Walkman vs iPod?

I manage to leave my hifi obsession at home when on bus or train. as long as its music i want to listen then little else matters. ipod = fine for the job as i'm sure would be any of the other ones out there. the patch that overrides the volume limiter is useful though

 

3dsonic,
i've found that 128bit wma seems to be the sweet spot between size and quality for lossy codecs. i presume you've tried that and found it wanting? i guess it's different strokes for different folks.

dj,
as atrac is sonys own format i suspect that it's as easy to use with a walkman as itunes / aac is with an ipod. as i use a squeezebox and aprieciate open source fromats and despise drm i use flac as my main source (once i've ripped the cd) i can then transcode to whatever format i like using foobar. as i say above for my portable players (arcos gmini 500, creative nano and orange spv c550) i prefer wma as it provides a decent sound at generally lower bitrates than mp3. i've done tests where slimserver (the software that drives the squeezebox) transcodes from lossless flac to a variety of codecs on the fly (although not atrac) at differing bit rates and can start telling the difference at around mp3 192 and wma 128. but then i think transcoding from flac to wav and then sending the wav to the squeezebox on the fly is better than using it's own internal flac processing so i may be insane. if you are happy with the sound of atrac on your walkman then great however there are no absolutes in hi-fi as everyone is different so trying to say that atrac is all that's needed is just not gonna fly

 

Hi,

No, for some reason I have been steadfastly ignoring wma (you know, the anti M$ Sentiments I harbour). Thanks for the tip, I'll try this, as my Pocket PC of course natively plays WMA....

Ciao T

 

to be honest i was a bit of an m$ basher but they've been quietly producing some very nice stuff lately - the 360 is great and my windows phone synchs with my pc in a way that nokia and sony can only dream. even my archos would integrate into my media collection seamlessly if i was using media player instead of slim server.
the only down side about wma is the potential for drm intrusion but if you are ripping your own cd's and don;t use media player then it's a slim chance they'll get nobbled. but then this is the case with most proprietory formats and ms would be fools to do this.

 

News to me!

Further details please
Jeff

 

Hi,

I noticed. I have had a Pocket PC/Phone for nearly 2 Years.... My "whole life" is in there. I read books (or anything else I want and can get an electronic copy into word) in Microsoft Reader. Heck, yesterday I aclually loaded a cooking recipy off the net in there (very tasty Goulash soup) and cooked from that! My music for the move is on that, I get all my e-mailz via GPRS.

DARN, where was such a nice thing in the 80's when I could have REALLY used it....

Tell me 'bout it. I have Bluetooth in my Laptop and my Pocket PC/Phone, so when I get home I just click on "Syncronise via Blutooth" and put the thing in it's charging cradle....

Then I can drag'n'drop my music acrooss wireless or indeed can use "syncronise media device", but because I pre-process my files to get the "in head" localisation issue somewhat improved (it makes the imaging often wierd, quite often behind me, rather than in front, but at least the band is not trying to play in my head) drag'n'drop is preferable.

Ciao T

 

I've read about people wanting the volume limiter hack for the Walkman but in my settings menu there is an on/off facility for this. I only listen at volumes 1-4 anyway so it makes no difference to me. I haven't tested how loud it goes but it's more than loud enough for me.

 

http://www.tucows.com/preview/400027

Jeff

i downloaded it from the net and it seemed to work. it might or might not have been the url above - I can't remember. I probably have it on my home pc so if you can't find it let me know

John

 

A true Microsoft hater then.

You'd love 3G.

Recent crop of Nokia's aint so bad. N70 synchs Calendar, To Do's, Contacts, Photos and Video via Bluetooth without me touching anything - just when the connection is engaged. Deletes photos and vids automatically once transferred to the notebook. Email is via IMAP over 3G, has Acrobat Reader, Excel, Word and Powerpoint so I can read attachments. I havent bought the little bluetooth keyboard, but that looks good.

Plus i dont look a d*ck when talking on it

 

This seems cheap (or is it me?)

 

Hi,

Nah, I'll just naturally think of a M$ solution last.

It probably is now a M$ windows Mobile 03/05 device, same as mine has been for the last two years, so you still need to initiate the actual connection, which is what I refering to on mine.

Me neither, I'm always on BT handsfree....

Ciao T

 

Symbian O/S so no, not Microsoft. The connection is automatic - bluetooth is on on the phone and the notebook, they are configured to be paired (this is done once), then whenever both devices are on and in-range the synchronisation takes place at an interval you configure. no buttons, no clicks. The phone is not much bigger than the typical SonyEricsson W800/K750i, though is 3G.

 

on Ipod, select all tunes in iTunes then right click 'Get Info' it will ask if you are sure you say yes.

A screen will come up and at the bottom is a slider bar for volume set in the middle, move it to the right a bit to raise the output volume of all tracks, don't go mad.

Click OK. It will update the tracks and when you plug the iPod in it will update them.

 

I went for a Creative Zen recently - £120 for a 20gb machine seemed like great value to me.

Matt

 

Sorry to take the thread off topic but what phone do you have now? I only ask because I recently replaced my SonyEricsson 700i with an XDA mini S and found it had the usual MS characteristics. It hung twice in a day but also managed to reboot my XP. At other times though, it syncs very well. I'm going to take it back on Saturday. Pity really.

 

i went for an orange spv c550 - special music edition with the 512mb card. i wanted a sony w800 but orange wanted 200 quid for one and the spv was 'free'.

http://www.coolsmartphone.com/article451.html

 

Hi,

Hey, mine is also "Oranje"... I got the by now ancient M1000 aka XDA2 aka HTC Himalaya. My wifes W800 was free with T-Mobile.

Ciao T

 

My SonyEricsson K750i syncs with my Mac (via iSync) in a way that Windows users can only dream of

Incidentally the K750i is a nice little MP3 player once you give it a big memory card and some decent phones. Only downside is that it doesn't have the "flight mode" of the W800i (identical hardware, different firmware). It's possible to flash the K750i with W800i firmware but I didn't want to get into those shenanigans.

Michael.

 

t, my contract is for very few minutes as i phone a lot of non geographical 'local rate' landline numbers in the course of my business therefore i have a limited choice when it comes to subsidised phones.
michael,
the k750i was another phone i was considering but again orange wanted money for it and i'd had a bunch of se's before that (r380, t68, p800) and they all broke in one way or another after about a year (usually something to do with the keypad).
cheers


julian

 

Anyone else consider this rather cheap for a 30GB iPod? I hadnt really considered a "full size" one, but the price makes the nano look expensive.