MP3/CD MiSEL MPJuke-2000 player

The second generation of MP3/CD-players can do everything that we have expected from the first players which supported sound compression. Why has it happened only now?

Players based on a flash-memory or hard discs were initially expensive devices. In order to justify their high price, the manufacturers furnished their players with as much functions as possible. That is why there was a support for nearly all bitrates from the very beginning, and ID3-tag displaying even in the first models, and struggle for convenient handling, and upgrade possibilities (new compression standards, new sampling frequencies, new functions - everything for an end user). You know quite well what it resulted in.

The situation with MP3/CD players was completely different. A CD is not a very convenient data carrier but on the other hand it is the cheapest. It crushed the competition among electronic systems on the spot: the development of a new stuffing was expensive that is why not every company could manage to do it.

A necessary set of chips was already developed in 1999. It had a lot of drawbacks but still managed to make the difference between CD and MP3/CD as little as possible. That is why all the limitations of the first generation were connected with making the production cheaper. Some companies were developing their own controllers, and Philips managed to do the best model. Expanium had nearly all features which you can find today in many second generation devices.

We just have to wait until the second generation displaces the first one. Today in our lab we have the MiSEL MPJuke-2000 model (MJ-2000) from a Korean company, MultiChannel Labs Co. Well, let's examine it.

Technical specifications

Well, the device is a typical model of the second generation MP3/CD players.

So, first of all, there is a full and documented support of CD-R/CD-RW discs, including multisession ones. The previous players were often incompatible with these discs, but today's players support them easily (I should note, though, that some G1 players had unofficial support of such discs). The player supports both standard discs and 80 mm ones.

The player is equipped with quite a big graphics LCD. What for? Firstly, for displaying the contents of ID3 tags. Secondly, the player has a convenient system of directory navigation. The manufacturer calls it EDA (Easy Directory Access). By the way, long file and directory names are displayed entirely, the disc can contain up to 254 directories with a nesting level up to 32 containing 999 files totally. Well, you can listen all the files one after another (like in the G1 players), or you may choose only the marked ones for playing.

What is the device able to play? Today it can play MP3 files with a bitrate from 8 to 320 Kbit/s (both CBR and VBR). Files are defined according to its extension, as before, but now it is not only MP3: files with MP2 and MPG extensions are also supported. Of course, normal audio discs are not left aside. The player contains an anti-shock buffer, which is enough for 10 seconds of AudioCD and 50 seconds of MP3. Comparing the figures, one can see that for MP3 the buffer size is specified for 256 Kbit/s files (it means that for the most popular 128 and 160 Kbit/s bitrates the anti-shock should be approximately half a minute). Other information on modernization of the integrated software and other compression standards is absent, but since such modernization is supported by the chips used, new firmware versions for the MiSEL should appear in the nearest future.

After being decoded, the output stream can go either to headphones or to the linear output. It is not a new feature. But the sound preprocessing is made differently: instead of using a preset equalizer, one can manually adjust high and low frequencies.

Now let's discuss the new player in details.

Supply set; appearance

The MJ-2000 is enclosed in a small cardboard box. The supply set is not very rich. Apart from the player, you can find an AC power supply unit, a pair of batteries or accumulators, headphones and a User Manual. That's all, even the cable for connecting home equipment is absent.

There is not much we might say about all these components. I just want to note that the headphones are too cheap to enjoy the music (though, they are a bit better than those usually supplied with such players). As for the User Manual, it should be noted that this small 24-page booklet of A6 format is the best manual I have seen before. Everything is clear and competent, nothing is missed. There is even an LCD scheme and a detailed description of how the player forms a linear playback list.

The case of the player is almost symmetric and doesn't have large dimensions: 131 X 135 X 34 mm. The player is now quite thick in the center, (though on the edges it is still 20 mm). It's accounted for by the fact that the lid implements not only protective functions but it also contains a display and nearly all control buttons. The player weighs 275 g. In fact, it is a standard weight for the majority of CD-players. Moreover, many models for 80 mm discs or Click! still weigh 200 g. So, if you need a portable player - there is only a flash player to take, and if it doesn't matter to you, then 275 g is not the worst result (I had no problems even with MP3/HDD players weighing 400 g and more).

On the lower panel there is only a lid of the battery compartment. The front panel offers only an open button. The rear panel has a power supply connector and there is nothing on the left. That is why we will turn only to the right side and the lid.

On the right side you can find a headphones jack, Jog-Dial, an "Off/Resume/Hold" toddler and a linear output. When in the last position the toddler locks the keys, the other two positions define the start track after the player is restarted. If the toddler is in "Resume" position, the player starts playing from the last played track, and if it is in "Off" position it starts from the first track on a disc. It is not a new approach - the previous generation used it as well.

What is Jog-Dial? This round swinging button implements a lot of functions. If the playback mode is off, it serves for navigating through the list of files/tracks/directories (the same functions as of "Back" and "Forward" buttons). While listening to the music it allows adjusting the volume, level of high and low frequencies, and their frequencies as well. When pressed once (or without pressing), the button helps to adjust the volume level (within the range of 0-50). Two or three presses adjust the level of high or low frequencies (0-12 range). 4 presses allow to choose the bass frequencies among 50, 100 and 200 Hz. When pressed 5 times, the high frequency can be selected among 2, 4 and 7 KHz.

Now the lid which is the richest place - 8 buttons and an LCD. The lower raw consists of 4 triangular buttons: "Back", "Play/Pause/Power On", "Stop/Power Off" and "Forward". The upper raw includes 4 round buttons: "ESP/ID3", "DIR/File", "Mode" and "Function". The latter is used to choose the playback mode: a normal playback, Repeat mode, Random mode and Intro one (10 seconds of each composition). The range of playback is set with a "Mode" button, and the variants available depend on the loaded disc (AudioCD or CD-MP3). On the whole, what you can get with the other buttons also depends on the mode that is why I'm going to speak about it a bit later. The only exception is switching on/off with the corresponding buttons.

The display is 35 X 24 mm, apart from symbols it can display 39 latin and 19 japanese or korean letters. The display has a backlight, but it doesn't work when the player is powered from batteries. The display can be logically divided into 4 parts (vertically). The left half of the upper part doesn't depend on the working mode, that is why I will describe it at first.

Imagine that it is a table of three columns and two lines, let's move from left to right. First, there is a battery status indicator. To its right you will see what is played: all tracks, a directory, a file or files from a playlist (for an AudioCD only the first and third variants are possible). The next position displays info on how the playback is carried out (switching is made with a "Mode" button). In the second raw on the left there is a sign saying that the player is powered from a power supply unit. The next position says whether the anti-shock is on (for AudioCDs; for MP3s the anti-shock is always on) or ID3-tag displaying. In the first case you will see "ESP", in the second - "ID3". The last position is used only for discs with MP3-files and shows the level we are working at - with directories or files.

Easy Directory Access (EDA)

It is the first feature the user faces loading a disc. Let's assume, therefore, that a disc with files is inside the player.

With a disc inside, power on and before the playback the display lets us see a linear list of directories on a disc. In fact, there are only three lines: for a current fragment (file or directory), the previous and the next ones. If the length of the current line exceeds 13 symbols, it will be running. You can move along the list with Jog-Dial button or with "Back" and "Forward" ones. The "Play" button will help you to enter the directory, and with the "Stop" button you can enter the upper level. If you enter a directory its name will remain in the second line (with an open-folder sign), and scrolled files can be viewed in the remaining lines.

The manufacturer has released us from cobwebs of the file system having linearized the directory tree. The first element of the list is a root directory, which is followed by all directories located right in this one (alphabetically), then there are all directories of the second level etc. The directories with unsupported files are not displayed at all.

So, we have a list of all not empty directories and lists of files in each. You are to choose the one you need, press "Play" and switch a playback mode (a bit later on it). By the way, while navigating through the list of directories, in the right upper corner you will see the number of the current directory and the total number of directories on the disc, and when navigating through files - there'll be again the number of the current file and the total number of all files on the disc.

As for an AudioCD, EDA, in fact, works in this case as well, but there are no directories and all the files have names starting from "Track 1". The second line displays a sign of the disc type and an inscription "Audio CD". In all other respects, it is all the same.

Sound track playback

The left upper part of the display is described above, and in the right part we can see a sign of a clock and the current playback time. In the second line you can see a disc and a mark "Audio CD", in the third one - "Track N" (N is a number of the current track), in the right half of the fourth line an equalizer status and a volume level are displayed in a graphics mode. When working with Jog-Dial button the left part of the line shows which parameter you are adjusting and its value in figures.

Now about the buttons. The "ESP/ID3" switches on/off the anti-shock (it is off at default), the "DIR/File" doesn't work in this mode, and the "Mode" allows to set whether all tracks will be played or only the current one. The way of playback is set with the "Function" button.

Now comes the lower raw. To make a pause you should press the "Play" button, with the "Stop" one you will leave the playback mode and come to the EDA, and the other two buttons, when pressed and released, will give the previous or the next track, and when pressed for a longer time, they will wind the current track forward or backward.

As for the sound quality, I must admit it is quite good, both with headphones and through the linear output. The anti-shock is more than enough when you are walking, but 10 sec are insufficient for jogging lovers. When the anti-shock is off, it isn't worth using the player when you are moving, though some players allow to do it. The only thing I didn't like was a bit low volume level for Audiohe problem is absent, that is why we might possibly conclude that the output power is artificially set too low. CDs. For MP3 t

Discs with MP3-files

Everything we have said about handling of the player works the same way here. The only serious drawback is impossibility to rewind a file.

What else is different here? First, in the left half of the lower line we can see the bitrate of the current file. Unfortunately, we failed to find out what happens with songs which have a variable bitrate. The other values are accurately displayed. Secondly, right after reading the info on a disc we can see a label of the disc, the number of files and directories. Later you won't be able to see it.

The "ESP/ID3" button now switches on/off the anti-shock, and defines the song's name from a tag or a file name. The "DIR/File" button is also meant to switch these modes. What do they differ in? In "File" mode the pressed "Back" or "Forward" buttons will help you to jump to the previous or the next track in the same directory, and with the "DIR" button you will get to the first file of the previous or the next directory.

Now with the "Mode" button you can also play files from the current directory or from a playlist. It was the last difference of this player from the first generation. What is a playlist? It is a virtual directory with up to 50 files on a disc. It is simple to add a file in it: you should press and hold the "Play" button for 2 seconds while playing it. The deletion is carried out the same way.

Now a couple of words on the anti-shock. In order to save the energy, a CD-MP3 is not rotating permanently. On loading up the buffer the engine stops, and when the buffer becomes empty, the engine starts up again. So, if you shake a player at this moment, the sound will break for a short time. Other manufacturers of the G2 players have announced the readiness to produce firmware versions with a manual choice possibility: whether to stop discs or not. What will be with the MiSEL is still unclear.

Power consumption

The MJ-2000 is powered from two AA batteries or accumulators. The player takes a lot of energy to work. After 5-6 hours of working you should change the batteries. The most unpleasant thing is the absence of a recharging unit :( That is why I tested it only with batteries.

Conclusion

Well, the MP3/CD player of the G2 is quite successful. The worst drawback of G1 players - restriction of the bitrate from above - has gone away. Is the MJ-2000 model a good purchase? It is difficult to say now since there is nothing to compare with. Now a lot of expensive models have appeared on the shelves. In some time their prices will drop. That is why it is worth waiting a bit. Maybe new models with a built-in recharging unit will appear on the market soon. Maybe we will see a backlight working in any conditions etc… But if you need a player right now - the MiSEL MPJuke-2000 is not the worst choice.

http://www.digit-life.com/articles/miselmj2000/index.html

Windows XP: entertainment and multimedia

Windows XP extends the operating system's ability to act as an entertainment centre -- even though, for most people, the idea of sitting in front of a PC to watch a full-length film is not currently compelling. That said, as well as offering the usual ability to play audio and video sources, XP's new Windows Media Player (WMP), version 8.0, can control and manage media.

WMP 8.0 has taken many features from rival products such as Real's RealPlayer, including the ability to adapt its operation to the available bandwidth. It also looks very different from the standard Windows Media Player, and comes with a number of skins -- with more available online -- that allow you to customise its appearance. More usefully perhaps, WMP will scour your hard disks to find audio and video sources, display them in categories and play them back sequentially. Using Microsoft's Windows Update page, users of earlier Windows versions can upgrade to WMP 7.1, which offers the same capabilities.


As well as categorising your media, XP's Windows Media Player will copy tracks to and from CDs, converting them into MP3s if you have the appropriate third-party add-on, from where they can be downloaded into a portable player.

A major addition to WMP 8.0 is the ability to burn your own CDs. Compared to many third-party efforts, Microsoft has made this feature simple to use. To burn a CD-R or RW disc, you select a collection of files and drag them over to the CD-R/RW drive, which then prompts Windows to generate a CD image. Then you just select the files from that image and, from Windows Explorer's File menu, opt to write the files to CD. At this point the system takes over and in a few minutes -- assuming you have the correct hardware installed -- you're done. Although WMP 8.0 doesn't boast anything like the range of CD-burning functions of third-party offerings, it will do the job well enough for many users.

WMP 8.0 adds the ability to play DVDs -- as long as you have a DVD codec installed. If you don't, the software points you towards various third-party online sources of codecs. You can listen to MP3s using Windows Media Player 8.0, but if you want to create them -- by 'ripping' audio CDs, for example -- again you'll have to resort to third-party software. DVD playback and MP3 encoding add-ons will be available from Cyberlink, Intervideo and Ravisent among others.

All these new information types flowing through your system are saved in meta-folders like Windows 2000's My Documents and My Webs folders. The My Music folder is where WMA and MP3 files go by default, and My Videos is where video clips are located. Each folder has the appropriate properties for playing and manipulating the files.

Video is more prominent in Windows XP, now that today's hardware is able to handle it. XP's Windows Movie Maker is a simple application that will allow most people to put together video clips -- from video cameras, TV or other sources -- and add an audio track. You can import AVI or Windows' own WMV video files, as well as compressed files from the MPEG stable. Alternatively, assuming you have the requisite video capture card, you can bring video into the application directly. Windows Movie Maker lets you drop clips and audio tracks onto a timeline, transitioning using cuts and dissolves only. For anything more complex, you'll need a more powerful application. It's worth noting that you'll need more powerful hardware for this application: Microsoft says that at least a 300MHz Pentium is needed, but we found our 300MHz notebook unequal to the task. Video editing is one of those applications where is difficult to specify too much CPU power.


Simple but reasonably effective, Windows Movie Maker allows you to drag and drop video clips onto a timeline to build a short movie. Transition effects are limited to cuts and dissolves.

Finally, the Web Publishing Wizard, as the name suggests, allows you to publish to MSN. Setting it up is simple. You give it an email address, it sets up an account, asks what you want to upload and whether you want it made public, and sends an email telling you how to access that information.

Setting up Windows XP to handle your multimedia requirements is simple -- but then so are its capabilities. In typical Microsoft fashion, it provides you with tools that are just about capable of producing a finished result, but which will leave anyone serious about the project wanting more. There are sound commercial reasons for this for which Microsoft can hardly be blamed, and most users will probably find these tools a good place to start.

http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/software/os/0,1000001098,10000333,00.htm

I-Jam's MP3 frenzy

A number of companies, although fewer than the recent MP3 fever may have led you to expect, launched portable MP3 players at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

I-Jam Multimedia was one of the companies determined to cash in on the digital music boom, showing a mixed bag of portable players.

The first of the three personal MP3 players on show was the top of the range IJ-200 for $279 (£170), which features multiple audio format playbacks, voice recording and a built-in FM stereo radio. The automatic file format detection allows the device to play a mixture of audio formats recorded on the same memory card.

It's got a built in loudspeaker if you don't fancy the earphones, a backlit dot matrix LCD screen that displays elapse time, artist's name and song titles. It comes bundled with a 64MB card and you can tweak the sound with bass and treble controls.

For a hundred bucks less there's the IJ-90V. For the saving you'll have to sacrifice the automatic file detection and multiple format playback features. However you still get a voice recorder, radio and loudspeakers. Only a 32MB card though.

At the low-cost end of the pile is the $129 (£78) IJ-50C which gives you the basic stop, play and forward/rewind buttons and that's it. And you don't even get a memory card bundled in.

All the players come bundled with MusicMatch software, are compatible with Macs or PCs and come in a range of colours.

For folks not quite ready to give up on CDs altogether I-Jam presents the IJ-828. This is a 1x5.5x6.5-inch portable CD player. The difference is that, in addition to standard CDs, it also plays MP3 files burned onto CD-R or CD-RW. Which means that you'll be able to keep the tunes coming for over ten hours without switching discs.

The player has a top loading mechanism, comes with two Line-Out and DC input jacks for plugging it into a home hi-fi system, and an LCD screen to display track numbers and elapsed playtime.

To round off its range, the company also launched a USB version of the original I-Jam player for $299 (£180).

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/emergingtech/0,1000000183,2076171,00.htm

Nuggets: MP3 going mainstream...

I request digital music and I request it now...

It's started -- MP3 is creeping out of the PC and into everyday life.

ReQuest has launched AudioReQuest, a stereo component system that stores and organises MP3 files without a PC. Using a parallel port for downloading files the unit includes a CD player that lets you encode as well as play music. MP3 files stored on CD-R discs can also be played and saved to the system. AudioReQuest can be connected to a TV to create a user interface, allowing you to create playlists and organise that digital music store you always dreamt of.

You can convert your whole CD collection -- if it's under 150 CDs -- to digital format, encoding only the tracks you want from each CD. A real bonus is that you can digitally encode all audio formats through the Line-In input - that will stop you panicking about your `extra-rare mix tapes' getting chewed!

As usual the Yanks get first dibs with units expected in July for around $599 (£365). although there are no immediate plans to release it in the UK international orders via the Web will not be ignored.

Oh, and Just to show the MP3 cynics out there that the format really has entered the mainstream, this snazzy piece of kit is operated by remote control -- although an optional wireless keyboard will be available.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/emergingtech/0,1000000183,2071233,00.htm

Headed to a highway near you - MP3 players

The digital-audio phenomenon has yet to penetrate one place where people spend a lot of time listening to music: behind the wheel.

Analysts attribute this to the long product cycles for cars. People keep cars for an average of three years, which is about the time it takes for a new feature to find its way into an automobile. That contrasts with product cycles for consumer electronics devices, which run months instead of years.

But a few companies aren't waiting for automakers to build digital-audio players into cars. They're grabbing the wheel and pushing products into the aftermarket. The aftermarket refers to products added to a car after its initial purchase.

Visteon and Delphi, the two largest car-parts suppliers, announced earlier this month that they will release digital-audio products into the aftermarket.

Visteon has signed an agreement to license an in-car player from Phatnoise and plans on calling it the Mach MP3 Jukebox. It is expected to be available by the middle of the year. Phatnoise will also sell its own in-car player, starting in February, for $549 (£375). Both can be added to the current audio system in a car.

The Phatnoise system will use a removable hard drive that can connect to a PC via a USB connection. Music can be downloaded to the hard drive and returned to the car. The hard drives will come in capacities of 5GB to 30GB and will hold hundreds of hours of music.

More details to come Delphi demonstrated several MP3 players at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month. On Wednesday, a company spokesman said there will be further details by the third quarter.

In addition, MP3 player maker Empeg, which was acquired by Sonicblue late last year, will begin selling digital audio players for cars in coming months. They will be sold under Sonicblue's Rio brand in the United States. The products are already available in Europe.

The Empeg in-car player, based on a version of the Linux operating system, will have a 600-hour capacity and a hard drive designed not to skip.

Aiwa and Kenwood already have in-car CD-R players. However, these don't have hard drives and thus can't directly store MP3s. Aiwa's CDC-MP3 costs $300, and Kenwood's Z919 sells for $700.

Bryan Ma, an analyst at IDC, has estimated that 1.5 million MP3 players for the car will be shipped by 2003. "MP3 in cars makes sense because so much music is consumed," Ma said, adding that now it's just a question of when automakers will begin selling cars with built-in MP3 players.

Gartner analyst P.J. McNealy agrees. "It's really in the hands of Detroit."

The ease-of-use factor will also play a big role in the success of MP3 players in cars. "The convenience of getting music from the home to the car has to be easier. Wireless downloads make the most sense," said Thilo Koslowski, a Gartner analyst who covers the automotive industry.

Koslowski expects the wireless networking technology known as Bluetooth to play a role in transferring files but doesn't expect it to be available in cars until 2004.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/emergingtech/0,1000000183,2083956,00.htm

Win a D-Link MediaLounge wireless media player

Today we are giving away the perfect panacea for those endless Christmas TV repeats: a MediaLounge DSM-320RD Wireless Media Player, together with a wireless router -- all from D-Link.

The DSM-320RD connects your home entertainment centre to your wireless network, allowing you to wirelessly stream music, photos and videos from the PC to your television and stereo system.

With 802.11g wireless technology, the DSM-320RD streams media content at up to 54Mbps. It uses progressive scan technology, meaning that you can watch your favourite DVDs in high resolution (for high-definition and HD-ready TVs) with theatre-like sound. In addition to DVDs, this DVD player will also play SVCD, VCD, CD-R, DVD±RW, CD-RW, CD and MP3 discs. And the five-in-one card reader provides a convenient way to view and share digital photos, music and videos stored on a memory card.

To go with this you need a great router, and so the lucky winner of this prize will also get a DSL-904 ADSL wireless router and USB starter

This competition will close on 11 January, and we shall announce the winner on the site on 12 January, so once you've entered be sure to check back.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,1000000073,39243437,00.htm

Apple iMac G5: a first look

Now that the iPod era is upon us, it makes sense that Apple's new iMac G5 wears the same uniform as the little MP3 player that revitalised the company's fortunes. Crafted by the same team of designers as the iPod, the new iMac G5 picks up where previous iMacs left off -- with a simpler design and a smaller footprint. Available in three different base configurations, Apple's new all-in-one PCs start at £919 (inc. VAT) for the model with a 1.6GHz PowerPC G5 processor and a 17in. LCD, and scale up to a 20in. display and a 1.8GHz processor for £1,349 (ex. VAT).

Apple's new iMac G5 sports a new 'flat-screen' design and starts at £919 (inc. VAT) for a 1.6GHz/17in. model.

Gone is the big half-dome base. Instead, the parts are hidden right behind the wide-screen LCD. Opt for either of the two higher-end models, and you get a DVD-R drive, as opposed to the base model's DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive, although both drives feature the ever-cool slot-loading mechanism rather than the typical disk tray. Optional upgrades to an AirPort Extreme wireless networking card and a Bluetooth module can turn the iMac G5 into a nearly cable-free desktop, although you'll still need to plug the thing in. This, combined with the 8.4kg weight of the 17in. models, means that you can move the unit from room to room with relative ease. And if mobility isn't a concern, an optional mount lets you hang the iMac G5 on a wall.

As with any PC, the display will nearly always outlast the computer, so when it comes time to upgrade the all-in-one iMac G5, you may need to stomach throwing away a perfectly good 17in. LCD. Further, bargain hunters should keep an eye out for the benchmark charts in our forthcoming full review, because for £919 (inc. VAT), you can build a fairly powerful Windows box if you shop around. Also, when you hear people hyping the Apple Power Mac G5 and its speedy processor, keep in mind that the Power Mac not only features dual G5 CPUs, but the frontside bus (the mechanism on the motherboard that moves data between the processor and the system memory) also runs at nearly twice the speed of the iMac G5's. Dialling down the operating speeds keeps the internal heat to a minimum, allowing for the iMac G5's compact design, but you can be sure we'll see a noticeable performance drop-off, as well.

Strong design has always been Apple's hallmark, but it wasn't until the iPod that this philosophy translated into mainstream commercial success. Can the iMac G5 capitalise on the iPod's momentum? Obviously, a computer is more complicated and expensive than an MP3 player; it's also harder to show off during your morning commute. Presuming the iMac G5 delivers sufficient performance and usability for its price, however, we expect that its aesthetic appeal will draw in many who are in the market for a new general-purpose desktop.

http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/desktops/0,1000000968,39165157,00.htm

Mixed Signals

A close personal friend is having trouble. His MP3 collection is edging upwards towards the 15GB mark, and while he has long lusted after a portable player that'll let him take his complete CD collection around with him, he is a Windows user and thus debarred from the magical snuffbox of iPod. But now he has another problem -- at the same time as Apple announced official Windows support for the iPod, Creative has come up with the Nomad Jukebox Zen. This may seem a right old car crash of concepts -- visualise a wizened old Japanese monk wandering from pub to pub in search of the right Wurlitzer -- but the end result is curiously iPod like. Twenty gigabytes for the price of iPod's ten, in a very iPoddy shiny metal and plastic case with a similar screen but much more conventional controls.

At £200, it seems like the essential accessory for the gentleman with the more extensive musical requirements, but it's cheaper for two reasons. It's not Apple -- and my friend can live with that -- and it's slightly bigger because it uses an industry standard disk drive.

My friend demands to know: is the difference in size a major factor in the usability and desirability of what is by any standards a mouthwatering toy? How about the minor difference in weight? Software?

There is only one way to find out, and that's to do a comparative review. Apple has already been asked and seemed inclined to help out: our missive to Creative will be winging its way Zenwards even now.

http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10003496o-2000331777b,00.htm

Possibly the biggest MP3 player in the world!

A Korean electronics manufacturer is set to release the world's first 81-hour-capacity digital music player -- but would you really want one?

The Personal Jukebox, from HanGo, creators of the mPride line of players, can hold 4.86GB, and will hit the market in November. It is somewhat larger than the usual player, weighing 9.9 ounces, and sports a sizeable 128-by-64-mm LCD screen. Other features include a rechargeable lithium ion battery with 10 hours of playback time and a USB connection for transferring files.

Pricing has not yet been determined, but the company says it should be competitive with existing players, which run £100-£250.

But the player isn't completely solid-state, since the flash memory used in players like Creative's Nomad or Diamond's Rio is extremely expensive. Every 10 minutes the mechanism has to take a few seconds to transfer data into a buffer, preventing skipping.

HanGo's US subsidiary, Remote Solution, is saying that the player "raises the bar" for MP3 users. Most players today can carry one or two hours of music, or about the length of a CD or two. The Personal Jukebox could tote an entire record collection. "The general feedback from consumers is that being able to carry an hour or two is a little bit limiting," said Ernesto Schmitt, president and founder of UK-based digital music site Peoplesound.com. "People would like to have several albums, their favourite tracks for jogging, etc."

High-capacity players could change the way people use MP3. Instead of building a playlist with a few select tracks, and downloading it to the player, a user could literally transfer his entire collection to the device and listen to it in the car or at work. "It could appeal to people on the move, people who do a lot of business travelling or are away from their PC for great periods of time," said Kevin Griffiths, A&R manager for dance music at crunch.co.uk.

But 81 hours? "That sounds like five average record collections, it's almost traumatic," Schmitt said. "I'd guess that was made by a Wagner fan who wanted to have the entire Ring Cycle on board." He suggested a more realistic capacity would be three or four albums.

Indeed, industry observers had concerns that organising so many tracks could be simply more trouble than it's worth. "There comes a point when big is too big," said Mark Hardie, senior analyst at Forrester Research. "At a certain point, you're not going to be able to create an interface... that can easily be navigated. You'll need operating system type of control."

But Hardie said that since the MP3 hardware market is so new, no one can really guess what will succeed or fail, and other hardware makers will probably follow suit in testing "the ends of the spectrum". Indeed, HanGo says it is just getting started -- its next player will carry 6.4GB and will probably cost the same as the 4GB unit.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/emergingtech/0,1000000183,2074911,00.htm

Public Enemy prefers Zip to MP3

The album, "There's a Poison Goin On," will be available in the Zip-disk format from the record company's Web site, and Atomic Pop anticipates retail outlets Circuit City Stores and J & R Music will offer it on Zip disk as well.

Santa Monica, California-based Atomic Pop is holding discussions with other retailers and expects the disks to hit stores by the end of June. The album is currently available for download from Atomic Pop and will be released on CD and cassette -- but not until mid-July.

Atomic Pop founder and CEO Al Teller, a former top executive with MCA Music Entertainment Group and CBS Records, says that with so many new techniques being explored in the music world, the recording industry will have to join the fray.

"The Internet and the corresponding technologies will cause a reinvention of the entire music business," he said, adding that "the mechanisms by which music will be brought to fans will become more and more diverse in the next five years."

A customer who buys the Public Enemy album on Zip disk will be able to play it using a Zip drive, which is standard on many new personal computers, and customised streaming-media software from Liquid Audio, which is included on the disk.

Customers can order a Zip disk containing the album, or they can download the music from the company's site. Downloading the album is slow, however, and demands that the audio files be compressed, leading to loss of sound quality. Consumers would also need to download and configure their own Liquid Audio player.

While a standard floppy disk can hold just 1.44MB of data, a typical Zip disk can hold 100MB, or just over an hour of music. Zip disks are now also available in a 250MB format, which makes the disks more useable for people who want to store and carry video, as well as those who can't leave home without their entire hard drive.

By using the Zip format, Atomic Pop hopes to avoid the battles over piracy that have engulfed the music-compression format known as MP3. MP3 files are enormously popular on the Internet, but a lot of online traffic involves recordings "ripped" off compact disks and encoded as MP3s by special software. As a result, most record companies are extremely wary of the format, and the industry has eagerly sought an alternative format that would address its worries.

The Zip disks containing the new Public Enemy album are encoded with serial numbers and encrypted. When the disk is loaded into a PC, the serial number is detected and used to create an encryption "key." The key prevents the data from being saved to a PC's hard drive, which makes copying it nearly impossible. The process is complex, but the idea is to put safeguards in place that will allow the data to be converted to music and played, but not reproduced.

Although Jim Taylor, Iomega's chief marketing officer, warns that "there's no security system that can't be broken," Iomega had piracy concerns in mind when developing the Zip disks. "We wanted to work out a solution that would allow copyrighted material to be distributed but would dramatically reduce copyright theft," Taylor says, adding that he hopes the Zip technology is a step in the right direction.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/emergingtech/0,1000000183,2072167,00.htm

JetAudio iAudio U2 MP3 Player

Two software applications are bundled with the iAudio U2. One is the JetShell software which servers as an audio player, CD ripper, MP3 encoder, playlist manager and file transfer agent for the player. Since the player shows up as a removable drive in Windows Explorer, a dedicated file management program isn’t necessary, but the extra features are pretty useful if you don’t have a solution already to perform these functions. Currently I have a separate CD ripping/encoding application, audio player and then use Windows explorer to transfer music to the player. The JetShell software isn’t the prettiest player around, but it is very intuitive to use and offers all these functions in one package.


JetAudio6 Basic is also included on the CD. JetAudio6 is JetAudio’s fully featured media player that they offer as a for-purchase product. It plays video files as well as audio in nearly every format you could think of. As implied by the ‘Basic’ tag, the version of JetAudio supplied with the U2 is a cut-down version. The playback functions are left mostly intact with some of the higher-quality sound output functions being reserved for the paid version. Encoding and recording functionality is also stripped down but those aren’t high on my list of needs as I’m generally only ripping from CD and the JetShell software offers MP3 encoding. One annoying ‘feature’ of JetShell is that the first time I started it, a pop-up box with advertisements for JetAudio products appears. It only came up the very first time I used it, but it still bothered me. All in all, JetAudio6 is prettier and has a bit more functionality than JetShell, but since it’s essentially a demo, there isn’t much point in using it. If you want to play more than your MP3s, then it might be worth a purchase, but I found JetShell to be more than adequate.


You can decide if this is really considered software or not, but another feature to add to the ‘cool’ list is that you can change the startup logo on the iAudio U2. Each time you start up the player, the default JetAudio animation is played before you are dropped at the playback screen. These are simply files stored in the directory structure of the player. You can download new logos from the iAudio website that are created by JetAudio or by other users that have submitted them to the forums. I found quite a few unique animations on the site but if there is nothing there that suits your taste, JetAudio makes a tool called JetLogo which you can download from their website to make your very own logo.

http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/159-4/JetAudio+iAudio+U2+MP3+Player/

On digital formats: the audio CD player graveyard

Over the weekend, my first audio CD player (born 1985) went to the recyclers/electronic waste disposal people. I used it from 1985 to about 1999, and attempted to give it a second life at the family cabin. The persistent failure of the mechanism that opens and closes the disk tray killed it (despite one successful repair attempt). So it went bye-bye.

Why is this event worthy of note here on this site? My audio CDs are good only if there’s a device that will play them. The end-of-life of an early CD Audio player stands as a signpost: It’s a marker of the time that’s transpired since the format was invented, the popularity of that format, and a warning of the risks we take when we store our stuff on Audio CD disk media.

From 1980—Present (and continuing…)

The Compact Disk Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard came into being in 1980, with the first CD players being available for purchase in 1982 (Europe and Japan) and 1983 (United States). In 1985, two years after its introduction, I bought mine.

It was the first of many. That first CD player isn’t my last— a good thing, since the disk player is what makes the actual disks any good. I’ve got another player in my stereo system (a multi-disk changer! Thank heavens for two dear friends who each upgraded stereo systems and donated their still-useful Audio CD castoffs to me.) In addition to my happy hand-me-down stereo system CD player, I’ve got one in my car (it’ll also play disks with MP3s, ooh la la). I used to have a portable player (use with headphones), and all the CD-ROM drives of my several computers also will play CD Audio disks. Many of the drives will write (burn) CD-ROM and CD Audio disks. Two drives will even burn DVDs.

My list of CD drives/players demonstrates what’s happened since the format and players were introduced: They’ve multiplied in the last 25 years since Philips and Sony devised and then published the specification. How many Audio CD players exist and are in use today? I have no idea. (Market research reports that cover this topic cost between $2000 and $4000. I’m curious, but not that curious.) There are nearly 100 manufacturers of CD players. The numbers have to be in the neighborhood of a billion. More, when the “I have multiples” factors in. (Not the average user: Richard Hess, who does audio preservation, says his Audio CD rough count is 20).

Five, Ten, Fifteen…Twenty-five
In 1995, 15 years after Sony and Philips developed the CD-DA standard, and 10 years after I bought my CD player, a person named Jeff Rothenberg of the RAND Institute said, “Digital information lasts forever, or five years, whichever comes first.” His article, originally published in Scientific American, was reworked and published as a PDF in 1999. Here’s the opening:

The year is 2045, and my grandchildren (as yet unborn) are exploring the attic of my house (as yet unbought). They find a letter dated 1995 and a CD-ROM (compact disk). The letter claims that the disk contains a document that provides the key to obtaining my fortune (as yet unearned). My grandchildren are understandably excited, but they have never seen a CD before—except in old movies—and even if they can somehow find a suitable disk drive, how will they run the software necessary to interpret the information on the disk? How can they read my obsolete digital document?

This scenario questions the future of our computer-based digital documents, which are rapidly replacing their paper counterparts. It is widely accepted that information technology is revolutionizing our concepts of documents and records in an upheaval at least as great as the introduction of printing, if not of writing itself. The current generation of digital records therefore has unique historical significance; yet our digital documents are far more fragile than paper. In fact, the record of the entire present period of history is in jeopardy. The content and historical value of many governmental, organizational, legal, financial, and technical records, scientific databases, and personal documents may be irretrievably lost to future generations if we do not take steps to preserve them.

Rothenberg frames the issue in terms of 50 years (from 1995 to 2045). Because of some 80-year-old letters in my family attic, I think of this as the 80-year problem. Whether 50 or 80 years, we’re both thinking in terms of multiple decades.

And we are two-and-a-half decades removed from the beginning of CD Audio. That’s five sets of five years. Twenty-one years after buying my first CDs, they still play. If they’ve lasted more than five years, does that mean they’ll last forever? I don’t know.

There are several sub-questions behind the question, “Will they last forever?”

• How long will the physical media last?
  The disk must survive physical deterioration. Or its contents must duplicated to a new disk later on.
• How long will the player last?
  Many more Audio CD players have come into existence since my first one was manufactured. It’s a good bet that there’ll be a working Audio CD player—or something that will “read” and “play” Audio CDs, in another 20 years. Another 50 years. And possibly another 80 years. But who knows when the last Audio CD player will roll off some factory line, and how long it will take the then-existing CD players to wear out and break down like my 1985-era player did.
• How long will the software last?
  Software is the machine intelligence that looks at a disk (and the digital bits on it), and recognizes the format of the data. It acts like this: “Ah! A disk! What kind of data is on here? Oh, I see, the data’s in an Audio CD format, so I’ll begin to interpret the bits as audio and ‘play’ it.” The software is built right into the actual Audio CD player, so if the player exists, the software does, too. This software question is more relevant for CD-ROMs. On a computer with a CD-ROM drive, the software voice might continue, “Hm, let’s see, I recognize a file structure; there are 25 files on this disk. Yes, I have applications that will read this first one—-it’s text—- and these next two files are image files, and an image-editing application will work with them. This fourth file, hm, I don’t know about it….” Will the computer of the future be able to make sense of the files on the disk? Or will it be an incomprehensible string of ones and zeroes?

Audio CD, as a digital format that’s contained in millions and millions of players, will probably last for at least a few decades. The CD Audio standard isn’t limited to just standalone CD Audio players; it’s been adopted into other devices that use the same-sized disk media: Computers that read (and often write) CD-ROM, and now most home theatre DVD players also play audio CDs. So even as digital media players continue developing and morphing, the CD-DA standard looks as though it will survive well into the future. Will it last 20 years? Sure. 50 or 80 years? The Audio CD player might be superceded by some new entity, but the sheer number of currently existing disks and players means that they won’t have disappeared completely… right? right? Who knows if in 2086 there will still be some of those old-fashioned Audio CD players that came about in the dawn of the digital era. If they’re still around, and disks, too, the recordings on CD Audio can still be played.

If you’re creating your own archival disks of spoken family stories, CD Audio is a good bet for longevity. But like the Jeff Rothenberg grandchildren in the attic scenario, with a letter accompanying the disk, it’s a good idea to have some plain-old human readable notation about the disk to describe its significance for those who come after you. But that’s a topic for another time.

Au revoir, my Sony 8x oversampling CD player. You are gone, but my disks and data are still around, and will be for a good while.

http://familyoralhistory.us/articles/view/on_digital_formats_the_audio_cd_player_graveyard/

CD Player Finds New Use as Molecular Detective

Scientists are using CD players to do a lot more than just play the latest top-40 hits. A paper published online this week by the journal Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry describes a method of using the machines to detect molecules in solution by monitoring their interactions with a modified CD. The researchers hope the innovation will lead to less expensive medical diagnostic tests.

Many laboratory tests rely on laser light to detect molecules. Recognizing that CD players also utilize laser light to read information, James J. La Clair and Michael D. Burkart of the University of California at San Diego decided to take advantage of this relatively inexpensive set up. They first developed a procedure to attach specific molecules to the face of a CD. These molecules are chosen based on their ability to react with compounds of interest in samples being tested. After the altered CD reacts with the sample solution, it is placed in the player. The presence of extra molecules attached to the disc introduces errors into the readout of the data. Comparing how the modified CD plays before and after interacting with the sample can reveal the presence or absence of the target molecules. "That’s the novelty of this," Burkart says. "We are actually using the error to get our effect."

Although the technique holds promise for medical testing, it cannot yet quantify the amount of a particular molecule in a sample. Instead, Burkart hopes to utilize it as a screening method in his chemistry lab, because compared to a $100,000 protein chip reader, a CD player is a bargain. Plus, La Clair notes, "how many people on this planet can actually hear a molecule attached to another molecule?"

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000D7281-8843-1F42-B0B980A841890000