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steveG
Just Posting
5 Posts |
 Posted - 08/09/2005 : 2:36:30 PM
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I like my Neuros Audio Computer and would not like to be without it; but since you are designing the next generation product, I thought that I should give feedback on some basic things that I hope are improved on the next generation product:
1) Consumables should be consumer replaceable. If the battery is only expected to last 1.5 years, I should be able to replace it myself without losing the use of the unit for a month because I need to ship it to you for repair.
2) Use standard cables if possible. It is not obvious to me why the USB cable is not a standard product that I can buy locally if I break it.
3) The FM radio receiver/transmitter never worked for me. The receiver always suffered from hard drive motor noise interferance. The transmitter never had enough power to transmit a clean signal to my car stereo.
4) The car battery cable (pluggable into the car cigarette lighter) did not have enough 'oomph' to keep the battery charged. I always had to use the wall charger.
5) Use a small wheel on the side of the unit for volume control. The volume of different MP3 files can be quite different and the current setup is difficult to change quickly. Adding a companding option to the menu would also be welcome so that the relative volumes of different songs could be equalized automatically.
6) Give some thought into a better way of navagation through a large database of music. The current method works well for a few hundred songs. It does not scale well to several thousand songs. If you attempt to scroll through the title list, for example, the first songs go by very slowly, then it speeds up to the point that it is impossible to stop within several hundred items of the desired title.
7) The current battery indicator does not give very useful information. A relative charge indicator similar to many cellphones which gives clear information about remaining charge would be welcome.
8) The randomness of songs while in random play mode is not very random. It is very common for me to hear the same song (out of many thousand) repeat several times on my 40 minute drive to work. It appears that if I start with a song with a title starting with a 'K' (for example); Most of the music played will be with titles starting with 'J', 'K', or 'L'. In other words, it appears that the next song selection is from songs close the current song, not from the entire database.
9) Is it really necessary to manage the database with an external program? Why is it not possible to simply load the new MP3 or OGG files to the unit by mounting it as an external hard drive; then, after removing the unit from the computer, initiate a configuration process in which the unit searches its harddrive for new files and play lists and updates its own database?
Thanks and Regards,
SteveG
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guttrhead(at)gmail.com
Posting Mania
402 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2005 : 08:30:57 AM
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1) the N3 will have a consumer replaceable battery, I don't know about the hard drive though
2) This has been discussed before and they regret using a non-standard cable. Future versions will be as standard as possible http://www.neurosaudio.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6340 if you're any good with soldering and you don't mind voiding your warranty, someone figured out how to replace the usb connector with a standard one, but i cant find the forum post on it.
3)If you have an N1, theres another warranty voiding mod to increase broadcast strength http://lupavista.org/neuros.html. I don't think that works for the N2, but its supposed to already be better than the N1. I don't know much about reception because i don't listen to the radio, but every portable device I've ever used has had pretty poor radio reception.
4) Make sure you unplug the neuros from your charger if the power to the lighter socket shuts off when you turn off your car. The neuros doesn't know if current is actually flowing, it just thinks its charging when something is plugged into it. It's also more liberal with power when its plugged in so the battery will run down faster. The socket in my car is powered when the car is off and I've never had the problem you describe.
5)I agree completely with this. In my car, i put the volume on my player almost all the way up to play through a tape adapter. If i shut it down and then want to listen through headphones, it has to start up blaring before i can turn down the volume. An analog control would have been much nicer.
6)hitting the fast forward or rewind buttons skip to the next letter in the list. this makes navigation quicker and easier.
7)The player always gives funky info when the HD is spinning, but if you want to see a number readout (actual voltage) instead of the 3 bars, hold down on the joystick and toggle the lock button. i think the normal rang for a harddrive backpack is about 410-427. Garbage brance firmware does this by default.
8)Random sucks with this player. I think it picks songs that are closer to each other on the disk so it doesnt need to move the heads as far to read them, thus using less battery. I actually have no idea how it works and that last sentance was me talking out of my arse.
9)It is not necessary at all, the new firmware has a file browser on it that will read the files without a database. With any firmware, you can also just drag and drop files onto the player than use "find orphans" on a sync manager to recreate the database.
hope this helps you out some |
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steveG
Just Posting
5 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2005 : 4:03:19 PM
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Thanks for your reply.
1) Great! It would be nice to be able to replace the hard drive, but I don't consider it a consumable, so I don't have heartburn if it can't be replaced. With the short life of the battery, it IS a consumable and needs to be replaceable.
2) Good.
3) The problem with reception appears to be servo motor noise feeding to the FM receiver. I am hoping that they do something to shield the receiver from this.
4) I thought of that and did unplug the unit when not in use. It didn't help. If I put a multimeter to the plug, it has the correct voltage, but it does not seem to have enough current capacity to keep the unit charged. It may be that I have a defective plug, though, because the display is not kept backlit when I use it.
5) ...
6) I do that; but hitting the FF button still takes as much as 30 seconds to reach the next letter on the list. It can be faster to just scroll through the selections to the next letter; But if you hold the scroll button down, it speeds up enough that you can't stop where you want to. I end up pressing the button for a few seconds, then releasing it so that it doesn't get too fast, then pressing it (but enduring the delay before it starts scrolling).
7) Thanks, I will try this. On my unit, the battery display only seems to have two modes. It will pulse to show that it is charging, or it will be a steady full battery when it is not charging. I have not seen the 3 bar battery that you mentioned. It is not obvious from the display when the battery is mostly discharged and needs to be recharged.
8) ..
9) By sync manager, do you mean pc based programs such as Sorune? I was thinking more of a menu option on the Neuros itself so that it could build its own database.
Regards,
SteveG
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Yono
Posting Mania
718 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2005 : 9:56:46 PM
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Number 9 was being considered towards the end, but NA never got around to implementing it.
-- 'Microsoft Works is an Oxymoron' |
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guttrhead(at)gmail.com
Posting Mania
402 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2005 : 07:49:05 AM
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| NA never got around to implementing alot of things they said they would. |
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DarkHawke
Likes to Post
22 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2005 : 12:03:04 PM
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So far as I've read on the forums (fora?), it's that the Neuros doesn't have the processing power to handle rebuilding its own database in a reasonable period of time, as in less than three hours or so. The file browser, while as neat an added function in the 2.28 firmware as the Tetris game, is hardly a subsitute for the Neuros being able to rebuild its own database to include "manually" tranferred files. Sure you can play the files, but you lose all other regular playback functions and features, including the simple wonder of having playback resume when you start up again after shutting down in the middle of a song. On-board database rebuild is a MUST for the N3.
Order #6650 -- May the warm orange glow light the way to the future! |
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arkla_arkla
Posting is for Closers
25 Posts |
Posted - 10/03/2005 : 10:30:57 AM
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That's a pretty good list.
I didn't have the problem with the car charger not charging, but I have decided not to use it anyway, because of the possibility of damage. So please include a regulated car charger with the N3, if you are going to supply one at all.
I wouldn't go for an analogue volume control, they always get noisy with time and humidity, but I have found the automatic selection of the FM transmission without headphones plugged in annoying when I turn on the unit without headphones attached. Just make it an on/off switch. Forget the autodetection stuff.
Find a way to add a good quality mic input, or a reasonable quality one. or even a "can live with it" quality one.
This is simply indispensible.
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iPod Killer
Just Posting
1 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2005 : 11:53:38 AM
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I must say that I have never had a problem with my N2...... No problems with the car charging, cables... anything. Maybe it's your device?
I will say that user replaceable batteries would be good.
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Things That I Wish Were Different
