Any available news on a SonicBlue/Rio iPod killer? Christmas shopping is about to start up for me and I'm curious if I should hold off on an iPod for my wife, or if SonicBlue were to release one of these, would it probably happen after Christmas?

Greg

Well, I'll be moderately annoyed if they announce one tomorrow as I just bought myself a 20GB iPod. Nice toy, by the way, although the shiny chrome back seems to be a fingerprint magnet. The software isn't quite as clever as the Empeg about caching, so sometimes you're sitting there waiting for it to put together the list of tunes in a huge playlist. Still, it's a great toy.

(I'm going to Japan on business on Wednesday, and I had to have something to tide me through the long flight. I also got myself a set of Etymotic ER-6 earphones. These things are truely stellar.)

shiny chrome back seems to be a fingerprint magnet

A word to the wise: the clear plastic front seems to be a scratch magnet. The plastic's quite soft (at least on my 10Gb iPod), and gets scratched up quite easily, particularly when you put your empeg in the same bag for the walk downstairs to the car.

I got myself a natty case from Marware, but the damage is already done .

It'll come in useful (with the remote control) when I go snowboarding in December.

I have the same case for my iPod, and it's a must! Get one at the same time you get your iPod and you won't be sorry. I'm looking forward to using mine this year for snowbaording too! The Mareware case's armband and the iPod remote should be pretty usefull for that.

The Ipod killer is called Nomad Zen adn its pretty darned cool, not empeg mind you but very cool Plus sides are:
Hackable (hopefully!)
1394 OR USB
charges off of USB
Remote with record capability (keep fingers crossed)
Cons (thus Far):
Not clever enough cache
Absolute crap for computer software (BUY Notmad from redchair.com)
Small display/hard to read (in the car!!)

>Ipod killer is called Nomad Zen

Is it available? If so where? I'm interested in an ipod like device. Maybe even an ipod if nothing else comes out soon.

-Calvin

If you think that's an iPod killer you ain't seen nothing yet.

Rob

The Ipod killer is called Nomad Zen

I don't know about "killer": although cheaper, it's substantially thicker and heavier and doesn't have the superb physical design, or (from the look of it) such a nice screen. But it does look like the first real Ipod competitor.

As of today I'd still buy an Ipod (though I'd get the 20Gb, not the 5 I currently have).

Peter

If you think that's an iPod killer you ain't seen nothing yet.

Tease !

Hmmm... I'm taking that as an Offically Unofficial notification to start saving some cash

Damn, don't say things like that. I've already got funds allocated for a tuner, but if you beat patrick to market, you're gonna force me to make some tough decisions.

Matthew

Mmm. Charge off USB. They don't mention a charge time, and at 500mA maximum current draw over USB it'll take hours when fully switched off... (unless they're ignoring the specs, which would cause incompatibilities with correctly designed motherboards). It's only USB1.1, too.

Firewire has a far higher current limit, hence the iPod can get away with it (even though it takes several hours to recharge too).

It's also far too big to be considered an iPod competitor in my eyes - the iPod is about as big as my jeans pocket can manage!

Hugo

I've gotten myself a (windows) iPod this week...

Let me tell you : it a VERY nice piece of design, absolutely bar-none THE prettiest mp3 walkman I've ever seen. It works amazingly fast thanks to the Firewire interface too.

BUT!... The software provided (musicmatch) is ab-so-lu-tely NO match for emplode.

For one, it does NOT maintain directory structure, because it gets ALL of it's data from the mp3tag and NONE of the filename. This is bad for me because all my mp3's are nicely sorted on my pc's hd in different categories in different directories. When I upload them to the iPod, it all becomes one big soup, forcing me to remember every artist or title (or album) by heart if I want to find a track. (not that easy considering I've got the 20gig iPod).

My mp3's were still sorted in directories because of my first mp3 unit, a neo 35. I found that with this unit this was the easiest way to search for tracks. All I had to remember was : is it dance or not? Is it a full album or not ? Is it a recent track or not ? These 3 parameters were good/precise enough (because of the way my directory structure was created) to find any track pretty fast without really knowing its name. Then came the Empeg and made everything even easier with its search algorithms. (one of the features of the Empeg that I love the most and is most certainly in my top 3 !).

Because the iPod does not maintain file structure, I also encountered another problem :
With the Neo and the Empeg I never had to fill in the track# field of an mp3 tag, and so I never did. The Neo looked at the file name and sorted it on file name. My Empeg remembers it by position, which is easily altered if needed to.
My filenames are like this : <track#> - <artist> - <title>.mp3, my mp3 tags are then generated automatically with tag & rename for the <artist> and <title> field, but the <track#> field gets dropped. I then later add <albumname> and <genre> by hand. Very easy to do with tag & rename since I only have to fill it in once and it processes the rest of the files in batch.
But because of this none of my <track#> fields were filled in. Now the iPod INSISTS it must have this field, otherwise it just plays the mp3's in alphabetical order. NOT very nice considering I also have a standup comedy mp3 section. Imagine a whole 2hr standup comedy show garlbled up because all the tracks get played in alphabetical order instead of by track#. Not pretty.

So yesterday it took me a few hrs to fill in all those track# fields. Luckily I got the help of mp3 tag studio which did most of the work for me. I really don't want to think of the amount of work it would have cost me if I would have had to do this all by hand.

To make a long story short : I love the iPod's hardware, no question about it. The software if a whole different matter. I will probably surprise nobody if I say that the ultimate combination would be iPod (or iPod-like) hardware running empeg software (empload)

This whole experience has really made me think of how spoilt I am because of high-quality and well-though-through product that is the Empeg. The hardware may begin to show its age, the software most definitely is not. I don't think there's another product/company in the whole world which has even reached the same level.

I'm probably kicking in an open door when I say this, but here goes : Empeg guys : there is still a LOT of room for improvement in the portable mp3 market ! Bring it on !

ahhhhh! mannn! I was gonna buy a 20GB IPod but not anymore. Looks like I'm gonna be savin' some money for a bit!

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I'm probably kicking in an open door when I say this, but here goes : Empeg guys : there is still a LOT of room for improvement in the portable mp3 market ! Bring it on !

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All I can say is that "you're preaching to the choir, brother".

All I can say is that "you're preaching to the choir, brother".

It has just occured to me how odd that well used phrase is. In my (past) experience the members of the choir are often the most Godless members of the congregation...

You say that like its a bad thing.

In my (past) experience the members of the choir are often the most Godless members of the congregation...

Although I, too, use that phrase to mean "I agree with you so there is no need to sway my opinion", I guess it could also refer to the fact that the choir has heard a given sermon a million times already.

Duuuude!

Tag & Rename does this automatically too! All you have to do is an "mp3 file to ID3 tag" write where the "file name mask" ='s :

%6 - %1 - %2

That will put your track number in the ID3 tag for you.

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I guess it could also refer to the fact that the choir has heard a given sermon a million times already

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Not to mention that, a full choir singing has a hard time hearing anything else. They're really not listening to the sermon... oh, that's the catholic church. Sry..

If you think that's an iPod killer you ain't seen nothing yet

I can't help but wonder if you guys get to test out this 'nothing' in daily life? How far away do you think we are from seeing 'nothing'?

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I guess it could also refer to the fact that the choir has heard a given sermon a million times already.

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Yep, thats my point.

The Choir generally its assumed has heard the sermon many many times (especially if its a well worn issue), and therefore they are either:

1. Totally on side with the preacher and have been for a long time

or

2. Totally immune to whats being said and no amount of preaching will convert them.


another similar phrase is "you're preaching to the converted".

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I can't help but wonder if you guys get to test out this 'nothing' in daily life?

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In Public.

I've come to the conclusion that the new code word for the iPod killer is not an exotic fruit, it is in fact "iPod".
So all those comments about iPod from Peter and the rest of the SB Audio team - that we assume relate to the Apple iPod - well they don't - its the new secret "project iPod" gadget they are talking about...

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How far away do you think we are from seeing 'nothing'?

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Going on past performance:

Expect it to be announced/shown at CES2003, Las Vegas, January 2003.

When you can "get one" in your hot hands?
Dunno - possibly by the end of January 2003 if its released at CES2003.
More likely before the end of June 2003.

Tag & Rename does this automatically too!

Thanks for your input, but I knew that. I never said Tag&Rename couldn't do this.
I actually use both programs and haven't decided on which one I like best.
I'm leaning towards Tag&Rename though...

Can this Zen thing be used as a portable hard drive a la the Archos...? I am really fond of the Archos' "blind" nature toward files. I just use explorer to copy my music or backups to the 20GB drive and away I go... the Archos keeps the directory structure and if it's a supported audio format... just plays it. No "syncing" involved. This pretty much precludes any fancy Empeg searching on the unit, but it uses basic winamp playlists and I use "EZ-Playlist" to make those.

the Archos keeps the directory structure and if it's a supported audio format... just plays it. No "syncing" involved

Well, in my book that makes the Archos a better player than the iPod. Not because of the not having to sync issue (I have to do this to with my Empeg and it never bothered me) but because it keeps directory structure. That is one feature that I considered so normal that I never even thought that there would be a player around that didn't support it. It's a pain.

The iPod can be used as a portable hd though, but any (mp3) files you copy onto it through the normal copy procedure (and not sync) won't be played.

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another similar phrase is "you're preaching to the converted".

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I imagine that was what was meant in this case. "Preaching to the choir", at least here, means that you've lost the interest of both sides - the only ones still present are those obliged to remain.

One HUGE advantage of the Archos is Rockbox, an open source firmware. Games, more languages, many more features, etc. This is something that is especially great for users of this board. All you have to do is copy one file onto the player or recorder (the recorder is much nicer hardware) Check it out at rockbox.haxx.se

-eric

With all the problems I've been having with my iPod, I've already visited Archos' page twice today, can you believe it?