[noguilt]

does the nomad zen nx's support of wav files mean, as i assume, that one can transfer music directly from cd's to the zen nx, without ripping them first?

for my purposes, this would be a significant advantage, as i am loathe to spend the time ripping cd's, and would be very happy with a player on which i could just load about 60 cd's, taking them off and loading new ones with relative efficiency (compared to having to rip them). I'm also reluctant to make the sound quality sacrifices of ripping to a lossy format--FLAC on the rio karma would presumably be as good as wav, but would still require the time for ripping.

thanks for the help.

 

[ls20]

yes, the website does say that it plays wav. but besides space, you also lose the conveniece of ID3 tagging/naming.

i actually have a zen nx sitting here with me now, but haven't time to play with it

 

[Dweebgal]

also, it will kill your battery life,
wear your hard drive down faster, becuase it will constatnly be spinning
and songs will skip becuase it will have to keep rebufferingand you still have to rip the wavs from the cd anyway, there is no direct transfer, so i'd say spend those extra few seconds to transfer into high quality LAME MP3s

 

[ls20]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dweebgal also, it will kill your battery life, wear your hard drive down faster, becuase it will constatnly be spinning and songs will skip becuase it will have to keep rebufferingand you still have to rip the wavs from the cd anyway, there is no direct transfer, so i'd say spend those extra few seconds to transfer into high quality LAME MP3s

-hd use is figured into their battery life estimate...which is still 10hr

-only songs over 8mb... very few of which i have (all lame192). i figure itd only be good for raw wav files..which kinda defeats the purpose of a pcpd (they dont sound that good)

 

[noguilt]

dweebgal, are u saying these things on the basis of direct experience with the nomad zen nx?

Is20, where did you buy the nomad zen nx?

thanks.

 

[Dweebgal]

i was working on common sense.

 

[austonia]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dweebgal i was working on common sense.

Right. Using a DAP for .WAV is totally overkill. It runs the hard disk all the time and eats up the batteries. You probably won't even be able to tell the difference (quality) between WAV and a properly encoded MP3. Especially in any environment where a portable audio device is applicable.

As always, if your need max sound qaulity, use the -Alt Preset Extrme or -Alt Preset Insane switch in LAME encoder.

 

[noguilt]

thanks for helping out an obvious novice with idiosyncratic listening habits (relative to most folks who use DAP's).

Quote:

You probably won't even be able to tell the difference (quality) between WAV and a properly encoded MP3. Especially in any environment where a portable audio device is applicable.

i'll try the settings you suggest, and tentatively defer to your expertise/experience on the audibility of differences, but i was hoping to avoid the time spent ripping and just put the .wav files on the zen nx directly. (The perception of how much time this takes is obviously relative to the individual and his/her life patterns.)

Quote:

Using a DAP for .WAV is totally overkill. It runs the hard disk all the time and eats up the batteries.

regarding hard drives in computers, the consensus has long been that starting and stopping hard drives stresses them more than leaving them on for long periods, so as long as one finds the battery life acceptable (and if the battery lasts a few hours a day, that's fine, as i don't listen to music most of the time). Is there something about DAP's that alters this conventional wisdom about hard drive's?

 

[Gojira]

does the nomad zen nx's support of wav files mean, as i assume, that one can transfer music directly from cd's to the zen nx, without ripping them first?

How would you plan on getting the redbook CDs converted to WAV files without ripping them? Can the NX read the redbook format?

 

[austonia]

Quote:

Originally posted by noguilt regarding hard drives in computers, the consensus has long been that starting and stopping hard drives stresses them more than leaving them on for long periods, so as long as one finds the battery life acceptable (and if the battery lasts a few hours a day, that's fine, as i don't listen to music most of the time). Is there something about DAP's that alters this conventional wisdom about hard drive's?

nah. i was mostly pointing out that you may only get a few hours of playtime if using only WAV files. plus, you're not gonna fit many CD's on there at 600mb each. Zen supports this, so there is no problem if you want to, but the it really excels as a compressed music player.