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| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Jet_Jaguar |
Posted - 06/15/2004 : 11:32:11 PM
Hi. I didn't buy a neuros. Last week, it looked kinda ... vaporware. So I looked, and found an Archos GMini on sale for ~ $175. Well, that was a nice price, plus the GMini has a compact flash card reader, so I picked it up. Despite not playing Ogg files, it's okay, BUT the Music Match Software that comes with it is annoying beyond belief, to the point that I'm thinking about taking the GMini and asking for a refund. Really, it blows
Before I bought the player, I didn't think it would be that big of a deal .... well, now I know better. Neuros did the right thing by opening up the source. Hopefully others will look to their example.
On the subject ... you know what would be cool? A winamp plug-in for the Neuros, as there is for is for the iPod. Winamp is free, a lot of people already have it, it's altogether popular. |
| 17 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| yennix |
Posted - 02/02/2005 : 2:30:01 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Don
quote:
Originally posted by Sottilde
click "rebuild" in sorune, and it will rebuild your database, and that's it. Nothing else to it. IMO the best way to sync thus far.
I wouldn't call it "sync", it is just generating a database. Sync implies resolving differences between the computer and player, like copying new files from one to the other. As it has been on Neuros and PDA's, for example, if you totally trash the contents (or replace the hardware) sync will restore everything.
As long as you aren't concerned about that automatic restoreability, the copy and build database may still be the easiest way to add music, especially from multiple computers.
-Don
Well, as far as Sorune goes, the rebuild button actually does a differential update of the database. That was the thing that drew me over from NDBM. Living on a USB 1.1 player really hurts if you have to do a complete DB rebuild each time you want to add a single file.
I also really like the expanded sub-folder support in Sorune. NDBM has artists under albums , but Sorune has Artists AND Genres under Albums, and then Genres under Artists.
The one thing I miss really badly is the presence of the "Various" folder that NDBM made in the Album/Artist structure to contain any album that had multiple artists. You have no idea how many artists are listed on this poor little neuros when you have the entire www.ocremix.org library stored there. Ouch.
A Music Junkie is me |
| Don |
Posted - 02/02/2005 : 06:47:29 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Sottilde
click "rebuild" in sorune, and it will rebuild your database, and that's it. Nothing else to it. IMO the best way to sync thus far.
I wouldn't call it "sync", it is just generating a database. Sync implies resolving differences between the computer and player, like copying new files from one to the other. As it has been on Neuros and PDA's, for example, if you totally trash the contents (or replace the hardware) sync will restore everything.
As long as you aren't concerned about that automatic restoreability, the copy and build database may still be the easiest way to add music, especially from multiple computers.
-Don |
| Sottilde |
Posted - 02/01/2005 : 10:05:51 PM
Yes - I won't use it yet because it kills battery life (read my suggestions in the 2.28 beta firmware forum thread), but it's definitely a step forward.
And if you want to use two computers, use Sorune or NDBM (sorune's my pick, www.sorune.com). You can simply place your music files anywhere you want on the Neuros drive (I do music\artist\album) and then click "rebuild" in sorune, and it will rebuild your database, and that's it. Nothing else to it. IMO the best way to sync thus far.
------Order #9082 :D |
| Chameleon |
Posted - 02/01/2005 : 4:34:37 PM
The current Beta firmware (2.28) has file browse support in it. No DB required.
-- 'I switched to Vorbis and saved a bunch on my hard-disk space!' |
| rockgod2099(at)animail.net |
Posted - 01/29/2005 : 03:28:12 AM
I agree with patrick. It would just make sense to use a browser like explorer or konqueror instead of sync software. Also, a feature like that would make it easier for those of us with more than one pc box. we could drag and drop .ogg files onto the neuros and then listen to them on the train to work, then get off at work, plug the neuros into our computer there, and drag and drop them to our computer there.
I mean, with an 80 gigabyte backback I could keep every cd or song I own on that thing and still have room. But I don't want to use up 80 gb of my PC's harddrive just so I can sync without losing stuff I still want on my neuros.
This and the large size is why I think I'll wait before I buy a Neuros. |
| webkid |
Posted - 10/26/2004 : 2:07:52 PM
A few issues with that: The Neuros (just like practically every single other marketed mass-storage device out there) uses the FAT filesystem, so no symlinks. Sorry.
But otherwise, you con simply copy a directory over to the device and use NDBM ( http://neurosdbm.sf.net ) to "Rebuild" the database, which is a single button press and extremely fast.
You'd still have to deal with the current menu structure, but there are some people working on that *cough* ( http://neuros-firmware.sf.net ) |
| patrick(at)neuronsong.org |
Posted - 10/26/2004 : 12:14:46 PM
The one thing I don't like about the Neuros is having to use the synchronization software. I get new CDs, rip them to MP3, then dread having to go back and use the NSM to reorganize things. Just too slow.
I would much prefer a simple filesystem structure to organize my music. I do this anyway on my PC. Then I use a set of scripts to build playlists and then let the NSM find them and import them. I'd rather skip a few steps here. The NSM is the big bottleneck and I'd rather completely ditch it. Allow me to set up the heirarchy any way I want and then plug the directories into the Neuros. Plug the resulting directory structure into the Neuros Menus automatically. Allow me to use symbolic links to build whatever playlists I want.
I haven't checked out the latest opensource software to see if any of this is supported.
Here is what I want:
1) Buy a new CD and rip it to MP3, Ogg, whatever...
2) Create a directory on the PC with the name of the album and stuff the music files in it
3) Optional: Fill in a simple file in the same directory with the artist name, genre or whatever
4) Plug in the Neuros and copy the directory to it
The new album should immediately appear in the Neuros menus because the menus are simply traversing a directory structure.
/Neuros Audio
-> Classical
-> New Age
-> Rock
-> Whatever I want
-> New Album
-> Mix 1
-> New Album (symlink)
Also, I have far too many songs to make "/Neuros Audio/Songs" worthwhile. I end up using "/Neuros Audio/Playlists" and scrolling endlessly through the lists to find what I want.
The other thing that might be handy would be a list of "latest albums" that would keep track of the most recently played. Maybe something like the following.
/Neuros Audio
-> _Favorite Albums
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| kiteflyer |
Posted - 07/06/2004 : 2:54:36 PM
Anyone who wants a sweet VCR app for Neuros now should try replay radio (http://www.replay-radio.com/).
It records like a vcr with great control over settings. You don't need your neuros tied up to use it. The obvious limitation is that it only records radio that has webcasts. That being said, I use it to record several weekly shows (1 to 2 hours each) and d/l to neuros before I travel.
Same company also has a mp3 recorder that automatically records streaming audio, separates the the songs, tags them (maybe slices and dices, too). I have not tried this one but it would be a cheap way to build your library.
Thanks. |
| back_life50(at)hotmail.com |
Posted - 06/26/2004 : 09:07:44 AM
i agree that having windows explorer to load files into folders is more convienient as you can arange your music how you like it.
~backlife~ |
| NC-17 |
Posted - 06/17/2004 : 12:59:12 PM
i'd like a foobar2000 (www.foobar2000.org) plugin for the Neuros :) winamp schminamp... :P |
| Lou Erickson |
Posted - 06/16/2004 : 5:34:23 PM
I can relate to all of those things. I will say that the Neuros does not sound bad; it has very good sound, and is a high-quality audio source.
(I wish it had a line out, though. Others want digital in. How many plugs can we ask for?  ) |
| Yono |
Posted - 06/16/2004 : 4:38:09 PM
1. Backorders are just temporary due to the release of neuros II.
2. We all want the VCR-like update, but the next firmware has awesome updates, so I'm happy.
3. Not my expertise, but they update the front page every 6 months anyway.
4. See #1
5. Syncbox might work on USB 2.0 backpack (I'm almost positive it will, whether with brain attached or not, I'm not sure)
-- 'Artificial Intelligence is No Replacement for Natural Stupidity' |
| Jet_Jaguar |
Posted - 06/16/2004 : 4:03:17 PM
Actually, you don't have to pay for the Mic, or the card reader anymore. Archos tried making people pay, at which point the buying public said "F*** YOU!" making the GMini not as popular as it might have been, so Archos decided those might be good features to give away for free (blessed be the wary buyer.) Mine worked out the box, and anyone who bought the older version can download the latest firmware and software updates.
As for the database, yeah, you don't *need* it, as long as you 1) use playlists, or 2) just play things in folders (and I do have my music arranged in folders.) But if you want to search for a song, or artist, or genre or whatever, you need to update the database.
Still not sure if I'm going to keep the archos. A good deal of the reason I bought it was the compact flash card reader, and that does work as advertised. But the database thing is all whacked out, it's really heavy (it's weird how heavy it feels) and it sounds like my first walkman. But it was relatively cheap.
quote:
So, what made you wary of the Neorus?
Good question.
1) backorders. I'm going on a road trip next week, and I wanted to use my player on this trip.
2) VCR-like feature, promised by last September, never materialized. I almost bought a Neuros last year for my birthday, but held off, then almost got one at christmas, held off ... that was a killer app for me, because there are two radio shows in particular that I would have liked to record.
3) Pre-order page, promised June 10th, never appeared
4) Product pages have old pictures, with "Should ship early June" text on them. It's already the 16th, which makes it "middle June" not "early June."
5) the SyncBox, which would have stood in for the Neuros's lack of Compact flash adapter, doesn't appear to work with the Neuros. It costs, like, $30 at Newegg.com (I know because I bought mine there.) I'm really surprised no-one at Neuros bought one to try it out. I have a six mega-pixel camera, and it takes me several shots to get one that I really like, so this is a big deal for me.
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| Lou Erickson |
Posted - 06/16/2004 : 2:00:43 PM
I'm curious what made you feel the Neuros was vaporware. They are having some shipping problems with the Neuros 2 units, but the distributors have photos and a little hang-up in the first week of a relases is common enough.
However, there's a whole mess of Neuros 1's (Neuros Classic?) out there and lots of activity here.
So, what made you wary of the Neorus?
(Neuros needs sync software, and it can be a little odd. NDBM is a free alternative which works very well, many say better.) |
| Yono |
Posted - 06/16/2004 : 1:16:00 PM
You have to pay extra to use the mic...thats interesting, how does that work? Some kind of firmware update you must pay for?
-- 'Artificial Intelligence is No Replacement for Natural Stupidity' |
| Llama |
Posted - 06/16/2004 : 1:07:56 PM
quote:
the Music Match Software that comes with it is annoying beyond belief
actually, i had a Gmini for about 4 days before i returned it and bought a Neuros, but, the Gmini has no database, you dont need a sync program for it, you just need windows explorer. you organize your music however you want it...that is a feature a lot of people want on the neuros too, and i beleive that Joe or K said something about it being a priority...but, i would recommend returning the POS gmini (which makes you pay extra to use the microphone) and buying a Neuros. |
| Yono |
Posted - 06/16/2004 : 12:57:27 PM
If someone knew a lot about winamp plugin creating, and talked to Starkey about the database, I'm sure it could be done.
-- 'Artificial Intelligence is No Replacement for Natural Stupidity' |
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