Originally posted by: dpopiz
ok thanks tec. a few specific Q's:
- does it force you to keep the directory structure a certain way, and arrange songs in it a certain way?
- what are the steps to add a song that's currently playing to a playlist that I can view on the comp? I'm looking for an easy way to sort out songs I like and songs I don't like while I'm listening.
- is it easy to play an entire artist or genre or something? (on the crappy archos I now have, you have to navigate through menus and "add it to the playlist" to play anything other than a single file.
- does it have random play mode for only a certain artist or only a certain playlist or whatever?
edit: oh yeah and how long does it take to boot up? does it reindex all the files each time, or does it just read an index file? if so, does it store the index file on the disk or in flash?
1) You do most of your organizing on your PC. I go through MusicMatch and when I want to put songs on my Dell DJ I'll hook up the unit to my PC via usb 2.0 From there I'll go to my MusicMatch, synch the dell dj with MM and then I'll start to put songs on my unit. I usually just click and drag as it's easy enough and it's fast. Also, you can make your own play list while you have your dell dj hooked up to your computer. So if you want to make a rock play list and a rap play list you can easily do this, but it should be done on your computer. You can put songs in your play list while you have the dell dj by itself, but it's kind of cumbersome. This might bother some people if they like to arrange there play list while they are away from their computer. It doesn't bother me at all.
2) It's very easy to play an entire artist or genre. Actually you can just go to the artist or genre section and hit play. It will play all the songs within the genre. Say for instance you have Led Zeppelin. You can play Led Zeppelin thru the artist section. Also you can play Zep thru the genre section and album section as well. What I really like about MusicMatch is your able to Super Tag your songs. You can label them so the dell dj will recognize what your playing.
3) Play modes are normal, repeat track, repeat all, shuffle, shuffle repeat, and track once. When I'm playing my dell dj I'll go into play all music tracks. And from there it's shuffle so I get a good mix of what I want to listen to. I should make a couple of playlist though.
4) The dell dj boots up immediately. Nope it does not reindex the files hardly at all. The new firmware that dell put out kicks ass, because the only problem I was having with the unit was that it would lock up on me every so often. Then I would have to restart my unit and that is a pain in the butt. The restart button is impossible reach and the only way to get to it is by a paper clip. I do understand why dell did this, but you need to carry a freaking paper clip to get to the restart button. But with the upgrade to the new firmware the lockups are non-existent. I've learned to just take my time when going from track to track. Don't rush and take your time. If you come across a song that you don't want to listen to then wait a sec until it plays before you hit the next button. Once you get into the habit of doing that then it's not that bad.
5) Did I mention that the dell dj has a 16 hour battery life? The unit literally smokes the Ipod in this department.
I'd say over all I'm impressed with the dell dj. I take it to college and to work. Also, if you have an aux jack in your car you can connect the dell dj right up to it, or I do believe Best Buy sells a receiver for getting your mp3 player to play in your car. It's only like $30
good luck.
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