 of them... THe only way I can think of them getting it any broader is to lower the price, and we all know that this ain't gonna cost less than $500 when it comes out.

    • Re:Who's the market? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by arkhan_jg ( 618674 )
      Who's going to buy them?

      People who travel a lot on planes, trains or coaches?

      I know several people that use laptops for DVD playing on the move, but they're heavy and the battery life sucks. If you have the cash, this sounds like a good place to rip music and films for travel, holidays, anywhere you want media without having to carry a ton of stuff.

      It's also got a preview setup for digital cameras, which means you could use it again as a laptop lite to dump your memory cards to and check quality in the

  • Functionality Looks (Score:3, Insightful)

    by LaserLyte ( 725803 ) * on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:06PM (#9403178)
    Ugh...looks like it's designed for two-handed use...like some sort of gameboy-clone. I guess that makes it more suitable as a movie player or image viewer than an MP3 player. However, it looks a lot better (IMO) than the plasticy-toy type style of the iPod

    Maybe iRiver could learn something about ergonomic design from Apple, but hey, at least it's got a replaceable battery. And it's sounds like going to be more "open" than an iPod. It's always nice to see "hackable" stuff (as the article writer noted), rather than consumer-orientated "appliances"

  • iPod Appearance (Score:3, Insightful)

    by harlows_monkeys ( 106428 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:07PM (#9403183) Homepage
    I find the white iPods ugly. White clashes with just about everything else I own.

    • Re:iPod Appearance (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Bricklets ( 703061 )
      White clashes with just about everything else I own.

      Exactly. That was probably the point. When you see someone with white earphones, it's instant product recognition. Not to mention some extra free marketing. The same idea holds for iBooks and PowerBooks. Apple obviously wants to make sure that when someone uses an Apple product, anyone and everyone around that person knows it. And what was that old marketing slogan of theirs again?

      Think Different?
  • >MP3, ASF, Ogg Vorbis, JPEG, BMP, AVI, MP4, DivX 3.x, 4.x, 5.x, XviD, MPEG4 SP, Advanced SP and MPEG1
    And quake3?
  • What??? No DVD support? How many more devices are going to be made that do a little of everything but still don't do it all?
    • Where's the DVD gonna go? Remember this is HD based...

      I think they expect you to rip your dvds. If you rip the VOBs, it (should) play those just fine. I'm not sure what codec VOBs use. However, CSS shouldn't be an issue since the CSS will already be decoded.

      Even if it doesn't you can always encode in a smaller file format that it does support.

  • The name's great though... (Score:5, Funny)

    by HiredMan ( 5546 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:08PM (#9403198) Journal
    You may think it's ugly but how can you hate the PiMP-120?

    Don't be hatin'. That name pnwz!

    Would Apple's version be iPimp?

    =tkk

    • Do you mena the Apple Pimpin'? That comes with a fur covered main unit, gold plated controllers, and an exclusive pair of sunclasses. Optional accessories include a rottweiler and a gold plated rumble stick, for those all-weekend LAN parties.

  • iRiver Looks (Score:5, Informative)

    by afra242 ( 465406 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:09PM (#9403207)
    I recently bought the 40Gb MP3 player from iRiver. To me, looks of an electronic device doesn't really matter. I just want the features. Simple as that. Compared to the iPod, the iRiver has superb battery life, more hard drive space for the buck, built in voice recorder, and even a AM/FM tuner. Plus it plays OGG and using Linux, I can index all my music files.

    So what iRiver lacks in looks, they more than make up for it in features and cost compared to the iPod.

    All I need is a scroll button and play/stop/fast/rewind buttons.
    • All I need is a scroll button and play/stop/fast/rewind buttons.

      ...and since they include the nice color display, a camera would be nice too.
    • I recently bought the 40Gb MP3 player from iRiver. To me, looks of an electronic device doesn't really matter. I just want the features. Simple as that.

      Lack of interest in aesthetics is why there will be, under no circumstances, sex for you at the end of the evening.

  • Not for me (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Jahf ( 21968 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:10PM (#9403214) Journal
    Sorry, but I don't see a reason to carry around a portable video player unless I can see stuff from my TiVo and/or a DVD on it without having to take a few hours prep'ing/converting the files.

    I realize that is a long way off, I'm not expecting it tomorrow. I'm just trying to figure out the mass market applications for this other than to have a box that does a ton of things (that it often isn't used for) while listening to my music.

    Part of the reason I use a portable player (Neuros, not iPod) is to have a device that is small enough to be convenient (ok, the Neuros isn't as good an example of that as the iPod) -and- is fairly rugged. As in doesn't have a screen that I am worried about cracking or scratching.

    Now if it plugged in to a DVD reader of some sort, even if over a network share to my PC, and allowed me to rip content to it for travel ... HELL yes, I would go for it. But not the current generations of machines.

  • Questions (Score:5, Interesting)

    by orthogonal ( 588627 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:11PM (#9403222) Journal
    Ok, since my Archos broke down, I've been looking for a replacement.

    So, some questions.

    What kind of hard drive does it take, and how easy is it to replace the drive with a larger one. (Yeah, I know the size is 20GB -- what kind. I need 60GB, and I'd like it to fit the 60GB lap-top drive I bought for the Archos.

    What's IRiver's reputation for quality? The Archos used decent parts, but they were put together shoddily. Thus the break down. (Yeah, I also replaced the drive with a 60GB, but I'm not at all the only one to have an Archos fall apart on me.)

    That and Archos's crappy software and unwillingness to embrace a far better open source replacement, means I'll never buy from Archos again.

    But reason I liked the Archos was that its crappy software could be replaced with the open source Rockbox. Just how hackable is iRiver's offering? Does the fact that it's linux based mean that iRiver intends to make the source available? If I can't hack it, I won't buy it: that's why I don't own an iPod or other MP3 players

    • Re:Questions (Score:3, Informative)

      by Sango ( 90468 )
      Most of the Iriver players (I own an H120) require no software required at all. They simply show up as a USB mass storage device. Drag and drop. If you want a database structure (which I never use.. filetree works best for me.) there are several options. Iriver has their own utility that scans the drive and creates the database. There are a couple user-made programs for this as well which you can find at the www.iriver.com user forums. The other option is Red Chair Software [redchairsoftware.com] who makes a line of programs for

      • Re:Questions (Score:3, Insightful)

        by orthogonal ( 588627 )
        Most of the Iriver players (I own an H120) require no software required at all.

        Actually, I'm interested in the software that runs the MP3 player; it's that which I want to be able to hack -- to deal with arbitrary filename lengths, for instance.

        As far as downloading files to the player, I want to be able to treat the mp3 player as a removable usb drive -- so that any method of copying files works. The last thing I want is a proprietary interface: I want to be able to do a "cp -r mp3s/ /cygdrive/mp3player
    • I had the Archos gmini220 for all of 12 hours before it locked solid and wouldnt respond. Crappy firmware indeed. Nice looking unit, though.

  • michael, I just gotta emphasise this. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by James A. S. Joyce ( 784805 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:12PM (#9403224) Homepage
    "Linux-based" does not, I'm afraid, imply the use of open source software/firmware. I enjoy open source software as much as the next Slashdot user, but given the past track record of hardware media players, it's not likely to be "open" or "hackable", much as you and I would enjoy this. Nonetheless, this does sound like a really cool product. Now all we need is a software media player that handles all those formats and actually works without segfaulting a la mplayer.

    --
    GNAA [www.gnaa.us]
  • Ahh a bunch of geeks saying what looks good and what doesn't. OK how many of you wear all black more than once a week? OK you don't get to talk from now on. How many of you don't think blue can be worn with orange? OK you also can't talk now. OK now, does anyone else not like the look of the iPod? OK good... :) By the way, I was playing with an iPod at best buy the other day... it's nice, I think I want a mini, but it's nice.

  • I think we all know what this is for (Score:5, Funny)

    by chaotixx ( 563211 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:12PM (#9403229)
    Judging from the demo pictures on the unit (from the article link [iriveramerica.com]), it looks like iRiver is thinking what I'm thinking.

    Pr0n to go!

  • audible.com (Score:2, Interesting)

    by *LuckySmurf* ( 590555 )
    I have a few friends with mp3 players, and most of them have an iRiver. They like their players a lot, and I'm impressed with the feature list. One thing prevents me from getting one, though. I subscribe to audible.com, and iRiver doesn't have an arrangement to support their DRM. Are there other audible subscribers out there who feel upset about the limitations in what devices they are able to use to play the books they buy? Does anyone know what it takes to get audible support in a new device? Audibl

  • Samba... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by guycouch ( 763243 )
    It would be great if along with USB2, they'd equip it with an ethernet port and include samba on this beast.... delicious.

  • If they integrated Dasher [cam.ac.uk] for an input method (and that control pad is as analog as it looks), this could be hacked into a very respectable PDA. Hell, you could have a decent CLI if you could use Dasher there.

    I'd rather iRiver didn't even attempt to make a PDA out of it though. Every PDA/media-player combo attempt I've seen, even the iPaq and half-hearted attempts of the Sony Clie, have been horrible horrible miscarriages. I'd rather they pick up the PDA option later if some people develop something n

  • Innodesign (Score:4, Informative)

    by morcheeba ( 260908 ) * on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:20PM (#9403293) Journal
    Innodesign korea [innodesign.com] does the design of most of iRiver's products (warning: Flash site). They also do some samsung products, but the bulk of the work looks like outside styling and not actual operation design. One exception is a laptop designed for presenting: the main screen swivels around to point to the audience, while a smaller screen is on the backside for the presenter.

    Contrast this with frogdesign [frogdesign.com], which seems [frogdesign.com] more [frogdesign.com] innovative [frogdesign.com]. (or maybe their clients give them a longer leash)

  • 2 Quick Comments/Questions (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Hungus ( 585181 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:20PM (#9403294) Journal
    1) Why do people seem to think that GNU/Linux is superior for embedded media devices than *BSD? This is an honest question because it seems that a company would rather be subject to BSD licensing than GPL so there must be some other reason

    2) Couldn't they come up with a better sounding acronym than PMP reads like PiMP

    No I am not trolling I really do want to know why GNU/Linux is preferable to *BSD for these kinds of devices.

  • Haha the PIMP-120 (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bl8n8r ( 649187 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:22PM (#9403304)
    That's a funny name! pimp my playa'
    I could give a fuck if you think it's "really,really ugly". People buy ipods now simply because it's socially sexy to do so. The fact is, this company is breaking ground with an embedded linux solution for the masses that supports OGG and MP3 - something everyone up here has been pissing and moaning for, ever since the Neuros came out. I say good for them. iRiver is cool for taking this step. We need more companies to do the same.

  • PiMPed Out (Score:2, Insightful)

    by aka-ed ( 459608 )
    Of course it's ugly...it looks like one of those late-90s-era dedicated email devices, what did they call em? Net appliance, yeh! A lot of burned early adopters might prefer a different look.

  • There's nothing wrong with iRiver products (Score:5, Informative)

    by gorbachev ( 512743 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:27PM (#9403336) Homepage
    I own one of their cd based mp3 players, and that thing is the best portable cd player I've ever used. Its user friendliness, firmware updates and general quality of construction is unbeatable.

    The only problem with the unit in question here, apparently, is that it doesn't look like an iPod. Duh.

    Proletariat of the world, unite to kill conformity
  • Or something like that..

    Who cares what the CASE looks like? its functionality/features and appearance of the SCREEN ( oh, and quality of the sound too.. ) that really matters..

    1/2 the time people cover them up with slipcase anyway..

  • *Munch munch* (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lord Graga ( 696091 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:40PM (#9403424)
    Well, that's cool, but can we install windows on it?
  • As soon as I see a player like this with a screen about the size and quality of the screen on a Sony TR2A laptop (with the xbrite screen) I'll go out and buy it. If I haven't bought the Sony first tho...

    Really, I can't see myself enjoying anime on a matchbook sized screen.

  • Not 20GB (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Gonoff ( 88518 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:46PM (#9403452)
    The first flaw I see is that it is only 19GB at best. At the bottom, in the small print, there is that well known fraud "**1MB equals 1,000,000 bytes". That is incorrect. Whether you are running Linux or Windows (I don't have a Mac) 1 GB is 2^10 MB or 1048576.

    It would be like inventing a 'metric pint' and rounding it down to the nearest hundred ml.

    • Oops! (Score:2)

      by Gonoff ( 88518 )
      I meant to say 1 MB is 2^10 Bytes.

    • Re:Not 20GB (Score:4, Informative)

      by Trepidity ( 597 ) <[delirium-slashdot] [at] [hackish.org]> on Friday June 11, 2004 @07:04PM (#9403566)
      Well, in some sense yes, but in another sense no. The problem is it's not entirely like inventing a "metric pint", because that would be redefining the pint after the fact. In this case, computing took already-defined metric prefixes: k, M, G, T, etc. But these are already defined as a thousand, million, billion, and trillion! The M prefix has meant 1,000,000 for quite a while now; the same with k (1,000); and so on. A km has been 1,000 m since quite a bit before the invention of computers.

      The use of kilobyte for 1,024 was just sort of sloppy notation: it was close enough to 1,000 that it was convenient to reuse the k that they already knew from the metric system. Then apparently they decided to stick with metric prefixes when the megabyte came along, only with new definitions for each of them. And now they're getting increasingly far from the actual values, so it's turning out to have been a bad idea.

      To rectify the situation, someone-or-other came up with mebibyte as the binary form, with megabyte retaining its standard definition in keeping with a megaton or a megawatt. But these haven't really caught on, although I do occasionally see them in some Linux programs (kiB, MiB, etc.).
      • Just to add to the confusion, it's never even been consistent in computing to make a kilo be 1,024 or a mega be 1,048,576. For example, your 100 megabit ethernet card can handle 100,000,000 bits per second (not 104,857,600), and this has been the case when discussing data rate for decades.

  • Couple points... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by evilviper ( 135110 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:49PM (#9403474) Journal
    I have a few points.

    1. I would like to see it include VP3 and Theora support... Theora has now ( FINALLY ) reached bitstream freeze, so including it would be safe. It wouldn't hurt to have VP6 support as well, but I'd be happy with just VP3/Theora...

    2. Nothing is wrong with the design, despite what some may say.

    3. The screen needs to be bigger (preferably 16:9 widescreen, since everything is going that way), and the battery-life needs to be increased. If they don't do that, it had better be less than $400, or everyone would just be better off buying a extra Notebook...

    • For those who didn't know what Theora [theora.org] was either:

      Theora is Xiph.Org's first publicly released video codec, intended for use within the Ogg's project's Ogg multimedia streaming system.

    • Re:Couple points... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Wraithlyn ( 133796 )
      I have a GP32 with exactly the same screen... 3.5", 320x240, and it is PERFECT.

      3.5" is nice and big, but JUST small enough so you can still fit the unit into a breast pocket. Widescreen movies look just fine on it. (If I wanted a bigger movie watching unit, I'd buy one of those portable DVD players)

      320x240 is perfect because that's essentially TV resolution (and 256 colour VGA), so it will work great with stuff ported over meant for TV or VGA output. (Imagine an SNES emulator on this thing, or Doom? :)
  • ... out of the box, that is! If there was a Linux distro that could play - perfectly and without random pixels everywhere - XviD, DivX 3, 4, and 5, MPEG, ASF, etc, then that would be worth installing.

    And before you say "you can compile that support in yourself", let me say to you: get lost! I'm sick to death of having to locate some retard's package of some frigging codec just to watch a movie in sub-standard quality than I can get with Windows Media Player (on my dual boot machine).

    Oh, and it sure would
    • And before you say "you can compile that support in yourself", let me say to you: get lost! I'm sick to death of having to locate some retard's package of some frigging codec just to watch a movie in sub-standard quality than I can get with Windows Media Player (on my dual boot machine).

      You don't have to install extra codecs to watch XviD, DivX 3,4, and 5 and mpeg2 on windows media player? All of those should be supported by default by any non crippled xine or mplayer install.

      I mean, how bloody difficu

  • iRiver (Score:3, Informative)

    by myndzi ( 645534 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @06:52PM (#9403499)
    I used to own (one of?) the first cd/mp3 players ever; I think it was later named the Tavura. Forget who it was by. I actually had to change the batteries once about halfway through each mp3 CD, so I'd always have 2 pair charging and one in the device.

    Later I bought the AVC Soul (same thing as the Rio Volt), both of which were made by ... you guessed it ... iRiver. I wore my Soul into the ground, and immediately bought a top-of-the-line iRiver player (the imp-550). I love the thing.

    iRiver has had a history of putting out decently priced hardware that _does_ look good, is functional, is upgradable, and has pretty much anything you could ask for. (Though I'm still waiting for more than one song dynamic playlists(?)).

    Their players have nice battery life too (hell, the 550 shipped with a pair of 1450 mAh prismatic-type batteries; I couldn't even FIND ratings that high for the same battery type online...)

    If I needed this kind of a device, iRiver would definitely be my first pick to buy from.

    That aside, I'm kind of curious -- does anyone have any idea why nobody has put out a media player with open source upgradable firmware yet? It seems to me that if they put the right hardware in the thing it'd be a huge attraction both to geeks and non-geeks (who would benefit from the doubtless interesting firmwares put out by OS people). And the company wouldn't have to put much money into developing the firmware itself! I don't see what the deal is...
  • Actually I think the iPod looks pretty freaking ugly when stacked up against this beauty from iRiver.

    Honestly, it looks like a mini refrigerator you might see in Kubrik's 2001 movie. And you can't do squat with it.

    Whereas the iRiver looks more akin to handheld game consoles like the GameGear [darkdust.net].

    Disclaimer: I don't have shares in either company.

  • I think most of the features (ie Video playback) of this player are unnecessary and are not things I would miss when comparing a purchase of this to an iPod.
    The iPod will have a colour screen for sure, but it will be used for displaying album artwork and visualisations - you'll be able to plug the ipod into a TV so the visulalisations and the artwork can be displayed to people dancing - a real party device. (PS I'm guessing, but Steve jobs is right when he says no-one wants to watch video on these things
  • They have provided firmware upgraded for most of their older mp3 players that have the grunt to handle it, and now this linux-based player is the icing on the cake.

    Long live Free Software/Open Standards. Kudos to iRiver.

    Mind you, I don't see much this new beast can do that my $290 Zaurus 5600 can't. Okay, except for the internal hard drive and USB 2.0 part.

  • I think price will be the deciding factor. Assuming it's a couple hundred it'll be wonderful. And think how kickass it will be if you can attach a usb network card or DVD player. Put other linux software on it, etc. I would definately buy one.
  • It would be cool to hack one of these to add support for DeCSS / VOB so you can play backup copies of your favorite movies while on the bus. :)

  • Nice design (Score:3, Funny)

    by Comrade Pikachu ( 467844 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @09:05PM (#9404230) Homepage
    And yet, it looks strangely familiar [82.112.119.124].

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