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It's finally happened, after over 4 years of faithful service, my beautiful Technics MiniDisk deck appears to have given up :-( It is no longer recording anything at all! It appears to be a known problem with this particular deck (the SJ-HD501 if anyone's interested!)
Although I will be taking it down to see if it can be repaired, if it is gonna cost me a lot of money I think I will make the move to a MP3 player. So I thought I'd get some recommendations from you lovely people!
I listen to music on my portable MD all the time. Literally. It is probably on for an average of 4-5hrs a day! I have it on whenever I walk anywhere, when I'm studying, reading, running, etc.
So, I guess the things I need are:
Something with good battery life / spare batteries available
Large space (I don't really want a 128MB Flash player)
Good anti-shock (for my running)
Non-proprietary (e.g. not Sony!)
Under £10 (;-p)
Well, 4 out of 5 would do
Cheers in advance!
GL
Although I will be taking it down to see if it can be repaired, if it is gonna cost me a lot of money I think I will make the move to a MP3 player. So I thought I'd get some recommendations from you lovely people!
I listen to music on my portable MD all the time. Literally. It is probably on for an average of 4-5hrs a day! I have it on whenever I walk anywhere, when I'm studying, reading, running, etc.
So, I guess the things I need are:
Something with good battery life / spare batteries available
Large space (I don't really want a 128MB Flash player)
Good anti-shock (for my running)
Non-proprietary (e.g. not Sony!)
Under £10 (;-p)
Well, 4 out of 5 would do
Cheers in advance!
GL
Page:
http://www.mp3players.co.uk/site/uk/ultraslim
I got this fantabulistic machine and it is as big as 5 credit cards stacked together, honestly. It is silver and goes up to 512mb but costs just a bit in excess of 100 pounds. Its 4/5 so u may like it, i know i sure do. Use it a lot for the gym and that and it comes with a free carry case and arm strap. I totally recommend
I got this fantabulistic machine and it is as big as 5 credit cards stacked together, honestly. It is silver and goes up to 512mb but costs just a bit in excess of 100 pounds. Its 4/5 so u may like it, i know i sure do. Use it a lot for the gym and that and it comes with a free carry case and arm strap. I totally recommend
fiƒi[oV] wrote:
> Mm, I'm aware of the mod and know a number of people who've performed
> it successfully, but given how fiddly it is, I wouldn't want to be
> swapping drives every time I wanted to go jogging. If you're
> interested, here's a step by step guide
> [URL]http://www.pcconsultant.com/microdrive.htm[/URL] , but as I say,
> each time's a bit risky and I wouldn't do it regularly.
>
> You could look at a cheap solid state player just for jogging - they
> can be had for < £40, but organising both could be a hassle.
Aaah. Thought it was too good to be true. You're right - I wouldn't want to be doing that every day! But thinking about it now, I can still use my portable MD player for jogging, so there's really no need for the Flash player at all. Looks like it will be an IPod or similar for me then....
Thanks for your help!
GL
> Mm, I'm aware of the mod and know a number of people who've performed
> it successfully, but given how fiddly it is, I wouldn't want to be
> swapping drives every time I wanted to go jogging. If you're
> interested, here's a step by step guide
> [URL]http://www.pcconsultant.com/microdrive.htm[/URL] , but as I say,
> each time's a bit risky and I wouldn't do it regularly.
>
> You could look at a cheap solid state player just for jogging - they
> can be had for < £40, but organising both could be a hassle.
Aaah. Thought it was too good to be true. You're right - I wouldn't want to be doing that every day! But thinking about it now, I can still use my portable MD player for jogging, so there's really no need for the Flash player at all. Looks like it will be an IPod or similar for me then....
Thanks for your help!
GL
Mm, I'm aware of the mod and know a number of people who've performed it successfully, but given how fiddly it is, I wouldn't want to be swapping drives every time I wanted to go jogging. If you're interested, here's a step by step guide [URL]http://www.pcconsultant.com/microdrive.htm[/URL] , but as I say, each time's a bit risky and I wouldn't do it regularly.
You could look at a cheap solid state player just for jogging - they can be had for < £40, but organising both could be a hassle.
You could look at a cheap solid state player just for jogging - they can be had for < £40, but organising both could be a hassle.
Hey fiƒi[oV], thanks for the reply. I've just been reading somewhere about the MuVo2, and it seems to be implying that you can remove the micro drive and put in a Compact Flash card in its place, making it sort of a combi 4GB Microdrive/256MB Solid state player? Does this sound plausible to you? If so, it would be perfect - I could use a Flash card for when I'm jogging, and the 4GB drive for when I'm out and about!
GL
GL
If you can afford it I would go for the larger capacity mp3 players - like the iPod and similar players.
I bought an iPod around Christmas time and use it pretty much everyday, also since the new model iPod came out it seems quite a few folk are trying to sell their 3G iPods so you may well be able to pick up a second hand one cheaper than usual.
There were a few others worth checking out too, can't remember them off the top of my head - will go have a think and get back to you.
I bought an iPod around Christmas time and use it pretty much everyday, also since the new model iPod came out it seems quite a few folk are trying to sell their 3G iPods so you may well be able to pick up a second hand one cheaper than usual.
There were a few others worth checking out too, can't remember them off the top of my head - will go have a think and get back to you.
I'm thinking of getting myself a large external USB hard drive for my laptop, just for copying music to. They've got one on SR that looks quite nice, and just over £100 for 120GB - loads of music!
EDIT - this is it: [URL]http://uk.special.reserve.co.uk/q_GG4727_maxtor_one_touch__.html[/URL]
EDIT - this is it: [URL]http://uk.special.reserve.co.uk/q_GG4727_maxtor_one_touch__.html[/URL]
Yup, I've got a MuVo2 in my pocket at the moment, nice and small, nice and light, nice and..nice. I'm replacing it with an iPod or similar soon as it's full, as I'm indecisive enough to want a massive collection of music with me, but if 4gb is enough, I can't recommend it enough. Battery life has never been below 8 hours, incredibly simple to use (just pops up as a drive in explorer), good sound quality and plays wma/mp3.
Can't say it's perfect - the buttons are a bit small, though you'll have that on any mini mp3 player, and you can't select an individual track from within a directory. I get round this by just making playlists with the individual tracks I like, or otherwise playing a directory and seeing what comes up. Very good for the money if you want something small, admittedly hdd based players aren't much more, but they do get a fair bit larger.
I can't comment on how it is for running etc, as I'm not the most active of people, but I'd imagine you're right - it's not going to do the drive any good. You're going to be paying a lot for a decent sized solid state one though, and I'd guess it's less likely to be damaged than a full 2.5" hdd player.
Can't say it's perfect - the buttons are a bit small, though you'll have that on any mini mp3 player, and you can't select an individual track from within a directory. I get round this by just making playlists with the individual tracks I like, or otherwise playing a directory and seeing what comes up. Very good for the money if you want something small, admittedly hdd based players aren't much more, but they do get a fair bit larger.
I can't comment on how it is for running etc, as I'm not the most active of people, but I'd imagine you're right - it's not going to do the drive any good. You're going to be paying a lot for a decent sized solid state one though, and I'd guess it's less likely to be damaged than a full 2.5" hdd player.
monkey_man wrote:
> Well, with mine (and most that are Flash memory sticks too), once
> you've connected it to the USB port it basically becomes part of your
> PC, and file transfers are as you'd expect between drives. Maybe a
> tiny amount of latency, but nothing ridiculous. The unit weighs more
> or less nothing. If you can lift your feet to run you won't even
> notice it's there - except for the headphone wires.
>
> Jumping? Drive damage? The thing has no moving parts, so it can't!
Yeah, I know the Flash players don't, but I'd prefer a drive player cos I'd like to be able to take more than an hour or so's music out with me - not for when I go running, but for just general use in the day....
GL
> Well, with mine (and most that are Flash memory sticks too), once
> you've connected it to the USB port it basically becomes part of your
> PC, and file transfers are as you'd expect between drives. Maybe a
> tiny amount of latency, but nothing ridiculous. The unit weighs more
> or less nothing. If you can lift your feet to run you won't even
> notice it's there - except for the headphone wires.
>
> Jumping? Drive damage? The thing has no moving parts, so it can't!
Yeah, I know the Flash players don't, but I'd prefer a drive player cos I'd like to be able to take more than an hour or so's music out with me - not for when I go running, but for just general use in the day....
GL
Well, with mine (and most that are Flash memory sticks too), once you've connected it to the USB port it basically becomes part of your PC, and file transfers are as you'd expect between drives. Maybe a tiny amount of latency, but nothing ridiculous. The unit weighs more or less nothing. If you can lift your feet to run you won't even notice it's there - except for the headphone wires.
Jumping? Drive damage? The thing has no moving parts, so it can't!
Jumping? Drive damage? The thing has no moving parts, so it can't!
Cheers guys. How long does it take to load these boys up with songs? Unfortunately I haven't got USB 2.0, so I guess that's gonna be a drag.....
Anyone tried any of the micro-drive based players, like the I-Pod Mini or Nomad MuVo2 [URL]http://mp3.com.com/Creative_Nomad_MuVo2__4GB_/4505-6490_7-30708279.html?tag=txt?tag=more[/URL] ?
Basically, I'd prefer a drive based player, cos I like to take a lot of music out with me (I normally have at least 4/5 MDs with me) but I have two concerns:
1. I've heard that the drives can be damaged if you take them running etc. and that jumping can be a prob on some models
2. The size/weight - I know the IPods for example are pretty heavy, which is why I'm interested in the micro-drives....
GL
Anyone tried any of the micro-drive based players, like the I-Pod Mini or Nomad MuVo2 [URL]http://mp3.com.com/Creative_Nomad_MuVo2__4GB_/4505-6490_7-30708279.html?tag=txt?tag=more[/URL] ?
Basically, I'd prefer a drive based player, cos I like to take a lot of music out with me (I normally have at least 4/5 MDs with me) but I have two concerns:
1. I've heard that the drives can be damaged if you take them running etc. and that jumping can be a prob on some models
2. The size/weight - I know the IPods for example are pretty heavy, which is why I'm interested in the micro-drives....
GL
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