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iRiver firmware v1.85 UMS version - USB drive
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:40 am
by martyskitch
I have an i-River iFP-899 and found firmware on the worldwide site to make the device act as a USB drive. This version of the firmware gives a little better ogg support but not much better. However there also a widows app to convert ogg files so that they play on the i-River. I have not tried it so I have no ideal if it works or not. Here's the URL for the download site
http://tinyurl.com/kwyg7
skitch
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:47 am
by mowestusa
Changing the firmware on the iRivers is a tough decision. You do loose some recording functionality by going with the UMS upgrade. There seems to be other problems listed in the forums like performance issues. The processing power to run the UMS firmware is higher than the special iRiver firmware. I have held off on upgrading for right now.
There are libraries and programs that allow you to plug an iRiver into a linux box and more mp3 over to it without issue. I have to confess that I haven't tried that yet. There is one that is supposed to work seamlessly with Konquorer.
Also have you thought about just using mp3's. I think you would be disappointed with the conversion quality of going from OGG to MP3. There are ways to do it, but audio quality will suffer.
mowestusa
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:12 pm
by martyskitch
I agree that changing the software was a tough decision but I think the benefits outweighted the disavantages. The big plus for me is that I can now plug my iRiver into any computer and transfer files back and forth. I'm using Ubuntu 5.10 without a problem. I'll admit that the transfers seeme to take longer but I can live with that. I can always go back to the managed software if I really want.
That's my 2 cents, your milage may vary.
Skitch