Views & Advice on this Combo Please...

[David]

even slower than you are thinking

I did look at the card reader for an ipod but they want 90 quid for it and I felt that was to much. wonder how fast it is, I Know you cant even look at stored files
with Ipod unless they are copied from a computer first which is a bit odd. This
memory file/ portable stuff is all still new, in ten Years time we will laugh about it.
anyone remember Ant atack on the spectrum :-)

David

[nickb]

iRiver 40GB here too, with Etymotic 4P headphones - fanfriggintastic - and your a lot less likely to get mugged for it c/w an iPod

Over 350 Albums and still 10 gig to spare.

With drag & drop from Windows Explorer, it's a piece of pi$$ for even the biggest numpty

Battery life's brilliant too

[Bantam]

Originally Posted by David

even slower than you are thinking

I did look at the card reader for an ipod but they want 90 quid for it and I felt that was to much. wonder how fast it is, I Know you cant even look at stored files
with Ipod unless they are copied from a computer first which is a bit odd. This
memory file/ portable stuff is all still new, in ten Years time we will laugh about it.
anyone remember Ant atack on the spectrum :-)

David

Sort-of. The ipod stores the music files in a hidden set of subdirectories. This is primarily to stop the record companies and the RIAA / BPI getting a hufty on and blaming Apple for copying music and the destruction of the world. Almost like a simple rudimentary copy protection.

We all know it's get-aroundable, however.

As for other files - the free space just appears like a normal disk. You can connect your Windows iPod to any Windows machine and see the files stored therein.

The only issue comes when you connect a Windows iPod to a Mac, or a Mac iPod to a Windows PC, although I don't use it like that, I think they've sorted that with the current version.

As for copying off the Media reader - it's blindingly quick (Firewire speed). I use 1Gb microdrives for my camera and it works great. Takes a couple of minutes to empty it (although my 40Gb iPod is virtually full of music anyway - about 10,000 tracks of which I own every CD (or bought legally off iTunes))

NickB - I definitely agree about the Etymotics - I auditioned a pair of those and also the Shure ones, but my primary use is either on an aeroplane or in the car, so I bought these on my last jaunt to LA. And they work pretty well. Sounds not as good, but the noise cancelling works so well I can sleep in silence on the plane!



Mark.

[nickb]

Originally Posted by Bantam

NickB - I definitely agree about the Etymotics - I auditioned a pair of those and also the Shure ones, but my primary use is either on an aeroplane or in the car, so I bought these on my last jaunt to LA. And they work pretty well. Sounds not as good, but the noise cancelling works so well I can sleep in silence on the plane!

The Etymotics with the foam pads have about -25dB of attenuation. This is almost as good as proper earplugs (around -28dB). With the silicon tips they are not quite as good, but good enough for me on a plane. One of the great features is that they don't leak sound: I can lie in bed with the iRiver turned right up and my wife won't hear a thing right next to me (apart from me singing along!)

[Neil M]

Originally Posted by David

can anyone tell me more about connecting direct to camera for down loading
how long does it take ? how complicated is it ? can my farther in law do it ?

he is picture mad and talking about buying a laptop to take on holiday just
to download the 8 256meg mem sticks each time he fills them up ?
he will edit them on his home pc.


David

Hi David,

I went through the same thing a while ago.. the IRiver h340 can connect to some cameras directly to copy the files (check our their web site for models), but for my Sony P10 I had to buy a Syncbox (for about £20). I plug the camera into this, and the mp3 player int o the syncbox, and let it do it's job. (copying from cam to mp3 player)

so now I have about 40gb of space (minus my music) to use when I'm away

Hope this helps...
Neil

[Fathoms Down]

Just to confuse people even more I'd recommend an HP iPaq pocket PC with wireless. Ok, why is that I her you thinking? Well, its a very useful piece of kit and supports WiFi, VPNs and streaming media. Ok, so it may only have 512Mb of internal storage but I can access over 200Gb of music from my server at home using a WiFi connection or download stuff to the SD card for when I'm going out of WiFi range.

Not a Tefal head? Then the Creative Zen is very good, the iRiver is even better and, hate to say it, but the iPod is very much lagging in terms of battery life and audio quality.

[Bantam]

Originally Posted by Fathoms Down

Just to confuse people even more I'd recommend an HP iPaq pocket PC with wireless. Ok, why is that I her you thinking? Well, its a very useful piece of kit and supports WiFi, VPNs and streaming media. Ok, so it may only have 512Mb of internal storage but I can access over 200Gb of music from my server at home using a WiFi connection or download stuff to the SD card for when I'm going out of WiFi range.

Similar idea to my squeezebox. My apple mac stores 2500 CD's and plays out over the wireless LAN.

[NeilB]

Deja Vu! I am sure I have posted this somewhere else on YD today.....

Bought my kids one of these for Christmas.... http://www.gwaytech.com.tw/ not only does it play mp3s and have 20gb of disk space it also plays mpeg4 movies ie divx or avi. Thus you can compress your favourite dvds and take them with you when you travel. At the moment my youngest has 10 dvds and 15 music cds on his gadget and still has over half the disk space left.

Costs around £230 but comes with rf car adapter and leather case....worth a look.

[ahar]

Originally Posted by Fathoms Down

Just to confuse people even more I'd recommend an HP iPaq pocket PC with wireless.

I use my Ipaq 2210 for music in dull hotel rooms but the battery life is pretty poor compared to dedicated MP3 players like the IPOD.

I've seen the future however, and it's the iPOD shuffle !

http://www.apple.com/uk/ipodshuffle/

[Bantam]

Originally Posted by nickb

The Etymotics with the foam pads have about -25dB of attenuation. This is almost as good as proper earplugs (around -28dB). With the silicon tips they are not quite as good, but good enough for me on a plane. One of the great features is that they don't leak sound: I can lie in bed with the iRiver turned right up and my wife won't hear a thing right next to me (apart from me singing along!)

Okay. Time for Public humble pie.

Don't waste money on the Sony noise-cancelling headphones - for the price they're pants. Really pants. Ok - they drown out the plane noise, but that's about it. The sound quality is shocking for the money.

Today (being in Dallas at the moment) I went to Frys and bought a pair of Shure E3c in-ear phones. (See Here ). They're meant to be $179.99 but they were on special today at $149.99 (so about £80 give or take). They're almost identical to the Etymotics ones.

Oh. My. God - it's been so long since I have bopped around the room listening to my iPod - I thought it was outputting bad sound, but it was the headphones which were shite. These puppies are the best I've heard! Also, I didn't know the iPod went *that* loud!!

I'm basing my experience by replacing the silicone tips with the foam in-ear pieces (like the rolly-yellow-foam buds you can get as ear defenders). There *is* quality in this unit after all!!

So if you've spent £300 on an iPod don't even unwrap the ones in the box and get a set of these imported (I don't think you can get them on the UK).

Just my 2.5c worth whilst I'm here!

Mark.