How can 128 MB mp3 player have more hours of playback than 256?

[jakobkraft]

...they insist they wouldn't need more than 256 MB worth of playback, which is good cause I can't afford to go beyond a hundred bucks.
But I was looking at these 2 and they don't make sense:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/Prod...11&first=true&page=productlisting.aspx


http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/Prod...11&first=true&page=productlisting.aspx

It says the 128 IROCK has 30 hours of playback whereas the MuVo 256 has only 8 hours?

Clearly I'm missing something, but what?

 

[WW2Planes1]

30 hours of battery life
only 4 hours of music

 

[Lonyo]

Battery life of the iRock is 30 hours.

built-in memory of 128 MB that can store more than 4 hours of music

 

[MustISO]

The number of hours is usually when using very low quality, low bitrate music. Unless you like your music at 56K it'll be much less than 4 hours or whatever they claim.

 

[mwmorph]

i think the industry standard is medium volume, 128k no other options.backlight on to measure play time.

 

[DaveSimmons]

128 MB = 4 hours of awful 64 kbps MP3s or 2 hours of typical web warez 128 kbps MP3 / WMA. 256 MB = double that.

 

[jakobkraft]

I get it now, sorry I'm an idiot

So I don't suppose any 256MB player would be a good buy, then?

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: jakobkraft
I get it now, sorry I'm an idiot

So I don't suppose any 256MB player would be a good buy, then?

Not really, unless 1) it is dirt cheap; 2) it is usb 2.0 AND 3) it supports SD media so you can add more.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
128 MB = 4 hours of awful 64 kbps MP3s or 2 hours of typical web warez 128 kbps MP3 / WMA. 256 MB = double that.

Rip the music to mono? Hopefully the player can read that kind of file. It'll halve the bitrate though.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

I have a 512MB MP3 player that can store 70-80 songs that are @ 192K or higher. It's not too bad for work or working out. I would like to get something new that has 10GB-20GB storage.

 

[apoppin]

i went for unlimited storage with Sony's Minidisc . . . . 160 minutes at better than 128K per rewritable disk (ATRAC format)
50 hours of battery life from a single (rechargable) AA battery!

it's a great alternative

of course you gotta rip from WMP to ATRAC . . . . but then MP3 isn't "ideal" either.

 

[sparkyclarky]

Originally posted by: apoppin
i went for unlimited storage with Sony's Minidisc . . . . 160 minutes at better than 128K per rewritable disk (ATRAC format)
50 hours of battery life from a single (rechargable) AA battery!

it's a great alternative

of course you gotta rip from WMP to ATRAC . . . . but then MP3 isn't "ideal" either.

Unless you have lossless audio files/are ripping straight from a CD, going from one lossy format to another is far from ideal. Minidisc is certainly a cool tech (although its unfortunate that Sony borked the US marketing of it, as it would have made an excellent cassette alternative in the years from its intro (92 I believe) until CD burners became commonplace (roughly 2001)), but it is definitely an alternative as you said. Unfortunately, the format is dying, as its simply easier to fill up the average MP3 player with tunes and go with it. That, combined with the ever lowering price of HD based players and MD doesn't have much of a future anymore (less shock resistent durable overall then flash players, less capacity then HD (unless you take hundreds of MD with you), but it does reside in some tentative middle ground with great battery life-sort of taking the position that portable CD players had,but without the benefits of being able to play the most common media format directly).

wow, that was a poorly formatted post on my part

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: sparkyclarky

Originally posted by: apoppin
i went for unlimited storage with Sony's Minidisc . . . . 160 minutes at better than 128K per rewritable disk (ATRAC format)
50 hours of battery life from a single (rechargable) AA battery!

it's a great alternative

of course you gotta rip from WMP to ATRAC . . . . but then MP3 isn't "ideal" either.

Unless you have lossless audio files/are ripping straight from a CD, going from one lossy format to another is far from ideal. Minidisc is certainly a cool tech (although its unfortunate that Sony borked the US marketing of it, as it would have made an excellent cassette alternative in the years from its intro (92 I believe) until CD burners became commonplace (roughly 2001)), but it is definitely an alternative as you said. Unfortunately, the format is dying, as its simply easier to fill up the average MP3 player with tunes and go with it. That, combined with the ever lowering price of HD based players and MD doesn't have much of a future anymore (less shock resistent durable overall then flash players, less capacity then HD (unless you take hundreds of MD with you), but it does reside in some tentative middle ground with great battery life-sort of taking the position that portable CD players had,but without the benefits of being able to play the most common media format directly).

wow, that was a poorly formatted post on my part

i don't think MD is "dying" - it has major support everywhere BUT in the USA.

NEVER go from MP3 to ATRAC (unless you are "deaf")

Keeping all your tunes in MP3 format - IMO - is silly and shortsighted. MP3 is such an inferior and ancient format it'll be outdated - eventually. . . . it's like recording everything to cassette and tossing away your vinyl (like some people did years ago).

The MD is an incredible durable piece of HW - mine is the Walkman MD and built like a "tanK' - it is FAR more durable and skip-proof than HD based players . . . . i have only about ten MiniDisks . . . . i just REwrite them when i am tired of my 'mix' . . . only one or two are "classics" that i "keep".