[SATLUG] Portable mp3 players and linux

[Mark McCoy]

On 9/1/07, Bruce Dubbs <bruce.dubbs at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm interested in finding a relatively inexpensive portable mp3 player
> for jogging and walking.  I really don't know much about the hardware
> players.  I know that the .mp3 format is a compressed audio format
> (actually misnamed because the format is MPEG 1 Level 3, not MPEG 3).
>
> I see that I can create .mp3 files from .wav files with LAME and can
> download free (or not) .mp3 files from the internet.  I can rip a CD I
> own to .wav files with cdparanoia.  All this means that I really don't
> have a problem getting the content.
>
> The functionality of a mp3 player would seem to me to be fairly simple.
>  I was looking at the store today and saw several players.  My question
> is how can I manage the .mp3 files on the portable player with linux?
> Is is as simple as mounting via usb or firewire (IEEE 1394) or is there
> something else?
>
> I'm not really interested in an ipod because it seems to be too
> expensive, but there do seem to be some players in the $40 range
> available.  Any recommendations would be appreciated.
>
>   -- Bruce
>
>
>
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Make sure that you stay away from *anything* with a "Plays for Sure"
logo on it.  These are products that follow Microsoft's onerous rules
designed to lock the player to Windows XP/Vista.

In some cases, a "Plays for Sure" player will not even charge over the
USB port if it is not plugged into a Windows PC!!  I had a really
sweet player from iRiver that did that.  I returned it immediately.

Your best bet is to get a player that doesn't require any software to
be installed at all to manage your "library" on the player, and that
just looks like a thumb drive that you can copy mp3 files to.  Barring
that, I have been surprisingly happy with my iPod Nano.  It seems that
the iPod is more "cross-platform" than most of the others out there,
as long as you wait a while to update when a new firmware comes out.

Rhythmbox on Ubuntu works well with the iPod.

-- 
Mark McCoy
  - US Army Veteran
  - Professional Unix Geek

Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from
revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dared to dissent from
accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent
with disloyal subversion. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower