Please Help - Which MP3/CD player to get?

White Widow

Senior member
Jan 27, 2000
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Ok, if there is another thread that answers my questions, please just point me to it.

I am going to be graduating from college in about 8 weeks, and then I will be spending the next 4 months working in the mountains of North Carolina as a raft guide at the Nantahala Outdoor Center (stop on by!). My computer is getting sold to my younger brother (my beautiful 1000MHz baby...what have I done???). Anyway, I want to burn all my favorite MP3's (about 300) to some good CDR's and take them with me.

What MP3/CD player should I get? I don't need to play VCD'z or even regular CD's. I won't be boating with it, so I don't need any water-resistant features. Just laying in my bed with some nice headphones, or listening while driving in my car from river to river (I kayak, too). My last "Discman" was a refurbished, 1st generation Sony that skipped every time I looked at it wrong, so I'm sure I won't be dissappointed by what is out now. I guess having ID3 tag support would be nice, but all I really need is to see the filename or *some* indicator of what file is next on the disc. Rechargable batteries would also be cool, but I have a digital camera and a large set of 1550mAh (AA) batteries and a rapid charger, so that would just be gravy. My only other requirement is that it have a WORKING ANTI-SHOCK system for the MP3 playback.

I would like to spend less than $150, but graduation should see me pull in the cash big time (payback for never getting an allowance), so I'm not *that* limited with my budget on this one. Any suggestions would really be helpful.

Thanks,
Aaron
 

mariner

Golden Member
Nov 23, 1999
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Hey, does anyone know if the Riovolt does VBR? I could go try it out first-hand but the nearest CompUSA is 2 hours away :(

<edit>
Found it in the FAQ list. Here is the answer:



<< VBR is supported with the most recent Xing encoder. For example, we know that MusicMatch 6 works great, but MusicMatch 5 does not. If you have VBR issues (like repeating sections of the song), check with the software manufacturer for the encoder in use. Other encoders may work, or they may not. We KNOW that the most recent Xing encoder works fine. >>



Why would they support that encoder???

So much for my EAC/Lame stuff :(

Anyone tried this product with that combo?
<edit>
 

Soccerman

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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most people here would say the RioVolt.

however as for that VBR question, I'd like that answered, because a fair share of my MP3's are VBR...

hold on though. Do any of the flash card Rio products support VBR? If so, then this one should too, after all, I think the decoder would be pretty much the same.

as for the encoding, They're talking about the software on your computer I think, because why would they have encoding on a CD/MP3 player??
 

mariner

Golden Member
Nov 23, 1999
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I posed the VBR question to their Tech Support asking about Lame. The auto response said they would get back to me in 2-3 days. I will post their response here if someone else hasn't already answered it.
 

randypj

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Well mariner, that's another fine mess you've gotten us into. Geez...and I just encoded 400 of my cds this weekend at 160VBR. Darn. You need to make up our minds.
--Randy
 

Wingznut

Elite Member
Dec 28, 1999
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On TechTV, Fresh Gear just compared four models. They gave the TDK the best rating. Generally, I'm not a big fan of TechTV, but that show is pretty good when they compare like items.

Link for ya!
 

mariner

Golden Member
Nov 23, 1999
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Good stuff PEZ. The TDK did get a bangup review. And here's a quote about the VBR thingy from the review:


<< After inserting an MP3 CD with more than 150 tracks (VBR, and up to 320 Kbps) and waiting about twenty seconds for the Mojo's firmware to recognize them, we were able to inspect the CD's contents by album, artist, and so on. >>


And ID3 tag supported!
No mention of encoder limitations.
 

LuNoTiCK

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2001
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What is vbr? Whats so special about it, I'm asking because I might want to buy a mp3 player also.
 

White Widow

Senior member
Jan 27, 2000
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I'm sure the expwerts will chime in any second, but my understanding is that VBE is &quot;variable bitrate encoding&quot; which can throw off certain MP3 file players since they want an MP3 file to be encoded at a fixed rate, like 128kbit/sec. When encoded with VBE, an MP3 file will be encoded at different bitrates within the song, as is necessary to maintain a good level of audio quality. I can only assume that doing this saves space on the final file.

-Aaron
 

mariner

Golden Member
Nov 23, 1999
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From Xory's MP3 FAQ



<< The &quot;bitrate&quot; on the other hand, when talking about MP3 files, refers to the transfer bitrate for which the files are encoded - i.e. an MP3 file encoded &quot;at a bitrate of 128 Kbps&quot; is compressed such that it could be streamed continuously through a link providing a transfer rate of 128 thousand bits per second. But most of us don't really use MP3 as a streaming medium (except for shoutcast, etc.) so really what the MP3 &quot;bitrate&quot; is a measure of is how severely the files is being compressed - the lower the bitrate, the more the file has been compressed... and the more you compress a file, the more of the original data is lost, and so the worse the playback sound quality will be. It's almost exactly analogous to compressing a JPG image with a higher compression ratio - you get a smaller file, but when you view it, it doesn't look as good. >>






<< What is VBR and is it a good thing?
VBR stands for Variable Bit Rate. It's a method of encoding audio to MP3 that allows for different sections of the file to be encoded at different bitrates, depending upon the demands of the source audio (some type of sound require a higher bitrate, others encode well using a lower bitrate).
>>

 

divinemartyr

Platinum Member
Oct 18, 2000
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<< What is vbr? Whats so special about it, I'm asking because I might want to buy a mp3 player also. >>



VBR is Variable BitRate. The encoder looks at the music dynamically and decides what encode rate is best for keeping the full musical integrity (or at least to the best of its abilities) of the original recording.

The r3mix files are a great page which tells you how to encode your files, what tools to use, and how to use them. I highly suggest reading over the pages, you'll be able to get a feel for what CD quality mp3's are. Also, most people, without extensive listening, cannot tell the difference between a VBR file encoded from 128-320 (using the LAME encoder) and the original source file. I've been an audiophile for about 8 years and I'm very happy with this method for the majority of my recordings. The resulting filesize, when using this method, averages 160-190kbps so you save space, and get a near CD-quality file.

If anyone has any further questions on the subject I'd be glad to help where I can.

dm
 

randypj

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
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1. Why haven't we heard from Workin'? Isn't it his duty to respond? :)

2. OK, I sort of comprehend some of the brief reading I've done on r3mix. Similar to the stuff that used to be done on early open reel and QUALITY cassette deck comparisons. I do remember the first Nakamichi's. As I recall, +/- 3db from 20 to 20K was good enough?

So, it would seem to me, that space would not be the prime consideration because of the inherent smaller size of .mp3 files vs. .wav, and continually less expensive media (both hard drive and cd-r).

If so, wouldn't you want to go with 256 for maximum compatibility with players and quality?

NUTS.....I already went through this in the early 70's.
--Randy
 

LuBug

Member
Mar 14, 2001
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Last week I posed a similar question about which MP3/CD Player to get, and here is the link to that forum.
 

mariner

Golden Member
Nov 23, 1999
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Well, I just received the answer to a question I posed to the Rio Volt support folks.



<< Question: I read that vbr is supported if Xing codec is used. Have you any reports from folks using the Lame encoder? It is, after all, a superior encoder. >>



Their well thought out response, exactly as I received it:



<< Dear Valued Customer, I have nothing about it. >>



I think that about says it all :)