If you are like me, when you visit the iRiver website you often head straight for the forums, or the firmware downloads page. But I noticed a new poll on their frontpage today (no telling how long it's been there), and thought I should mention it here.

Briefly, the folks at iRiver are considering what to add to their product line. No guarantees that any of these will be the next thing they release, but at least they are asking! Here are the options:



- M.

Portable Divx Player?

Their last poll was similar, but with different choices. I remember I picked "DVD-RW multi-codec player". Then I eventual realized that wouldn't be so cool unless it could play DVD-Audio disks, which is kinda pointless when out and about in the noisy world.

Anyway... I'm totally stuck. I can't decided whether to vote for 1GB Flash Type MP3 Player or DivX Player. I need to find out what they mean by a Divx Player first. I mean, would it be a DVD player that has a screen that can play divx files? Or a Hard Disk player with a screen that can play Divx files? Can it play audio too? I mean, the description is soooo vague.

The poll was created Valentine's Day. And I would kill, or die, for a portable DivX player of any kind.

A 1GB flash player would probably force me to sell my SlimX IMP-350 and 128MB MPIO DMK flash MP3 player. With that much memory, the flexibility to shuffle songs without having to burn them onto CDs would be awesome. Of course, their initial price would probably be close to $600 USD for such a device considering they want $350 USD for the IFP-195T. Who would pay that? Not me. I'd have to wait until it was more affordable, which could be at least a year or two until it becomes obsolete.

1GB flash is already possible. The NexIIe supports 1GB flash cards. Largest I have at the moment is 256MB.

I think the Iriver products are a bit better quality though.

1gb flash player would be nice. but before there is no ogg firmware i buy NOTHING.

http://www.archos.com

Their devices can play MPEG-4 video files.

... and quite well, from what I've seen (as long as you don't try to use "advanced" features like GMC or QPEL). But it has at least one serious drawback: the connection to external devices is a flimsy cable with an eighth-inch phono-jack, which serves as a combined audio/video cord. Saving space by omitting any RCA connectors? Perhaps, but how hard would it really have been to allow an extra half-inch for them?!

Personally, I'm holding out for a CD-R DivX player. I'm not a fan of HDD-based (or Flash-based) players, in general... despite having bought my wife, the Mac addict, an iPod.

- M.

My thoughts exactly. A 1GB flash player was what I voted for on their poll, but the initial price of such a product (if ever produced by iRiver) would be through the roof. Yikes!

The 1 gb flash player is in the lead. I would go for that myself.

Later.

It's not Iriver, but the NexIIe can be had just about anywhere for around $100.

Here is a 1GB Sandisk Flashcard for $250.

http://www.shop4tech.com/user.htm?go=view_item&id=821

Total price for a 1GB Flashplayer, $350.

I think that 1Gb flash MP3 player will be great too!
(that i I voted too!)... will be a good replacement to
the recordable CD (or the two ZIP disks) I carry
dayly to the office to transfer data!

Any idea about the price of the 512Mb version?
Best regards.
b:.

Yeah, something like that would be my exercize player....Ah yes, I need flash media for exercise though, no micro-drives (yes, I know this one isn't). What is the transfer rate on that new 1GB CompactFlash media?

edit: Hmm, I read

Data Transfer Rate To/From Flash
2.5 MBytes/sec burst
Data Transfer Rate To/From Host
16.6 MBytes/sec burst

Host? Is this an adaptor of some sorts?...anyway, from the 2.5 MBytes/sec burst figure, I get about 6.8 seconds to fill 1GB (1024MB)...is this about right? If so, man, that's pretty nifty.

Hmmm....

I think for the best speed, might want to get a flash reader that is USB 2.0. Anybody have one that could post some transfer numbers?

Good point. The Nex IIe is probably one of the best flash-based MP3 players out there in terms of overall features and value. If I didn't already have a SlimX, I'd easily jump on this and a 1 GB flash card.

Before you go jumping on that 1GB CF card, know that Sandisk products have proven to be troublesome to many including myself; a quick net search reveals mostly medicore reviews at best. For example, I "killed" two Sandisk 256MB SD cards by simply dragging MP3 files to them from Windows Explorer like I would to any of my other 5 flash cards. Sandisk claimed that my system bus was too fast for the cards (wow, a blazing 133Mhz? ). The Sandisk 256MB CF-1 card I had before that claimed a burst write-rate of 2MB/sec, but in actuality was closer to 500KB/sec (if even). That thing took forever to fill up. You are better off spending a little more on a Lexar or similar-make card. Go for something marked 24x or higher, otherwise you will grow old trying to drop files to the card (as I did with my Nex II). If you don't mind (greatly) decreased battery life, go for a microdrive......the 1GB ones frequently go for $179 on eBay. The main difference is in current consumption...microdrives draw ~250mAh while some CF cards draw a fourth of that.

One more point...while the Nex II/e is a nice player, you might also want to check out the slightly larger eDigital MXP 100. It can run a microdrive for 12h/charge (or CF for 30), has voice navigation, and can be found new on eBay for $49.

What about the PQI brand of CompactFlash cards? I found this link just a short while ago, but I wonder if these products are reliable given the "dirt cheap" prices they sell them for.

http://www.flashmemorycards.vze.com

What about the PQI brand of CompactFlash cards? I found this link just a short while ago, but I wonder if these products are reliable given the "dirt cheap" prices they sell them for.

http://www.flashmemorycards.vze.com

EDIT: This double-posting is not something that I'm doing intentionally. I only hit the submit button once, but still this problem continues. What ever happened to the option of users deleting their own posts?

Negative Zero posts so nice
He feels that he MUST post it twice.

Later.