NEW! Toshiba gigabeat G20 (MEG200J)
Aug 21, 2003 at 8:21 AM Post #2 of 21
Quote:

Using whichever software, the audio data which was transferred to the gigabeat itself is encoded by the Toshiba individual system.


Uh oh, I think austonia warned about this from their first HDD player. Looks like they kept this feature.

Doesn't seem to offer many features despite being so dang slim.
 
Aug 21, 2003 at 9:59 AM Post #3 of 21
well, the styling looks a little bland. Features look a little lean. 20gb, USB2, MP3/WMA/WAV, thin. OK so it's an iPod with USB2.

It doesn't really offer anything new except thin-ness. I guess it might be usefull to someone who needs capacity and ultimate portability, but doesn't care about many features (?)

I guess the value of this all depends on the price. If they price it near $300, I can see it being a useful competitor against the 10gb iPod and Rio Nitrus. If they price it near $400, it's a waste compared to iRiver iHP, Phillips HDD100, Rio Karma, iPod 15gb, etc

Also...
If they still require you to use the Toshiba software to encrypt music before it will play on the device, FORGET IT. Not only is that intrusive and annoying, it takes more time to load music since it has be encrypted during transfer. Every single review I read for the first Toshiba player brought this to attention, noting it would be decent otherwise, but not worth it considering as is. As a result it didn't sell well. I hope they learned from that experience and have not repeated the mistake.
 
Aug 21, 2003 at 11:34 AM Post #4 of 21
Heh now I'm full throttle for the Rio Karma (you made me want it more than an iRiver iHP-200 even with all its features)!

Unless this "mysterious" MP3 player spoken about at DAPreview proves to be good too. Ugh any more hints or comparisons to the Rio Karma? (austonia or The_Omniscient) I don't want to regret buying a $400 thing soon. ^^;;
 
Aug 21, 2003 at 5:23 PM Post #5 of 21
Here is the press release. Some notes:
- Works as external hard disk
- WMP9 can be used to transfer music, in addition to Toshiba's own application. I guess that means there's no extra encryption needed? Also, they claim one album (10 songs@128k) is transfered in 30 seconds.
- 11 hours playback @ 128k WMA, no back-light, medium volume
- There's a mention of a remote control, but no picture

I really like the minimalist design, much better than iRiver or Philips IMO.
 
Aug 21, 2003 at 5:36 PM Post #6 of 21
Aug 21, 2003 at 6:10 PM Post #7 of 21
I like the simplicity of it's look. It reminds me of minidisc size/looking also. It's really the time for the waiting game as all these new harddrive players are coming out.
 
Aug 21, 2003 at 6:14 PM Post #8 of 21
Maybe they will learn to leave out their encryption software the third time around.
rolleyes.gif
 
Aug 21, 2003 at 8:55 PM Post #9 of 21
I dunno if anyone caught this but I posted this quote.

Quote:

Using whichever software, the audio data which was transferred to the gigabeat itself is encoded by the Toshiba individual system.


If Babelfish does not fail me, it looks like it'll be encoded using either of the software.
 
Aug 21, 2003 at 9:54 PM Post #12 of 21
Quote:

Originally posted by PeterDLai
BTW does anyone else think that they designed it really weird?

I mean how are you supposed to hold it and push those buttons? It doesn't seem the navigation is very easy.


That's a good point. As small as they are, the controls are going to be difficult to handle.

Would anyone here seriously consider buying this over the other new models?
 
Aug 21, 2003 at 11:34 PM Post #13 of 21
Well, Toshiba has lost its audio division for almost 15 years... and I'm sure it's almost a decade since they stopped doing portable audio. No experienced people in the house = strangely ineffective design
tongue.gif


The player comes bundled with Windows media player and Toshiba's proprietary software. Whichever one you choose to use, the songs will be encrypted when they're loaded onto the player. It does that but meanwhile your Windows will see the player as a USB storage device.
biggrin.gif
 
Aug 22, 2003 at 12:16 AM Post #14 of 21
Probably not. I don't like the whole encryption idea, I can't even figure out how to hold it. Did they even have any testers or even try to use it themselves?

The only thing that would make me buy it is if it was cheap, which it probably will not be. But at least they set a new standard for slimness, which'll foreshadow future players.
wink.gif
 
Aug 22, 2003 at 7:00 PM Post #15 of 21
They are the makers of small hard drives so they probably can (and should) use their best (i.e. smallest) drive for their own player. It does look very thin, but it leaves the impression that it is too wide to hold in a normal hand. Perhaps it's only the optical illusion. How wide is it actually?

However, looking at all this barrage of new players, I think many of them don't stand a chance. If they don't offer a lot of extra features (formats, battery life, digital i/o, user interface enhancements such as playlists on the go and fast searches etc.) or superslim size/large capacity, then they better be considerably cheaper than the competition that DOES have it. If somebody comes out with yet another $499 device that offers nothing new, the venture capitalist that footed the bill is not going to see any profits. I'm just amazed that they even bother releasing such units.
 
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