Nomad Muvo2 Mp3 Player with 4GB CF $188 Pretty Dam Spicy!!!

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

BuMMiE

Senior member
Aug 21, 2002
290
0
0
I'm hoping that someone can answer these few questions.

1) Will this 4 GB CF work in my Pocket PC (Toshiba 755) that takes CF Cards?
2) Will my Viking 256 CF Card work in the MP3 player that I take it out of?

Thanks for your answers.
 

Flair

Senior member
Apr 9, 2002
352
0
0
Hitachi is working on a new connector (away from CF) for the drives they sell to Apple and Creative so you can't plug the drive into a camera or other device. They are very worried about the market price of the CF drives going down to the price Apple and Creative are paying, therefore ruining their profit margin.
 

Nebby

Member
Feb 18, 2002
55
0
0
Originally posted by: Flair
Hitachi is working on a new connector (away from CF) for the drives they sell to Apple and Creative so you can't plug the drive into a camera or other device. They are very worried about the market price of the CF drives going down to the price Apple and Creative are paying, therefore ruining their profit margin.

just curious, but where did you hear this?
 

ImInGod

Junior Member
Jun 29, 2000
10
0
0
Disappointing, maybe, but surprising, no. He's just a clever businessman, that's all.
 

phantaszm

Member
May 20, 2000
64
0
0
To those who have this unit, can you please let me know if the provided power adapter supports universal voltage (100V-240V)? Or does it just support US voltage (100V-110V)? Thanks
 

docmart

Junior Member
Jun 12, 2003
16
0
0
Originally posted by: Flair
Hitachi is working on a new connector (away from CF) for the drives they sell to Apple and Creative so you can't plug the drive into a camera or other device. They are very worried about the market price of the CF drives going down to the price Apple and Creative are paying, therefore ruining their profit margin.


Where are you getting your info? ruining their profit margin? Havent you notice people are buying the creative drive like hot cake? This is a perfect marketing strategy for increasing sales for the Nomad!!! Not that I know that they intendly did this but I bet they are the besting selling drive for this quarter, beating out the mini ipod. As for the hitachi drive stand alone, hardly anyone will throw down 500 buck for it. So since apple and creative are able to sell the mp3 player around 200. I am sure they are all still making a profit out of it.
 

Solema

Golden Member
Jul 30, 2002
1,273
0
0
Originally posted by: docmartAs for the hitachi drive stand alone, hardly anyone will throw down 500 buck for it.


That is exactly where you are wrong. There is a HUGE market for Digital Photography professionals who depend on drives like these, and making them available for half the normal cost simply by buying an MP3 player DOES hurt their profit margin.
 

docmart

Junior Member
Jun 12, 2003
16
0
0
I agree with you that there is a market for the drive with pro photographer, but if hitachi is able to supply drives to creative and apple at a lesser price. While both company are able to sell it for around 200 dollars. Hitachi is still able to make a profit on it. Currently both buy.com and dell are sold out of these drives. If you are able to sell thousand of drives compare to a few at a higher price. hmmm I wonder which is more profitable.
 

docmart

Junior Member
Jun 12, 2003
16
0
0
I agree with you that there is a market for the drive with pro photographer, but if hitachi is able to supply drives to creative and apple at a lesser price. While both company are able to sell it for around 200 dollars. Hitachi is still able to make a profit on it. Currently both buy.com and dell are sold out of these drives. If you are able to sell thousand of drives compare to a few at a higher price. hmmm I wonder which is more profitable.
 

Nebby

Member
Feb 18, 2002
55
0
0
you have to remember, hitachi needs to recoup their R&D costs, which is why retail pricing is generally much higher than oem pricing.
 

darqice

Senior member
Mar 23, 2001
275
0
0
shamelessly ripped from a dpreview forum poster:

"FYI The 4Gb Muvo2 US firmware queries a hidden 3K file on the 4GB drive to verify that it is installed before it will go into normal operating mode. If the file cannot be found the 4GB Muvo2 reverts to recovery mode. Creative added this check at the last minute to prevent people from pulling the Hitachi microdrive and replacing it with standard CF flash memory. Be sure to make a backup of your 4Gb drive BEFORE you format the Hitach 4GB Microdrive in another CF device. Otherwise, you will render your Muvo2 useless even if you reinstall the original Hitachi 4Gb microdrive. You can use Ghost to make the backup image and even restore the created image to a standard CF flash memory using a CF reader/Writer attached to your PC. Once you have restored the image to a standard CF card it can then be inserted into your orgial 4GB Muvo2 and it will work without problems."


however.. some people had luck just using a firmware update instead:

jconfus wrote:
> Same here. I do NOT need any ghost or any thing. Just exchange the
> drive and update the firmware.
>
> Labib Haddad wrote:
> > I updated the firmware AFTER exchanging the drive, and everything
> > works just fine, I did not load any of the creative software on my
> > PC, just dragged some mp3s onto the muvo once connected through USB
> > 2. Good Luck.
> >


Ghost is just a precaution. Apparantly half of the CF cards that don't work DO work if you write an image from the original drive. I don't see why it would render the Muvo unusable though. It should be compatible :)
 

John P

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,426
2
0
Mine shipped from JandR.com, hoping to use the 4gb MD in my Digital Rebel and put my 512mb 12X Lexar in the MUVO2.

I'll update next week as to my "operation".
 

Evilincorp

Junior Member
Oct 7, 2002
3
0
0
Does anyone have a ghost image of the drive that they could send me? I'm having trouble installing a 32mb Sandisk CF. Just keep getting the Media Error message and cannot reload the fw. Thanks.
 

Pauli

Senior member
Oct 14, 1999
836
0
0
Originally posted by: BuMMiE
I'm hoping that someone can answer these few questions.

1) Will this 4 GB CF work in my Pocket PC (Toshiba 755) that takes CF Cards?
2) Will my Viking 256 CF Card work in the MP3 player that I take it out of?

Thanks for your answers.

In case you haven't figured it out by now, this device contains a 4GB HARD DRIVE, not a CF device. Heck, 4GB CF cards are not widely available yet and cost $1000 at the moment!
 

VaG

Golden Member
Sep 2, 2001
1,324
0
0
Originally posted by: Pauli In case you haven't figured it out by now, this device contains a 4GB HARD DRIVE, not a CF device. Heck, 4GB CF cards are not widely available yet and cost $1000 at the moment!
Hopefully, they figured it out without waiting 9 day for your response.

 

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
13,174
3,952
136
Out of sheer curiosity, does the Muvo run appreciably longer w/ CF instead of the MD?
 

GoingUp

Lifer
Jul 31, 2002
16,720
1
71
Originally posted by: manly
Out of sheer curiosity, does the Muvo run appreciably longer w/ CF instead of the MD?

it should be significantly longer cause there is no drive to spin...
 

Snowlock

Member
Jul 20, 2003
76
0
0
In case you haven't figured it out by now, this device contains a 4GB HARD DRIVE, not a CF device. Heck, 4GB CF cards are not widely available yet and cost $1000 at the moment!

Uhm.. actually it DOES use a 4 GB microdrive. Which is compatible with nearly all CF hardware. Microdrives run on the same pins, same data thru. The only difference most people care about is that the microdrives are slightly thicker. And CF cards do work in the muvo, but apparently it doesn't work with the cheaper brands. I think the simpletech work well if memory serves (also some smaller sizes of CF don't work)
 

ImInGod

Junior Member
Jun 29, 2000
10
0
0
Has anyone been able to get one of these shipped in the last week or two? I can't find any place that's got 'em in stock, though I thought they were supposed to have been released (re-released?) last week.