[Jomel]

Can anyone recommend an mp3 player that won't skip even if I go rollerblading and is large (preferably at least 1Gb)? I'd prefer something relatively cheap if possible.
The Creative MuVo² X-Trainer 1Gb is pretty much exactly what I need, but I haven't been able to find a single place where you can get it in the UK, only the 512Mb verison seems available...
Has anyone tested how well microdrive players like the Creative MuVo² 1.5GB stand up to constant shock?
I've heard that iRiver do some 1Gb flash models, are they any good?
Are Hi-MD devices good, and if so which should I consider?

 

[Idiot MD]

An idea you might entertain is getting one of the Muvo^2 shells of eBay and installing a 1GB or perhaps try one of the new 2GB CF flash cards into it. The shells generally run about $35~50US and you can get flash cards from most camera and computer stores or order them online. I personally use Sandisk in my shell and haven't had any problems yet and have been thinking about trying to new 2GB card. I think you get better battery life with the flash card, virtually gapless playback, and solid-state memory for a shock resistant system. The major gripe with the Muvo^2 system is the small size of the LCD and while in the case, none of the controls are accessable. You might want to contemplate spending an additional $60~70US for the wired remote.

 

[GSTom1]

Check the UK Ebay and see if you can find a gutted Muvo2 (i.e. one with the 4GB microdrive removed). You can find one on US Ebay for about $40 US. Then get a 1GB compact flash card, pop it in and voila, you have yourself the equivalent of the Muvo2 X-Trainer for a fraction of the cost.

I was able to make a 1GB Muvo2 flash player for about $170 US, while Creative Labs is charging $199 US for the 512MB Muvo2 X-Trainer. I get twice the storage and paid $30 less.

PS - The build quality of the remote leaves little to be desired.

 

[Jomel]

Hmm, sounds kinda dodgy but interesting

I found this page which explains how to do the swap, and it seems some people have had problems finding small enough screw drivers and others have had problems with certain CF cards, what model did you use? Is it the flat compactflash cards like those at http://store.digitalfilm.com/index.cfm?category=8? I also can't find any 1Gb compact flash cards under £110 (=$200) over here, perhaps on ebay...
It also says you should update the firmware before taking out the drive, will it still work if you do so afterwards?
Uk ebay only has two muvo² shells available and both are sold in america but do offer international delivery, so I could get them
I'm also slightly worried about the firmware expecting to find a 4Gb drive and only getting a 1Gb drive - won't it crash or something?

 

[GSTom1]

Putting a CF card into the Muvo2 was quite easy.

Any set of small screwdrivers will work. You should not have any trouble finding a set of these. Computer stores should sell them.

First, I suggest using a Sandisk card. They seem to be the most compatible. Check out the MuVo² Compact Flash Compatibility list to see which brand of CF cards will work.

Mine came with firmware 1.10.01. I upgraded to 1.11.01 and it worked flawlessly. I installed the CF card first and then updated the firmware. So far no problems at all! Not a single crash in two months.

Here are some other helpful links:

MUVO 2 REBORN

MUVO 2 EXTRACT

Muvo2 Microdrive Extraction

Good luck!
CHEERS!

 

[Watchdog]

Rollerblading won't put the pounding on the player like jogging will. I would imagine most any portable will work just fine.

 

[Jomel]

thanks GSTom1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Watchdog Rollerblading won't put the pounding on the player like jogging will. I would imagine most any portable will work just fine.

Rollerblading (particularly on rough tarmac) can lead to almost constant jostling though. I tried rollerblading with a cd player with 30 sec antishock and that kept skipping, though it's hardly surprising.
Am I right in thinking that harddisk based players (particularly microdrive ones) are more shockproof that cd players? (in which case I could probably just get a MuVo² 1.5Gb or 4Gb which sell at quite a reasonable price)

 

[darkclouds]

Ok, I'm tired. I just spent the last five minutes jumping up and down, trying to land as hard and flatfooted as I can while holding my muvo2 4gig. Not a single skip or sign of skip at all. I tried hitting the unit with a respectable amount of force (without trying to crack it) and still no skip. All activity was carried out with the unit enclosed in it's supplied case (not a hardcase). So, there you have it.

 

[Aman]

I second this notion.

Any hard-drive based player will easily withstand skating. And the less moving parts you have, the more-so this is. The Apple iPod Mini will do very well in this, and any compact flash will also do fine.

Trust me, ANY mp3 player basically will be able to suit your needs as far as non-skip goes.

 

[akerman]

hmm.. sandisk is known to be the worst manufacturer of flashcards - but they are also the cheapest... if you want to be sure of quality, get a panasonic or lexar card.

 

[GSTom1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by akerman hmm.. sandisk is known to be the worst manufacturer of flashcards - but they are also the cheapest... if you want to be sure of quality, get a panasonic or lexar card.

Where is your proof? Do you have a chart showing failure rates among the different flashcard manufacturers?

I've never heard anything bad about Sandisk cards. I have 4 of them and they work great!

 

[akerman]

nope.. only thing I have to go by is user opinions.. if you go to any photography forum and browse around, for instance dpreview.com, you'll soon find tons of reports on how sandisk cards give up for no apparent reason....even the new sandisk ultra 2 cards.

I got a sandisk card with my digicam, and bought an extra lexar card - tested read/write speeds myself.. turns out they were about equal in terms of write speed, the lexar being about 10% quicker, but when it came to reading, the lexar was twice as fast.

 

[waffenschmidt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by akerman nope.. only thing I have to go by is user opinions.. if you go to any photography forum and browse around, for instance dpreview.com, you'll soon find tons of reports on how sandisk cards give up for no apparent reason....even the new sandisk ultra 2 cards. I got a sandisk card with my digicam, and bought an extra lexar card - tested read/write speeds myself.. turns out they were about equal in terms of write speed, the lexar being about 10% quicker, but when it came to reading, the lexar was twice as fast.

Just to even the score a little, I bought a 512MB Sandisk card and a MuVo^2 shell and it works fine. Read and write speed isn't really a big issue to me. 10% on write speed (if it even comes into play with a flash player) is no big deal, and it only needs to be read fast enough to play MP3s. So double the read speed doesn't matter. It's a different application than a digital camera.

Maybe the card will die tomorrow and I'll find out you're right. Maybe not.

If anyone is considering the MuVo^2 shell route, be sure to see the link in GSTom1's post above regarding compatible cards. Not totally definititive, but it's the best reference I know of.

Edit:

No offense, but user opinions on most Internet forums are not a reliable way of determining the relative failure rate of competing products. I read them too, and what I read often factors into my buying decision, especially if a specific problem is identified repeatedly, but even then it's only one factor.

This has been said before, but satisfied users of a product, especially something as generic as a compact flash card, are unlikely to bother to post their praises. One also must consider market share. If you take a look at this link you'll see that Sandisk has a greater market share in the removable solid state memory market than any other manufacturer, and my guess is that their share of the compact flash market is even greater. More market share, even with a comparable failure rate, means more failures.

 

[Jomel]

cheers darkclouds - I asked Creative about how shockproof microdrives were and they gave a kind of vague answer which I interpret as "yes it's fine, but don't blame us if it goes wrong", but from your testing it seems like rollerblading shouldn't be a problem.

Quote:

Dear jomel the microdrive are not really mean to be use for such sport but still have enough buffer to work properly. The only thing is that the drive might get damaged in the long run. As fo rthe Xtrainer 1Gb, unfortunatryl ,this will not bre released in Europe Best Regards Gilles Boutherre Creative Online Shop http://europe.creative.com/estore Original Message Follows: ------------------------ How shockproof are the various creative mp3 players? In particular, I would like to rollerblade with them. Will the harddisk-based jukeboxes withstand this kind of almost constant but fairly low intensity shock? And what about the microdrive-based players like the MuVo² 1.5GB and 4GB models? Also, has the Creative® MuVo² X-Trainer 1GB been released in the UK? (I am unable to find it anywhere)

So options (all are the cheapest UK price I could find, excluding auctions):

1. Creative MuVo² 1.5Gb microdrive: £149.99 (=$274) from Amazon
2. Creative MuVo² 4Gb microdrive: £174.99 (=$322) from Amazon
3. Creative MuVo² X-Trainer 512Mb flash drive: £169.91 (=$310) from Creative's UK store - but it's more expensive than the MuVo² 1.5Gb and has less space, so assuming the MuVo² 1.5Gb doesn't die on me, it's a worse option.
4. Ipod mini is probably be an option too then. They cost £297.98 (=$545)
   
   from the only UK seller I can find that has them (they haven't been released in the UK yet), but they seem to sell for about the same as 1.5Gb MuVo²s on ebay
   
5. Doing it the MuVo shell+compactflash way would set me back £108.99 (=$201) for a 1Gb CF card and about £22 (=$40) for the MuVo² shell plus whatever US to UK shipping costs are (£30=$50ish?), so it costs at least as much as a microdrive (for me in the UK anyway) but has less storage and is slightly risky.

All in all, I think I'll go for a microdrive and hope for the best

Now to choose between Ipod mini, MuVo² 1.5Gb/4Gb and iRiver models. Is there a general consensus on which is best value?

My current thoughts are "try and get an Ipod mini cheap off ebay, then if that doesn't work get a Creative MuVo² 1.5Gb or 4Gb from Amazon or ebay"

 

[akerman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by waffenschmidt No offense, but user opinions on most Internet forums are not a reliable way of determining the relative failure rate of competing products. I read them too, and what I read often factors into my buying decision, especially if a specific problem is identified repeatedly, but even then it's only one factor. This has been said before, but satisfied users of a product, especially something as generic as a compact flash card, are unlikely to bother to post their praises. One also must consider market share. If you take a look at this link you'll see that Sandisk has a greater market share in the removable solid state memory market than any other manufacturer, and my guess is that their share of the compact flash market is even greater. More market share, even with a comparable failure rate, means more failures.

Yep, common knowledge.. but I have yet to see any "omg my lexar just crapped out on me" threads - I can't recall anyone bashing panasonic or lexar, I have only heard praise - so even if it doesn't provide you with a definite picture of the situation, it does give you a vague idea...