Best mp3 portable jukebox?
 

Anyone got the Nomad Jukebox 3 yet? I hear it's a killer little mp3 play. What do you think and do you recommend it?

Here are couple of recent threads that may be of some use:<li><A HREF="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=195506" target="_blank">What's a good, affordable MP3 player?</a><li><A HREF="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=190494" target="_blank">Can't decide to buy an MP3 player - please help!</a></li>

I've got the Nomad Creative 20Gb version. I like it a lot. The firewire and li ion batteries of the 3 version sounds nice b/c it can a while to transfer a lot of music through usb.

Thanks. decided to go with the Nomad Jukebox 3 (40gig version)

Hasn't arrived yet. The question that arises now though is... with a collection of over 350 Cds(25% of them singles), and a 40 gig HD to work with, at what kbps should encode them in? 128? 160? 256? What is satisfactory in your opinion? Is there a big jump between 160kbps and 256kbps? How much space will I have left over if I encode at 256kbps? I'll mostly be listening to them on headphones and plugged into my car stereo.

While the Nomad 3 bests it in terms of sheer space...

Nothing on the market right now can touch the Apple iPod for anything else. It's size, portability, interface, ease of use, speed, and just sheer sexiness make it the ultimate Mp3 jukebox on the market right now.

I'd be lost without my 10GB iPod.

[some past threads worth checking out]
 

<small></small><ul><li><A HREF="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=175483" target="_blank">CD recording...help please </a><li><A HREF="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=165811" target="_blank">I just fed 78 CD albums into my home theater computer</a></li></ul>

Re: [some past threads worth checking out]
 

Thanks benedict:) Just wanted to let evereyone know my Nomad just came in the mail minutes ago! This thing isn't HALF the size the critics and naysayers made it out to be! I was expecting this huge, bulky discman sized unit reminiscent of the ones Sony made in the late 80s. It's really slick looking and very light! Haven't had the chance to check out the features yet though so I've got my hands full:)

Battery life is around 12 hours. iPod? What iPod? This thing murders the iPod in features and disc space! Wish it had a true EQ though, and wish the presents were adjustable. Volume peak is somewhat limited which is a dissapointment, since my good old Sony D555 Discman(I seriously doubt any of you are old enough to remember one of these) had volume that would blow your ears off(I suffer from tinitus because of that damn thing). Everything else is splendid however. Can't have everything ya know ;)

With such a large drive, space shouldn't be a concern. You'd be doing your music an injustice if you were to encode with anything less than Lame using the --alt-bitrate-standard setting. This will make VBR files that range from 32 to 320 kbps as needed. I would recommend using EAC to rip Lame to encode. Both programs are free, and are generally recognized as being the best music ripping/encoding programs available.

I have a 40 gig drive in my Empeg, and using the above software and settings, I can fit about 7000 songs on my drive. That's about 450 albums, well over a straight week of music. You won't tire of your music anytime soon.

One thing, though - some players have decoding problems with VBR. I'm 99% sure that yours does not, but I'd give a listen for pops or clicks before I encoded my entire collection.

Any questions whatsoever, just ask. I'm happy to help in any way I can.

Wow, that friggin' thing records? Very nice!

Thanks you're the man :)

Couple of quick notes/thoughts/questions...

First of all, what's up with the official LAME Project homepage? They have links to the source code but it's not an ".exe" file. Instead it's a tar.gz file...WTF? Why not link to the .exe format instead of tar.gz that's just dumb. EAC won't even read the file unless it's got an exe extention.

Speaking of extentions,(basically a windows related issue) I use to be able to rename file extentions to whatever I want(i.e. the txt extention would turn it into a text file, etc). But now, typing whatever extention I want at the end of a file does nothing and leaves it unchanged. What do need to do to change it back to that option?

Now. Getting back to the rippers/encoders... first of all, I have decided to use CDex as my ripper/encoder. I've done the reaserch and it seems although alot of people prefer EAC. I tried EAC and it's not bad. However,m I've found CDex to have more options, features. For example, EAC doesn't allow joint stereo, min/max bitrates, the presets aren't already in a drop down menu, 9 VBR settings, and MPEG I or II like CDex does. Comments/opinions on this debate are welcomed.

Now. For people who DO use CDex and are experienced in its features, let's discuss some questions shall we?

I am using the following options...

VBR quality: High
Bit rate: 128kbps min-320kbps max
Joint Stereo
Thread priority: Normal
Paranoia: Full

Out if these options, the one that I'm unsure about the most is the bit rate. 128kbps is the minimum I'd like to settle for. The question is, is 320kbps too high with VBR enabled? At this setting, what average bit rate can I expect to get out of Lame via CDex? Should I lower the max bit arte from 320kbps to 256kbps?

The other issue is VBR method. There is VBR old, VBR new, VBR MTRH, VBR-ABR and VBR default. I have been using VBR MTRH and haven't had any problems but are any of the other choices recommeded over MTRH?

And what about VBR presets quality? "R3mix" vs "High" vs "Very High Quality"? I've been told that r3mix is good but I don't like the fact that it forces a minimum bit rate to 96kbps. With "High(q=2)" the min bit rate doesn't change from where you left it. And at 128kbps-320kbps, is "Very High Quality" worth using over "High Quality"?

Finally, correct me if I'm wrong but if a CD has a couple of scratches on it, to avoid CDex producing any pops or clicks in the song would it be more cautious just unclicking the "Encode mp3 on the fly" box, allowing it to rip to wave first, then encode to mp3?

Thanks in advance :)