Fourteen Digital Music Players Reviewed 497
prostoalex writes "The PC Magazine reviews 14 digital music players that can play MP3, WMA or AAC files. The editor's choice among the models compared includes Apple iPod Mini and iRiver iFP-390T. The editors decided to conduct a single review of both Flash- and HDD-based music players. Of special interest is the battery life test as well as sound quality test. Even though the entire article is published online in HTML, the summary of the features is available in PDF only."
I am French (Score:3, Funny)
"so simple even a frog could use this."
Why must article discrimenate againt the French ? We are good people. Too much now in the US is anti-French feelings, like "freedom fries". We helped US defeat Hitler, and France is a leads computer industry.
French WW2 Efforts - 500,000 Dead (Score:3, Informative)
Actually over 200,000 French soldiers died in WW2 [wikipedia.org] before and during the occupation, and 350,000 civilians were slaughtered. Remember at the start of WW2 France faced the most advanced army and airforce in the world and their regular forces crumbled. Their partisan efforts during the invasion disrupted German supply lines and communications. If you scale up the French casualties compared to the US casualties (~300,000/6000) you will see that because of the US's
Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:4, Interesting)
Marketers, manufacturers, and capitalists: LISTEN UP!
* I'm 29, single, and work [si20.com] in the computer [trotch.com] industry. Therefore, I like gadgets and have disposable income.
* I'm a hobbiest musician [madtracker.net] and I have been encoding everything, no exception, in OGG VORBIS since 2003. Like the teenagers say, so last year.
* It is feasible to port the Vorbis decoder/encoder to a platform without floating point support. [vorbis.com]
There's your demographic. Stop reaching for the teenagers and start making products for people who can afford them and desperately need them.
Your profit margins will thank you.
PS: I'm posting this from an iBook. I won't buy an iPod until it supports OGG!
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:2, Insightful)
Rio Karma
Rio Karma is noteably absent (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:5, Insightful)
Each manufactuer is picking exactly one to align with... and nobody's pushing OGG from that side of the business.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:3, Insightful)
OGG isn't "where it's at" because everybody is too afraid to "innovate" and blaze a new path by taking a chance on an unknown, even a higher-quality, less expensive one. You'd think Apple would try this, but they are heading towards DRM, rather than away from it. But there's no reason iTunes and the iPod can't support BOTH. You can have DRM for songs you buy from iTMS, and no DRM on your own CDs you burn.
Watch for "DRM Creep", just like the rumored
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:3, Insightful)
1) Apple likes to make money. They don't make money if one person downloads a song and gives it to hundreds of friends in whatever format they want, especially if the format is freely changable thereby allowing them to put the files on non-iPod music players
2) RIAA would sue them into the next century if they tried to do otherwise.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:3, Interesting)
It's not like they're preventing that as it is. I know "people" who've done ALL OF THAT.
2) RIAA would sue them into the next century if they tried to do otherwise.
Doesn't Apple own their own software and hardware anymore? They can still sell AAC on
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't be fooled into thinking that the slashdot population is at all representative of the real world.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's like Xeroxing something - you can do it no matter what kind of photocopier you use. ; )
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:2, Interesting)
Let's face it, teenagers make up a very large percentage music consumers.
When was the last time you spent $15 on a CD? I can't remember the last time I paid for any music or even listened to a radio station that played new music. The vast majority of music listeners on any age use MP3s or CD's. Why not cater to those people first? It just doesn't make sound business sense to cater to the minority.
With that bei
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:3, Informative)
The iRiver H120 [iriveramerica.com] and H140 are iPod-killers with better looks, cheaper prices, and Ogg/Vorbis support.
-JemRe:Ogg Vorbis? Ogg Vorbis? Ogg Vorbis? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:5, Funny)
Speaking solely for myself, I prefer something that doesn't look like it came out of the "open box" bin at the Fry's in Lomo Alto.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:2)
Funny, I would have said pretty much the same exact thing in regards to the iPod. Except I would have added that it was designed for rich yuppies.
-JemRe:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:3, Informative)
So, even if they put out a good product you won't use it, why? Because of the image? Then, you're as image concious as the 'yuppies' you hate.
Apple hardware is more expensive than its competitors and it doesn't o
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:5, Interesting)
Furthermore, 20 gig for $400 MSRP isn't cheaper -- it's the SAME PRICE as the iPod. I know, street prices are cheaper, but MSRP was the comparison used in this article as well.
The FM tuner, voice recorder, Vorbis support and optical out are worthwhile features for some, but then again so are AAC support iTunes integration, iTMS support, FireWire and the seamless design with only three ports.
The size -- both physical and storage -- is dead on, as is the battery life. And I'll give you this: while the iPod looks kind of like a cross between a plastic Easter Egg and a shaving mirror, this thing looks like a high tech cell phone. If you don't like the looks of the iPod because it's too postmodern, this is what you want.
This is no iPod killer. But is an agressive iPod competitor. That's good for us iPod fans as well as the detractors.
Bah!! (Score:3, Insightful)
You want your electronic device to look "cool"? Manufacture it in ONE DAMNED MATERIAL. No tacky bumper pads attached to the ends as an afterthought. If iRiver is so concerned about the abuse the player might take and insist on "shock-proofing" it, they could wrap the entire thing in the black rubber-plastic that made Glock firearms famous.
Jus
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:5, Interesting)
The manufacturers have heard the Cry of the Hardcore Ogg Fan, and they've responded with a collective "meh." Most of them simply don't give a damn about your niche. Rio does. Support Rio and quit acting like you're all downtrodden.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:2)
Probably because most "high-end" sets (above $2000 or so), include DVI inputs.
The iRiver plays Ogg (Score:3, Informative)
I know first hand, I have one.
Here is the firmware [iriver.com] for it.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:4, Insightful)
The amount of effort required to port a decoder to a particular portable music player is probably way more then the rewards of a few more people buying their product.
The amount of protential profit must be at least the amount spend on development tools, employee salaries, etc, if not more.
Trust me on this. They aren't going to go through the effort if it ends up making them lose money doing it.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:5, Insightful)
No?
Well I don't hear it either. That's because ALMOST NO ONE CARES. Outside of a small minority of the Slashdot crowd, there is basically no consumer demand for Ogg Vorbis. Deal with it.
(Well, that's sure to burn some karma...)
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:4, Interesting)
Even if there were tons of audio codecs, but all of them open and unencumbered, I believe that the situation would be better because we could all concentrate on making our products and not worry about codecs, because they'd all be cheap to implement, and no licensing to worry about.
So, in my eyes, that's a good *ideal* situation. Can we get near to that ideal situation? Is it worth getting to that ideal situation?
Of course, most people are generally lazy, but is there anything that a few people that do care about Vorbis etc. can do? How can we encourage adoption of Vorbis/FLAC?
Off the top of my head:
* In whatever next kick-ass all-in-one media playing/ripping solution comes with KDE/Gnome, make it rip to Vorbis by default.
* A community effort towards making optimised hardware implementations of the Vorbis/FLAC codecs designs freely available. That would allow the chips to be made relatively easily once some company wants to pick it up.
* A vorbis-biased portable media player made by Vorbis enthusiasts who know what they're on about? Perhaps in the same vein as that Linux-only HDTV PCI card?
* Bundle said portable media player with the latest packaged version of Linux Distribution XYZ? Proclaim loudly "free portable music player!" all over it.
I *know* that few people care. A bit like lots of people don't care about voting, or who runs the country. But it's still pretty important. We certainly don't want to be in the situation (heaven forbid this should ever happen) where WMA is the only format around and licensing costs are continually hiked up by Microsoft.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:2)
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:2, Informative)
iRiver (Score:2)
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:3, Funny)
*** I am fresh out of college (1yr) and don't know how to manage money (read bling bling)
*** I AM your demographic.
And I Demand WAV format.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:2)
So what? Do you realy think anyone is going to sell a music player that wont have MP3 support? And if it has MP3 support, whats the point in OGG? The market is MP3 (because everyone uses it), ACC (because you can buy songs in it) and WMA (because its smaller then MP3 and because Microsoft says so).
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:2)
Me thinks you need to get your ears syringed.
Re:Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis?Ogg Vorbis? (Score:4, Informative)
If you want a hard drive ogg player, Neuros is the obvious solution. USB 2.0 in 20-80 gig models. Pick the storage you want. They've opened their sdk and they have the best customer service and response going. http://www.neurosaudio.com and browse the forums.
Rio Karma (Score:4, Interesting)
Christ where is the Karma? My Karma just kicks ass, It uses USB 2.0 and Ethernet. Supports Linux. Sounds great, gets loud when I want it to be. Came with decent earphones Sennheisers no less. Has amazing battery life and weights just a few ounces, and holds 20 gigs.
And get this, it does ogg and flac, why would I want anything else?Re:Rio Karma (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Rio Karma (Score:2, Informative)
One con for it is that it is not USB2.0 High Speed. So when you transfer a gig, it takes some time.
Re:Rio Karma (Score:2, Informative)
The picked the wrong iRiver, too. (Score:5, Informative)
Choosing between it and the Karma was tough for me, but I decided the iRiver had cooler features and was just a hair more open; not to mention that iRiver has a good track record for upgrades. They've publicly announced fixes for some problems with shuffle and playlist creation that should arrive in May, and by June the IHP series should have gapless playback like the Karma.
Re:The picked the wrong iRiver, too. (Score:3, Informative)
A
Re:Rio Karma (Score:4, Interesting)
The 15hr battery life is another big plus.
The hard drive *is* a problem though. My one started making clicking noises, and I feared the worst, but it has got better.
I dont use apple earbuds with my ipod (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I dont use apple earbuds with my ipod (Score:2)
Re:I dont use apple earbuds with my ipod (Score:3, Informative)
Technically true, but poor-quality or poor-fitting earbuds are the biggest factor (by far) of inferior sound quality.
The best thing to do is find some good-quality earbuds that fit your ears well. It will make a huge difference, no matter the player.
Unfortunately most people don't do that. Therefore, I can see the point of a consumer magazine rating players by earbud quality.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:I dont use apple earbuds with my ipod (Score:2)
Personally, I'm glad they did that review, because you can't listen to the in-ear phones before you buy them. I stupidly crushed my Sennheiser buds (cord was never long enough on those anyway and an extension would make it too long) and the original iPod phones blew out the second week I had them...and it's nice to know there's a solution between the $20 phones I got at Target and the $99 studio in-ear phones...
Re:I dont use apple earbuds with my ipod (Score:3, Interesting)
Sound supression is something that is good, but it doesn't help the actual sound quality, just the listening experience - a good set of over the ear headphones do the same. But that's format, and I was talking overall qua
This might be off-topic (Score:2)
Re:This might be off-topic (Score:2, Informative)
Re:This might be off-topic (Score:2, Interesting)
This might be off-topic, but does anyone remember the name of that MP3/etc player that is shaped like a cassette and plays inside a cassette tape player?
This one? [digisette.com]
Re:This might be off-topic (Score:5, Informative)
I have a Digisette DUO-DX AR-496 digital music player. It supports MP3 and WMA and AudioBook formats, though I've only used it with MP3. Note that it can also record MP3s on the fly, using an audio-in jack. Useful if you want a digital tape recorder in a pinch. It also has a headphone jack and sounds great as a stand-along portable player.
It comes with built-in 96 MB flash memory. It has an expansion slot for an MMC upgrade. Note that the manual and website might just mention a 64 MB upgrade, but I -confirm- that it works with a 256 MB MMC. With about 350 MB of music on it now, I have more music than battery life (which is about 5 hours).
I drive a convertible, and I would never consider putting a custom stereo into it. My wife has a nifty iPod, but her stereo retransmit thingy gets a lot of static, and the whole arrangement is much more cumbersome than a single unit I can drop into the built-in tape player. Despite what some reviews of the product have said, you can skip tracks without taking the thing out of the tape deck.
While I would have tried a 512 MB MMC if I had found one, I think 256 MB were the largest made before the shift to SD whatever, which it does not support. I would eventually like more space than I have now, but it is perfectly usable as is for my commutes to and from work, with the nice variety of happy music I can sing to on a nice Spring drive in a convertible in Texas. It makes commuting fun.
Re:This might be off-topic (Score:2)
Thanks for the answers (Score:2)
Thanks for the answers, all. And unless you are new to Slashdot, you will realize that "how well it works in Linux" DOES matter here. Soon you will also realize that the Borg Bill Gates icon is not a compliment, not a "Trekkie denotation of love for this man who has given us so many great products".
Grrrr.... (Score:3, Funny)
Karma has OGG (Score:4, Informative)
It has about 13 hours of battery life, and can talk by USB 2.0, USB 1.1, or even 100mbit ethernet. When I plug it into the ethernet, it runs a webserver with a java applet that allows you to send and receive software.
It works on any operating system with a VM/java plugin without a hitch. I use it in Linux and didn't have to set up anythign when I got it.
Don't know why they didnt review it...
Re:Does it have the iPod battery problem? (Score:2)
The Karma doesn't have that problem, so Rio America doesn't have a replacement plan for fear of worrying prospective customers. Rio Japan however has a replacement plan going just in case, net cost of about $40 USD.
The only problem the Karma has had with any real frequency is the hard drive dying. But this is usually attributable to having the
Re:Ok, I may be stupid, but I don't understand thi (Score:3, Insightful)
Strange Selection (Score:5, Interesting)
FM support (Score:5, Interesting)
But it makes some sense - most walkman's, even CD based ones, have AM/FM radio support. A MP3 player shouldn't be that different.
Though, maybe there is a very small portable XM radio player. Hm - something to look into.
Re:FM support (Score:2)
iRiver iFP-390T (Score:2, Informative)
Re:FM support (Score:2)
--
Evan
Try the N-Gage, seriously. (Score:3, Interesting)
* State of the art phone
Tri-band GSM (I live and am using it in France, but it worked flawlessly during my trip to the Bay Area a few months ago) with the IMHO great Nokia usability.
And please, the whole sidetalkin' stuff is really overblown : I see no reason not to always use it as I do with the
Re:FM support (Score:3, Informative)
I have the iFP-380T (128MB), the cheapest model with line-in recording. To be honest, I haven't used it a lot. Most of my time is spent at my home or office computer where I can listen to all my mp3s or radio streams but I do use the iRiver at the gym. I've also used it a bit for v
Re:FM support (Score:2)
Now if they can shrink an XM tuner down to the size of one of these things, I'd get one!
Missing choices (Score:5, Interesting)
Who else had their favorite player ignored in this?
Re:Missing choices (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Missing choices (Score:5, Insightful)
Missing choices - Rio Nitrus - Rio Anything (Score:4, Informative)
I own a Rio Nitrus. Some of the things I like about it are:
How could they miss the Jens i-bead? (Score:3, Interesting)
It was the editor's choice for one of those sites (ziff davis or pcweek or something) a few months ago when I bought it. It's the size of a stick of chewing gum, has 512MB Ram, USB connector at one end, and it's also an FM Radio and a voice recorder. Even better, it comes with a really cool neckstrap with built-in earphones. The icing on the cake is that it is delivered in a really sexy black aluminum tube.
Oh well... (warning: very loud flash-enabled homepage!)
http://www.jensofsweden.com/ [jensofsweden.com]
-Jim
This beggars belief... (Score:5, Informative)
They didn't even review the Rio Karma? Are they smoking something? If there's one player out there which has repeatedly been shown to be the genuine iPod beater it's the Karma, yet a supposedly "thorough" group test doesn't even mention it.
For the uninitiated:
* 16 hours battery life
* 20gb capacity
* Smaller than an iPod
* Plays AAC, WMA, MP3, FLAC, OGG, and more (Audible coming soon)
* Fully supports GAPLESS Vorbis, FLAC and mp3 playback. This is unique among portable players and a very big deal for a lot of people.
* USB2.0 & Ethernet connectivity
* Fully supported under Windows/Mac/Linux - works on any platform with Java & Ethernet
* Best of class sound quality
* Full 5-band parametric EQ
* On the fly playlists, Rio DJ (randomisation, new tracks, old tracks, most played etc)
* Crossfade between tracks
* The thing just ROCKS
I will be writing to the editor...
Re:This beggars belief... (Score:5, Informative)
If you're going to talk something up at least be correct.
Karma: 2.7 * 3.0 * 1.1 = 8.91 cubic inches
iPod: 4.1 * 2.4 * 0.62 = 6.1008 cubic inches
If "size" = "height" then, yes, the Karma is smaller. However the iPod is smaller in the other two dimensions and smaller in overall volume. If Apple wanted the iPod to be 33% larger I am sure they could add more battery life too.
Re:This beggars belief... (Score:3, Informative)
This line item is wrong.
By cubic volume, it is 50% larger than iPod (not the mini, either). Most of the difference is in the thickness. A 20GB iPod is 40% thinner.
I'll grant all the other things though, it does look like a nice feature set.
Re:One problem with it (Score:2)
Re:This beggars belief... (Score:2)
No Toshiba Gigabeat or MPMan? (Score:2)
It's strange the neither the Toshiba Gigabeat [dynamism.com] nor any of the MPMan-players [mpman.com] are included in this review. Some of the MPMan-players got a battery life of 50 and even 100 hours.
Why wouldn't they include the regular iPod? (Score:4, Interesting)
Headphone Amplifier (Score:3, Interesting)
Picture [dansdata.com] These things are fairly simply to make & I'm going to do it as soon as i get around to it (I even have a few empty tins of Penguin Mints). I realize the thing is equal to or bigger than some of the tested players, but it is pocketsized.
Bah! (Score:5, Informative)
Give these guys a thesaurus! What do they think the "kind" column is for in "view options"?
And is it really worth reading a review that sees anything worthwhile in: "The 3.4-ounce iPod Mini has more EQ selections than any other player"?
Re:Bah! (Score:2)
Give these guys a thesaurus! What do they think the "kind" column is for in "view options"?
Evidently this reviewer is not the most capable computer user in the world. It seems that his computer had some performance issues too. My 450MHz PowerMac G4 can easily rip a CD to 192Kbps AAC audio in well under 1/2 hour. However maybe the Windows version of QuickTime is less optimised... Also saying that MusicMatch has better controls than iTunes is simply laugable. I know two PC users who have moved from MM to
iRiver! (Score:2, Interesting)
What about the Neuros? (Score:5, Informative)
It seems odd that they didn't include a review of the Neuros [neurosaudio.com] Audio unit. I have the unit with the 20G hard drive, and although the firmware is a little wobbly, it's a great unit with a cool feature called HiSi [neurosaudio.com], or "Hear it - See it" that lets you identify a song on the built-in radio or even on a P.A. system through the internal microphone.
Re:What about the Neuros? (Score:3, Informative)
Dedicated software for iFP-390T? No! (Score:5, Informative)
Holy Mary! (Score:4, Informative)
Do yourselves a favour - buy the cheapest player and get a pair of headphones for $30. It'll sound way better than anything with the supplied headphones.
I think I'll be sticking with my 'old school' MiniDisc Walkman (and yes it is a Sony, so yes I can call it a Walkman) and my Grado SR60s. Mmmm. Expensive.
other mp3 player review source (Score:5, Interesting)
Also missed Dell DJ (Score:2, Interesting)
I have the iRiver, and I love it... (Score:2)
That being said, the sound quality is excellent, which is why I bought it in the first place. iRiver's internal amplifiers in their players are much higher quality (and higher output) than most competing players. That was a big selling point when I was shopping for a player, and it does end up making a pretty big difference. I was very
These are selection of ultra portable players (Score:2)
-B
Not a good Sound Quality test (Score:2)
A much better test would have been to use the same headphones (preferably a good pair) with all the players and do the comparison. The last few times i've bought personal stereos/ CD players / MP3 Players. I usually end up ditching the supplied earbuds because they are usually really shit quality with most brands.
nick
Forget Ogg, I want FLAC (Score:3, Interesting)
The only real format is FLAC. Lossless compression. Anyone with a good ear (or a good system) can hear how much lossy compression sucks. Moving the industry to flac (50-30% WAV size, no loss) will do more for demand of players - they'll want more storage because the songs are bigger, that will drive the need for higher and higher capacities.
Of course, this all comes down to what is the speaker? Most of these are cheap ear-bud kinds of things that suck.
But my empeg (0 or days of battery life (car battery), 10-60 gigs, FLAC, OGG, WMA, MP3 by Rio Corp.) still takes the cake. And it gets hooked up to a decent system. It can stram MP3s across the net, via a built-in webserver. It is truely sweet.
But it took playing MP3s in my car (witha complete aftermarket sound system) to hear the difference. I'm actually ashamed to blast MP3s while driving. I'll throw in a CD. The bass is punchier, the treble is clearer.
Re:Forget Ogg, I want FLAC (Score:3, Informative)
CD players? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sound Quality Test? (Score:4, Insightful)
What's worse, I can tell from simply viewing the graph that the lone "test" is invalid. So, off we go to the test portion of the article to see what's up, and more importantly, if there is any other real audio data other than that chart that might be useful.
Aha. In plain English, there it is:
"
And pretty much that's it. Not even a voltage/impedance measurement a 15-year old nerd could do to see what 3rd party headphones would work best. Oh, well.
Kids playing at a pro's game. I won't go into all the reasons why this is a silly idea, but for starters who told them that silicone and flesh/cartiledge have the same sonic absorption/reflection factor? Well, nobody, 'cuz they don't.
Where is the correction factor for the ear's own frequency response in direct near-field? No, it most certainly is not the same as the response from a sound in free air at a distance.
You could google for, i dunno, about a thousand long, confusing papers, but a nice short one that still gives the idea of how difficult (and how non-linear) this is can be found here:
National Library of Medicine [nih.gov]
For the lazy, the short answer is a correct earspeaker has nowhere near flat response in order for us to perceive it to be "flat" compared to sounds from what amounts to many thousand times the distance away. In their test, a "flat" response would actually be the worst performer.
The chart linked actually states "Minimal deviation from 0db is ideal." That's out and out wrong without correction factored in.
The problem starts with the assumptions they make for the "calibrated" microphone; it's only "calibrated" at a specific distance and frankly I don't see how you could calibrate it with their fixture at near-field. Most likely they just used a pre-calibrated mic (typically these are calibrated for a 1metre distance in free air) and ran with it. That alone could account for the wild swings, let alone their test fixture's own anomalies.
The graph shows swings of up to 30+ dB in the midrange, where the ear is most sensitive. This is like the difference between way loud and inaudible, and if that were the case each of these headphones/earbuds would sound terrible, perhaps worse than terrible. Since they don't sound that bad, why did they not glean the test must be flawed? Nah, just publish it, nobody will know the difference.
Excuse me, but I think I'll leave PCMac to the computer stuff and the audio stuff to the audio guys. Take it all with a grain of salt unless you're just interested in the digital details. These guys can't be trusted with a microphone.
Re:Microsoft offering a competitive environment? (Score:2, Informative)
This is just not true.
--Richard
Re:Microsoft offering a competitive environment? (Score:2, Funny)
~SpermanHerman
Re:Microsoft offering a competitive environment? (Score:2, Informative)
Funny, my now-ancient Creative Nomad 6GB player works just fine with iTunes for both MacOS and MacOS X. I haven't tried it with Windows, but I assume it works with iTunes there as well.
I'm not "stuck" doing anything. There's always an off switch. Interestingly enough, that's pretty much what became of that old Nomad. I didn't use it much, so I turned it off and stuck it in the closet with the rest of the junk that doesn't work.
Re:Where are the CD-R/CD-RW media based players. (Score:3, Interesting)
On my iPod it's
"It sounds good and I can just drag-n-drop tracks or folders onto it and then it uploads the playlist - takes about 5 seconds to make a whole new playlist, and then I can carry around the iPod pretty easily."
Another benefit: Live playlists. Imagine this playlist:
Songs rated 3 or higher
Song