Neuros Review

An anonymous reader writes "MP3newswire.net has just posted a lengthy review of the Neuros digital music portable. Just recently the company announced native Linux support for synchronizing the Neuros and we all know that Ogg Vorbis support is promised in the near future, so the unit is drawing a lot of interest. For the most part they liked the player, though they found the unit to be relatively big and heavy for a new generation portable. They also found the file transfer interface to be both impressive and glitchy."

Submit Feedback! Get ogg support on iPods too!

[numbski]

Let apple know you want this on your iPod too! [apple.com]

This is slightly off-topic, but slashdot apple while we're at it requesting ogg-vorbis support! Do so nicely, but be firm. Let them know you have music that can't be played without hacking iTunes, and you can't play it back at all on your iPod.

Let them know your future business depends on it!

WARNING!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

That link sends a nasty e-mail via feedback form to SCO. It has NOTHING to do with portable audio players.

Linux Support

[toaster13]

Umm why on earth does a linux based mp3 player not have a way to sync or simply download music from linux itself? Or did I miss that while crawling all over their site?

Re:These harddrive mp3 players cost too much

[MuckSavage]

2.5 inch hard drives, the same drives used in notebooks can cost from 100 to 300 bucks. Here's a link. [macmall.com] And the ipod is not for the rich. I have one, and I sure as hell am not rich.

OOS MP3 Player

[jdh-22]

The best part about the Neuros [neurosaudio.com] is that it based on an open architecture. Basiclly gives you the option of making it into whatever you want.

My good friend has one, and he loves it. It is a really nice portable mp3 player. He was able to develop a program so that it automaticly sends his voice mail (in mp3 format) to his Neuros. The only thing that I didn't like about it is that it is bigger than most mp3 players. Especially when you add on the 20 gig backpack to it. Awsome features! Fm transmitter, ogg mp3 wma support, and good battery life.

Same price as 15gb iPod

[Arc04]

Just for the lazy people who can't be bothered to check, on Amazon.com right now, the 20gb Neuros is the same price as the 15gb iPod - $380.

This means 5gb more for your money with the Neuros - you decide.

Re:Just make it work

[tuffy]

If this product cannot reliably transfer music without copious under the hood tweaking, I am not interested.

The Positron synch software is requiring less and less tweaking over time. Having music be automatically detected would be nice, but Ogg's consistent handling of metadata, mp3s support only a variety of hackish id3 tags which are probably best handled outside the device.

USB 2.0 would be a nice addition too but even on that I will make accomodation.

USB2.0 will be a free upgrade for those who buy their units before July (I think). That's also coming Real Soon.

Re:MyFi

[Demanche]

The ipod has a 3rd party add-on that does something similar - but having it built in would be a plus.

Check out an article about it here [macworld.com]

The again - I'm still ranting about the battery issue ;)

Re:Linux Support?

[gehrehmee]

Grr.

Here. [xiph.org]

Sorry.

RTFProductSpec

[Ars-Fartsica]

Sorry, the article does not jive with the spec.

RTF Produce Spec [neurosaudio.com]

Clearly states USB 1.1.

USB 2.0 support is coming, but not here now.

Take a look at this player (Mambo-X)

[bratmobile]

Aside from the radio features, this player looks way over-priced. I just bought a Mambo X [mambox.com] for my girlfriend, and so far she and I have been really happy with it. In a nutshell, $200 gets you 20G, USB mass-storage interface (no need to use a sync manager -- you just have direct access to the drive), MP3 and WMA support (and yes, the vendor has committed to supporting Ogg Vorbis), audio record, and Li ion battery.

It isn't glorious or beautiful (iPods certainly are cute), but it works really well, is fast, CHEAP, high-capacity, and really light.

And, no, I'm not associated with the company in any way. But if you are already looking at the Neuros, you should be aware that there are products that cost half as much, and have 95% of the features. (The radio thing is neat, but we don't care -- headphones are the only thing that will be plugged into it.)

Re:claimed "iPod killer" features, no proof

[arkhan_jg]

It turns out that the only "killer" feature I could come across was "HiSi"

You are kidding, right? If you want a killer feature, being able to transmit a shortrange radio broadcast is definitely it. "MyFi" iirc, would be so useful. In the car, I have a built in radio/CD player, but no 'in jack' to the amp. So short of ripping the dash apart or replacing the stereo, I wasn't able to connect anything external to it. By broadcasting on a spare FM frequency, I can easily play my stored music back through my incar amp. Plus, it sounds I could override the radio if someone in the office is playing something crap on theirs chosen station ;)

Having a tuner is handy. On my existing long in the tooth flash mp3 player (a maycom merit) i listen to the radio as much as I do the stored tunes. Even at home, with my whole collection at my fingertips, I listen to broadcast radio or net radio more than my collection, simply cos it's a way of hearing stuff I haven't heard yet (but then I'm in the UK, so all the stations aren't owned by clearchannel, or being shut off the net by the RIAA). Plus, I do listen to the news or comedy. Sure, I could have a separate radio with separate batteries, but all in one is just easier.

Identifying stuff of the radio is a handy feature. Just the other day, I had a riff bugging me off the radio, and I missed who it was by. I spent a good hour at home that night trying to track it down. (for the record it was seven nation army, by the white stripes). As the review says, it spotted current track hits even when the signal was flakey, and as the back catalogue grows, the match ratio will improve for more obscure stuff. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick...

As for ogg support, yes, you can't buy ogg vorbis tracks. Yet. But ogg I'm sure will make an impact on streaming, given it's high quality at low bitrates, and is patent and licence cost free. If I was setting up a net radio station, and I had a choice between wma, real, aac, mp3 or ogg, I'd pick mp3 and vorbis, mp3 for compatibility, and ogg because it's better quality and free!

AAC support is not widespread away from the the itunes crowd don't forget, so I've no doubt it will become the dominant format on apple's kit, I doubt it will impact much elsewhere. AAC is quite heavily patent encumbered, similarly to mp3. Microsoft has no interest in plugging AAC, so it will remain a minority codec on windows, as no doubt will ogg for recorded tracks. On linux, vorbis is the best choice, given the patent and licensing issues. Linux is rapidly approaching mac's market share on the desktop, and is reckoned in many quarters to soon pass it. Even if it doesn't, vorbis support is at least as important as AAC support for the non mac crowd (at least until itunes comes to windows), and it comes free.

For the record, I am replacing all my tracks that I ripped a couple of years back at 128kb mp3. I had to choose between higher rate mp3, or ogg (I run primarily linux and sometimes windows and wma and real just don't cut it in my book). After the 'listen test' I went with highish quality ogg, i.e. quality 7 which roughly averages 210kbs, as frankly, it sounds better on the amp hooked off my computer than a similar rate mp3 does. Plus, it's smaller, and that's always nice. The question mark over whether the mp3 patent holders will start to charge for software players is another mark against it.

I'll give you that there a couple of bugs with it, and that it's a bit clunky. Still, there's no reason they can't release a lighter, more rounded drive unit that plugs into the main faceplate section, and I'm sure since that it's biggest drawback, that's high on the list of things to work on.

I tell you, if they have a more streamlined case on it by the time ogg support comes out, I'm buying one, no question.

Even without, I'll probably still buy one as it's likely to spend most of it's time in my car or on my desk, not in my pocket.

I definitely won't be buying an ipod, it just doesn't support what I want to do with a portable music player.

Re:Expensive

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, you can get a 10GB iPod for $199. Check Apple's web store. Look for "Special Deals". It'll be refurbished, sure, but I've had good experiences with refurbished Apple gear.