e.Digital Promises Another iPod Competitor 259
joefefifo writes: "e.Digital has a press release describing their Odyssey 1000, supposedly due out in the fall. Some stats: Looks like an iPod, uses USB 2.0., has a 20GB capacity, built-in mic for voice recording and navigation, FM Tuner with 12 presets, Mac & PC compatible, iTunes compatible, runs e.Digital's MicroOS 2.0. Except for the choice of OS, looks pretty sweet. Any chance someone will get it to run Linux instead?" Like Toshiba's little player, it uses USB 2 rather than Firewire.
tivo-like capacity on it? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:tivo-like capacity on it? (Score:2)
Slashdotted (Score:2, Redundant)
(SAN DIEGO, CA - July 22, 2002) - It's sleek, it's powerful, it has the capacity to download 4,800 songs, or 400 CDs, at lightning-quick speed -- and it's PC and Mac compatible. e.Digital Corporation (OTC: EDIG) today announced its new Odyssey 1000TM digital jukebox and data storage device, its premier digital audio player. Powered by e.Digital's MicroOS 2.0, the Odyssey 1000 combines the best of e.Digital's digital audio technology into one stellar, feature-packed unit.
Jim Collier, President and COO of e.Digital said, "The Odyssey 1000 sets the standard by which all other portable entertainment products will now be judged. It is the result of our first joint project with our strategic development partner Digitalway. It combines an elegant, world class industrial design from Digitalway's award-winning engineering team with e.Digital's state-of-the-art, patented audio technology. There is nothing else available that matches its elegant looks, full range of features, and cutting-edge Drag 'n RipTM technology."
The Odyssey 1000, which will be available to consumers this fall, boasts superb sound quality and outstanding battery life, with a minimum of 13 hours of playback time. The feature-rich Odyssey 1000 has a 20 Gigabyte hard drive for optimum MP3 and Windows MediaTM WMA playback and doubles as a data storage unit for movies, spreadsheets, e- books, and more. Its stainless steel, sleek industrial design only enhances the aesthetic appeal of this digital audio powerhouse, which is small enough to fit in a pocket or purse.
The Odyssey 1000's high-speed USB 2.0 connection and remarkable ease of use make downloading and transferring music a breeze. With the Odyssey 1000's USB 2.0 connection, users can transfer an entire CD to their player in about 5 seconds. And e.Digital's Drag 'n Rip technology enables users to transfer music in one easy step simply by dragging tracks directly from a CD directory onto their player's hard drive. Drag 'n Rip optionally enables users to create a mirror library of music on their computer. The Odyssey 1000 also is compatible with Mac iTunes TM.
Another outstanding feature is the Odyssey 1000's voice navigation capabilities. The Odyssey 1000 uses e.Digital's VoiceNavTM user interface based on Lucent's speech recognition technology so users can navigate through their libraries of music simply by the power of their own voice. It also has an easy-to-use scroll wheel for effortless manual navigation. In addition, the Odyssey 1000 is a voice recorder that comes with a built-in microphone for hours of voice recording on its massive hard drive.
Collier added that, "This is a product that will have broad appeal to both Mac and PC users. It provides them with a full suite of features and advanced technology not currently available from any other product on the market. It also will be subscription enabled and fully compatible with our subscription content partners, soon to be announced. Its intuitive user interface and ease of navigation will appeal to all age groups. Anyone who likes music and books will love the Odyssey 1000."
Furthermore, the Odyssey 1000 comes with music preloaded by e.Digital's Broadband Entertainment Business Unit so users can immediately start enjoying music on their player. The Odyssey 1000 also has an FM tuner with 12 available station presets and 16 MB DRAM buffering for robust anti-skip protection and increased battery life.
The standard Odyssey 1000 package will include e.Digital Music ExplorerTM 2.0 software for PC (featuring Drag 'n Rip technology), carrying case with belt clip, an installation CD and manual, stereo earphones, USB 2.0 cable with standard and mini connectors, a universal DC adaptor/battery charger, and RCA audio cable for home stereo connection.
The Odyssey 1000's Drag 'n Rip technology, voice navigation capabilities, and preloaded content make it absolutely unparalleled among its peers. The much-anticipated Odyssey 1000 will be available to consumers this fall.
The versatile Odyssey 1000 includes the following features:
Features:
About e.Digital
e.Digital Corporation offers an engineering partnership for the world's leading electronics companies to link portable digital devices to PCs and the Internet. e.Digital develops and markets to consumer electronics manufacturers complete end-to-end solutions for delivery and management of open and secure digital media with a focus on music, voice and video players/recorders, and automotive infotainment and telematics systems. Other applications for e.Digital's technology include portable digital music players and voice recorders; desktop, laptop, and handheld computers; PC peripherals; cellular phone peripherals; e-books; video games; digital cameras; and digital video recorders. Engineering services range from the licensing of e.Digital's patented MicroOSTM file management system to custom software and hardware development, industrial design, and manufacturing services. For more information on the company, please visit www.edig.com [edig.com].To shop in the e.Digital online store, please visit www.edigital-store.com [edigital-store.com].
# # #
Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform of 1995: This document contains forward-looking statements relating to future performance, technology and product development that may affect future results and the future viability of the company. Actual results could be affected or differ materially from those projected in the forward- looking statements as a result of risks and uncertainties, including future products and results, technological shifts, potential technical difficulties that could delay new products, competition, general economic factors, and conditions in the markets in which the company operates, pricing pressures, the uncertainty of market acceptance of new products and services by OEM's and end-user customers, and other factors identified and discussed in the Company's most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on information and management's expectations as of the date hereof. Future results may differ materially from the Company's current expectations.
Note: e.Digital, Music Explorer, MicroOS 2.0, Drag 'n Rip, VoiceNav and Odyssey are registered trademarks of e.Digital Corporation. Windows Media is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other company, product, and service names are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT:
Media Contact: Lisa Stevens, (858) 679-1504, PR@edig.com [mailto]
Investor Relations Contact: Robert Putnam, (858) 679-1504, robert@edig.com [mailto]
Sounds good. (Score:1)
But, on the other hand, if the new ideas like up to muster, this sounds extremely useful. Listening to the radio, replacing--perhaps--the mini tape recorder, and hopefully it can be sold for cheaper.
Get over it (Score:5, Insightful)
Huh? Except for the choice of OS? This goes too far. Who gives a crap if they don't use linux? It's not like it runs windows, it runs some OS they wrote, that does what it needs to do - play mp3s. If it works, and it does what it's supposed to do, good on them.
Now I'm all for somebody getting one and putting linux on it, but that's "hey a cool hack" value, not something that needs to be done to make the product worthwhile.
Re:Get over it (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Get over it (Score:2)
Re:Get over it (Score:2)
Actually since the device plays Microsoft .WMA files it probably does run a Microsoft embedded O/S.
But I really could not give a hoot whether it runs Linux or not, although it must be said that running Windows is a major plus when you want to tweak some Linux-bore droning on about how the fsck command in Linux is ten times better than anything Microsoft have got to offer in Windows XP and how he has it on good authority from a friend that Bill Gates is a gerbilling afficionado etc. etc.
Re:Get over it (Score:2)
Re:Get over it (Score:2)
Needless to say, there is no embedded windows in this thing. Using embedded windows (requiring beefy hardware compared to the probably 2 dsp's and a small microcontroller such an mp3 player would actually require) would do nothing except cut into the profit of the company making the player (licensing fees for the whole OS + the cost of the more expensive hardware to run it) and decrease things like battery life.
Re:Get over it (Score:3, Insightful)
I understand your desire to have aa portable whatever-you-want, but sometimes you should accept that a device isn't designed/meant to be used in this fashion.
The screen isn't large enough for output not specifically formatted for it. The buttons aren't sufficient for inputting data, unless you want to scroll through the alphabet console-game style. Sure, it can be done, but is it worth it?
My iPod is a FireWire hard drive. It doesn't plug into a network, but you'd need a computer to make it worth anything as a network storage device. If you plug the drive into a computer, the computer can be the samba server much more easily.
Sure, you could play more types of audio formats, but what are you going to listen to? MIDIs? VQFs? OGG, I suppose. There are formats that you could listen to, but is it currently worth it? And, notably, Linux doesn't support any audio format "natively".
I'm not completely familiar with the USB standard, but I don't think you could get the device to talk properly to another peripheral. One big part of USB (not a FireWire limitation) is that peripherals must communicate through the host computer, and not directly.
I don't deny the work people put forth to install Linux on everything isn't amazing, and a testament to the perserverance and ingenuity of people, but, as with case mods, there's a "gee, look what I did" period, and then it's gone, becuase the functoin isn't worth the hassle.
Re:Get over it (Score:2)
As a side note, A FireWire Ethernet Transceiver [klsi.com] already exists (preliminary documentation). If you were that interested in a Portable SAMBA server, you could get an iPod. ;)
linux toasters (Score:2)
Linux on toasters? Yawn. It's been done [k12.or.us]. I don't want to hear about toasters on linux [club-internet.fr] either.
Digital??? (Score:2, Funny)
Yeesh (Score:1)
Jeez, concentrate on more important things running linux, like a toaster, for example. [k12.or.us]
Not *truly* Mac compatible (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not *truly* Mac compatible (Score:2)
Re:Not *truly* Mac compatible (Score:1)
Re:Not *truly* Mac compatible (Score:2)
Re:Not *truly* Mac compatible (Score:3, Informative)
Most PCs don't have USB 2.0 yet. FireWire is becoming more available. DEll now offers a video editing studio with FireWire card for $50. It is already being used in a number of peripherals (many USB 2.0 devices also have FireWire interfaces).
FireWire also allows devices to communicate directly, reducing system overhead.
It also allows more power than the USB specification.
--
Just my thoughts.
Why they don't want to use FireWire.... (Score:1)
Re:Why they don't want to use FireWire.... (Score:2)
Apple doesn't charge a royalty for Firewire (Score:3, Informative)
Nope. Years back, the fee was $1.00. Now, I think it's nothing.
How much does Intel charge for USB? And why are they influencing the market by retarding adoption? Firewire is superior to USB 1&2 in every way, and Firewire 2 will be insane.
FW is expensive because Intel wants it that way. They don't want Apple to succeed, and they've too much investment in USB teh to let it go.
DRM support (Score:4, Interesting)
DRM use isn't mandatory (Score:2)
DRM is just there in case someone wants to listen to content that has DRM protections included. Other than the MS's licensing fees you inevitably pay, you're free to use it or ignore it, it's your choice. Inclusion of DRM won't hinder your ability to use it as an MP3 player.
(I'm sort of in the same position: I work for a company who is including MS DRM in the product I'm working on. I justify it by noting that I don't work on it, and if MS were to be sued out of existance tommorow, the product can still work admirably as an MP3 player)
Re:DRM use isn't mandatory (Score:4, Insightful)
Correct (Score:1, Flamebait)
Features:
WMA Digital Rights Management (DRM) support
iPod has NO DRM and works great. Stick with it to avoid getting fucked.
Re:DRM support (Score:2)
It means when you buy a WMA music file off the net, and download it to your player, you can't back it up on your friends computer. It is not a file format that can be copied and played on something else. That's how they manage the copywrite owners content. Stuff with DRM downloaded into the player will not upload back out. Even though they brag about using it to store and transfer files, that does not apply to DRM stuff.
Heard it before (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple just seems to have some kind of magic when it comes to product design. That few others if any have.
Re:Heard it before (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Heard it before (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Heard it before (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Heard it before (Score:2)
Designs advance.
You can't take old hard drives and put them in a new machine, and finding ISA on a P4 / newest AMD-compatible board is getting harder as well.
The slots in Mac SE/30, LC series, Color Classic, and others were all compatible- and that series spanned several years.
The slots in some very early powerPC powermacs were called NuBus, and that slot was also present in some of the 68k architecture. Equate this slot to MicroChannel.
For several years now, Apple's used PCI.
Up until 1998, Apple used SCSI and Serial. Post-1998, it's IDE, USB, and FireWire.
I can run the open-source Darwin, the mostly-open-source OS X, or I can run a Free Software OS if I choose.
Re:Heard it before (Score:3, Insightful)
Cough Cough... so basically you're pissed off that the mac doesn't allow you to use your old 2 Meg Matrox Millennium card and Adlib soundcard the way a PC does right?
First of all, all macs nowadays come with PCI on the motherboard. I'm sorry, ISA is a dead technology and one I don't really think we should be clinging on to. Extending your logic, do you think modern PCs should have support for Cassette data tapes? The PowerMac uses IDE and PCI and AGP, what more do you want? Commodore 64 Expansion Card support?
Ok you're right, he was obnoxious but he did effectively shut you up and immediately destroy a significant part of your argument.
First of all to part one, the adapter works natively in all applications on Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. Sure it doesn't work on your 1986 copy of Excel 1.0, but once again, I don't think that's much of an issue. It works with ALL mac software made post 1996. And the ISA comment, I won't even go there it's so ignorant.
Well, you really don't need to guess. By all reason, if you were to cut out artists from the equation, Mac is dead.
You mean the HUGE digital video market? You mean the HUGE post production market? Ever heard of Final Cut Pro and how it's completely eroding AVID's market share (do you even know who Avid is?) Not to mention the XServes that are flying off the shelf because they are incredible 1U servers, which you obviously haven't even read the tech specs of (but nah, rhetoric always beats facts right?)
Right, and companies like ATI fix benchmarks so when they see "quake2.exe" they perform 20% faster. Frankly those two apps are used (Final Cut and Photoshop) because that's what a HUGE mac audience looks for. No offense, but unless you want to play Unreal Tournament 2003 at 1600x1280 at 200fps (which is what ALL pc benchmarks perform to) you don't really need to care about benchmarks as much as how well the machine works. (GASP, what a concept!)
Ok, two points that highlight your innane cluelessness. Ever compared the heat disappation of a PowerPC to an intel or AMD processor? Probably not. Ever seen a completely fanless fully loaded AMD Athlon? You know the Athlon melts in 7 seconds without a heatsink right? (I did that once by accident, but got it replaced) There is one apple machine with a fan right now, and it's the PowerMac. They're beautiful, QUIET, machines. Have you ever even SEEN an apple machine (or at least heard one?)
The other point, have you ever seen the iMac screen or any Apple flat screen? I mean, these screens are used by major print houses because of their color accuracy. I stare at one of those "AMAZING SGI wide screen" monitors all day at work, one of those "AMAZING DELL 17" digital" flat screens at college and NONE match the viewing angle, color accuracy and refresh of the apple monitors. Read any review and you'll see the exact same thing.
Wow, you didn't have on REAL point in the whole post. You can get a lowend powermac (without monitor) for less than the iMac.
How about doing some actual RESEARCH before posting? Maybe, just go to the apple site at least once instead of feeding off of your preconcieved blatantly biased notions?
Re:LCD color accuracy (Score:2, Interesting)
Actually, even top-end LCD monitors don't have the color-reproduction accuracy of even a middle-end CRT. They come close but if you're actually doing any prepress color-sensitive work you're using a CRT if you know what's up.
Re:LCD color accuracy (Score:2, Interesting)
(yes, that's an exaggeration...I know that's a huge market, particularly for the Mac...but those people aren't going to be buying new monitors. The ones they have are going to keep working for a decade.)
The rest of the population of Earth would be thrilled to get back some desk space. And lower power requirements. And make less waste heat.
Are there users who still need CRTs? You betcha. Good thing nobody's talking about not making them anymore.
Re:LCD color accuracy (Score:2)
Actually, if you're really doing prepress work, then you don't give two shits about your monitor. Every print artist worth his salt knows that it's impossible to judge color accurately on-screen, no matter how closely you calibrate the display. In fact, having an expensive, closely calibrated device is worse than having one that's way off, because you're more likely to trust-- mistakenly-- a ``close'' monitor than a ``way off'' one.
Color calibration between displays and presses is a myth. What you see on the screen means nothing. That's what proofs are for.
Previous e.digital MP3 player no good (Score:3, Informative)
Software never was able to consistently connect to the device, it's a TON heavier than my iPod, and I swear, the thing RATTLES.
I'll stick with my iPod, thanks.
m.
Archos Jukebox (Score:5, Interesting)
I put my 5 gigs of music on it overnight when I first bought it and spend a couple of minutes each week putting on my new music. All of that with 2 sets of rechargable 6 hour life batteris for $300. I will admit that the UI is not as pretty as on the iPod but for the price and size difference, I don't care.
If you want to take a look at one go to archos.com [archos.com]
Re:Archos Jukebox (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Archos Jukebox (Score:3, Insightful)
No way would i go with a USB 1 device for over 250MB.
Re:Archos Jukebox (Score:2)
Re:Archos Jukebox (Score:2)
Yes, I am a CD buying junkie. One of those people the RIAA refuses to believe exists.
And surely you listen too al that music (Score:2)
It sounds like few people really NEED that many GBytes...
Re:Archos Jukebox (Score:2)
Archos Jukebox != iPod Competitor (Score:2)
Maybe because noone's really takling about an PC based (HD) MP3 player? /. post [slashdot.org] I made earlier about the issue.
They're talking about an iPod competitor (see story title). What makes the iPod so special? Here's a
Really there's a world of difference.
Note: I don't own an iPod, it's a bit too expensive for me :-(
Re:Archos Jukebox != iPod Competitor (Score:2)
Form factor: The archos is only slightly larger than the iPod -- the iPod dimensions are 4.2" x 2.43" x 0.78" while the archos' are 4.5 x 3.2 x 1.3"; it fits in my coat pocket just fine.
Hard drive == skip resistant, you say. Umm, exactly. Both the iPod and Archos are basically portable hard drives.
You are right that the 'charge while you transfer' capability of the iPod is more convenient than the Archos' 'charge with an AC adapter', but last I checked being a competitor didn't mean having an identical feature list. And it's true that the Archos uses batteries, but I wouldn't really know it. I've used the thing daily for about 6 months now and have never had to change them. I've never even run out of juice, despite using it extensively without charging. It seems like more than 6 hours.
The current Archos models support USB2, which is more or less equivalent to firewire in terms of transfer rate.
So again, remind me how the iPod and the Archos Jukebox aren't competitors?
When will somebody manufacture (Score:3, Interesting)
All I want, and please hear me out, is a pretty plastic box big enough to fit a laptop drive. Put a rechargable lithium ion battery in it. Some sort of LCD screen, Alphanumeric, TFT display, I don't care.
Keep the OS in a rom so I don't have to worry about storing it on the hard drive. Make sure there is enough OS to format the drive fat32.
And I want all this for about $100 bucks. I think that's fair. Why do I need to buy another laptop drive when I got so many sitting around?
Re:When will somebody manufacture (Score:1)
Its called a PJB100 (on of Compaqs science projects)
www.mp3factorydirect.com
Re:When will somebody manufacture (Score:2)
Re:When will somebody manufacture (Score:2)
If they can build a cybiko for $100 bucks then why not a cybiko to IDE interface? Seems simple enough.
Re:When will somebody manufacture (Score:2)
Bigger and better screen would be good. But it's almost there. Thousands and thousands of books... no more back strain when I move!
Bingo! (Score:2)
Damnit...I checked the link in the other reply - Cool, but $200 too much
Never happen, for two reasons (Score:3, Insightful)
Two, the whole trend is towards more digital rights management, which is all about controlling what goes on a player. Forcing the user to buy a unit with the hard drive sealed in, and loading music using proprietary software, makes controlling what goes on the player much easier than letting people use their own drives.
Also, I hope when you say "ROM", you mean flashable ROM - it would stink if you were stuck with only the formats available when the unit came out, and couldn't upgrade to new standards later.
Re:Never happen, for two reasons (Score:2)
A laptop hard drive has all the pins, power included built into one 44 pin micro molex connector. Other than changing a jumper, they would just have to slide it in.
So? (Score:2)
Re: When will somebody manufacture (Score:3, Interesting)
Have you see my little open-source mp3 player circuit board project [pjrc.com]?? Yes, a shameless plug, but on-topic. I have the Neo guys also sell a box that you can plug your own drive into... or at least they did some time ago.
All I want, and please hear me out, is a pretty plastic box big enough to fit a laptop drive. Put a rechargable lithium ion battery in it. Some sort of LCD screen, Alphanumeric, TFT display, I don't care.
Saddly, there's nothing simple about pretty plastic boxes and li-ion batteries. Injection molding involved tooling costs in the range of $20k to $60k. Li-ion batteries are complex and take special circuits. They're only sold to a small number of companies who make custom battery packs (because the packs include critical safety circuits). High tooling setup fees also apply to Li-ion battery packs.
Keep the OS in a rom so I don't have to worry about storing it on the hard drive. Make sure there is enough OS to format the drive fat32.
Yep, did that. It's all GPL'd too, available from a CVS server, or on this firmware download page [pjrc.com].
And I want all this for about $100 bucks. I think that's fair.
That would be fair, if you and millions of others were serious buyers.
But the do-it-yourself market is a niche, and the economy of scale associated with mass production just isn't possible. Still, I've tried to keep the costs low (and also keep it buildable for hobbists with hand soldering). By the time you add the LCD, it's at about twice the "fair" $100 mark. If you go price the parts alone (not even soldered together) at small quantity, you'll find you're well over $100. If you're Creative Labs or Apple building millions in China, you can make it that cheap, but a niche market as small volumes, it just isn't possible.
Anyway, later this year I'm planning to make a car stereo cd changer protocol emulator board, so this thing can emulate a cd changer (but with lots of discs with lots of files... depends on the limitations of each deck and its protocol).
Re: When will somebody manufacture (Score:2)
You are absolutely right though on the economies of scale thing, only way something could be sold at a reasonable cost is to build a bunch of them, and it's not too clear if the public is ready for a device that uses an internal component from a laptop, it sounds scary!
One of these days, when i'm working again and not losing weight to this pay the mortgage eat ramen diet I might get one of your units cause they are about the coolest and closest thing to what I want.
--Toq
Re:When will somebody manufacture (Score:2)
IO Magic [iomagic.com]
They used to sell the Neo 2200 without a hard drive. Now it seems to only be available with a 20 Gig drive, but if you asked they might sell it without a drive.
Anyone else notice the major feature? (Score:1)
that OS comment is why people think ... (Score:2, Insightful)
Why don't you try using the OS first, instead of demanding that a barely functional replacement be put on it? I can't see people using linux on the desktop, let alone a palm form-factor device. Can't you just be glad that there is a new device with advanced features that ISN'T running MS bloatware?
E.Digital is a penny-stock scam! (Score:5, Informative)
This article barely touches the depth of shady deals this company is engaged in:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/baude
They've announced several vaporware mp3 players, which caused a stock pump, and when nothing panned out the 'dump' came and the stock once again dropped. The few units they were able to manufacture are now being liquidated on ebay and various liquidator companies.
Most recently, the company has engaged in extremely questionable financial arrangements in order to stay afloat - they recently took out a $1.5 million loan with 100% of their company's assets as colatteral, to a shady off-shore entity, in a clear case of death-spiral financing.
This company currently has several hundred million outstanding shares, and is still issuing more.
The principals of the company have made something of a career out of pump-and-dump companies - look at the histories of Patriot Scientific (java procesor hype) and ATC (hyped audio technology). They're also involved in promoting movies and solo-flying machines. All the same gang. Decades of scam companies, lies and misleading statements to shareholders, and never once a real product or profits.
E.Digital does not deserve in any way to get this kind of exposure on slashdot.
(Disclaimer: I have never owned any shares, but I do know several people who were hoodwinked into purchasing shares, and lost a huge amount of money.)
Re:E.Digital is a penny-stock scam! (Score:2)
If you're a gambler, one more pump/dump might be in their bag-o-tricks....
LoB
Re:E.Digital is a penny-stock scam! (Score:1)
Re:E.Digital is a penny-stock scam! (Score:5, Informative)
There's quite an active discussion of them over at the Reging bull [lycos.com] stock chat site.
A very long but extremely informative post about these financial issues is here [lycos.com].
DRM Support!! Whoopee! (Score:4, Funny)
# WMA Digital Rights Management (DRM) support
Those marketroids really know how to sell a product. I'm sure customers will be clamoring for that feature.
Re:DRM Support!! Whoopee! (Score:2)
Actually, they are. Drop an audio CD into a Windows PC and Windows Media Player will want to rip it into WMA files. You have to get 3rd party software for MP3 ripping. So yes, it is a very good business move to support WMA and the DRM that comes along with it.
Re:DRM Support!! Whoopee! (Score:1)
USB 2.0 Implementations (Score:1)
What is with the Intel fetish? (Score:1)
Don;t understand... (Score:2)
I have done my homework on Firewire, and am an active proponent. I am cranked, as my post indicated, that this company bows towards Intel and ignores 1394's superiority.
I shall continue opening mouth... when you open yours, keep an eye on where your foot is headed.
Re:Don;t understand... (Score:2)
Yes, but will it... (Score:1)
I think the bigger question is, will it play Vorbis? I'd kill for a high quality Vorbis player other than the Zaurus.
Oh no...DRM Support!!!!!!!! (Score:1)
WMA Digital Rights Management (DRM) support On one side, we /.'ers run around screaming about DRM and the other side our favorite site (/.) runs stories like these. Seems like no one here knows what they truely stand for. I call for a boycott!!!
I guess I will stick to the iPOD.
wtf? (Score:2, Insightful)
WTF does that have todo with anything? I bet your wrist watch doesn't run linux either...
Seriously people. There is dedicated then there is stupid. Guess which one this articles' poster is.
Tom
Re: (Score:1)
Backward Compatible? (Score:2, Funny)
usb 2? (Score:2)
Re:usb 2? (Score:2)
Firewire is 400 Mbps. USB 2.0 is 480 Mbps.
And you *know* USB 2.0 will be on every new PC in less than a year (it's already on newer mb's and such), but firewire isn't remotely universal?
Re:usb 2? (Score:2)
Re:usb 2? (Score:3, Informative)
nVidia's new nForce2 chipset has USB 2.0 and FireWire support. I have seen firewire on the front panel of some Compaqs (a little while ago). It is available on Dells. I can't speak for anything else, as I don't regularly go computer shopping. The latest in MicroATX computers (Shuttle) have FireWire onboard.
Sure, USB 2.0 is a bit faster. But it incurs more host overhead (especially communicating between two devices) and doesn't offer as much power.
USB 2.0 would be great if FireWire didn't already exists. It is not needed, and the decision between USB 2.0 and FireWire hurts people's ability to purchase new devices.
USB 1.1 is fine for what it is: high speed serial ports. Keyboards, mice, tablets, floppy drives, low-end webcams, some scanners... It doesn't need to be more than that. FireWire is physically as easy, and is a more versatile technology.
Re:usb 2? (Score:2)
And comparing Firewire 1.0 to USB 2.0 is a tad unfair, because Firewire 2.0 (1394b), ramping up this year, will run at 800 Mbps.
Re:usb 2? (Score:2)
Re:usb 2? (Score:3, Insightful)
So the question remains... if FW and USB2 PCI cards cost about the same, and FW is masterless, is faster, and is already standard on so many devices, WHY use USB2?
Re:usb 2? (Score:2, Insightful)
If your customer buys a USB2 device and only has USB1.1 (which almost anybody does) they can upgrade their computer, or they can just deal with the slower speed. Either way they can still use the device. With Firewire they have no choice - if they don't have a Firewire port, they have to upgrade.
And y'know what? If you're used to USB1.1, then 2 will seem like lightning. It's only by comparison to something most users have never experienced that it suffers.
Not saying I like it, but that's the reason.
Re:usb 2? (Score:2)
Coolest application of FireWire ever: the iPod has no socket on it for an AC adapter. The AC adapter has a two-prong plug on one end, and a six-pin FireWire port on the other. To charge your iPod from the wall, you plug the AC adapter into the FireWire port. I've seen FireWire connections that carry data but no power, but this is the first instance I know of a connection carrying power but no data. Cool!
USB? Ugh. (Score:3, Interesting)
I've been waiting for some company to come out with an iPod competitor to drive the prices down, but no one is going to be able to compete (in my mind) until they make a FireWire version.
-David
[1] We've run many tests at our company with USB 2.0 and FireWire to ATA bridges, and without fail the USB 2.0 are (at best!) half the speed of FireWire. This is especially pathetic when you see that USB's max bandwidth is 480 Mbits, and FireWire is 400. I don't know if its inefficient protocols, crappy drivers, crappy host bus chips or crappy bridge chips but whatever it is USB 2.0 is substandard. Avoid it.
Re:USB? Ugh. (Score:5, Insightful)
This is the only incorrect statement in your post, and it is also why your results are crappy.
It should read...
"USB2's results are so pathetic because its max. bandwith is 480Mbps, while firewire has a sustained rate of 400Mbps."
USB2's 480Mbps is FUD, aimed squarely across Firewire's bow. The pathetic thing is that it is working.
Percentage of USB Ready Computers (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Percentage of USB Ready Computers (Score:2)
USB 2.0 devices usually work with USB 1 computers, but the speed sucks (and IMO for a 10GB device is unusable).
Of course the real reason most media players go with USB 2 over Firewire -- USB is royalty free, Firewire requires royalties paid to Apple.
So the iPod for Windows gives an additional little kickback to Apple when the owner has to buy a Firewire card too.
Re:Percentage of USB Ready Computers (Score:2)
Also, it's not just Apple that receives the whole quarter. See the 1392 LA [1394la.com] website for details.
If looks were the only thing (Score:2)
Cancel what I said above (Score:2)
Not really (Score:2)
Ignoring the first part, it doesn't look sweet at all. Lets just ignore all the specs and just look at the thing.
Now I don't know about anyone else, but if I'm going to fork out over 300 UKP for a product, I damn well want it to actually look like it's worth that amount.
The Treo 15 [edigital-store.com] looks like it was made by Fisher Price [fisher-pricestore.com]. Quite frankly it looks revolting.
The Odyssey 100 looks like a iPod. Well sort of. Horrific pink lettering, four buttons and what looks like some sort of jog dial in the middle. Also it looks like it's made from cheap plastic.
I'm sorry that's not an iPod competitor. As someone else put it, it's a cheap knock-off from a company that can't design a good looking product to save their life.
"Looks like an iPod" (Score:2)
Yeah, it looks exactly like an iPod in different colors, and I guarantee you that if this product isn't vaporware and it ships that they'll have a massive suit on their hands for violation of Apple's no doubt inconsiderable amount of intellectual property connected to the iPod's design (Trademarks and perhaps even design patents).
This makes me think it's vaporware, perhaps part of the stock scheme mentioned in another thread-- no legit company would be so utterly stupid in opening themselves up to suit. Even eMachines made a few vague attempts in their design to look only sort of like an iMac.
IAAL, though this is only my personal opinion and shouldn't be relied on for actual legal advice.
OGG ogg OGG ogg (Score:2)
I suppose I'll be waiting for a while yet, but how hard is it for one of these companies to provide a development environment? These things really ought to be PDAs. Once people can get into the guts of the system, ogg support should be doable.
Re:PC Compatible? Sweet! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:confused (Score:1)
They run MicroOS, which is specifically designed for their hardware (or their hardware is specifically designed for their OS, either way). There are no license fees. If you bothered to read the article you would have found that. Writing a new operating system would probably be less work than it would be to port Linux with all the features they want (USB 2.0, FM tuner, etc) and have it stable.
Also, its not that they are afraid of MS... not everything has to revolve around Linux. They made a choice that was good for them and thats about it. Even if it ran Linux I doubt MS would give a crap about some market they dont even compete in (ie, this is not a PDA)
Re:Is it real? (Score:1)
Re: ideal portable player recorder? (Score:2)
He wants a replacement for a tape RECORDER, not a player. The iPod is a PLAYER.
I agree with him that a hand-held recording device that would rip audio to high-fidelity digital audio on a ultra-compact hard drive would be most excellent.