Id like to buy a small portable MP3 player....something
to use with headphones but can also be used with a full
size stereo or amplification system as well. And can
also be used in a car.

I want a solid state unit..... not one based on a hard
drive or based on playing CDs with MP3 files on them

Can someone advise me as to what brand/model is the
BIGGEST capacity available? Id like to have 512 megs
if possible. Maybe even 256 megs.

Advice?

Check out www.frontierlabs.com. They have 2 units, the NEX IIe and the newer
NEX Ia. They use compact flash cards as storage so it's solid state but
there is no limit on how much storage you get. You can get CF cards up to 4
Gb now (although, it starts to get unreasonably priced above 1 Gb).

If you need something even smaller, I believe there are a number of solid
state players with SD card expansion slots so you'd also be able to expand
their memory. I believe SD goes up to 1 Gb at the moment. CF cards are still
cheaper, but SD is becoming ubiquitous and the price difference (at least
for the smaller cards) is coming down.

Ric

<john63401@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:l6cjfv4e50k135st6kkjiuoklc0vdmlb5d@4ax.com...

OK Ric thanks!

I will chk all the above out!!

Do a google groups search and you should be able to find a thread in
alt.music.mp3 I was recently in concerning the differences between the IIe
and the Ia. I'm actually auctioning off my IIe on ebay (8 hours left if
you're interested...
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...y=11 024&rd=1)
and upgrading to the Ia. The Ia seems to be about 1cm shorter (which is
good) and most importantly for me fixes a problem with the thing popping
loudly when you turn it on. The pop gives me a major headache and I'm just
absent minded enough that this is a problem for me. If you're less absent
minded than me it's probably not such a big deal. Just remember to plug in
your headphones and turn it on BEFORE you put the phones over your ears.

The Ia also has FM and voice recorder if those things interest you.
Otherwise, you can probably pick up the IIe at nearly half the price. Don't
forget to factor in the price of a CF card if you don't already have one. (I
already had a 512MB CF card for my camera, which weighed in heavily on my
decision to get the NEX).

If you're interested in a new NEX unit these guys seem to have the best
price: www.mp3playerstore.com. I'm planning to order my Ia from them.

As for SD players, you should do a google search or peruse mp3.com's
hardware reviews (they used to be good, not so sure about now). I've seen a
couple that were really tiny, but I ended up choosing the NEX because it was
much cheaper than any of the SD players I'd seen and I already had a CF
card. I believe the small one I saw was Panasonic or Phillips and I think
Samsung makes one too. Possibly RCA? I think they've all got built in
memory, which makes them pricier.

Good luck,
Ric


<john63401@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9umjfvs4d29n234k2tsfug96rvt5oj8bn1@4ax.com...

Ric....

Do u think these units are better than units form other
manufacturers such as Creative, etc?

I see where Creative has some units that use cards...
as well as have built in memory too.

Also....what is an "SD" card?

I know CF stand for compact flash.....and that SM
stands for smart media.... but what is SD?

Any idea how this compares to iriver's IFP-395t? (www.iriver.com) The 395t
has 512mb, and can also record. Which one's better?



"Ric" <ricnews@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1bjKa.21494$PD3.80379@nnrp1.uunet.ca...

The iriver looks pretty slick. It definitely looks smaller than the NEX and
uses only 1 AA battery so will definitely be lighter too. 512MB seems like a
decent amount for a flash player, but it's not expandable so doesn't quite
fit the bill as the player with the most flash RAM...It also seems pricey
(unless the street price is way lower than the MSRP, which is possible). The
NEX Ia seems to have pretty much the same feature set. Advantages: even with
a 512 MB CF card is still probably cheaper and the CF card can be used with
other devices. Disadvantageous: larger, heavier (relatively speaking, of
course...)

Ric

"George Adamowicz" <georgeaz@bigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:4w_Ka.939$eR2.11373@news-server.bigpond.net.au...

Correct, through the speed difference is small. The other difference is the
DRM (copy prevention) technology in SD cards. (The "secure" in "secure
digital"). Its CPRM based, so doesn't have an effect unless a CPRM protected
file is on the card. Its used by a few check-in based systems (I think WMP
will use it in some circumstances) but thats all.



Its irritateing, but the SDMI license requires the player only handle secure
content in the SDMI domain. The purpose of te software is to convert
non-secure MP3 files into SDMI files. In theory there was supposed to be a
watermark check in that software. The SDMI schedual says it was supposed to
be implimented in 99, but with delay after delay its still not finished :-)

I read that
Are you refering to the Lyra? MP3 players using compactflash cards. The
software encrypts files as they are copied to the card using te cards own
UI, so if the file is copied to another card it is useless. This was
intended as a non-transcode system. Microsoft wouldn't be happy if you could
checkout an encrypted WMA to a lyra and copy the decrypted file off the card
:-). In a true SDMI player this functionality would be handled by the SD
media card, which includes hardware crypto and authentication to prevent
files being copied to another card.


In contrast, the NEX

So which memory card format MP3 player should one buy??