VisorCentral.com - MemPlug + MP3 playback = Killer module?

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- Springboard Modules (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=10)
-- MemPlug + MP3 playback = Killer module? (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=18314)

Posted by Swiftshadow on 09-15-2001 02:24 AM:

MemPlug + MP3 playback = Killer module?

I know someone else must have thought of this. Now that Portable Innovations has conquered the memory expansion market (SM, CF and I believe they have promised an SD MemPlug), maybe they should start looking to expand their product line further. I for one would love an MP3 Springboard with a CF card expansion slot (as CF is currently the cheapest, highest capacity memory expansion available; 256 Megs for $114, 512 Megs for $375) and all the power of the current MemPlugs. How about it PI? Go after the market that InnoGear threw away! You would have me lined up to buy one!

Fare thee well,
Swiftshadow

P.S. I am very satisfied user of MemPlug CF.

Posted by yardie on 09-15-2001 04:06 PM:

This would be good

SUch a module would be a hit. But I am not sure if it is feasible.

I am very happy with my InnoPocket Flash Plus.

Posted by Swiftshadow on 09-15-2001 05:24 PM:

Re: This would be good

quote:
Originally posted by yardie
SUch a module would be a hit. But I am not sure if it is feasible.

I am very happy with my InnoPocket Flash Plus.

I am curious to hear why you believe it wouldn't be feasible? Obviously, InnoGear has shown it can be done. Are you worried about size, power consumption, weight?

Fare thee well
Swiftshadow

Posted by dkessler on 09-15-2001 06:15 PM:

Re: MemPlug + MP3 playback = Killer module?

quote:
Originally posted by Swiftshadow
Now that Portable Innovations has conquered the memory expansion market (SM, CF and I believe they have promised an SD MemPlug), maybe they should start looking to expand their product line further.

That's odd ... I don't feel conquered

Nope, I just checked and Kopsis is still alive and well with thousands of satisfied customers

__________________
<ul><li>Dave Kessler<br>President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

Posted by Swiftshadow on 09-15-2001 07:03 PM:

Re: Re: MemPlug + MP3 playback = Killer module?

quote:
Originally posted by dkessler

That's odd ... I don't feel conquered Nope, I just checked and Kopsis is still alive and well with thousands of satisfied customers

Bad choice of words.

I know there are many satisfied customers of Kopsis' software. Both MemPlug and FlashPlus are great products. I guess I should rephrase and throw out the challenge to a wider audience. I would love to see any company come out an MP3 player Springboard that uses external storage cards (my preference would be CF) and also doubles as memory expansion. Feel up to it Dave?

Fare thee well,
Swiftshadow

Posted by Uncle Roger on 09-15-2001 07:50 PM:

Re: Re: Re: MemPlug + MP3 playback = Killer module?

quote:
Originally posted by Swiftshadow
I would love to see any company come out an MP3 player Springboard that uses external storage cards (my preference would be CF) and also doubles as memory expansion.

I would not be interested in this -- with 128mb, or even 256mb cards, I wouldn't want to give up music space for file space. I would much rather just have two separate Springboards each doing one thing well than one complex springboard doing two things adequately. And, I wouldn't want to rely on my visor just for listening to music -- I've got more important jobs for it. And, when I'm on the bus, if I want to listen to music, I don't necessarily want to open up my holster to plug in cables, etc.

That said, if someone does offer a combined CF/MP3 module, I would strongly recommend the Kopsis software over PI's -- I've used both (Sorry, Dave, but I'm a gadget head -- at least I still have way more Matchbook Drives and FlashPluses than MemPlugs!) and the Kopsis software is much better from a functional point of view. (Memplug wins on looks, but with a small screen, function should not be sacrificed for looks. Heck, that's why I'm not married to Vanessa Williams or Christie Brinkley.)

Posted by LarryN on 09-16-2001 02:39 AM:

Ok. Let's say we add the processor that the MP3 player would need, because the 33mhz processor onboard cannot handle the playback of mp3's natively. Then, we add software on the flash memory of the card for the player program. Next, we add the earphone jack, control buttons for volume, FF, rewind, play, and pause. AND make it be able to use expansion cards. That would be a killer module!

...wait.. I already have a minijam...

.. The ONLY thing that the MJ doesn't do (that nothing else can do either - or yet, I should say) is the ability to store other things on the card, and access them. The once promised update by Innogear never showed up. I'd love for them to come up with something, but I stopped holding my breath a llloooong time ago.

However, if I wanted a pda that I would leave my module in all the time, so I could listen to music and also use the memory card for programs as well, and didn't need it for anything else, I'd be a sony customer.

Posted by Uncle Roger on 09-17-2001 12:36 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by LarryN
.. The ONLY thing that the MJ doesn't do (that nothing else can do either - or yet, I should say) is the ability to store other things on the card, and access them.

Uh... I have a Visor Deluxe with 7.5MB free RAM on which I run Mapopolis and have access to about 3megs of maps (because that's all I've downloaded so far.) Give me about 5 seconds and suddenly the same VDx still has 7.5MB free, but now it's got SplashPhoto and a bunch of images. Another 5 seconds and I have Bdicty and about 10megs of dictionaries, all accessible.

With the help of my trusty time machine, I zipped into the future and brought back some Matchbook drives (http://www.matchbookdrive.com/) and Kopsis' FAFileMover and VFSHelper (http://www.kopsisengineering.com/) and voila! Too bad none of this is available yet (from the aforementioned websites.) Total cost: $1,000,034 (Matchbook drive $20 + Shipping $4 + Kopsis' Software $10 + Time Machine $1,000,000). If you want, I'll use my Time Machine to set you up for a mere $500,000 and I'll even pay the shipping. 8^)

Posted by LarryN on 09-17-2001 01:52 PM:

Hi Uncle Roger! (I actually have an uncle Roger)

My point was that there isn't anything yet (or maybe ever) that plays mp3's and stores other data on the those same cards. The MiniJam has 2mb of flash memory that you can use for storage, but that's not on the card...

I have a MemPlugSM that does the things that you mentioned as well (Dictionary, Mapopolis, Books...), but nothing as a combined solution. I tend to fill up all 3 of my 64mb mmc's up with music though, so I don't think I would want to use up that space with prc's/pdb's. For me, it would be much easier to manage what's on which memory card, by simply plugging in my memplug, if I want to access those programs.

Can you give me a link to the time machine module though? I haven't bought a springboard in a couple of months. Gotta scratch the itch.

Posted by dkessler on 09-17-2001 03:24 PM:

Re: Re: Re: MemPlug + MP3 playback = Killer module?

quote:
Originally posted by Swiftshadow

I would love to see any company come out an MP3 player Springboard that uses external storage cards (my preference would be CF) and also doubles as memory expansion. Feel up to it Dave?

I think you'll find that what's scaring developers away from this kind of project is that we don't know what Handspring has planned. We all have heard the speculation that Handspring is working on a new high-end model (or models) and what's to say that they won't go the Sony route and add multi-media capabilites to the base device?

It's tough to justify investing in the development of an expensive Springboard module when there's a very real concern that Handspring will make it obsolete before it ever sees the light of day. Yes, there will still be a few owners of existing Visors that would purchase a storage/multi-media module, but as the price of the module goes up, so do the odds of them jumping to a newer device that has the capabilities they want built in (plus a host of new features) - especially if there is a delay (and there would be) between the time Handspring releases their next Visor and the time it takes to get a storage/multi-media module into production. Just my $0.02

__________________
<ul><li>Dave Kessler<br>President - Kopsis, Inc.</li></ul>

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