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Toys

Portable Mini-CD MP3 Player / Burner 180

Posted by timothy from the shopping-days-till-xmas dept.
An Anonymous Coward writes: "Here is a neat new toy. It is an MP3/CD portable that not only plays music files, it burns them. Called the RipGO, it was just released by Imation and runs about $400. The article includes a photo of the player."
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Portable Mini-CD MP3 Player / Burner More

Portable Mini-CD MP3 Player / Burner

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  • Will be bitching because they can get a portable, more functional CDRW for a few hundred bucks cheaper.

    • Really? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by usermilk ( 149572 )
      As far as I can tell, this device sells for $400 (same price as the iPod) and holds 185 MB per cd versus the iPod's 5 GB. I am not saying that the iPod is worth it's price but it can also be used as a portable FW hard drive. I think that this device is much less useful than an iPod. I personally use a 16x FW CD burner and my Rio Volt and am fine with that, this device like the iPod is a little overpriced.

  • It burns mini CDs... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by swordboy ( 472941 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @04:12PM (#2494107) Journal
    I haven't seen any mini CD-R media laying around but I would imagine that it costs more than regular sized CD-R media. At this point, you'd be better off buying a portable CD burner and getting a separate MP3 player. Neat concept though.

    • not-really - i use a lathe (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      and grind down regular cdr discs into mini cdr discs

    • Re:It burns mini CDs... (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Mini CD-R more expensive? This can't be. Anyone can transform a CD-R into a mini CD-R with a round cookie cutter and a hammer.
    • > I haven't seen any mini CD-R media laying around but I would imagine that it costs more than regular sized CD-R media. At this point, you'd be better off buying a portable CD burner and getting a separate MP3 player. Neat concept though.

      I've seen mini-CDR media at Fry's Electronics. It's not fantastic stuff, but it is available.

      But for $400, as cool as the small form factor is, I really don't need it to burn CD-Rs for me. For $400, I'll buy a CD-RW and use the money left over for a full-size (650M/disc) player-only portable unit.

      Big question left unanswered in the review: Do you rip/encode/burn the MP3s with some grotty proprietary DRM-hobbled application that ships with the device, or do you actually just shovel MP3s onto it like you would a regular CD-R?

      • From the Imation site [imation.com] it sounds like you don't have to hobble the files. " * Record six hours WMA-quality music or three hours of MP3 in less than five minutes." It also sounds like it doesn't do the encoding either - just transfers files from computers.
    • It actually costs the same or less, as it holds less info....It's not too hard to come by.
    • I thought the same thing when I first saw this. Mini CDR isn't as rare as you might think (doesn't Sony make a stand-alone mixer/burner?)

      here's a site with media for sale [ioproducts.com] ranging from $0.79 each (100 on a spindle for $79) to $1.09 each in jewel cases (pack of 5 for $10.90).
      • ranging from $0.79 each (100 on a spindle for $79) to $1.09

        Hmmm... Regular 700MB CDR costs about $20.00/100 (or free, if you can find a good enough rebate). A MP3 CDrom player costs around $99.00 at BestBuy [bestbuy.com] and a decent CDRW Drive costs about the same [bestbuy.com] at the same place.

        Sure, this new toy is possibly more convenient, but not $200 convenient, especially when you figure in a higher 'cost of ownership' per MB of storage.

        Sorry, please play again.
    • Actually, if you know where to go and get them in bulk, they can be really cheap. We use them all the time at the graphics firm I work at. The only problem is that they only hold 185MB.

      On a side note, the band Bullfrog [gobullfrog.com] has released three singles on this media.
      • Kid Koala kicks ass!

        I've been trying to figure out where that sample comes from: "However, as a beginner, it's often best to just kill everyone as fast as you can with the pump action"

        And now that we have halloween, the Charlie Brown sample "I got a rock!" is cool.

        I am aware that Kid Koala is more Nija Tune than Bullfrog in general, but I thought perhaps you might know.
    • comp-usa, best buy, everyone....
      I can buy mini-cd blanks almost anywhere... Sony forced them into the market by making that damned Digital camera that burns the mini-CD's.

      Yes they cost about a buck a CD right now (a far cry from my $0.19 a cd for standard CD-R blanks.) but are neat.
    • You might as well go the MiniDisc route. Cheaper/Available media, etc. Yeah yeah yeah, I know its a closed format and such, but the damn thing works, and it works well. They're (finally) making a bit of a dent here thanks to some Mp3->ATRAC software.

      I love the MD!


      • Minidisc is terrific for being able to record in the field, but the whole thing is still a closed-digital thing. Like what I mean is that if you want to load a minidisc with sound to listen to, you gotta play all the music in real-time to transfer it. And if you want track numbers in there, it requires a lot of manual intervention.


        The article, unfortunately, focuses on the size of this player and not how you get the music on the disc. I'm wondering if it's firewire or USB.. It would be very cool if this thing recorded in the field, too. That's one feature I think they could add to the iPod 2.0 to make it just a tad bit more appealing: Recording.
    • its cheaper, but only slightly
  • This is the development I have been waiting for. Imagine, you take this thing round to your friends house, and he/she lets you loose on his/her CD collection. In the space of a couple of hours, the damn machine has paid for itself in the savings you could make by ripping CDs instead of buying them.

    No doubt the morons at the RIAA will complain that this device violates the DMCA, but in reality it will encourage people to buy CDs, because they will listen to the music in very low quality MP3 format, and later on they will buy the genuine CD, to get the extra sound quality.

    I just hope these guys stay under the RIAA's radar.

    • Nothing stays under their radar for long. I'd like to see this gadget for sale at Coconuts or Musicland.
      Vinyl is the way to go anyway....
      • Vinyl sounds better, but the problem is that it deterioirates over time, as you get dust and scratches on it.

        The best audio format would be some kind of analog laser disc, which would combine the indestructability of the CD with the analog 'warmth and humanity' of vinyl.

        Mind you, looks like the dumb consumer has spoken. I cannot remember the last time I saw a mainstream release (apart from dance music) come out on vinyl. I think vinyl is all but dead.

        SACD seems to be the latest pretender to the vinyl throne, but with players costing over $1000 I think they make take time to catch on.

        • I don't know if you consider them mainstream or not, but they do get radio play, and they recorded a theme song for a recent James Bond film. Garbage's latest release "beautifulgarbage" is available on vinyl from cdnow.com. Of course, this is not a common practice. And sadly, they are on an RIAA affiliated label, so I can't recommend buying the album, no matter what format it comes on.
    • I wonder how well that would work, though.

      The interface to the PC is USB. How long would it really take to rip and encode a CD, transfer it to your RipGo via USB and burn a miniCDR? I'm guessing it would take quite a bit longer than a couple hours to rip/encode/transfer/burn $400 worth of CDs.

  • But 185mb doesn't sound like it's enough to really hold that much. Also a CD-RW version would be a little nicer. They're probably saving that for v2.
    • Awww, come on man, 160kbps is pretty good quality and is pretty much error-free as far as the majority of non-audiophiles are concerned. A "workout cd" of 40 songs, or a "day trip cd" or two of 40 songs is fine with me, and should please most people. Hey, it beats an iPod if nothing else in terms of all its features.
      • ?? "...beats an iPod if nothing else..."???

        Jeeze, why not trot out some more tangentially related to bash Apple with?

        Product is a piece of crap:
        1. Can't play miniCD format in your car changer.
        2. Hooking it up to stereo negates purpose of putting the music bytes onto plastic CD bits.
        3. Using USB mass storage is like Chinese water torture.
        4. RipGo requires special fruity colored and $10 ea. media.
        5. Add another brick to the powerstrip Ma! Is not bus powered.

        Links:
        http://www.tomshardware.com/technews/technews-20 01 1025.html
        http://www.imation.com/en_US/products/product_ge ne ric_1.jhtml?Id=IM_PRD341
        • damn...do some research!!

          1. Can't play miniCD format in your car changer

          ...you most certainly can! a miniCD can be played using a full-size adapter in ANY (read: ANY) CD player, be it tray-loading, slot-loading, or magazine-loading.

          4. RipGo requires special fruity colored and $10 ea. media

          ...not so. Memorex sells miniCD's in 5 packs for $10, and in 50-packs for $35. That's to say nothing of the prices to be found on Pricewatch.

    • ...because you can easily carry 5 or 10 of these things with you in a pocket, or far more if you're packing a bag. small media is good.

      and considering the cost of CD-Rs these days, CD-RWs seem more and more needless.
  • Unlike the Sony MD player, this one is truly digital. Can you say bye-bye RIAA. I want one that also does DVDs. Maybe X-mas 2002?
    • One question: does it have mic input?

      I bought a MD recorder for live recording. I would much rather have something that I could pop into my CD-ROM drive rather than having to record it from my MD to my PC in real time. At the time, I looked all over the net for a portable standalone CD-R with mic input. A bit too late for me, I suppose...

  • If Apple(TM)(R) had made this, it would be either translucent indigo or arctic white, and cost a mere $19.95 a month for 20 months, or, if you act now, $9.95 a month for 39 months. ;-)
  • Although it's still too expensive as well. My portable MP3 player right now consists of a 10 year old walkman with a tape deck.

  • And this is better than iPod, how? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dnorman ( 135330 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @04:15PM (#2494131) Homepage
    Posts slamming Apple for releasing a $399US 5GB Firewire hard drive-based MP3 player that weighs 6 ounces...

    Posts lauding a mini-CD-burning 160MB player that does... Oh, wait, that's all it does. For $400US...

    I'll gladly take an iPod, thanks... And thanks to the Firewire Disk mode, I can write it off as capital equipment that I can use while consulting... Tax writeoff = free... Wait, I guess I could do that with this teeny CD burner, too... Or is it MP3 only?
    • I agree on the Apple comments, but a quick perusal of the article does answer the last question you posed:

      The unit is not limited to digital music files, allowing it to simultaneously serve as a backup unit for your PC

      That makes it a bit handier for the techie-on-the-go, as Firewire is nowhere near as ubiquitous as USB, and these CD's should play in anything. Wonder if you can burn a (small) ISO or other bootable CD on 'em?
    • The problem with iPod is that you need to buy an Apple PC to go with it. The bottom line is that Apple and Imation have subsidized their product for the sake of other interests! In the case of Imation, they are supporting an open standard so I will take their product over Apple's (technologically superior) product any day.
      • The problem with iPod is that you need to buy an Apple PC to go with it.

        True, and no doubt Apple knows this is a downer. This and the price makes it obvious they're currently selling the iPod as a Mac peripheral, rather than a general-purpose MP3 player.

        However, I expect Apple will: (1) bring down the price on the device after a few months, (2) develop and/or partner for non-Apple compatability for the device. If people like it, no doubt third-party attachments for non-FireWire computers will become available. The FireWire is one of the best features about the iPod, though, so I don't expect that to ever go away.

        Just my thoughts. Sony sells all their portables with Memory Stick compatability; Apple sells for Mac compatability; Microsoft sells for Windows compatability. It's normal for the industry to at least *start* with closed compatability and open it as time goes on. Smaller companies benefit from open technologies, like MP3 CDs, because they don't have to develop as much.

        But as has been said, Apple is profitable *because* they target a niche audience, and the only reason to complain that they're focusing on that niche is if you aren't yet part of it. So I'd expect the iPod price drop and wider compatability to arrive at about the same time. Best thing you ("you" meaning "all Slashdot's readers") can do to hasten that process: WRITE APPLE AND TELL THEM YOU WANT LINUX COMPATABILITY. It's got to be easier than Microsoft compatability, right?
        • Just my thoughts. Sony sells all their portables with Memory Stick compatability; Apple sells for Mac compatability; Microsoft sells for Windows compatability.

          It half makes sense, but many of Sony's products that are memory stick compatible are still usable even if you never own a memory stick as long as you live.

          I wouldn't own a Macintosh (space+money mean the 5 PCs I own and use for business must stay), but I would own an iPod. But I can't because I'm not buying a $900 computer to own a $400 MP3 player.

      • Bzzzt. Apple is selling it that way, but that doesn't mean that's the way it is. Wait 'til they ship, then we'll know whether you're kneejerking or on to something.

    • Well, at least not a legal one. If you use a computer for mixed personal/professional you can only write off the professional portion of the expense.

      Disclaimer: I am not a CPA but I do have an accounting degree and I've spent several years as a professional tax preparer working in a CPA's office.
    • Well, this thing is better because you don't have to have a mac to use it. It looks like it should work with linux, mac, or windows. So it should appeal to a much wider audience. Now, if the ipod would work with other OSes, then this cd burner would either have to die or drop it's price drasticly to survive. I think the ipod is a really cool device, but as long as it's mac only, it's useless to most people.

      I think this burner is supposed to transfer any type of file, not just mp3s.

  • This seems like yet another device where more things are rolled into one. Given the fact that market is already saturated, and that the number of people without burners is on the decline, and the fact that they use a special Mini-CD format (which means that it probably won't be compatible 100% or the time or it won't have a very large capacity - this is just speculation, of course) means that this might not be the best product right now...

    Is anyone else reminded of the Kodak Digital Camera/MP3 Player? Granted, this thing has more features for the same purpose now, but...

  • Sony (Score:4, Informative)

    by atrowe ( 209484 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @04:17PM (#2494144)
    Sony [sonystyle.com] has had a similar product out for a while now.

    And their's is only $250.

  • Durability? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by KosovoYankee ( 310988 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @04:19PM (#2494164) Homepage
    How long will the writer last if it is constantly being dropped, banged against your thigh when you walk/jog, or piled under a stack of books on a desk or a schoolbag? I mean, the mechanism to write cd's must be fairly delicate....

    • How long will the writer last if it is constantly being dropped, banged against your thigh when you walk/jog, or piled under a stack of books on a desk or a schoolbag?

      That's why you buy the no-questions-asked "extended warranty" from the retailer for another 20 or 30 bucks. You're right, something like can become trash with one little mishap.

      My rule of thumb: never get the extended warranty on something that's going to sit on a shelf all it's life. Do get it if what you're buying is small, expensive and meant to be carried around, because eventually you'll probably drop it.

      Then again, maybe I'm just clumsy...
  • seeing the issues all the current portable mp3 tech seems to have (some combination of: not enough space, not fast enough to reload, 2-sec gap between songs, bitrate restrictions, etc), i would certainly recommend waiting for a few reviews to come out.

    i hate thinking, "this would have been so cool had they taken another four days to design it!"
  • Called the RipGO mini CD-R burner and digital audio player, the unit works on both Macintosh and Windows (except 95 and NT), machines.

    So let's get this straight... It doesn't work with Windows 95. Nor does it work with NT. Win2k is based on NT. So I guess you need Win98, or ME. Ick.
    • It doesn't (yet) work with Linux, BSD, QNX, or Amiga, it seems...
    • ...if you'd just read the article.

      It's USB. Win95 or WinNT can't deal with USB in any reasonable fashion. Win2K supports USB just fine.

      Y'know, WinME was based on Win98 was based on Win95, so, by process of elimination, it looks like it'll only work on Macs.

      PhilMills

      -Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, will be taken out of context and posted on /.

    • Yep. (Score:3, Informative)

      by megaduck ( 250895 )

      I imagine that they disqualify 98 and NT because neither of those have USB support. Any Windows released after '98 should have the requisite USB support (that includes Windows 98 and Win2K).


      Of course USB is dog slow for this kind of product. For the same amount of scratch you can get an iPod with a five gig capacity and FireWire connectivity. Just my $0.02.

    • According to the article, it uses USB to connect to the computer. I would guess that is the reason why it doesn't work with NT and 95. USB support with Win95OSR2 is pretty horrible and it is nonexistant with other revisions.

      In Conclusion, Win2000 is supported. I'm 98% certain.

      Prove me wrong.

  • Compatibility? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Ssolstice ( 198935 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @04:20PM (#2494172)
    the unit works on both Macintosh and Windows (except 95 and NT)

    So, it only works on XP and WFW 3.11?

    • Ha, that's funny. Wish I could mod you up. But wait, isn't XP just a collection of bug fixes on 95 and added NTFS support?

      • Win98 and WinME were just bug fixes and added "features" onto 95. WinXP is actually coming off of the NT Kernel, and isn't a successor (code-base-wise) to 95.
    • Actually it should work on any windows that supports USB. That includes win 98, win 2k, win me, and win xp.

      • Win 95b w/OSR2.x and Win 95c both support USB and I have gotten such things as USB scanners and Palm USB adapters running under 95, however USB support was dramatically improved under 98 and few companies bother to write 95 drivers for their USB devices (which is a shame).
  • The article/ad says the target audience is people who haven't yet bought a CD Burner or don't have space in their computers. I can't imagine anyone with 200+ megs of MP3s to trade not already having a better way to shuffle bits around.

    I wonder how the RIAA feels about a company marketing to those damned illegal Traders.

  • It's weakness is USB (Score:3, Informative)

    by Mustang Matt ( 133426 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @04:21PM (#2494185)
    Do you guys think USB is too slow for stuff like this? I know USB 2.0 is quicker but I assume this is using USB 1.0.

    It seems like devices like this would benefit a ton from firewire. USB 1.0 works great for mice and printers and other low bandwidth devices but in my experiences, it seems too slow for transferring large amounts of data.

    That being said, I have noticed that my Sony PIII 650 MHz laptop running WinME is quicker than my Athlon at 550 MHz running Win2k, so maybe chipset or OS has more to do with it than anything.

    • Re:It's weakness is USB (Score:3, Informative)

      by gorilla ( 36491 )
      I don't see it to be a problem. The bottleneck in terms of speed here will be the burner, not the host connection.
    • Single spin cd players tranfer data at 150KB/s so let's go out on a limb and say that this thing is a 4x burner, that's a whole 600KB/s. I think USB will hold up just fine under that...

      Out of curiosity when did Sony start making PIIIs?
      Sorry had to...

      Oh and here is the url for the Imation site...
      http://www.imation.com/en_US/products/product_ge ne ric_1.jhtml?Id=IM_PRD341
      • What if it's a 16x burner...
        I guess if they make it burn slow enough for USB to keep up. I don't think USB 1.0 can keep up with 16x burn speeds can it?

        Call me impatient, but when I burn CDs I don't want to wait. 4x doesn't cut it. Granted, when I'm burning I'm usually not making audio cds that might be worth listening but instead I'm backing up data from a webserver. Maybe I'd be more patient if it were something fun like audio cds.
    • I'll take a slower but more standard format anyday for a mobile device .. I'd hate having firewire only and not beeing able to use it AT ALL when I need it because the box doesn't support it.
    • I've got a 4x USB CD burner - that seems to be the top speed for USB. So, a 150MB disc will take (at 600KB/sec) 250 seconds, or, in other words, about 4 1/2 minutes is the most you'll have to wait to burn a disc.

  • Fragility and Utility (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nyquist_theorem ( 262542 ) <mbelleghem@@@gmail...com> on Monday October 29, 2001 @04:23PM (#2494191) Homepage
    First thing, its a CDR drive. In my experience, CDR drives are fragile and flaky and prone to sudden death even while standing still (I'm on my 8th in 5 years). MP3 players are also fragile and flaky and prone to sudden death (scratch two PMP300s and two NJBs - my RioVolt shows up next week along with the replacement HD for my NJB).

    Second thing, related to the first. Who makes it? Assuming IMation has OEM'd the thing out, who did the fab? I would suspect the thing is far from durable.

    Third thing, I have seen mini CDR media but no mini CDRW. Who wants to backup their stuff onto a 180MB mini CDR? I mean once in a while its cool, but if you can't use your CDR to back up CDs, whats the point? The mini media is nice, but a mini burner that wont take fullsize media at all is useless IMHO.

    Fourth thing, its $400. That's enough for an NJB($220), a RioVolt 90 ($89, for when the NJB breaks) and an internal CDR for your computer ($89).

    Based on point four - what advantage does this thing really have over the NJB+Riovolt+CDR-in-your-computer? And if you don't have room in your computer for a CDR, and you're gonna buy this contraption, could you not just buy a USB CDRW and a Riovolt for less? Of course you could. And that way you're not banging your CDR drive around.

    Seems like a silly idea to me. Now if only it had restrictive rights management! :)
    • If you have not seen miniature CD-RW discs, you obviously have not looked at all. Point 3 invalidated.
    • CDRW Minis are out there. I picked up another spindle today at Best Buy. 20$ for a 10 pack of 185MB 21minute CDRW's. Not bad, Memorex makes em.
    • I have seen mini CDR media but no mini CDRW. Who wants to backup their stuff onto a 180MB mini CDR? I mean once in a while its cool, but if you can't use your CDR to back up CDs, whats the point? The mini media is nice, but a mini burner that wont take fullsize media at all is useless IMHO.
      That would be me. As I collect data from the 'Net (MP3s, images, web pages, programs, etc) and as I create my own content (digital photos, personal multimedia projects), I group the files into 180MB volumes and then use a friend's burner to burn them onto 8cm CDr discs. I don't have any desire to copy complete CDs and I have an ultralight portable with limited expansion options. For me, this is the idea CD-burner, even before you get to the point where it can play MP3s.

      However, while I am without a job, the US$400 price tag is way out of my budget.

  • It's already in stock at CompUSA [compusa.com]. It was in their ad this weekend.

  • Does it play *real* mp3s, or crippled mp3s? It's my opinion that the players that force proprietary encryption on mp3 files in order to work shouldn't get to advertise as "mp3 players," because, in reality, they aren't.

    But then, what am I going to do about it besides rant on /.?

  • I just picked up this <A HREF='http://www.archos.com/us/products/product_50 0201.html'>puppy</A> that has 6 Gigs of storage and can rip directly from any audio source. And it's $350. Seems to me to be the best of the IPod and this thing, for 50 bucks less. You can take that cash and buy 2 Rocco DVD's

  • Uhh... (Score:2, Informative)

    by Transcendent ( 204992 )
    What about minidisks??? They're smaller, you can burn on the go, and re-burn whenever you want. You don't have to worry about gettin the disk scratched or anything either. The capacity of an MD is pretty much the same too. So why is everybody getting all hyped up about this when MD's do it better?

    • Because MDs (no matter how many times you reburn them) are limited to use in MD players.
    • Yah, really.

      What I want is an all-inclusive Minidisc setup. I want a device that plays MP3, lets me xfer data, can record voice through a mic, and has a decent video stillcam. It needs a car audio interface, so I can slam it in the dash and play MP3. It needs a home stereo interface, so I can slam it in and play MP3. It needs a computer interface, so I can slam it in and record MP3 and xfer out the voice recordings, data, and images.

      If it had a bit of PDA in it, so much the better. If it also had a reliable but slow and common connection, good: I can then stuff it onto any computer and xfer data.
      • do you think this is even possible considering the rights management and the ATRAC audio encoding and such ? a MD based storage solution would be great but I wonder if the MD's file system would permit that.. anyone having some info on that ?

  • Someone show me a decent MP3 player (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Scutter ( 18425 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @04:55PM (#2494330) Journal
    Oh goody. Another over-priced MP3 player with too many bells and whistles. And a price that's way higher than it should be.

    All I want is a decent MP3 player. I want one that supports some sort of smart media card, supports at least 128MB, and has USB. And most importantly, doesn't cost $400! Is that too much to ask? The Diamond Rio 500 came closest to that, but of course it's not made anymore (and cost too much anyway). Instead, SonicBlue produces the vastly inferior Rio 600 or the way over-priced 800. If I can buy a camcorder for $300, a freaking MP3 player oughta be under $100.

    I don't need a built-in CD player (that's why I have MP3's fer crissakes!) I don't need a built-in hard drive. I don't need a goddamn built-in toaster oven. I just want a little MP3 player that holds more than 5 songs that I can stick in my pocket when I go for a walk. I certainly don't need to put my entire MP3 collection on it all at once.

    Let's see a cheap MP3 player that does one thing exceptionally well, instead of an overpriced MP3 player that does half a dozen things poorly.
    • The RioVolt is reasonably priced. Personally, I bought a new RIO500 for $70 on Ebay and a 128MB Smartmedia card for $40 (techbargains.com). It's a great little device:

      1. solid state!
      2. lightweight: 3 oz
      3. small size: 0.6x3.5x2.4"
      4. 13 hour battery life on a single AA
      5. 192 MB!

      Sure I can't store my whole collection on it, but I can fit 2.5 hours using VBR or 3+ hours at 128 kbps. That's more than adequate for most uses and doesn't require any screwing around with CDRs or Minidiscs.

      As far as the RipGo goes, are they on crack? It's a cool device, but at $400 I'll pass. Recording abilities or not, this thing is way overpriced... since most users don't need recording, they should come out with a player-only unit similar in price to the RIO-Volt.
    • Check out MyDivaPlayer.com [mydivaplayer.com]. They have a 128MB player that also supports CompactFlash for $135 shipped after discount. It is extremely small -- about 3"; fits in the palm of your hand. I haven't had any experience with it, but the few reviews I could find are raves. I plan to buy one for Christmas. The coolness factor of having a mini "Zip drive"/MP3 player/voice recorder for $135 is really what attracted me to this one. --Erica
    • Man, I read this and it seemed so familiar. Then I looked here. [slashdot.org]

      Collecting karma with the same post in different threads! Ingenious!
      • Yeah, I recycled it for the same reason that /. recycled their story (they just changed the name of the MP3 player in question). Personally, I thought it was amusing that I didn't have to change a word of the post and it still fit.

  • Where's the mic input!? (Score:4, Informative)

    by sadclown ( 303554 ) on Monday October 29, 2001 @05:00PM (#2494362)
    Am I the only one who misses the audio input on these things? We haven't had a new portable digital recording device superior to the DAT walkman in 15 years! Why don't they just put 1 $15 analog mic input in this thing or the iPod and give musicians, audio engineers and reporters a fantastic new toy.


    I know, minidisc does it already, but minidisc players don't have digital output for PC post-production work and actually doesn't sound as good as plain old WAV files.


    If this had a mic input, you could burn directly to MP3 and have 6 hours of digital recording - 6 times that of a minidisc.


    If the iPod had a mic input, you could burn 10 hours of uncompressed audio or 100 hours of MP3s. Portable 2 track recording studio!

  • For $119 [easybuy2000.com] from Easybuy2000.com, you can get a player-only model that's just as small. Who cares about having a portable CD-R drive that only writes to 3" CDs?

    Get the small player and a regular CD-R drive that writes both large and small CDs and you save $100 and get a faster burner to boot.

  • This is about as useful as the Apple iPod...


    Who buys a $400 walkman? They're too small and fragile and easily stolen, not to mention outdated fairly quickly by the next "big thing."


    Besides, I'd rather have a burner where I can use it most efficiently - at home, attached to my RAID, where my 4,000+ MP3s are!



  • still holds plenty of tunes when your on the go.


    And I thought Slashdot was the only publisher who was trying to eradicate the apostrophe from the english language.
  • I would imagine that the battery life would suck from burning cd's AND playing music!

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