iPod nano

[grosun]

I doubt it. Apparently the gap thing is a failing of the mp3 format, not of the players themselves.

Nah.. nowt to do with the format itself; you can do gapless playback on winamp playing mp3s for a start... just some stupid default setting which they assume people want, or else summat to do with the way they wrote the OS for the ipod.

 

[tarannau]

Really? I'm sure i've heard that other MP3 players don't have the gap; I thought it was something to do with having a hardrive?

Nah, nothing to do with harddrives at all. It's just another reason to dislike the duffness of mp3 format - some players may try and mask the gaps between the tracks by clever tinkerings, but there's always a flaw (and gap) somewhere. One of the uber-geeks at arstechnica describes it like this:

the reason is nothing intrinsic to do with the hardware or software, file read times or buffering but is because the MP3 encoding standard works in time blocks. Unless the track ends exactly on the boundary of a time block, the ripper will pad the final block with silence. Any MP3 player, software or hardware, will need clever logic in it to try and tell when this has happened during playback. A particular problem is accurately telling the difference between silence added by the encoder, and intentional track-gap silence inserted by the CD producer.

 

[tarannau]

Nah.. nowt to do with the format itself; you can do gapless playback on winamp playing mp3s for a start... just some stupid default setting which they assume people want, or else summat to do with the way they wrote the OS for the ipod.

You can play gaplessly on itunes as well (crossfade or merging tracks) but put an mp3 file or mp3 disc into a compatible player without those particular features and that format gaps becomes ever more apparent.

The gap's present in all players I've heard so far - I've never heard one be able to play back to back tracks without experiencing a gap or some imperfect mix.

 

[grosun]

You can play gaplessly on itunes as well (crossfade or merging tracks) but put an mp3 file or mp3 disc into a compatible player without those particular features and that format gaps becomes ever more apparent.

The gap's present in all players I've heard so far - I've never heard one be able to play back to back tracks without experiencing a gap or some imperfect mix.

Yeah, I've never heard itunes do it perfectly though, whereas the gapless playback plugin for (old) winamp does it pretty much perfectly; the extra gaps aren't very big... but it's possible that it's doing some clever stuff along the lines described above.

Does anyone know offhand what the size of these blocks is then? Is it in the order of miliseconds, or a bit bigger than that?

 

[Structaural]

Maybe the person holding it just has really, really big hands.

It's actually just a full size iPod.

someone here just got bought the black version - it is fucking tiny! like a long slightly thicker credit card. *dreams*

 

[Sunray]

Yeah, I've never heard itunes do it perfectly though, whereas the gapless playback plugin for (old) winamp does it pretty much perfectly; the extra gaps aren't very big... but it's possible that it's doing some clever stuff along the lines described above.

Does anyone know offhand what the size of these blocks is then? Is it in the order of miliseconds, or a bit bigger than that?

I think gapless does it by starting the decode of the next tune to another stream and then when the 1st tunes ends its switches streams.

Dunno about the blocks sizes but you are gonna notice even the tinyest gap.

 

[grosun]

I think gapless does it by starting the decode of the next tune to another stream and then when the 1st tunes ends its switches streams.

Dunno about the blocks sizes but you are gonna notice even the tinyest gap.

Oh, definitely.. & even the 'gapless' playback does have slight (like, fraction of a second) gaps between tracks on mixes, which is noticeable, but doesn't ruin the flow that much; not 1/2 as disruptive as the 1-2 seconds that itunes feels it has to stick in anyway!

 

[Drarok]

Can't say i've seen this 1-2 second gap.

Switch on cross fading, but drag the slider all the way to the left - gapless(ish) playback.

Originally I didn't like iTunes, coming from a Winamp background, but I've grown to love it.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

And so the backlash begins...

 

[Structaural]

And so the backlash begins...

mmm.
http://www.flawedmusicplayer.com/

 

[Kid_Eternity]

LOL! Was about to post that link too!

Yikes:

 

[Structaural]

LOL! Was about to post that link too!

Yikes:

ouch:

 

[Cotch]

well i dropped mine onto a marble floor and it is still fine

 

[Kid_Eternity]

These pictures will give iPod zealots nightmares...got anymore!?

 

[Drarok]

I find it hard to believe an LCD screen would "Just break".
More likely people are forgetting it's there as it's so small and sitting on it.

My mate's got one and yeah, it's scratched, I'll wait and see how bad it gets before I bother reading the hype. It's all over-sensationalised anyway.

 

[editor]

I find it hard to believe an LCD screen would "Just break".
More likely people are forgetting it's there as it's so small and sitting on it.

Loads of people are complaining about scratched screens and other problems with the Nanos with battery issues and screen failures resulting in some cancelled orders:

Apple's iPod Nano screen woes deepen
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/27/ipod_nano_more_scratching/

 

[Drarok]

Yes, but that's the register. It's The Sun of the IT world

Yeah, they do seem fairly easy to scratch, but snapping the screen?! People must be squashing them in their pockets.

And I can't see how scratched my mate's is, cuz it was nicked from work!

Edit: looks like it's not just El Reg ranting about it anymore. Ooer!

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Yeah, they do seem fairly easy to scratch, but snapping the screen?! People must be squashing them in their pockets.

Sounds like they aren't putting a hard layer in front of the LCD itself. Press your LCD monitor with your fingers. See that distortion, it can be permanent if there's enough pressure.

Then you've got the stories from people who go to apple stores and find them in a scratched state even though they are on display...

 

[chio]

Too right they scratch. Mine was in a coat pocket, not squashed, not with my phone or keys, on its own, for one day and it's got a dent in the left hand side, above the click wheel, and the sides are both covered in little nicks. The screen's still sound, touch wood.

What do they make them out of, Dairylea?! It's no good making a music player if all you can do is put it on a little pedestal next to your computer and gawp at it.

 

[Drarok]

Bob:
The outer case is the hard layer, but if you sit on / compress your pocket with it in there, it's going to put pressure on the screen I guess.

Chio:
You DENTED it!?

I've had my 20GB for 2 years in December, and it's scratched, unsurprisingly (accidentally put it in same pocket as keys - Drats!). But to dent summat, you'd have to put some fair energy into it, surely?

 

[chio]

Chio:
You DENTED it!?

I've had my 20GB for 2 years in December, and it's scratched, unsurprisingly (accidentally put it in same pocket as keys - Drats!). But to dent summat, you'd have to put some fair energy into it, surely?

It's not really a dent, it's more of a depression in the plastic above and to the left of the click-wheel. Done nothing with it other than have it in this pocket for one day and listen to it.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Was never a problem with my phone. If the ipod is too fragile to be used for it's intended purpose then it should be recalled.

There are two points, first that the screen scratches too easily, i've no idea why on earth they would chose a different matieral to the stuff used for the larger Ipods, a tried and tested solution.

The second is that the design may expose the screen to too much force, it's not inset (how can it be, the damn thing's tiny!) if they haven't put a thick enough layer of polycarbonate or whatever it is, then any pressure put on the protective cover will transfer straight to the LCD.

 

[chio]

That's another thing - I've had the Nokia phone for eighteen months, it has an LCD screen, and god knows it's taken its fair share of wear and tear! There's one small scratch on the front of the screen, and the "Vodafone" logo is starting to rub off the back slightly. That's all.

I've emailed the bloke with that website:

I've had an iPod Nano for one day. Yes, it's spent one day in my pocket, being listened to as I walked into Stoke and up Shelton New Road. It's not been next to my keys, it's not been with my mobile, it's not been scratching up against any rubbish in the bottom of the pocket. You see, it's a very soft pocket in a brand new coat.

Today, I've taken it out of the pocket, and found, to my dismay, that the corners of the shiny back and the sides of the front are covered with tiny little nicks. Even stranger, to the top-left of the click-wheel is a slight depression in the plastic, about 7mm across, as if someone's pressed on a soft object. At least the screen seems unaffected, touch wood. The second the screen even shows the slightest sign of breakage, it's going straight back where I bought it!

I honestly believe that with this, the problems I've had with my Mac Mini, and the fact that their stores are staffed predominantly by smarmy gits who make you feel like you're in Harvey Nicks rather than a computer shop, Apple are running themselves into the ground. What's the point in releasing a music player that can't be used? So we can put it on a little pedestal by our computers and congratulate ourselves on being cooler than the neighbours?!

 

[Ozric]

200Gb Nano

Heard some people thought they had too little space on them aswell but as ever some smart arse comes along with an idea:

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Yeah saw that, it only has a six minute battery life though!

 

[Ozric]

Yeah saw that, it only has a six minute battery life though!

Days of portable music and a six minute battery life nice