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Are There MP3/CD Player Combinations? 201

Posted by Cliff from the this-would-be-cool dept.
This is a two-fold question. Someone asked me a while ago if combination MP3/CD Players existed. I haven't heard of any, but that doesn't mean that they aren't out there. Now there are portable CD players and portable MP3 players, but has someone out there actually put the two together in a nice affordable unit? Who makes it? Where can I find them? How much do they cost? Here's a slightly related question from JDALaRose: "I'm interested in the opinions of fellow Slashdotters as regards which of the portable MP3 players are the best in terms of not being SDMI compliant, or at least not restrictively so. Thoughts?"
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Are There MP3/CD Player Combinations? More

Are There MP3/CD Player Combinations?

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  • Yes! And I want one! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Check out some of the hardware on mp3car.com. This [mp3car.com] link has a few MP3/CD players right up on top. Not too bad on the wallet either. ;) -capncrack

  • Mp3Car (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    www.mp3car.com [mp3car.com]

    These guys are always ahead of the game when it comes to making mp3s mobile. Oh and I'm on there too if you want to see a sweet car [mp3car.com].

  • Aiwa!!!!!!!!!! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Popular science had an article about Aiwa's new line of CD players. One is a car stereo that will play mp3's as well as a portable mp3/cd player and a home stereo. The car stereo is definitly worthy of my dollar even at $350 (seems good to me). All are due out in late May or early June. They have a press release on Aiwa's site http://www.aiwa.com
  • Pine D'Music is very close to being released, and Outpost.com is already taking pre-orders.

    http://www.pineusa.com/d'music/sm200 c_spec.htm [pineusa.com]

  • I'm waiting for reviews before I commit myself to buying either of them.

    Me, I'm waiting for actual *release* before I commit myself. There have been reviews of both of these, but so far both seem rather dubious, with numerous production delays.

    Wait and see... :P

  • Using licensed technologies from Compaq and Fraunhofer IIs the PJB 100 provides the ultimate flexibility of digital audio capture, via CD's or Internet, in current MP3 digital audio format. Further, the Personal JukeBox can be upgraded to process multiple, new, and secure digital audio standards.

    You know, looking at it, it almost looks like that "licensed technology" came from an itsy... :)

  • Was looking for a portable VCD player earlier and noticed a few of them claimed also to do MP3's. Check out this (closed) auction [ebay.com].

    Unfortunately, they're not that common, and hence have a high price. Also, Chinese engineering isn't the highest quality, so your mileage may vary.

    Still, I've $350 in bonus that I have yet to spend, and given the auction history [ebay.com] of the item, that will cover it.

  • Shinco has a portable VCD Player with a small TFT display able to play MP3 cds.
    I bought one in September so this guys are way ahead of the story in the register.


    http://www.china-shinco.com/ [china-shinco.com]
  • Found something that seems to fit the bill, it's the Portable MP3/Audio CD Player by Genica [compgeeks.com], $99 bucks. It claims to be available in mid May. Looks promising (and looks like something I may buy)

  • There is a minidisk player out there that comes with a program that converts mp3s to its compression and then allows for download onto a disk on the player. It's pretty nice, I might get one myself. I wonder how well that program would work under wine??? =)

    CmdrChalupa
    (who knows not how to remove his old sig)
  • No, the Ford Focus player doesn't play mp3-cds. Visteon have shown a prototype indash player which plays MP3 CDs though (CES, etc) and also an MP3-changer which uses HDD technology - we developed this unit for them.

    Hugo
    empeg

  • I have to disagree with you on this. I've got over 70 CDs recorded to MP3 on one of my home computers. I bought all the discs though, and ripped them myself. The originals sit in a box, not getting used now as I have a much nicer way of listening to them. I've also bought several albums from EMusic and copied them to disc. The disc wiste with my others for safe keeping, and the tracks get listened to from my home stereo.

    There isn't anything fundamentally wrong with MP3, just like any other tool you need to use it responsibly. It doesn't have to hold true that using MP3 is trying to "buck the industry".
  • I think that the idea of CDROM and MP3 on a portable kind of defeats the purpose.

    CDs are too darned big, and not easily erasable.

    But a Digital MiniDisc Player with MP3 capability would rock!
    Small, runs for hours on a small battery, and each track erasable at will?

    I want one!
  • For everything from do-it-yourself car MP3 players to portable NVRAM players, this is the page to check out: http://hardware.mp3.com/hardware/ [mp3.com]. It's also got stuff on other related hardware, such as sound cards, speakers, and other devices. Haven't looked into discman-type devices before, as I don't like walking around with headphones on. Something a little bit bigger seems just right for the car (something too big wastes trunk space).
  • WTF are you talking about? I'm going to assume you intended your response to be germane to the question that was originally posed, namely "What Discman-like devices can play CDs full of MP3s." In which case you are patently incorrect. MP3s are perfectly legitimate here because it is a lot, lot more convenient to have one CD with hundreds of your favorite tracks loaded up and encoded as MP3s than to have to swap CDs, or even burn a compilation with a few of your favorite tracks. Encoding MP3s of CDs that you own is covered under "Personal Use" of the copyright laws and is perfectly, 100% legal.

    --
  • when you will be able to have 6 gigs of trax on one of these:

    http://www.nomadworld.com/products/nomad-jukebox /specs.html

    and

    http://popularmechanics.com/popmech/elect/0001EF COWFCM.html
    [scroll down the page and look for the Creative/Nomad player]

  • There are only two to my knowlodge. One is the Apex Digital AD-600A. Which plays DVD's, CD's, Kariokee CD's, and MP3's burned onto a CD. I purchased this DVD player for $194 after tax from my local Circut City. But I'm pretty sure they are getting sueded for having the ability to disable the copyprotection feature in the dvd player. So good luck finding one.

    The other is called Mambox [mambox.com]. This device is the size of any standard Discman. It playes both audio CD's and MP3's that have been burned to a CD. This product is out yet however. According to Jason Moh, Director of Product Marketing, The first scheduled production will be the week of April 17th.
  • I was thinking about this the other day with repect to car stereo toys. The only car mp3 players is Empeg (I think). The problem is that it has a hard drive and needs to be loaded up.

    Ideally I'd build a car audio player with a crusoe processor and embeded linux, kinda like the demo'ed web pads, but for mp3s. I'd have the player be able to read cd audio, cdrom (iso9660+joliett) + dvdram (for a high end version). I'd have the player search for .mpu (playlist files) first, then catalog the mp3s on the disk. This way, you wouldn't have to take the player out of your car to load it (or however it is done with Empeg. Also, I'd have the player cache the crap out of the songs, to prevent skipping.

    In the End you would end up with a fairly low memory, diskless player. You would just hop in your car and throw in a regular CD, or a CDROM or DVDRAM or your favorite songs and have hours of music at hand. I bet someone could do this for half the price (sans dvd) of Empeg (US$1000 last time I check). I'm not a hardare hacker, so I wouldn't know where to start, but if someone wants to give it a try, I'd be happy to test a prototype. :)

    JungleBoy
  • I think it's because the IRC servers were shut down today and they ran out of uninteresting things to post...
  • In the hardcopy catalog, Vol. X, Issue 4A, page 76, the PINE D'Music MP3 CD/Player, $299.99. http://www.tigerdirect.com/ [tigerdirect.com].

    Plays CDs and CD-R's with MP3s on them. Equalizer, anti-shock (though I doubt playing MP3 CD-Rs could have any kind of anti-shock), and a built-in battery charger if you use rechargeables. Fairly ugly-looking, but it's portable and the best part is that there's NO FRIGGIN' DOWNLOADING. Has a digital display, a simple dsp equalizer, and bass boost.

    Available for immediate shipment at: 1-800-292-6095 or http://www.tigerdirect.com/ [tigerdirect.com].

    Umm, duh...

    Kriston J. Rehberg
    http://kriston.net/ [kriston.net]

  • There's already one in production, as it would appear you could buy one on eBay [ebay.com]. The mp3 site dimension music [dmusic.com] just recently did a feature [dmusic.com] on this sort of thing.
  • Sure it does. My roomie has one. Why in God's name would somebody make an mp3/cd/dvd player, that won't play regular audio cd's? It's basically a default feature. Every DVD player that I know of plays audio cd's. That's why DVD changers exist, they all have that feature.
  • Thats odd. The web site says nothing about playing MP3's. If I remember right, the processor in the origional one is not powerful enough to play MP3's. And it's always run WinCE, as it was codeveloped by Clairon and Microsoft.

    If you want MP3 and future standards playing in your car, save yourself the trouble and buy an empeg [empeg.com]. Look for the Mark II to ship June 9, and Mark I units to be for sale on eBay.

  • With a CD solution you have to burn music to a CD to enjoy in in the car. Personally, I love my empeg, and have had only needed to hook it to my computer a few times after the initial load. To me, hooking up a USB cable to an easy to cary car player isn't all that hard compaired to burning music to CD and having to maintain yet another CD collection.

    The Mark II will be shipping June 9 with storage between 6 gig and 50 gig. With 50 gigs, I don't know anyone with a CD collecton big enough to fill it. Plus the new design [empeg.com] looks sweet.

    The empeg runs Linux and is very open to future modifications. The new player uses an external tuner to allow support down the road for Digital FM. People are working on adding GPS support to the unit, and in the end, you will wave your Palm in front of the empeg to get a hi res version of a map. And unlike the Clairon AutoPC, the processor is powerful enough for doing things today and in the future. (Playing an MP3 with visuals leaves 70% of the CPU open for anything else. Right now I run the D.net client to take up the rest of the CPU on the road)

  • Ok ok, you are obviously talking about two completely different things, and through the use of incorrect terminology, have gotten your ideas mixed up.

    What sorehands is talking about (I think) is using RAM as a BUFFER, so you would have ~6 meg of RAM in the thing that would copy ~6 meg of MP3 off the CD-R. This would allow you to play the music, skip -free for about 6 minutes, and only then would you have to spin the CD up to read another 6 meg.

    While this is a good idea, I am pretty sure it takes more energy to spin the CD up to speed than it does to keep it spinning. The question is whether you save more energy by kicking the motor off while playing from RAM or if you save by keeping it running. Either way, the power consumption would probably be pretty close. The other thing is that having my discman spin up every 6 minutes would probably be annoying, unless the put in something to muffle the sound and the perceptable motion it would cause. Better idea is to use RAM as a buffer, but leave the CD spinning with the read head (read as laser) off. THAT would probably save the most power and annoyance factor.

    What loki7 is talking about is using the thing to rip CDs. Ignoring the term CD-ROM in sorehands post, he assumes that the idea is to put in an audio CD, have the player rip it to WAV (or directly to encoder), encode it, then store the one song in RAM so that it can be played with less power. No offense intended, but this idea is so stupid I didn't even consider the fact that it could be the actual idea. Apparently loki7 thought otherwise.

    Mycroft-X the arbiter.
  • Stop the fucking whining. If you don't like it, go somewhere else.
  • No offense, but did this person even try looking before asking this question (about the CD/mp3 player)? I mean, it took me less then 5 seconds to look at Mp3.com's hardware page [mp3.com] to find the very first item (at least when I just checked) is such a device. And they've had several posted over the last few months that are in developtment.

    That's just one site too.. there must be other sites with mp3 hardware reviews/previews out there. Plus a search on deja of
    mp3 & cd & audio & player
    had about 2300 hits, many of which have URLs to companies with such products in the works.

    I think a better /. article on this subject would've been one that points out the players shown in mp3.com's list exist are are being designed.

  • Minidisks are already lossycompressed. There should apperantly be little gain in using MP3 encoding.
  • That's a very stupid design CDs can only contain 99 tracks, that means you have to have songs over 6.5MB to make them all fit on the CD. AD conversions seems like a pretty bad idea to.
  • Have a look and order here Kiwi-computers

    Very interesting, it looks like they actually have a product there. It's just too bad that the link to actually purchase one leads to amazon.com [amazon.com].. A bit of pressure might convince them to put it for sale somewhere else, too.

  • These people have been taking pre-orders for MONTHS now. I believe they said it was going to be coming out in Feburary. Now the site just says 'Coming Soon'. It's starting to sound more and more like Vapour-Ware. I'd like to know if there are any MP3 CD players out that you can buy TODAY?
  • On the subject of dual-media MP3 players, I was wondering if there were any products (vaporware or not) for MP3 car audio that offer an integrated dashboard control unit (like a standard car radio faceplate) with a CD reader in it and mp3s stored to hard drive in a box in the trunk? I greatly dislike CD changers and I prefer to have the ability to swap disks around with abandon while driving, but I also don't want some strange little dongle hanging off the side of my radio. I'd like to have an integrated system (CD+MP3+radio) managed from one location. Does this exist?
  • Got a PMP300 with the stock 32MB in it. I get about 64mins of music on it if I use 64kbps mp3's. I find the 64kbp to be fine for what I need, I mostly listen on subways and trains, and the time is just right if I change the load each morning to keep me busy.

    A huge benefit is that there are no moving parts, thus no mechanical wear other than the headphone jack and the interface control pad thing. Also battery life if phenomenal. I get a good week of commuting out of a single AA alkaline batt.

    Any tips for cheap SmartCards for it?
  • You could always get the Sharp MD-MT15S, which is a pretty cheap portable player/recorder. While it's not the smallest/lightest MiniDisc player out there, it's still pretty reasonable (retails for $199). You can get a Voquette [voquette.com] adapter for it for $49.95 from Voquette directly, and it converts MP3s, streaming audio, E-mails, Word docs, etc. into ATRAC format (though their software only works under Windows).

    My suggestion is to buy one of the MD-MT15S's for $89.95! That's the best deal ever. If you go to the MiniDisc.org [minidisc.org] website, there is a link on how to get this from MobShop [mobshop.com] (formerly ACompany.com) to get the players for $89.95! Basically, there is a promotional code that takes $50 off the price, and if enough people buy one, it goes down to $139.95. That, plus the $50 off for the promotion, plus free shipping makes it a $89.95 MiniDisc player. They have gone through two successful cycles already (I just bought one from the second cycle), and they have another one going on right now. I was going to get a MP3/CD player, but for the price, I couldn't justify it. Since I can get an add-on that will convert my MP3s to ATRAC format, and discs are only ~$2 a piece, it's a very nice cheap alternative.
  • Here's a fan page w/ English translation:

    http://www.csh.rit.edu/~eriky/raite [rit.edu]

    The Raite allows firmware upgrades from a CDrom you can download and burn yerself. From what I've heard, that may not be true with the Apex.
    __________

  • http://www.stupidonline.com/products/COOL-0011.htm l

    Shipping April 13.
  • The last I checked 2 or 3 months ago was that there weren't really any out at that point but a lot of them being developed and in production. There are some homebrew component systems that have been talked about on slashdot before, but nothing really commercially availible.
    I would love to get my hands on a portable one, though. 650 minutes of lovin' goodness. Just have to hope it supports high bitrates(yeah, yeah, it doesn't work out to 650 minutes then. i know).
  • Creative's Nomad Jukebox [nomadworld.com] seems pretty cool. A little expensive though ($600), and no cd player. But being able to store 100 hrs of music, I think I can live without the cd. :)
  • How about mambox .. http://www.mambox.com/ ? They're taking pre-orders at this point, apparently their product was ready but they found a firmware bug..?

    -Matt
  • Thanks for the link - I've been looking for portable players myself recently and of all the ones I've run across (all through MP3.com hardware page) the MamboX player looks ike the best one for the moment - though I still worry about how easily one will be able to browse large directory structures.

  • Here [pineusa.com] is the only one that I know of, from Pine. It plays audio cds and mp3s. It looks pretty cool. I'm not sure if it's actually available now, as I haven't see it anywhere, but I know it's been around, at least in vaporware/hype form, for a while. Looks pretty cool. Someone post a followup if they know if/where these are available!

    Mike
  • [English version]

    +++++++++++> MAXTEK Newsletter HTTP://WWW.MAXTEK.DE ++++++++++

    Dear customers and subscribers!

    The topics of this newsletter are:

    1) Once again: Availability of MamboX P300
    2) Features of the MamboX P300
    3) Wanted: Your opinion
    4) Tonight on TV
    5) Delay in eMail response

    1) It is getting embarassing. Tagram let us wait. Since there has not been much
    progress in march, Tagram have released a letter to all their customers. We have
    included their letter with this mail (Tagrams letter can be found at
    http://www.mambox.com and http://www.mp3.com). The date mentioned in this
    letter, 10th of april, does not seem very probable, as Tagram have not yet
    managed to send us sampels from the serial production.
    Yesterday evening Tagram told us, that the "P300 will be released this month -
    with a probability of 90 percent". Tgaram have sent sampels to the FDC for
    approval, so we can awiat some testing results next week.

    2) Tagram said that the P300 will not have a text display. There have been
    different featurelists on Tagrams Website (http://www.mambox.com/p300.htm und
    http://www.mambox.com/faq.htm), one claiming the P300 features textdiplay.

    3) As the partnership with Tagram has been a good but not very fruitful one, we
    have been looking for alternatives once more - and found one. Actually, there is
    quite a lot of MP3-CD-Players announced on the internet but none of these will
    be released before 4th quarter. The manufacturer of this device, we call it
    "818", has been very reliable so far. Serial production for this MP3-CD-Player
    has already started and it is only waiting for CE-approval, so it can be sold in
    the E.U. We have already been given samples from the serial production, and thus
    have been able to test the "818" extensively. THis MP3-CD-Player does not
    feature everything but should cover most users' needs at a very attarctive price
    of about 174 Euros. The unit weight is 265grs. and it looks like a "normal"
    discman. It features: bitrates mono 16-32kBit/s, stereo 96-192kBit/s, variable
    bitrates of all quality levels (time displayed is not exact with VBR); find
    MP3-files in sub-directories (we tested it up to!
    10 levels deep); Non-MP3-files are skipped; 50 seconds anti-shock memory;
    playback of Audio-CDs; EQ with 6 presets; playbck modes: All files, intro-scan,
    current track only, random play, current sub-directory only, playback order of
    sub-directories and songs is programmable (DirProg and Prog); recharge-function
    for NiCd-batteries; 8minutes voice-recording function with external microphone
    connector [no kidding]; power-supply, blank CD-R and probably a set of
    NiCd-batteries is included. It does not support CD-RW, reads first session fof
    multisession CDs.
    What do you think of the "818"? Please let us know.

    4) Tonight, the "828" Mp3-Cd-Player will be on German TV-Station "Nord3" which
    can be received via Astra satellite 11.582/H. Programme will commence at
    19.10CET. We will introduce the "818" on our website next week.

    5) Wir want to apologize for the delays in asnwering your eMial-requests that
    have occured since last week. This is mainly due to a server problem. We hope to
    have this problem solved before the weekend.

    Best regards,
    your team from maxtek

    ------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------
    From: Jason Moh, Director of Product Marketing
    To: All MAMBO-X P300 Enthusiasts
    Date: March 21, 2000

    I have been receiving an average of 300 emails a day. 90% of them are asking me
    "When is the release date?" and "Why is it taking so long?" I would like to
    return all emails and explain what's going on but that's impossible when I
    receive 300 emails a day. I also hesitate to respond because I am more
    frustrated than all of the MP3 enthusiasts that are not able to purchase the
    Mambo-X. I am frustrated because whenever the factory notified us of the
    shipping date, something always came up.

    I just took a trip to the factory overseas. I saw the actual sample working. I
    think the best answer for "why" is that we developed Mambo-X from the ground up.
    As a result, it has taken much longer than we expected. We did once think about
    abandoning this project, but the overwhelming response from the MP3 enthusiasts
    resellers made us focus and move on; even though it has been delayed and
    delayed.

    Now we come to a point where I must lay out the facts. The mechanical sample was
    already done and working samples, as of today, are in assembly. The first
    scheduled production will be the week of April 10th. In other words, the factory
    will start shipping later that week. Once the mechanical sample is completed, it
    means that most of the development is done and we shall let the working samples
    do the fine-tuning. I saw the mechanical sample, so the shipping date is not far
    away.

    I sincerely apologize for any anxiety, confusion, or concerns that all of you,
    the MP3 enthusiasts, have put up with during the Mambo-X development. Once
    again, thank you for your support.

    Sincerely,

    Jason Moh
    Director of Product Marketing
    Tagram System Corporation
    ------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------
  • MamboX claims a battery life of 14 hours.
  • The concept is awesome - the only problem I can see is that discman-style players are notoriously power-hungry - and the extra processing required to decode the mp3 audio might make the battery time low enough to be a nuisance. (I get about 6-8 hours out of a set of batteries on my current player - I'd expect this to drop to 5-7 if the player has to do extra processing - a hardware decoder could help out here, but would probably make the player a bit more expensive)

    With an mp3 player there is the potential to save power as you only need to spin the disk at 0.1x or something like that.

  • How about mp3/radio, for example. MP3 alone is very small, but a CD requires a helluva lot space. I'd rather have a small mp3 and small radio integrated.

    (Or perhapse minidisc/radio.)
  • Oh really? I have a Rio 500 as well and it lasts forever. What type of batteries are you using? I use both NiMH and alkaline, I get over ten hours on each.

    I wish MPs on the memory card were stored in DOS format, like my digital camera. That way, it'd be much easier for me to exchange files with it and my Power Mac.

    Karen
  • Here's one that I stumbled on. I don't really know that much about it, other than what the site says... http://www.kiwi-computers.com/discman/
    __________ ______
  • for a portable unit check out
    http://www.mambox.com/products.htm [mambox.com]. There is also the CD/DVD/VCD/MP3 player posted a while ago. The Apex AD600A. Check out http://64.45.6.252/apex/ [64.45.6.252].
  • As far as I can tell, the Rio (PMP300, anyway) doesn't care what MP3s you play on it.
  • I posted this a while back but apparently everyone thought I was hallucinating...

    I bought one july '99 on a holiday in China (PRC), they sell them in every department store. The company that makes them is called Shinco [shinco.com].

    I don't expect you to believe me, so here's a picture [frg.eur.nl] of my $99 MP3 CD/VCD player:

    And here's a closeup [frg.eur.nl] of the MP3 label.

    I believe they sell 4 different models, even one with a built in Sega game console ;)

  • I can't remember who makes it, but when I was at comdex (I spent most of the time at the Slashdot booth) there was a company who had them. So I know they are out there somewhere. If anyone else saw them let me know what company, because I would buy one in a second.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Perhaps SlashDot needs to think about adding a new feature to the site? I would propose they give each story that appears a particular "type" definition that can be used for "quick searches" or could be used in response to an Ask SlashDot submission. This question could have had the types of "MP3" and "player", for example.

    In this case, the question could have still been posted, but the response could have *immediateely* listed 5 or 6 links to stories already submitted on SlashDot about "MP3" and "players". This would still allow for the ability for SlashDotters to talk about the product (even if it is for a second or third time... who doesn't like talking about things several times? Especially when they're cool)? But also gives immediate additional information up front.

    *shrug* I think it'd be a nice feature to have.

    I'm not sure if the method for posting articles to the front page of SlashDot is a point-and-click operation (I'd assume it was) and if it is, how hard would it be to add this sort of functionality?

    [IMO, as long as the same topic isn't posted every two days, I couldn't care less how many times it appears. If I don't want to read it, I won't. But I also won't let it work me up to the point that I'm griping about SlashDot's lack of ability in keeping up with the 1000s of stories they've posted over the years...]

  • Mambo X P300 is the model # if you go to their web sight [411direct.com] its on the first page top left.
  • Because, although the respective industries started in America, they are really international by now. Note once more that Sony (a japanese company) is a member of both.
  • So you can a) play regular CDs and b) use CD-Rs with MP3s burned to it.
  • This _is_ the same music industry tacking on a copyright bill as a rider on some other legislation that will make their artists' music the labels' property, not for 35 years as it now is, but FOREVER.

    http://www.livedaily.com/archive/2000/2k01/wk3/Ame ndmentToCopyrightActCo.html [livedaily.com]

    "By treating the artist as a person hired to make the recording, the record company would own the recordings and have the right to control their distribution and use them indefinitely. For artists, this radical change would mean that they are, in fact, selling the rights to their work forever, rather than allowing a record company to use it for a limited period of time to market, distribute and earn profits from it.

    Billboard reported that the change in the law was requested by the Recording Industry Association of America, a record industry group that defends the interests of the major record labels. RIAA president Hilary Rosen claimed that the amendment merely makes a recording "eligible" for work-for-hire status, and the artist and label must still sign a contract that either explicitly makes the recording a work-for-hire or leaves rights with the artist.
    Rosen also stated that the amendment is simply a provision that legally nails down the recording industry's view that the artist is just one of many participants, along with backup musicians, arrangers and engineers, who jointly create an album. In the RIAA's eyes, if the album is not treated as a collective work, then record labels cannot easily determine who owns the rights. Calling an album a collective work allows them to simplify the situation, they say. It would also allow them to assume ownership of the music."
    Hell, they're lucky people aren't throwing bombs instead of quietly and stubbornly refusing to pay a single penny to support the corporate rape of generations of helpless artists. I am a musician and have music out there (mp3.com/ChrisJ [mp3.com], natch) and have CDs which can be bought. I don't pressure anybody to do this, but one day it'll be nice to sell a few of those- but I would rather NEVER sell a single CD or make a single dime off my music, if it meant I had to support a system so utterly corrupt that it beggars the imagination. Owning the artist's work outright for 35 years isn't ENOUGH? Apparently not.

    I see no particularly feasible way to get around this corrupt, evil system other than mp3s. I personally am putting lots of totally legitimate mp3s out there, but I can't muster up even the smallest condemnation for the biggest most blatant copyrighted-music pirate in the world (currently, mp3.com itself ;) ). If that means musicians generally are not paid, fine: that's the way it is NOW, plus you sign away your life's work to the labels- formerly for 35 years, now FOREVER. Who can justify that, or participate in it even passively? Did you know that the labels and the RIAA are changing the rules as we speak so that musicians can only sign away their own ARTWORK to their corporate masters forever? Is this retroactive, do you suppose, as it is a reclassification of existing contract terms? Is it right for musicians to lose the rights to their music forever? What are you, the music consumer, going to do about this?

    I am doing this: mp3.com/ChrisJ [mp3.com]. Whatever you do, please do _something_: at this point, not only is it the unsigned artists needing a chance, the _signed_ artists are starting to be abused worse than you would possibly imagine. Please spread the word and do something, anything, to resist. Maybe you'd prefer to ignore the indie guys and send mainstream chart-topping musicians $10 in the mail. God knows they could probably use it. It will soothe their feelings some tiny amount as they consider the way in which they have just lost ownership of their own music forever (and are likely forbidden from doing any music other than for the label in their contract).

  • If there is a combined CDPlayer and MP3 unit, the logical feature would be to ripping from the CDRom and play tracks as MP3. This not only saves power, but prevents skipping.

    I may be misunderstanding you (and oh Lord, please say that I am), but that is the most illogical thing I have ever heard. You want to do this?

    CD->Encoder->Save->Decoder->Audio

    How does this save power? You still have to spin up the CD but now you have to take the time to encode the file, save it to memory, in addition to decode and play it. As I see it, you're using more power in the encoding and saving portions, not saving. And as for preventing skips, maybe. More likely, it's going to have to account for skips during the encoding process, which, honestly, isn't that what shock protection is for?

    No, the logical feature in an MP3/CD player is to play the MP3s off of a CD. Yes, you might get skipping, but for me anyway, the benefits of having 10 hours of music on a handily transported medium that can be used in a player that will also play my other handily transported mediums far outweight issues of power (of which these devices probably don't use much more than regular CD players) and skipping.
  • Vertical Horizons [evhi.com] has the only portable MP3-CD player on the market for ~$120. (Pine has announced one for a while, but as far as I know it is only vaporware). You can read more about the player on their site [evhi.com]. MP3.com [mp3.com] also did a review of the player [evhi.com], at CES 2000 -- I cite the relevant section below.

    New Horizon

    One of the most anticipated products in the MP3.com Editorial camp went from vapor to reality as it made its debut at CES 2000.

    Garden Grove, Calif.-based hardware outfit Vertical Horizon finally put the CD in portable MP3 audio with a line of portable MP3 CD players.

    The two models displayed at CES play MP3 CDs and standard red book audio discs, and both are about the size of standard portable CD players.

    Of course, thanks to MP3 compression technology, these players can play discs that contain more than 10 hours of music, rather than the 70-minute standard audio CD.

    The larger of the two models includes a port for SmartMedia cards, giving it added value for those who utilize other non-CD portable MP3 players like the Rio and Nomad.

    Sound quality on both players was excellent, and both incorporate all of the standard CD player features, including EQ and multiple playback options. Each has an LCD screen displaying track numbers, times and mode icons. There's no ID3 tag display yet, but the Vertical Horizon staff assured us that it will be incorporated soon.

    Each unit also includes 20 seconds of digital anti-shock protection to prevent CD skipping, and an infrared port for the possible future addition of a wireless remote control.

    The real music to our ears was the pricing on these units, with the CD-only device expected to retail at around $120 U.S. and the SmartMedia-enabled device priced at about $150 U.S., not much more than many standard CD players on the market today.

    Vertical Horizon expects to have the units in full production in the first half of this year. To keep up on this hot new product, visit VH's web site at http://www.evhi.com.


    David E. Weekly [weekly.org]

  • What people are talking about here is a device that will play a cd of burned MP3s - so you could have 650 megs of MP3s (about 10-11 hours of music) on a single CD. This would beat the heck out of current mp3 players for capacity, and conceivably could be as small as a discman.

    The concept is awesome - the only problem I can see is that discman-style players are notoriously power-hungry - and the extra processing required to decode the mp3 audio might make the battery time low enough to be a nuisance. (I get about 6-8 hours out of a set of batteries on my current player - I'd expect this to drop to 5-7 if the player has to do extra processing - a hardware decoder could help out here, but would probably make the player a bit more expensive)

    I'd still buy one in a second though =)
  • I picked up one of these a little over a month ago. It's got some good parts and some bad parts. Here's the rundown.

    Good Parts:

    It's loaded on features. The Raite AVPhile 715 can read DVDs, VCDs, MP3 CDs, and standard audio CDs.

    It reads ISO9660 formatted CDs with MP3s on them. It can recurse subdirectories, so it's easy to organize your music.

    It can read Romeo formatted CDs for 15 character filenames.

    It can show BMP pictures for each song.

    It can display a "lyrics" file for each song.

    You can hack it to take out the Macrovision protection or the country codes by playing with the remote.

    The on-panel controls (not remote) are well done.

    It's cheap (I paid $179 @ Fry's)

    Bad Parts:

    It's cheap :) The tray is really cheap plastic. I feel like it's going to break soon. The LED display has already crapped out.

    It takes FOREVER to load the CD

    You can't flip through the songs on the CD without actually changing which is playing. You can't switch the display mode without stopping the music.

    It doesn't support Joliet or Rock Ridge filesystems. Linux doesn't write Romeo fileystems. You can get around the 8.3 filename limitation by including a lyrics file.

    The lyrics file only shows the 1st 15 characters of each line. That's how many fit on the screen, but it doesn't do wrap-around. I wrote a small perl script to do the wrap-around, but it's a hassle, and I wasted a number of CDs experimenting.

    The BMP format is really strange. As far as I can tell, they're 1 frame DVD (MPEG-2) files. I don't know why they didn't just use MS-BMP or GIF. They have a closed-source DOS program on their web site. I haven't tried this through dosemu, but I can't imagine it not working. I haven't been able to find any Linux programs to make these files.

    No local storage. This means all your MP3 files have to be burnt onto CD.

    The remote is confusing, with redundant buttons (forward, fast forward and skip forward, only two of which will work at any given time, depending on media).

    DVDs suck. The whole DeCSS thing turned me off them. There's no Jurassic Park, no Star Wars, no good movies. There's the Matrix, but I thought that movie sucked on the silver screen. I've never actually seen a VCD.

    -Dave
  • Yes, but those are high end geek devices...I'm talking about a DISCMAN that plays MP3s, something everyone can afford....you won't see it happen...at least not for a while...
  • Oy..I knew that too....thanks....ETLA can be so hard to keep track of anymore *L*
  • guess what? it may exist, but only as much as the pine d'music and the mambox--the review you cite is nice and apparently by a third party, but clicking on the manufacturer link from that page shows that you can "reserve" your unit this week, but they won't ship til may. while it's the cheapest (and has the biggest anti-skip buffer) of any of the 3 products, i refuse to call it other than vaporware/hypeware until i can go "click" and have one shipping to me within 24 hours.
  • Well, I think the post was referring to something along the lines of a product that is CURRENTLY on The market, and not planned.

    Apparently, the Director of Product Marketing has been getting floods of E-Mail from users who want to know when the product will be released.

    There is no shipping date on the site, or in his letter.

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?

  • Not the most illogical, but close.

    To do this would require a very large memory buffer -- probably at least 4 MB. And more software (and thus more ROM) for encoding MP3s. That can significantly raise the cost of producing a unit.

    If you just want to prevent skipping a smaller, read ahead buffer should be sufficient.

    If you want to listen to one track over and over again . . . why would anyone want to listen to the same track over and over again? I can't imagine that this is a very common request from anyone over 6 years old who isn't a big Barney the Purple Dinosaur fan. I don't think I've ever used the single track repeat option on my stereo or on WinAmp.

    /peter

  • There are plenty of portable cd players that play mp3 cds available already.

    That's just not true. There are plenty of product announcements that you can read available, but the announced products themselves are not physically available. You can't actually buy one and hold it in your hands and listen to music come out of it. The closest one can come is to load a web page and look at pictures and read specs and imagine how cool it will be.

    Now, I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad business model in general. It worked fabulously for the sex industry, resulting in the tried and true line of products that we call pr0n. But for music-playing devices, I dunno. Call me an unimaginative old fart who won't embrace modern technology, but I just don't enjoy imagining music as much as I enjoy actually hearing it. Oh, and another thing: I don't think that just showing us pictures and specs, where we use out imaginations, is going to be a good business plan for the long-term, because they aren't charging for it! Anyone can go to Pine's page and read about the vaporous product, and Pine doesn't make a dime off it. It didn't even ask for my credit card number.

    No, I think they only way they're going to make money is if they actually ship a product to end users in exchange for money. Some of us have been waiting for quite some time to buy one, but it seems that no one wants our money.


    ---
  • While all these products seem to be great, (including this one), they're all about the size of actual CD players. Now, I assume what people are trying to accomplish is to be able to walk around with hours upon hours of music with them. But a bulky CD-player still isn't all that ideal.
    What I've always wondered is, why doesn't someone put this concept together with a mini-disc setup? Small disc, with less chance for shock, and still high capacity. (shrug)
  • Flaming the /. authors aside, from what I can tell, the Apex will play DVDs and CDs of mp3s, but not traditional CDs (CDDA format). That is what the question is asking about. I for one am glad to see all the links to CD/mp3-CD players. Me want!

    Eric
  • OK... Yes there is a $80 difference, but from what I can tell, the pine player (if it ever comes out) is a little better too.
    For one, looking at Mambo's web site it seems that their LCD display doesn't show the track name for the mp3 you're playing. The pine does. When you have a CDR with hundreds of songs on it, it would be nice to know what you're playing. I think I would pay $80 for that feature, but that's just me!
  • A few weeks ago I went to Circuit City and paid my $179. There weren't any units in the state, so they promised to order one and get it to me in "7 - 10 days". After a week, I looked on the web site which said "Out of Stock". Aparently they were putting huge ads in the newspaper even though there were vitually no units in stock in the country. Anyway, this is the description currently listed on www.circuitcity.com:

    DVD: APEX AD600A We are aware from media reports that initial production of the Apex AD600A had secret menus which allowed some users to bypass copyright protections built in to all DVD players. These menus have now been deleted from this player in recent production and our present stock reflects this fact. We purchased the AD600A based on its full array of legitimate features, quality construction and a most attractive price. It remains an outstanding value today!

    Oh well, I guess I can live without the hidden menu. As long as I can play MP3s in my living room.

    -B
  • The CD BlastIt! [corpsys.com] with a built in 25GB hard drive for storage of MP3s. Sells for $595. From Corporate Systems Center, who specializes in duplication equipment these days.
  • There is one which claims to be the worlds first, its at www.mambox.com [mambox.com] and looks pretty cool.. It seems it may be shipping soon even, and has links to sites which will sell it.

    -- iCEBaLM
  • Actually, the RIAA has some 500 members, so they are not all internationals. Nonetheless, the big boys are the ones that actually control the RIAA.
  • Although sony is a member of the MPAA, it's not the MPAA that is concerned about MP3s. The MPAA is concerned about DeCSS. You're thinking of the RIAA, a different group of corporate bastards. I can see how you'd get confused though, as Sony is a member of both.

    MPAA = Motion Picture Association of America
    RIAA = Recording Industry Association of America
  • Sure, Sony doesn't make MP3/CD combos, but they do sell a couple (pricey) MP3 players, so they can't be too morally opposed to the MP3 format. I'm sure Sony, being a member of the RIAA, will continue to bitch about pirating while making profits off their MP3 players.

    The MP3/CD combo probably won't be picked up by Sony until there are more CD burners in the homes of music listeners. They tend to produce on a mass scale, so don't hold your breath. Maybe they're still waiting for their Minidisc to catch on.

  • XMMS? (Score:2)

    by Ozwald ( 83516 )
    I know WinAmp for Windows does CD's and MP3 (among others), and I know XMMS and WinAmp are virtually identical. I seems almost logical that all XMMS would need is a CDRom plugin....

    Ozwald

  • You know the really funny thing about this is, it was featured here on Slashdot last September... Here [slashdot.org]
  • According to these guys you can buy and order this now and they will ship it the next day. Plays CD/CDR/CDRW has 45 second anit-skip. Display seems a little small though.

    News review DMusic [dmusic.com]

    Have a look and order here Kiwi-computers [kiwi-computers.com]

  • There are quite a few MP3/CD player combinations in development though none have actually shipped to date. Here is a list of a few of them and a link to where a small review about each one can be read. This is just a few prospective MP3 CD players that have been extracted from an article [dmusic.com] that Dimension Music [dmusic.com] just recently wrote regarding the portable MP3 CD player race. These players, with the exception of the Kiwi player, have been known about for quite some time now to those of us who closely follow the MP3 scene:

    MamboX [dmusic.com]: shipping delayed from Nov 99 until mid Apr 00.
    D'Music MP3 [dmusic.com]: shipping delayed from Feb 00 until mid Apr 00.
    Kiwi MP3 CD Player [kiwi-computers.com]: quite possibly shipping any moment.
  • If there is a combined CDPlayer and MP3 unit, the logical feature would be to ripping from the CDRom and play tracks as MP3. This not only saves power, but prevents skipping.

    I wonder what the RIAA would say about it.

  • I may be misunderstanding you (and oh Lord, please say that I am), but that is the most illogical thing I have ever heard. You want to do this?
    No, not the most illogical.

    I could have made it clearer. But have an option ot load an audio CDTrack, or a MP3 from the CD into memory.

    This is for the people who want to want to listen to one or two tracks repeatedly.

    Is that any more clear? Is it still most illogical thing you ever heard?

  • There's always the non-portable Apex DVD/VCD/CD/MP3 [nerd-out.com] player which pretty much does anything you would want it to do for about $200. It has a relatively rough user interface and remote, but it's still godly cool.

  • There are a bunch of Mp3/CD portable player combos. In fact, it's funny you should ask as the first that is acually into production is the Mambo-X [mambox.com] and it started Shipping on Friday. It's made by Tagram and has the best features of any of the dual-compliant format players I've seen yet.

    For the full low-down on portable players and their support/features go here [lampy.net]. Another place to check is Mp3.com's Portable players page [mp3.com]. You might find out a little more about some of the players there (especially Mp3 ports.).

  • the Genica Portable MP3/Audio CD Player. It costs $99. Buy it here [compgeeks.com]. It doesn't go on sale for a few days, however.

    Here [voquette.com] you can find Voquette's Netlink for MD players... It may only work with these sharp model [sharp-usa.com], but I'm unsure. The original review I read makes it sound that way but the Voquette site makes it sound like any MD can use the netlink. Amusingly enough they also make a MP3 player that will work with any cassette walkman [voquette.com], and even record MP3s to a walkman, if it has a record function.

    There is the $179 MAMBOx [mambox.com]. I don't think it's out yet, however, it looks cool.

    Of course, there is Pine's Player [lampy.net].

    There are more of these out there... These are just some of the ones that spring to mind, and all portable. I love my Apex, though... $160 and it plays any disc I own... MP3, DVD, CD, VCD... I use portable music so little that my Rio is fine for my purposes...

    Josh Sisk
  • When I attended MacWorld this past January at Moscone, the Iomega had several Zip Disk prototype devices. There was a digital camera that wrote to Zip Disk (by Canon I think..) but most impressive was a deck sized player that played MP3s off of said Zip Disk. I bet that a portable wouldn't be far off if/when (the Iomega guy was remarkably tight-lipped about development time/stage) they release the deck version. I was very impressed, it had both digital and analog outs...sounded to me like it was close to primetime...
  • I know the main reason that people want a cd mp3 player is for space. There is an mp3 player, though expensive, looks nice in contrast to those small crappy mp3 players that only home 32 or 64 megs of music. It has an internal 4 gig Hard drive that holds some 100 cd's (100 full cd's,not just 100 songs). It's called the PJ-mp3 player and i think compaq makes it. Check it out at Pjbox.com [pjbox.com] Who knows, maybe you can replace the harddrive with say a 40 gig maxtor and hold 1000 cd's. At the present time it's only windows compatible.

  • I wanted to be able to have 100's of CDs in my car without having them roll around and get scratched too. I just stuck an old 3.2 gig hard drive in a case with a cheap motherboard and hooked it up to my stereo. I wrote a little linux interface to xaudio that controls it via a keypad between the front seats. It really turned out nice for me, holds 650 or so so tracks, only cost about $400, and it only takes about 35 seconds to start up. Check it out! [krazykarl.com]

  • We all have been asking this i'm sure... (Score:3)

    by SgtPepper ( 5548 ) on Saturday April 08, 2000 @07:56AM (#1143939)
    Ever since I got my CD Burner, i wondered why no one has a CD/MP3 CD Player....once I hard Sony was considering it ( anyone got a link ), and after the Apex DVD player came out I /really/ started to wonder. Why hasn't this been done yet? Legal issues? Probably. Lack of sellablity? Hell no... here's a scary thought...Sony makes CD player...Sony Entertainment is a member of the MPAA....Sony does NOT make MP3 CD Players...coincedence? I think not...

    PS: I want a portable MP3 ZipDisk player...sure it's only 100 megs...but still...portable has hell...no?

  • brujo (Score:3)

    by heretic ( 5829 ) on Saturday April 08, 2000 @08:01AM (#1143940)
    check out the brujo [netdrives.com] from Netdrives [netdrives.com].

  • Re:We all have been asking this i'm sure... (Score:3)

    by Camelot ( 17116 ) on Saturday April 08, 2000 @08:17AM (#1143941)
    Sony makes CD player...Sony Entertainment is a member of the MPAA....Sony does NOT make MP3 CD Players

    Correct - Sony does not have an MP3/CD player, but they do have an MP3 player. See here [slashdot.org].

    The biggest reason for the lack of MP3/CD players is probably because MP3 players not using a CD format can be much smaller (and they are much cooler, too). Of course, I want an MP3/CD player, too.

    I've been following the development of MP3/CD players for a while. At this point, two alternatives exist (Pine and Mambox - links to both can be found at http://hardware.mp3.com [mp3.com]). I'm waiting for reviews before I commit myself to buying either of them.

  • Although the title of the article did not make it clear, from reading the body of the article it seemed pretty clear he wants a portable MP3 CD/player... I'd like one too, but all of the ones mentioned so far seem to not be out just yet.

    I think an important feature of any of these players will be how easy the browsing interface is, and I sure hope I can add playlists to the CD's!!

  • ahem. yes. (Score:3)

    by waterhouse ( 80515 ) on Saturday April 08, 2000 @07:58AM (#1143943) Homepage
    mambox [mambox.com]

  • MP3s in your car (Score:3)

    by segfault7375 ( 135849 ) on Saturday April 08, 2000 @09:28AM (#1143944)
    Yes, there is one for your car.. Check it out at http://www.carplayer.com [carplayer.com]. Here are some of the specs (pulled from thier site):

    1. Runs with any ATAPI device i.e. CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW or even DVD-ROM. (required)

    2. Full support for MPEG1, MPEG2 Audio Layer III, MP3 files (except 256+Kbits).

    3. Multiple CD file formats: ISO-9660, Joliet, Romeo and most others.

    4. Auto switch play mode between CD-DA (audio CD) or MP3 Disk.

    5. Supports CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW and DVD-ROM media.

    6. Can have up to 2200 files per cd.

    7. Accepts 63 play list numbers in user programmable memory and has Single, Shuffle, Repeat, 10 second scan and more.

    8. 31 Key Remote Control

    9. Output level for headphones, speakers, tape adapter (for car), and stereo amps.


    I didn't see a price on thier site, but you can be sure it isn't cheap. But then again, geek toys rarely are :o)



    segfault@bellatlantic.net [mailto]

  • Car/Home MP3 Player (Score:3)

    by zcdill ( 157433 ) on Saturday April 08, 2000 @08:19AM (#1143945) Homepage
    It's a little homebrew, but you cant beat the price:

    www.carmp3player.com [carmp3player.com]

    I have one of these things, and it's quite possibly the best 150 bucks i've every spent. Plays mp3 cd's and audio cd's and comes with a remote control! Amazing. Not too fancy, not too aesthetic, but it's perfect for the geek with less 'discriminating' tastes (and a very empty wallet ;-)

    -bugbbq

  • Re:mp3: my thoughts (Score:4)

    by Chris Johnson ( 580 ) on Saturday April 08, 2000 @11:34AM (#1143946) Homepage Journal
    You've got a lot of nerve talking that way about the format I USE to distribute MY ORIGINAL MUSIC [mp3.com]. Furrfu! "I see mp3 as illegal" indeed! And so what are you doing to support the people using the format for the free distribution of their own original work? How many mp3s do you have that are 100% totally legitimate and important help to the artists who otherwise would not have the clout to get their stuff on the shelf at wal-mart?

    Instead of talking nonsense like this you should start becoming part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Please go to my mp3.com site [mp3.com] and then don't even necessarily hang around listening to my music- I mean, it's fine and people have been writing and saying they liked it but you should go ON from there, even skipping my stuff, and begin exploring and downloading some of the other artists there. There's an american Tuvan Throat-Singer (nominated for most unusual vocalist!), Steve Sklar, who plays with Big Sky [mp3.com]. There's a rap act ("G-spot" [mp3.com]) who put together phenomenal backing tracks that groove like P-Funk. I've taught myself what Trance and Drum+Bass really are entirely from mp3.com acts and reading the message boards, it's an amazing resource. There's a huge amount of stuff out there and it's ALL legitimate uses of the format. Please stop misleading and start being part of the solution! It's really important! Thank you.

  • Pine's upcoming player (Score:4)

    by Hrunting ( 2191 ) on Saturday April 08, 2000 @07:57AM (#1143947) Homepage
    Back in September, Pine announced their MP3/CD player (link [pineusa.com]). It seemed pretty cool at the time. I thouht it was a Slashdot story, in fact, that brought this to my attention. They listed a pretty reasonable price, too, $280, and you can pre-order it at Outpost.com [outpost.com].

  • Why does slashdot ask questions already answered? (Score:5)

    by pkj ( 64294 ) on Saturday April 08, 2000 @08:46AM (#1143948)
    I mean, you guys post articles, but do you actually ever read them, or search slashdot [slashdot.org] itself to see what has already been posted?

    On jan 14, 2000, this [slashdot.org] article was posted about the Apex [64.45.6.252] player. There have since been several followup articles posted about the legality of the Apex, and there are about a bazillion other web sites with info about it. Heck Circuit City now even advertises that this thing plays MP3s

    Even earilier than that, back on Sep 9, 1999, slashdot posted this [slashdot.org] story on the Pine unit. Now, the Pine unit has not hit the market yet, but it any many similar units can be found in the MP3 hardware [mp3.com] section on mp3.com [mp3.com]

    There are now probably about a half dozen other units similar to the Pine unit (their names and URLs have already been posted by people more eager than myself) but also like the Pine unit none of them have actually made it to the streets yet. Had the poster asked what was actually *available* or reviews of the available units, that would have been a different story entirely.

    I mean, it's bad enough when people post stupidly obvious questions to usenet or to mailing lists (questions that can be answered with a simple web search or by looking in very obvious locations) but when these things start getting posted as slashdot feature stories... sheesh...

    -p.

  • Pine Portable MP3/CD Player (Score:5)

    by arbitrary ( 168829 ) on Saturday April 08, 2000 @07:55AM (#1143950)
    Check it out ... http://www.theregister.co.uk/000227-000009.html Featured @ CeBIT -- looks promising -arbi.

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