The Open Pandora: An ultimate portable player? - Page 9

Prices of mSATA drives

 

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?cid=16003423429365721101

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?cid=16876835557870390047

 

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?cid=2880334152128664622

 

Prices of SDXC cards

 

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?cid=3327280682060691334

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?cid=11196524035608381987

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?cid=14863415250009720865

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?cid=16514122055943453991

 

$399 for SDXC versus $199 (or less) for mSATA at the moment. Choices of 256GB media with compact physical dimensions are fairly limited for now. Still plenty of room for prices to drop.

^ Exactly my point. Forget about those expensive SDXC, I don't care about hot swap. mSATA SSD is significantly cheaper and faster, while not a lot larger than SDXC. If I want true portability, I would rather use my Sansa Clip+ with a microSDXC card.

Since Pandora is already big in form factor, why not provide a slot for mSATA SSD? Alternatively, if cost is a concern, just use a PATA ZIF slot (like iPod Classic) to accept a 1.8" HDD (now $120 for 240GB). Additionally, what is the point of a fast CPU, if your actual speed is limited by the SDXC storage (in view of the fact that both mSATA SSD and ZIF HDD are a lot faster than SDXC)?
Edited by zzffnn - 10/18/12 at 6:31pm

 

Yeah there is, I'm using it now.

 

 

The USB works okay.  I have several terabyte USB drives, and I can use them with the Pandora.

Would mSATA have an advantage over USB?  For me, I prefer USB, it is a common standard and more flexible.

 

The Pandora is unwieldly with an external HDD.  I could tie them together but would need bigger pockets!

I copy stuff to the SD media or RAM, rather than leaving the HDD plugged in.

 

The price will drop after the company recovers its losses.  It might take a while...!

 

I think the Pandora 2 will have an internal microsd, in addition to the external SD slots.

It probably won't be as large as 1TB, maybe 256GB could be done at that time.

FYI - here are some enclosures / adapters to convert mSATA drives into USB

http://www.hwtools.net/adapter/SSDMb.html
http://www.bplus.com.tw/PDF/SSDMB%20V1.4_brief.pdf

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=14690860632
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/SSDMB-mini-SATA-to-USB3-0-Adapter-ver1-3/426555643.html

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=16004422201
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=19819312953
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=20133908127

This is rediculous. Just have compatibility with SDXC,...that's all they need to do.

You guys have really gone in a amazingly unintuitive and useless direction in your selfish search for what you want. What a waste of the Pandora developers time,...you really don't know crap about what your requesting.
Edited by tds101 - 10/19/12 at 7:00am

Hey, I may be a hard sell but I'm not a selfish azz. Really, these requests are totally off base when it comes to the ideals behind this project. I'd love to eventually see a small touchscreen version, but it'd have to be based on real usability. The same as this device is now. Real specs, real functionality, real users & developers working together. These others are wayyyyyyy off base.

I'm honestly sorry I somewhat started this debate,...this thing turned out to be quite good from what I've read. I'd love to be able to get it. But I just spent over $1,200 on my bike riding stuff - time to lay low before the Mrs burns me britches!!!

 

People probably do not know that very few of these arm-processors have hard drive ports. If they have, then it is either the old ce-ata (the port you know from the iPod Video) or SATA. SATA, in most cases only available from the top of the line ARM-processors ... blablabla

 

2 x SDXC is good

 

A few thoughts, which you (or anyone) can take or leave.

 

 - If you found "bog-standard earbuds" to be jaw-droppingly good, your opinion of SQ means very little in the context of what Head-Fi members are interested in.  No elitism, just fact.

 

 - There's been some negativity toward the product, sure, but most of that is toward its apparent useability as a dedicated DAP (not a pocket-PC, which is its intended design).  Most of the crap-talking has been in response to a fanboy who hadn't even seen or heard it opining as though it were fact and making statements he was in no position to make, not to mention talking nonsense about Samsung build quality and bumping the heck out of a topic with limited interest.

 

 - No-one's saying it's a **** product or idea, just that it is sure as hell not the incredible DAP the OP touted it as.  It is no competitive with other offerings in a lot of areas - Size, price, DAP-centric features, UI, auxillary functions (they're great, if you want every one of its specific offerings and nothing else, but most people don't).  As a Pocket-PC and private project, it's sweet.  As a DAP, it's not competitive with other current offerings in the opinion of a lot of people.  That should only offend you if the devs set out to make a competitive DAP.

 

 - OT, literally means literally, not "x1000".  If listening to your new phones makes you come in your pants every time you listen, I'm happy for you, but you might wanna get that looked at :P

 

 

 

Why?  This isn't a for sale thread.

Edited by Dragunov-21 - 10/26/12 at 3:19am

      This could have been a better discussion thread, if not for those fanboys. Even with fanboys' cheers, The 66% no (vs 33% yes) says it all; most of today's consumers are smart enough to evaluate a product themselves.

 

      I would not waste my time with fanboys. Fanboys do not make  products like developers do. If you are a real developer who wants to proudly advertise your product, then become a MOT (member of trade) at Headfi and listen to us potential buyers.

 

      I was interested in this product as a music player, so I provided my suggestions to its developers (regarding what to have as a music player). I suggested >160GB storage that is both faster and cheaper than SDXC (e.g., SSD or 1.8’’ ZIF HDD, both of which are available currently). The developers have not responded. Fanboys attacked me as “off base” and “selfish” (I respectfully ignored your attacks and I ask that you be respectable like I was/am).

 

      There is a niche market for good-sounding music player with >160GB storage and inexpensive pricing. Lots of music lovers, me included, have > 160GB of flac music and want to have access to all of their music on-the-go. These people are not “off base” or “selfish”. As an example, there are close to 700 Headfi posts that express such an interest (basically a flac-capable iPod-type device with storage >160GB), see:

 http://www.head-fi.org/t/566780/official-ipod-video-classic-5g-5-5g-6g-6-5g-7g-ssd-mod-thread/495#post_8811725

http://www.head-fi.org/t/600012/ipod-classic-7g-240gb

http://www.head-fi.org/t/604266/review-modded-ipod-classic-7g-with-240gb-hdd-from-ebay

 

      In view of the market demand, Pandora developers may consider making a portable, flac-capable music player that sounds better and stores more than a 7 gen iPod Classic. Maybe that is what Pandora 2 is for. Personally, I do not currently have $470 for the Pandora 1, as it was not designed primarily for music. I would rather wait for Fiio X3 (which has native flac support, SDXC, bass/treble/balance control, SPDIF digital output, 192/24, good DAC and amp chips and is round $200):

http://www.head-fi.org/t/528916/the-fiio-x3-thread-update-project-back-on

Edited by zzffnn - 10/26/12 at 8:22am

I made my point clear about selfish requests based on the development & community of this CURRENT device. I'm not a fanboi, or are some so blind as to not see that fact? Otherwise, this was never a request thread.

The OP was way off base from the start, and that's fully understood at this point. Now all the comments are just turning into bashing. I do agree the thread bumps are uncalled for, since if interest in this device ignites the thread will sustain itself.

Otherwise I'm personally done in this thread myself, unless I decide to bite the bullet and pop for this. At it's current pricing I'll just go but an iPod mini or 64gb iPod touch, or 1 of the multitude of Android devices available. Even a new Windows Tablet,...

Once upon a time this was amazing,...I think it's golden age has passed,...for me at least.

L8R!!!

 

Just in case it needs saying, I wasn't referring to you :P