Sandisk MP3 Players

[darien87]

Hey folks,

I work at a printing company, and we recently started a program with Sandisk. We are printing the labels for their new MP3 players. Basically the player will have no memory, instead you will buy Sandisk memory cards that have albums on them. Apparently this is the first time that all of the record labels have been behind a new product since the invention of the CD.

Personally, I think it's a stupid idea. I can't see the appeal of buying a player that only plays whole albums. I can't even remember the last time I bought a CD. I usually just go to my music site and download the 2 or 3 songs from an album I like. Rarely is a whole album good any more.

Just wondering what the Audioholic thoughts are.

http://www.sansa.com/

 

[GlocksRock]

Any real audioholic wouldn't be listning to .mp3s anyway... but I like the idea of an .mp3 player where it already has built in flash memory, with an expansion slot so I can add more memory if I want... that way I can put whatever music on it I want, and not have to worry about having to buy a whole album if I don't want to. This sound like a way for the record companies to slow down the loss of their profits due to declining album sales lost to internet downloads. But if the artists would stop putting out albums that only had a few good songs on them, they wouldn't have as much to worry about.

 

[j_garcia]

If we all were to download just the songs we liked, then what is the point of having the artists record a whole album? They can just put out one or two songs a year and get the royalties from that. The purpose of an album is that it is a collection of songs that the artist wants you to listen to in addition to the ones you think you like. Quite often I find that my favorite tracks are not the ones they played on the radio and I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't bought the album. I don't think albums on flash media is the answer however, but I do think that will sort of be a step in the direction of where things are headed.

 

[3db]

Hey folks,

I work at a printing company, and we recently started a program with Sandisk. We are printing the labels for their new MP3 players. Basically the player will have no memory, instead you will buy Sandisk memory cards that have albums on them. Apparently this is the first time that all of the record labels have been behind a new product since the invention of the CD.

Personally, I think it's a stupid idea. I can't see the appeal of buying a player that only plays whole albums. I can't even remember the last time I bought a CD. I usually just go to my music site and download the 2 or 3 songs from an album I like. Rarely is a whole album good any more.

Just wondering what the Audioholic thoughts are.

http://www.sansa.com/

I agree with you whole heartedly. However I do listen to whole albums and I also make compilations and I would want the freedom to mix and match. I do not want to have to carry individual preprogrammed memory cards for different artists. The songs I have ripped are at 320MPs verses the audio numbing 192 thats out there.

long live vinyl!! Gawd I'm so starting to hate the digital era not from a technology poitn of view but from the dumb-*** policies that have come along with the digital age!!



Record companies, get a freaken grip!!!

 

[GlocksRock]

The point of recording a whole album is that not everybody likes the same songs... there are songs on some albums that I dislike, while other people love them, and vice versa.... How would an artist know who will like what songs before they are put out? That is the point of having full albums... and I don't want to pay $15 for a cd that I'm just going to rip to my PC and never use the disc again, just to listen to the few songs that I like, when I can pay around $1 per song and get exactly what I want. Does it make sense to you now? The artists make more money from touring than they do from record sales, since the record companies are so greedy.

 

[markw]

I'm somewhat unclear on the concept.

I like my Sandisk M200 series MP3 players (the thumb shaped ones) that have a finite amount of memory built in. I believe the maximum is 4 gig but ours are 1 and 2 gig units.

I would like to be able to "switch out" the songs by simply replacing a mamory card. That would afford a virtually unlimited capacity. If that's what these new units do, I can see where this will be a boon. I'd go for this as long as I could program my own memory cards.

So far, so good.

If, OTOH, they can ONLY play pre-recorded memory cards that have ful lalbums on them, I don't see this successfully prying any more money out of me, or too many other sentient beings, either.

But, this might be the first foray in the move to get rid of CDs and replace them with memory cards. After all, it's more efficient to burn firmware than the actually manufacture CD's.

Now, if this is the merely functional linear equivalent to a CD and I can play these at home with another unit, akin to a CD player and "pick and choose" what I want from a computer and make my own memory cards, I'm not too against that. The hardware to play it on having no moving parts or expensive lasers to malfunction is a difficult concept to argue against.

 

[j_garcia]

The point of recording a whole album is that not everybody likes the same songs... there are songs on some albums that I dislike, while other people love them, and vice versa.... How would an artist know who will like what songs before they are put out? That is the point of having full albums... and I don't want to pay $15 for a cd that I'm just going to rip to my PC and never use the disc again, just to listen to the few songs that I like, when I can pay around $1 per song and get exactly what I want. Does it make sense to you now? The artists make more money from touring than they do from record sales, since the record companies are so greedy.

The artists make the music that they like to make, not to please everyone. Killing the CD isn't going to kill music, but it will definitely change they way music is made and presented to the public. I don't like every song on every album I've bought, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't get the opportunity to hear all of them.

 

[GlocksRock]

If all an artists music is online, you will have the opportunity to hear it, should you chose to download it.

 

[Highbar]

Now, if this is the merely functional linear equivalent to a CD and I can play these at home with another unit, akin to a CD player and "pick and choose" what I want from a computer and make my own memory cards, I'm not too against that. The hardware to play it on having no moving parts or expensive lasers to malfunction is a difficult concept to argue against.

Now there's only one thing I can see that would be a huge problem if memory cards replace cd's. You know they are going to put some kind of copy protection on them and they will probably not be playable on a computer. Also what kind of bit rate are we talking about for these files? Are they going to be lossless or what? The quality could be absolutely horrible.

 

[Cpt.America]

I don't want to pay $15 for a cd that I'm just going to rip to my PC and never use the disc again, just to listen to the few songs that I like, when I can pay around $1 per song and get exactly what I want. Does it make sense to you now? The artists make more money from touring than they do from record sales, since the record companies are so greedy.

Thats great.. until your hard drive takes a dump, then where's all your music? gone. Also, the music you DL on the net is at sub-par quality, at best. I prefer to have the full quality material at hand... I can then listen to the full quality CD, rip to my computer, store on a CF drive.. etc. But I always have the original CD should I need it later.

 

[j_garcia]

Thats great.. until your hard drive takes a dump, then where's all your music? gone. Also, the music you DL on the net is at sub-par quality, at best. I prefer to have the full quality material at hand... I can then listen to the full quality CD, rip to my computer, store on a CF drive.. etc. But I always have the original CD should I need it later.

+1. I like having the discs in most cases. There are some that I wish I HAD only bought one or two songs off of, but for the most part I listen to a wide variety, much of which is not mainstream and often not found online so I tend to have to rip it myself. I rip at 192-320kbps to have sufficient quality for myself. If these things don't come in at least some level of decent quality, or preferably lossless, then I won't even look twice unless they are REALLY cheap.

 

[markw]

Now there's only one thing I can see that would be a huge problem if memory cards replace cd's. You know they are going to put some kind of copy protection on them and they will probably not be playable on a computer. Also what kind of bit rate are we talking about for these files? Are they going to be lossless or what? The quality could be absolutely horrible.

Some Cd's already have copy protection. Try to make a digital copy of Elvis's Second to None album. You can't. I don't think that's kosher because by law I believe we're allowed to make a personal copy but, hey, it is what it is. That's the only one I've run into.

As for sound quality, perhaps I should have been more clear. I was working on the assumption they would be of at least the quality of existing CD's.

If either of these come to pass, they would not be a functional replacement for CD's and another era would come to an end.

 

[GlocksRock]

Thats great.. until your hard drive takes a dump, then where's all your music? gone. Also, the music you DL on the net is at sub-par quality, at best. I prefer to have the full quality material at hand... I can then listen to the full quality CD, rip to my computer, store on a CF drive.. etc. But I always have the original CD should I need it later.

I have my music stored on two separate computers, and an occasionaly backup of all my music on another hard drive I use at work. so it's very unlikely that the hard drives in separate computers would fail at the same time... plus you can always rip to a lossless format, storage space is cheap these days. But should I want to use an optical disc, it only takes a few mins. to burn a cd, regardless of what format it's in... and cd's are extremely cheap too, so it's a win win situation for me.

I'm not wishing cds would go away, but I definitely don't see the need for a new competing format such as memory cards right now.

 

[darien87]

The whole point of MP3 players, to me, is the ability to put tons of different types of music on it. The way I understand it, these new players don't have that functionality. I believe you are locked in to whatever the memory card has on it. Totally pointless in my opinion.

 

[marklar]

I agree it's stupid. That idea is destined for failure.

 

[3db]

Some Cd's already have copy protection. Try to make a digital copy of Elvis's Second to None album. You can't. I don't think that's kosher because by law I believe we're allowed to make a personal copy but, hey, it is what it is. That's the only one I've run into.

As for sound quality, perhaps I should have been more clear. I was working on the assumption they would be of at least the quality of existing CD's.

If either of these come to pass, they would not be a functional replacement for CD's and another era would come to an end.

If its a Sony recording there is a way. Google is your friend

 

[corey]

Any real audioholic wouldn't be listning to .mp3s anyway... but I like the idea of an .mp3 player where it already has built in flash memory, with an expansion slot so I can add more memory if I want... that way I can put whatever music on it I want.....

I'm not aware of any double blind test that's found a difference between 320kbps mp3's and red book. If you know of one, please share.

As far as expansion slots go, I'm right there with you. I've got an 8GB Sansa player, with a Micro HD slot. The 8GB base memory holds my "core" music, and I can add in whatever else I want 2GB at a time.

 

[GlocksRock]

My first comment was tongue in cheek... I guess I should have made that more obvious.

 

[mrnick]

I have a sandisk player w/ no issues

 

[jagdriver]

SanDisk? Uh-uh!

SanDisk is out of their minds.

I bought a Sansa M280 V1 that had to be RMA'd. It was replaced by a V2. That's the good news. The bad news is that the firmware has been a piece of garbage since day one, and my unit has had difficulty all along talking to any one of the four PCs I own or have at work. I've tried everything, including two USB cables, thinking one might be bad.

Now Sansa won't even tell me where I can get the bloody thing repaired, AFTER they suggested I reformat the unit.

I love the form-factor and the design, but SanDisk has been VERY slow in updating its firmware and all but IGNORES user complaints. See the forums over on www.anythingbutipod.com if you don't want to take my word for it.

> Chris