OFF: Music player advice, Return of...

[Keith Henderson]

Carl said....




On 29 Jul 2013, at 14:12 , Keith Henderson <khenders64 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
 
>> iTouches as an option.  The iTouch itself has the negatives of being rather small (4" display), and an Apple product (iTunes) (although I guess XBMC could potentially operate it??), and is rather expensive ($400) for the necessary memory (64GB).  That said, it offers that much internal storage, unlike most tablets with flash-only memory.

>I fear I-m fairly ignorant about the Samsung devices, but what the heck is an "iTouch"? Do you mean an Apple "iPod Touch"? Or are they marketing that as an "iTouch" now?  

I dunno.  But I think they're called colloquially iTouches, no matter their official name.

>If that _is_ what you are talking about, isn't that device basically an iPhone without the phone?  

Yeah, that is what I imagine as well.  But then, I haven't owned a phone of any kind (let alone a cell phone/handy) in about 15 years, so I don't know how they work, apart from watching others use theirs.

>IMO, a phone-sized screen is handy for the pocket, but a bit small for something you plan to use as a control surface and that never leaves the house. 

Yes, exactly...hence my point above about it "being rather small (4" display)."

>Equally, surely it can't hold more than about 64GB 

Yeah, but that's twice as big as the Nexus7 currently, and I think the rumors are that the new Nexus (whose rollout is imminent?) will also max out at 32 GB.  With no SD drive for expanded memory.

>Anyway, I had sort of had it in my head that you were looking to _store_ audio files on some relatively hefty storage device (basically a big HD)

Yes, for my collection (nearly 500 GB), that would be the case (via WiFi, once I get that rolling), but this playback would not be my primary casual listening tool.  So, the device will be primarily for playing my Mom's music collection, which is just small enough to load entirely onto the device without consideration of WiFi streaming.  And it has to be simple to operate by an 80yr old, and plug into our current stereo/speaker setup (which while unnecessarily large/powersapping, is otherwise completely useless, but not ready to be junked, so...)

>Honestly, if you are just focused on letting your mom playback a 52GB collection, buy her an G4GB iPod touch (while they still make them!) and whatever random compatible speaker-dock the shop likewise has.  Then she can listen on headphones...

My Mom never uses headphones, but that's besides the point.  iPod Touches are $400 alone...and the display is small.  Hence my preference for the tablets....as long as I get 64 GB space either in flash internal memory or as extended memory via micro-card drive, which is not often the case.  The Galaxy 3.0 Tab is hopefully the answer, though I still need to confirm the limitations of the SD drive.

Plus, would an iTouch easily link up to a home PC/external drive full of AAC files via a std. home WiFi router?  Like I said, I'm totally ignorant about practical WiFi use.  The WiFi receiver that the iTouch has to connect to the iStore remotely is the same kind of WiFi receiver that accepts streaming in your home-WiFi setting?  Or not?  Or what?

Ciao for niao...Keith H.