Archived thread 1029584 from Ubuntu Brainstorm. Markdown source: Ubuntu_Brainstorm/thread_1029584_UbuntuLinux_Digital_Media_Player..md
I would absolutely love to have a Ubuntu/Linux Digital Media Player and i'm sure many others would too. Microsoft have their crappy Zune and Apple have their Ipod and i figured if Ubuntu/Linux could have a share of that market it could be really good advertising for Ubuntu/Linux and also good financial support.
[[IMG]http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/17018/image/1/[/IMG]](http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/17018/)
We have it. It's called Android. I doubt people will be buying standalone portable media players much longer.
Progressive said: We have it. It's called Android. I doubt people will be buying standalone portable media players much longer.
That's really too bad. I don't want to use my phone as a media player or vice versa.
Progressive said: We have it. It's called Android. I doubt people will be buying standalone portable media players much longer.
Android is NOT Linux. It doesn't use the Linux source code, or even the X11 source code. It was made from scratch. I would say the closest thing we have is OpenMoko.
There's Ubuntu MID, they just need to get it on some devices. xD
Neon Lights said: There's Ubuntu MID, they just need to get it on some devices. xD
I like that idea. :)
The N770/N800/N810 springs to mind.
Well unlike Microsoft and Apple, Canonical doesn't make hardware (other than the few things at the store) Even if they did make one there would be the whole format problem.
If it didn't support mp3s the average user wouldn't care for it If it did support mp3s then people would complain that mp3 support doesn't come by default in the Ubuntu Operating System.
Merk42 said: Well unlike Microsoft and Apple, Canonical doesn't make hardware (other than the few things at the store) Even if they did make one there would be the whole format problem.
If it didn't support mp3s the average user wouldn't care for it If it did support mp3s then people would complain that mp3 support doesn't come by default in the Ubuntu Operating System.
You can play Mp3s on Ubuntu and i'm pretty sure they are supported on Ubuntu MID.
Itunes don't use Mp3's :wink:
You can support MP3s but not make it the default. That's what Apple does. It supports MP3s but makes AAC the default.
Let's just buy Media Players made by Cowon Systems, Inc
They are Linux compatible and support multiple formats.
ubuntu27 said: Let's just buy Media Players made by Cowon Systems, Inc
They are Linux compatible and support multiple formats.
Good find!
Something like the S9 with Ubuntu MID would be sweet but with a SD card slot so it has upgradable storage which iPod and Zune don't have.
ubuntu27 said: Let's just buy Media Players made by Cowon Systems, Inc
They are Linux compatible and support multiple formats. The Cowon I bought was a piece of crap.
Read more here: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntucat/tag/cowon/
Android is based on linux
smartboyathome said: Android is NOT Linux. It doesn't use the Linux source code, or even the X11 source code. It was made from scratch. I would say the closest thing we have is OpenMoko.
I hate to call you a liar but Android runs on a Linux kernel
It would be a near perfect fit for a portable player actually, while I believe that more such devices will merge with phones and PDAs to make one useful device I also think portable players still have some life left in them. E.g. I still have not seen a phone with enough capacity to hold a sufficient amount of music and podcasts to replace my iPod 80GB, additionally if one was to consider a scheme where music was streamed prices are still to high on 3G networking to accomidate such a solution. Eventually though those problems will go away.
gnomeuser said: I hate to call you a liar but Android runs on a Linux kernel
Well, I was thinking that it wasn't, guess I was wrong. Still, I know it doesn't use Xorg. :(
I think Ubuntu MID would be better than Android anyway specially since it supports more programming languages.
aysiu said: The Cowon I bought was a piece of crap.
Read more here: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntucat/tag/cowon/
Ok. I've read all your reviews.
I have bought the same product (iAudio 7) last year. [B] What I agree with you:[/B]:
they are also too sensitive to the touch, especially when I’m trying to skip songs instead of fast-forward.
I experienced that iAudio 7 is too sensitive just as you have written. Even after lowering the sensitivity.
And touch-sensitive controls may sound cool, but they’re really annoying when you are worried you’ll accidentally skip to the next song or pause—stick to regular buttons, folks.
I agree.
What I don't agree with you:
Nevertheless, I can’t say I’ve had an overall positive experience with it over the last three months. _The controls were very difficult to figure out and get used to_
There are absolutely no PDF manuals online explaining how to use the iAudio 7. If you buy this player, be prepared to do some serious trial and error to figure out its day to day functions.
This last straw is the screen suddenly crapping out on me. I didn’t drop, crush, or abuse the player in any way, but there appears to be a diagonal crack on the inside (not the outside) of the screen that corrupts the display to the point of being unusable.
I own an iAudio 7 since six months ago and never experienced that. Bad luck? :(
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Since I am afraid of ruining my ears, I usually use iAudio as an audio storage device. I connect it to my Stereo/Radio and enjoy the music with speakers.
Since I always leave my iAudio near the Stereo, people keeps touching it, it falls accidentally, et cetera.
And it happen to pass that some of my iAudio 7's controls were dysfunctional. The little bottom on the sides which lower the volume did not work anymore. When I touch it, it felt as it it was "empty"
Now I cannot lower the volume :(
But this negative experience happen because I was careless. I did not take care of it properly.
That's the only down side that I experienced. Other than that, I have really like this product. The ability to play to multiple formats, listen to radio, record voice (This was so useful for my classes). Its all good.
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Now there is another article in which you mention that you have given-up on ogg vorbis.
You should do what I do. If you have a song in mp3 format (without DRM), leave it alone. If you have a CD, then rip it to oga. There is no harm in having mixed formats.
smartboyathome said: Well, I was thinking that it wasn't, guess I was wrong. Still, I know it doesn't use Xorg. :(
For the targets of Android: Phones, Set top boxes, possibly MID devices going without a X implementation is very likely a good idea. X is somewhat overloaded and hard to debug for these use cases. It also allows them to innovate and maybe bring something new to the table the rest of us might be able to learn from.
I actually think Android would make a good fit for a a portable player. You get good APIs for most common features like wifi, bluetooth, usb, media playback along with an easy framework to write your frontend in. Much of your code would be very well tested as well (it's hard to beat the amount of testing done by being deployed on a couple of million cellphones). I think it would be an interesting project to adapt Android for this purpose.
Imagine the fun stuff we could concentrate on making, mesh networking between players (ala OLPC Sugar). Imagine getting on the bus and other owners of this type of player will be auto discovered. You could now send them music, play little games such as playing 10 secs of a song on the other persons player and guessing correctly between 3 choices. You could do proximity syncing, once the player gets within range of your network it automatically resyncs with your computers music library. This latter feature would also do well with a car entertainment system, it could suck down all your music, movies the kids can watch during long drives all from the comfort of the garage. I don't know of any commercially available system that will do this and I think the key to making it work would be defining open standards for hooking into this wider ecosystem.
If somebody here gets a cowon to run ubuntu mid, I may very well find myself purchasing one.