I was wondering, the problem with CD Players in the past has been that they skip if you bump them. I'm wondering for HD based portable mp3 players if they are subject to the same problem? In the worst case I imagine if the read head on the hard drive hit the platter, you basically have a hard drive crash on your hands (maybe even physically damaged the hard drive forever?).

Just wondering if anybody out there can confirm that these HD based portable mp3 players are good if you're walking around (ie. don't skip). I suppose I should also ask have people found them to be fairly durable, or do you have to baby them like crazy.

I did read a few reviews of the Archos player on the Amazon site and it appeared that some people complained about crashes. I suppose user error and alterior motives could lead to those posts too.

They are OK if you walk, but when jogging or whatever. The HDDs inside are actually notebook HDDs which are as sensible as the normal ones (when not even more).

Can anybody that owns one confirm if these HD based mp3 player do skip frequently.

That would be a good example, if you tried to jog with it would there be many problems with skipping (and huge probability of a crash?).

It is almost impossible to make a HD-based mp3 player skip. To do it, you'd need a radial shock every 10 milliseconds for about 1 minute (depending on the player). The human body cannot transmit such vibrations.

In theory a very strong radial schock every second could cause the hard drive to reset, but I've never seen that (and it depends a lot of the HDD brand).

Perpendicular shocks are less frequent when jogging, but if there's a strong one while the magnetic head is flying, it can crash on the surface. If it happens a few times, the head usually dies (or the surface becomes worse and worse because the particles scrub it).

Hints:
- you can jog with a HDD-based player, but take a good 1-year warranty at minimum.
- avoid Toshiba.

Okay thanks for the info.

I would probably only be walking with it luckily, but I mainly wanted to see if this thing skips like my mp3 based CD player.

The mp3 based CD Players have a big flaw (at least mine does).....when you start a new track if you bump it the buffer never gets full so it skips big time. Usually to the point where it can't get started and powers down

I hate this thing, that's why I'm hoping HD based players are awesome.

Actually notebooks HD'are are more tolerant to bumps then the desktop version.
They can also resist bigger Froces upon them before they break. that why they are made for laptops. They can resist the traveling around much better.





Normally HDD players have a ram buffer which gives enormes amount og skip protection
My ipod 30gb haves 32mb of buffer. thats around 1/3-172 CD128kbits. Giving me ~30mins of antiskip.
I never had it to skip onces when I'm running og "trashing" my bike :-)

yup thats true all mp3 player have a lot of memory and read songs into memory. then switch of the HD and read in songs when needed. to save battery and a HD that is off a lot will last longs AND is break free. most HD when non operational can without several G forces on them.

nevertheless a HD mp3 player should not be used for sport activities!!

Hmmm actually I have not seen what the buffer is for the Nomad Zen Xtra on their website, that's a good question. I believe it's 16 MB on the new ones, on their old ones 8MB.

Agreed that I should not use it for sporting activities. I think the bigger question is if I have it in my bag and I drop the bag on the floor from 4", will I break the darn thing!