Portable Media Player Advice

[GlenR]

I'm looking at getting a portable media player now it looks like I'm going to go back on the train commute to work each day

Anyway, I was looking at the Toshiba Gigabeat S series and it seems impressive. I've searched the site for people's opinions, but everythings early impressions. So, has anyone used one a lot and would you recommend it?

[vlad]

Hi GlenR,
I am getting SonyEricsson M600i with 4gb memory stick or W950i with built in 4 Gb.
Why have 2 devices when you can combine phone with music player.

[supafly]

I just bought another 30gb Ipod video 2.5" screen i think. Im quite happy with it. At current i have complete first season of Drawn Together, Episodes of DL.TV, Season 3 of Entourage about 15 albums and about 105 podcasts, i still have 24gb left. Depends on what size screen your after i guess

[pistnbroke]

I love my iRiver CLIX, only a 2 gig version but I think there is a 4 gig now. Listen to podcasts mostly but it also fits on my recorded TV shows to watch as well..... They convert down well....

[ahuvas]

I love my ipod. Im sure that there are probably better out there by now, but it really is my first love.. so you cant beat it.

[frantic1]

Originally Posted by GlenR

I'm looking at getting a portable media player now it looks like I'm going to go back on the train commute to work each day

Anyway, I was looking at the Toshiba Gigabeat S series and it seems impressive. I've searched the site for people's opinions, but everythings early impressions. So, has anyone used one a lot and would you recommend it?

G'day GlenR,

It all depends what you want to do with yourself on the train. Do just want to listen to music? Do you want to watch TV/movies? Do want to play games? Do you want to be a portable storage device?

How much you want to spend also plays an important part.

As a guideline, most people tend look at the following products:
+ Apple iPod (nano or video)
+ Creative M Vision
+ iRiver range
+ PSP

Get back to me how much you want to spend, what you'll be using it for, and if any of the example listed tickle your fancy and we can go through all your pro's and con's.

[Astrotoy7]

I have an iriver portable media center which works great, though I do like the look of the Toshiba gigabeat variety...larger storage too





If easy integration into MCE and hassle free syncing for dvrms etc wia WMP is an attractive prospect then by all means check one out

Astro

[parrotter]

Recently purchased the Gigabeat S30, and as an out of the box solution, I am not able to sync the device with MS-DVR files without going through a conversion tool and then sync-ing the converted file via Media Player. As I have not previously converted MS-DVR files, I am still in a discoverer phase to find an appropriate tool to undertake.

This has been the largest disappointment with the unit.

On the plus, it does a great job sync’ing with Media Player, music and radio quality is good, and when I do get the videos (ie TV recordings) onto the device, they do display well.

[Astrotoy7]

If your s30 is the I have a pic of it should convert DVRMS....its what its built for !!

If you are having problems you really need to look at your setup/device properly.
I had some troubles with my iriver, but it was just the result of too much USB clutter. When I ghosted back to fresh install and installed WMP 11 ive had no probs

there are quite a few dvrms conversion tools out there. There is a section here all about it. WMP uses its embedded windows media encoder, though you can try using that separately to get to WMV specifically.

Important thing to remember - conversion settings:
320x240
25 fps
128 bit sound
>otherwise you'll have no joy

If you like youtube - you can convert your saved youtube flash videos (.flv) into mpeg - then sync wia WMP. I wrote a quick guide to it HERE

if you ever plan on selling it, give me a hoy !

Astro

[parrotter]

My S30 is the one you have pictured, and though I agree with your comment ‘ … its what its built for !!’, as an owner of a unit, my Gigabeat and two Media Centre PC’s/one XP PC do not want to sync MS-DVR files and get an error C00D1189 error message via WMP 11, and similar error (though different error message) when using WMP 10 and MCE from the ‘Sync to Device’ program.

I purchased the Gigabeat as I thought it was able to read MS-DVR (ie no conversion program required). From additional research and installing the Gigabeat software, this is not the case as it appears the files are converted and which I can’t get it to work on my three PC’s/Gigabeat.

I’m not indicating that Gigabeat’s aren’t able to sync MS-DVR files, but in my case, it has not been an ‘out of box’ solution and for me, I know have to invest additional time investigating conversion tools and/or correcting why the ‘out of box’ solution is not working.

I hope to have some time over the Christmas period to further investigate these options and thanks for clarifying the conversion settings required.