[fredpb]

I am considering the Treo 10 and Classic MP3 jukeboxs, each 10gb. I like them because of their size. The Treo is at COMPUSA and the Classic at Circuit City. Price is comparable.

But how about sound quality????? Anyone hear the latest versions? I tried a Classic MP3/CD player over a year ago and it sounded loud, but very brittle.

Any comments would be appreciated. I don't want the Creative or Rio ones. I want the small ones.

 

[zend]

Quote:

Originally posted by fredpb I am considering the Treo 10 and Classic MP3 jukeboxs, each 10gb. I like them because of their size. The Treo is at COMPUSA and the Classic at Circuit City.

A few months back I bought, and subsequently returned the Classic. I picked it because of its form factor and the 10GB hard drive. I returned it because the process of copying tracks onto it, and the UI once they were on the device were terrible.

It's a USB device. Copying gigabytes of data over USB takes tens of hours. It comes with MusicMatch, which is a decent enough MP3 ripper/tagger/player, but has a terrible UI for copying songs to mobile devices. The UI is a window that is about 2"x2" square, and forces you to pick songs one at a time. It took me hours to get a dozen CDs onto the thing.

Navigating songs once they are on the device is unbelievable painful. I have the impression that they took a UI that may have made sense if you had 48MB of storage, and just threw a 10GB drive behind it. You basically have to navigate linearly. Push a button to go to the next artist. Push a button to go to the next artist. Push a button to go to the next artist. Repeat until your finger is sore.

How does it sound? I never really figured that out. I was too busy being frustrated by how hard it was to get songs on and then use.

I ended up with an iPod, which cost significantly more to purchase. I spent more $$$ getting a firewire rig set up so I could use the thing with a PC. The experience is night and day. I love the thing.

zend.

 

[gerG]

Hi zend.

What are you using for ipod interface software, and how is it working out? I recently made the painful decision to transition from my ti-book to a windows portable, and one of my remaining items to migrate is the ipod.


Thanks

gerG

 

[fredpb]

Ended up getting the Treo 10. Very happy with it. Slow download speed with USB, but it takes much more time to rip than to transfer. I use dbPoweramp for conversion and ripping, and the Treo software for transfer. They can be done simultaneously, so you can save time.

Treo is an outstanding bargain.

 

[zend]

Quote:

Originally posted by Greg Freeman What are you using for ipod interface software, and how is it working out? I recently made the painful decision to transition from my ti-book to a windows portable, and one of my remaining items to migrate is the ipod.

Here's more info than you want on this topic

I'm using XPlay from media4 http://www.media4.com. XPlay is at Tech Preview 6, and works great for me. XPlay is a self-contained product and doesn't require any additional software.

Alternatively, you can use Ephpod, which is freeware http://www.ephpod.com. If you go the ephpod route, you'll need to buy either MacDrive (also by Media4) or MacOpener by DataViz http://www.dataviz.com. Ephpod works well for many people, but it crashes consistently for me.

Note that the Ephpod FAQ recommends MacOpener, but most Ephpod users seem to think that MacDrive is the better product. I've tried MacOpener on two machines, and in both cases, it caused bluescreens when I plugged in the iPod. It also has a nasty bug that basically forces you to shut down your PC before unplugging the iPod. MacDrive doesn't have any of these problems.

I'd recommend trying XPlay first.

If you don't yet have a firewire card, I'd recommend buying a Western Digital. General iPod user wisdom seems to be that firewire cards based on the Texas Instruments chipset are problematic. The WD cards are known to not be based on that chipset.

Hope that helped...

zend.

 

[zend]

Quote:

Originally posted by fredpb Ended up getting the Treo 10. Very happy with it. Slow download speed with USB, but it takes much more time to rip than to transfer. I use dbPoweramp for conversion and ripping, and the Treo software for transfer. They can be done simultaneously, so you can save time.

I caught your subsequent post saying you bought the Treo. I probably would have kept my iPod comments to myself if I'd known you already made the purchase

Carrying around megabytes of songs in a package the size of an iPod or Treo is an experience that is hard to put into words. I hope you're enjoying it.

zend.

 

[gerG]

Thanks zend. I will give xplay a try.

I haven't a clue what my Sony laptop has for a chipset. I'll have to try the old plug and pray approach. I also need to get a cable with the "this isn't firewire" firewire connector.

btw, I did upgrade to firmware version 1.1. I love it! No more whine, and the contact list is a very slick feature.

Later
gerG