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#216261 - 14/05/2004 07:55 Karma (and Nitrus) in labs test - PC Pro July 2004
debauch
enthusiast

Registered: 22/03/2000
Posts: 217
Loc: West Midlands, England
Just got my latest copy of PC Pro and found a labs test of 9 hard disk audio players.

The summary read: "If you want to organise your music library using ID3 tags then these are the players to go for. Sound quality is excellent, there are some unique features, and navigation and integration with your PC is unsurpassed."

The winner, by the way, was the iRiver iHP-100. The Karma was only 'Recommended' and not the labs winner because: "Our only real gripe ... is the necessity to use the Rio Taxi software to transfer non music files rather than the player appearing as an external drive in Windows.". It also mentions battery life as a reason.

Nick.
_________________________
-- 18GB red s/n 080000299

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#216262 - 14/05/2004 11:31 Re: Karma (and Nitrus) in labs test - PC Pro July 2004 [Re: debauch]
BartDG
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/05/2001
Posts: 2616
Loc: Bruges, Belgium
While I love my Karma, I must say that I agree with that statement about the Rio Taxi software. I'd like it better too if the Karma would appear as just another drive in explorer.
_________________________
Riocar 80gig S/N : 010101580 red
Riocar 80gig (010102106) - backup

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#216263 - 15/05/2004 10:47 Re: Karma (and Nitrus) in labs test - PC Pro July [Re: BartDG]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14491
Loc: Canada
I'm happy that it doesn't.

Because Windows is coded such that, in order for a drive to appear as a mass storage device (the way this stuff works), it has to use a Windows filesystem (FAT/VFAT/NTFS..). Which is simply another way of forcibly extending the monopoly.

There's definitely a biz-op for a layer of code that translates FAT accesses into an underlying filesystem and back. Very hard to do, but doable.

Cheers

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#216264 - 15/05/2004 11:22 Re: Karma (and Nitrus) in labs test - PC Pro July [Re: mlord]
BartDG
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/05/2001
Posts: 2616
Loc: Bruges, Belgium
I see what you mean, and I agree with you on the monopoly thing. But you look at it in a diferent way than I am. I'm just looking at it in terms of ease for the user. And it doesn't come any easier than just plugging it in and being able to use it as a drive.

That aside, you DO have a very valid point there.
_________________________
Riocar 80gig S/N : 010101580 red
Riocar 80gig (010102106) - backup

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#216265 - 15/05/2004 11:38 Re: Karma (and Nitrus) in labs test - PC Pro July [Re: BartDG]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14491
Loc: Canada
It's the long term view.

In the short-sighted term, it's better for everyone to CHOOSE to just use FAT and make it compatible. But doing so means that in the longer term, such choice will be removed, locking everyone into a single implementation, with the lack of innovation and improvement that such things bring.

Cheers

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#216266 - 16/05/2004 22:07 Re: Karma (and Nitrus) in labs test - PC Pro July [Re: mlord]
genixia
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/02/2002
Posts: 3411
I refuse (point blank) to choose any file system that only keeps 2 copies of its FAT.

Couldn't this be achieved through a web interface and ftp?
_________________________
Mk2a 60GB Blue. Serial 030102962 sig.mp3: File Format not Valid.

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#216267 - 16/05/2004 22:15 Re: Karma (and Nitrus) in labs test - PC Pro July [Re: genixia]
daPyr0x
stranger

Registered: 14/03/2004
Posts: 43
It could easily be achieved through a web interface and/or FTP (though, you would lose the nice 480mbps USB 2.0 - and yes I know you don't get that, but it's certainly faster than the Karma's 10mbps). It could also be achieved through a driver (a la the driver you can get so Windows 2k/XP can read ext2). The fact is though, Rio just doesn't care enough to bother with that kinda [censored]. tehy have their software, it works well enough, why fix what isn't broken? hell, why fix what is?..but that's a whole other story. Corporate laws.

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#216268 - 17/05/2004 06:41 Re: Karma (and Nitrus) in labs test - PC Pro July [Re: daPyr0x]
rob
carpal tunnel

Registered: 21/05/1999
Posts: 5335
Loc: Cambridge UK
It's fairly widely rumoured that Rio will be shifting everything over to mass storage class due to demand from retailers and users.

Rob

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#216269 - 17/05/2004 09:31 Re: Karma (and Nitrus) in labs test - PC Pro July [Re: rob]
JBjorgen
carpal tunnel

Registered: 19/01/2002
Posts: 3584
Loc: Columbus, OH
Is it also widely rumored that there will continue to be a searchable database containing metadata, similar to the current architecture?
_________________________
~ John

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#216270 - 17/05/2004 10:49 Re: Karma (and Nitrus) in labs test - PC Pro July [Re: JBjorgen]
altman
carpal tunnel

Registered: 19/05/1999
Posts: 3457
Loc: Palo Alto, CA
Obviously.

Hugo

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