h a l f b a k e r yContrary to popular belief
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You know how there's CD/mp3 players on the market?
I guess you could say that the mp3/CD player is really a CD-ROM reader that specifically reads mp3s and Audio CDs.
Imagine if the player was a Dual Layer DVD-ROM reader (also Audio CD compatible)
Then you could theoretically play:
Audio Cds,
mp3's, wma's, Ogg's, FLAC's, APE's, etc, etc... (pictures too, maybe)
Sure, it could "only" hold about 9 Gigs of music, but you could change your entire collection instantaneously.
(just change the DVD-ROM disk)
Can you do that with your iPod, change your entire collection instantaneously?
It would obviously be larger than an Ipod, but I sure would like one!!
FLAC hardware list
http://flac.sourcef...links.html#hardware Devices that play FLAC files [EdisonEnvy, Aug 24 2007]
Toshiba Libretto
http://www.pocket-l...ptop-notebook.phtml [wagster, Aug 24 2007]
GP2X
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G2x Portable and upgradeable [BunsenHoneydew, Aug 29 2007]
[link]
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I think what [EdisonEnvy] means is you can swap one disc for another a heck of a lot faster than you can transfer 8GB of data electronically.
(I don't know enough about data transfer rates to do the numbers precisely.) |
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If you're into lossless music (flac's, shn's, ape's, etc), the sound waves are exactly like the original, mp3s and other lossy formats are close approximations. Consequently, the files are larger, and 30 gigs on an Ipod just ain't enough, it would be better to swap out disks until they come out with a terabyte iPod that I can add Rockbox software to. Besides, I just might want to play an old fashioned Audio CD.
That's why I want it, of course everyone won't want it, but I think it would be useful on a long trip without a PC to hook your iPod to. |
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I am currently typing on a portable machine made by Toshiba. It can read dual-layer DVD's and play Audio Cds, mp3's, wma's, Ogg's, FLAC's, APE's and almost every other codec yet made - including video which it displays on it's integrated screen. It is larger than an iPod but still small enough to fit in my bag. Battery life is very good if you leave it closed and just playing music. I'd say this is fairly widely known to exist. |
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[wagster] is that Schroeder's piano? Isn't hard to carry with Snoopy sitting on top? |
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[G_C] - Very, but it's great for bopping Lucy on the head when she gets all romantic on me. |
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[wagster], what model # is this?
I've never heard of it, I looked on amazon but couldn't find it.
I don't think it's "fairly widely known to exist" because most portable cd players will only play mp3s, certainly not FLACs and APEs and SHNs. |
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I will suggest that they add it to
the FLAC website hardware list (link above), but I need a model # first. (I don't see any portable disc players on that site with FLAC support) |
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I just think the features I described could be built into all future Audio Cd players, which I hope everyone admits are going to be around for a while.
As an example, there are still new turntables and cassette players even though those formats are not very popular any more. Why not make the ol' CD player as versatile as possible? |
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Besides, hard drives can crash, even little ones (solid state chips are better), but if your music is stored on discs (that you handle carefully) I bet they will last longer than those little hard drives. Nine Gigs (per day/disc) is enough for me. |
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It's a Toshiba Libretto (link). Well it's not, but that's the modern Tosh equivalent. As you don't seem to have cottoned on to where I was going, let me elaborate. |
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CD/mp3 players exist already - upgrading them to DVD standard would enable you to store more tunes, but then so would an iPod - and statistically hard drives are *much* more reliable than disc based media, even if you're careful. If you want picture too, then you need one of those standalone DVD players my son kept asking for. They'll also play audio, but I don't think they handle mp3. |
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I eventually bought my son a second hand laptop on ebay. It plays DVDs, mp3's, avi's, in fact pretty much any video or audio media (sadly not cassette, vinyl or Œ"), and it wasn't hugely much more than a new iPod. Also, unlike a bit of hardware like an iPod, it can be constantly upgraded to handle whatever new codecs may arise. |
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Your idea isn't a terrible one, it just won't stand up against the iPod well enough to carve a niche out of the market. |
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My MP3 player is my cell phone. It has a micro-SD memory chip that I can pop out and replace with another in just a few seconds. I haven't worked out a great chip carrier yet, but/because the things are only the size of my little fingernail. I can get 4GB chips, I know, and bigger capacity on larger chips. |
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That is how I think MP3 players should be made, and how I assumed they were made when I first tried to buy one (in a foreign country, so that was really confusing). Although a 80GB player pretty much makes chip-changing unnecessary. |
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I don't like the idea of having all the mechanical complexity and weight of a disc-player. I don't even bother to copy CDs from the library anymore, I just rip them into MP3s. [ ] |
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Don't get more music, get better music. |
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Or for something portable, software upgradeable, cheaper and smaller than a used Libretto, have a look at the GamePark GP2X Linux powered portable console [link] |
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