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Well, once I found out what a brick the neuros is, my interest quickly faded. I've unfortunately had several people contact me about posts on my blog saying that a) the NII is fairly buggy and breaks or simply doesn't function as intended a lot (but that they guys at neuros are very cool about repairing the units quickly) and b) that the linux support for it currently isn't so great.

So now I'm looking at iAudio (again). First off, I'm interested in the X5, not one of the smaller ones, so any X5 specific answers would be nice, but I imagine they all work in a similar fashion.

First off, how much of a PITA is the connetion dongle for it? It looks like a horrid kludge honestly, but maybe it's not that bad. I realize that the fact you need a special cable for the ipod isn't much different, but those cables are available everywhere - I haven't seen iAudios around many places, let alone accessories.

Second, how do you deal with syncing your music collection to the iAudio? How does the player handle folders you have dragged to it - does it at least place them in alphabetical order? My collection is fairly well organized, but I imagine that it can be a PITA to keep things in sync if drag'n'drop is the current "replacement" for a database backend. Of course, I understand that the drag'n'drop is one of the things that makes this a linux friendly player, but hand organizing my music is not my idea of a good time. Also, how do you deal with new additions? Do they all have to be dragged to the iAudio as I suspect they do, or is there some way to create an automagically updating folder on the iAudio?

How good/bad is the built in mic, and how much space does it eat per minute of recording? Is this adjustable? Is it good enough to record, say, lectures?

I have other questions, but if even some of these ones get answered it'll be a start.

I just recently got a X5. Overall I've been very happy with it. I replaced a Zen Micro that broke. Now that thing was a pain.

The dongle or subpack as they call it isn't bad. But it is annoying. Its nice because you can keep all the cables plugged into it. Like the line-out, usb, and power. Personally I'd rather it not have the subpack and just be able to connect the usb directly to it.

I just copied everything I had to it when I got it. One thing thats nice is I made a seperate folder off the root called PODCASTS. I can play just that folder to just play podcasts.

I was thinking about using rsync to sync my collection. That would handle adding new music in and removing music I deleted.

Karl wrote:One thing thats nice is I made a separate folder off the root called PODCASTS. I can play just that folder to just play podcasts.

I was thinking about using rsync to sync my collection. That would handle adding new music in and removing music I deleted.

Yeah - I'd thought about that angle too.

Does the iaudio at least alphabetize your music directories? If so, does it also alphabetize your music files?

Snarkout wrote: Does the iaudio at least alphabetize your music directories? If so, does it also alphabetize your music files?

Yes it does. It shows everything by filename. Directories show at the top in alphabetical order with files below them.

Also I just found the USB Host port on the side lets you directly connect the PC to it. I think that may be something the newer firmware added. So you do not need the subpack now to connect to a pc. But I don't know if it charges from there or not. Originally that port was just to connect a digital camera to so you can transfer the pictures off of it.

the USB-OTG port is for portable devices generaly. Although it does connect to the PC I think that is only for DRM because it needs to control how many times you copy it although it might work for non-DRM music but its much slower than the regular post and it doesn't charge from it. The microphone is actually pretty good and can record conferences and things for blackmail You can change what bitrate it is at but it only records to MP3. The navigation is very good but its only as good as your music is organized. If you go to the Artist folder and play that it will only play whats in the folder and if you go to the music folder it will play all the music. It also supports playlists so you can make a playlist for each artist or album or whatever. Syncing is done by simply copying (or moving) the files to it. The USB cable is very universal chances are your digital camera use the same one (assuming you have a digital camera). Chances are you could pick one up at RadioShack/BestBuy. Overall I think it is the best player out there and the 30GB X5L version is only $300 at newegg.com

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the firmware can be upgraded by simply droping the .bin file into the FIRMWARE directory with the power pluged in and disconnecting from USB then turn it on.

CptnObvious999 wrote:the USB-OTG port is for portable devices generaly. Although it does connect to the PC I think that is only for DRM because it needs to control how many times you copy it although it might work for non-DRM music but its much slower than the regular post and it doesn't charge from it. The microphone is actually pretty good and can record conferences and things for blackmail You can change what bitrate it is at but it only records to MP3. The navigation is very good but its only as good as your music is organized. If you go to the Artist folder and play that it will only play whats in the folder and if you go to the music folder it will play all the music. It also supports playlists so you can make a playlist for each artist or album or whatever. Syncing is done by simply copying (or moving) the files to it. The USB cable is very universal chances are your digital camera use the same one (assuming you have a digital camera). Chances are you could pick one up at RadioShack/BestBuy. Overall I think it is the best player out there and the 30GB X5L version is only $300 at newegg.com

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the firmware can be upgraded by simply droping the .bin file into the FIRMWARE directory with the power pluged in and disconnecting from USB then turn it on.

Cool - that sounds awesome! Do you know what a 128 bitrate mp3 takes up per hour?

I'd think about newegg, but I have been burned several times by their "We don't take things we sell back - talk to the manufacturer" policy. Arguing with manufacturers is useless. I've got a POS ViewSonic monitor to prove it - I will never buy anything from viewsonic again, will do my best to make sure that where I work doesn't buy viewsonic, and will recommend to customers of my job that they not buy viewsonic. I had 2 people there actually hang up on me and another person laugh in my face, and transfer me to 20 minutes of hold music. Fscking a$$holes.

Well, I was going to buy an X5 today (I couldn't afford it after some recent issues I've had on the homefront, but my father kindly offered to buy me one after he'd had some good cajun food and beer - I'm lucky like that sometimes) but after reading through the Cowon America forums, I think I may wait. I *really* do not want to deal with the type of people it seems like Cowon America are - even if they are great people, it sounds like their customer service is absolute sh!t. There are also several posts about a) weird behavior on linux, and b) recent firmares being released as exe files rather than bins. My ipod is working at this point (thanks to gnupod), and I've dealt with enough major bummer purchases lately.

EDIT: Hmmm, Amazon's return policy seems pretty damn bullet proof. Decisions, decisions.

Snarkout wrote:Well, I was going to buy an X5 today (I couldn't afford it after some recent issues I've had on the homefront, but my father kindly offered to buy me one after he'd had some good cajun food and beer - I'm lucky like that sometimes) but after reading through the Cowon America forums, I think I may wait. I *really* do not want to deal with the type of people it seems like Cowon America are - even if they are great people, it sounds like their customer service is absolute sh!t. There are also several posts about a) weird behavior on linux, and b) recent firmares being released as exe files rather than bins. My ipod is working at this point (thanks to gnupod), and I've dealt with enough major bummer purchases lately.

EDIT: Hmmm, Amazon's return policy seems pretty damn bullet proof. Decisions, decisions.

The customer service was terrible. It took a week or two for a reply to an email from tech support and that phone was always busy. However a week ago or something they setup a live chat and within 10 minutes I was set up with an RMA. I havn't had any Linux issues at all nor have I had firmware that is an exe. Although they have the firmware on a couple of places so I guess it depends where you got it.

Well, that more or less cements it. If you've had to rma yours after ~2 months, forget it. I've seen TONS of posts on the various forums about serious flakyness (broken joysticks, broken headphone jacks, disks failing) and really, really, really inexcusably bad customer service. Most of this is specific to the X5 and X5L. I don't want to give money to that sort of outfit, even if it's not my own money, and I want a hard drive based player. I think I'll be smart for once, and spare myself a headache.

I guess I'll wait to see what the neuros3 is like - since I've discovered how insanely great gnupod is, I don't really have any need for another player right now anyhow. Hopefully the N3 will be smaller...

Snarkout wrote:Well, that more or less cements it. If you've had to rma yours after ~2 months, forget it. I've seen TONS of posts on the various forums about serious flakyness (broken joysticks, broken headphone jacks, disks failing) and really, really, really inexcusably bad customer service. Most of this is specific to the X5 and X5L. I don't want to give money to that sort of outfit, even if it's not my own money, and I want a hard drive based player. I think I'll be smart for once, and spare myself a headache.

I guess I'll wait to see what the neuros3 is like - since I've discovered how insanely great gnupod is, I don't really have any need for another player right now anyhow. Hopefully the N3 will be smaller...

Actually it came broken if that helps any. The harddrive paused sometimes randomly so I had to wiggle it to get it to continue playing (I have been procrastinating for a while to get it fixed). I seem to be one of the only ones with this problem on the iAudiophile forums. If you only need 4GB I would try out the iAudio 6. It seems like a solid player and its small and sexy as well I don't think it has been released in the US yet though.

I've seen multiple posts on the iaudiophile forums as well as the cowon america and the jet audio forums of commonplace breakage, which is understandable since most people don't post "I GOT MINE AND IT WORKS OK, AND I PRETTY MUCH LIKE IT!!!!!!!!!!" What isn't understandable is that cowon america don't seem to care one way or the other about their customers. In any event, I'll wait to see what the next gen X5 looks like, as well as what the Neuros3 looks like. I've got time...