I see a lot of speculation on the web as to what the fate of the Connect will be, in light of the drastic price cuts now being made available.
Here’s a suggestion for SanDisk that would get them off the hook for future support of the product, and one which would possibly enhance it to the point where there could even be a (gasp) future!
There is a GREAT Open-Source JukeBox firmware project, Rockbox ( http://www.rockbox.org/ ) which currently supports MP3 players from most of the major manufacturers (even SanDisk e and c series) The list of Rockbox features is impressive, including many of the wish-list items I see here and on the web - bookmarks, gapless playback, GAMES!, real-time clock, skinning, as well as support of video. With a little ‘cooperation’ from SanDisk, I’m sure the Rockbox firmware would greatly benefit from the WiFi capability of the Connect, and I’m certain in no time at all we would see support for generic internet radio, including Shoutcast, and who knows, maybe even a browser!
Linux-Open Source would be a GREAT way to accomplish this. I love open source. I think manufacturer’s loose sight of this avenue. I use OpenOffice, StarOffice Mandriva Fedora and All I can say is I wish they would go for it. If They did I know I would buy 2 more. even though I also own the e260.
So I still need to buy 3 MP3 players. I hate i-pod. I may still have to get these even if they don’t go this way. However this would make it a no brainer choice.
Rockbox for the Connect would be great. I just saw a picture of someone with rockbox on their e200 series player using it to play Doom the old pc game.
Yea I am not sure what Sandisk stands to lose by opening up the code to the open source community if they plan on phasing the unit out. Sure Yahoo might have a say as well as Zing but if you open up the hardware specifications to the open source community, they can start hacking away at it. Take a page out of Tivo’s book and embrace the open source community.
It seems to me to be an excellent idea to open up the Connect so it can be constructively hacked. It has the attributes to be a really interesting device … sadly it may just become an elegant paper-weight.
Without a battery replacement, and thus far there is none to be found, there would be only a handful of Connects in existence that would still be playable by the time Rockbox was working on the Connect. (This device eats lithium batteries faster than any other player.)
Maybe SanDisk could start manufacturing the Connect again.
“The First Portable Player [Re-]Built For ROCKBOX!”
Rockbox would be nice, but I’m still loving my Connect anyway. WiFi streaming of music channels for free, and WiFi access to pictures stored online? Are there any other inexpensive players that do that?
Message Edited by PromisedPlanet on 10-18-2008 09:21 AM
Yes … but I have a vision of being able to listen to the stream of my choice via the interweb … not someone else’s idea of what a playlist should be like.
There has to be a gap in the market for a truly portable wifi internet radio. Maybe the Connect can fulfil that role?
Rockbox would be nice, but I’m still loving my Connect anyway. WiFi streaming of music channels for free, and WiFi access to pictures stored online? Are there any other inexpensive players that do that?
I agree. It’s my favorite player.
PlaysForSure supports OverDrive Media library audiobooks.
On-player delete, to get rid of podcasts you’ve listened to.
nice size video, 2.2" in a small, light player.
resume function on several tracks (am still figuring out when it doesn’t work, besides after 72 hours)
speaker (my favorite feature) for video and audio podcasts and audiobooks.
nice micro SD integration. Doesn’t refresh database, so resume works.
And that’s besides the wi-fi features you mentioned. For my usage patterns, it would be my favorite player even without wi-fi!
Only one problem: a battery hog (maybe two year’s life?), but no replacement battery yet found.
EDIT: Forgot one thing, this PC World review of the Creative X-fi said that the Connect had the best signal-to-noise ratio of any player tested:
“Its signal-to-noise ratio of 83 dB is second only to the SanDisk Sansa Connect’s 84 dB in our tests.”.
Yes … but I have a vision of being able to listen to the stream of my choice via the interweb … not someone else’s idea of what a playlist should be like.
What streams do you mean … like Shoutcast? If so, aren’t you still listening to someone else’s idea of what a playlist should be like?
To each his own. I personally find the selection of songs on Launchcast Plus stations to be way better than any Shoutcast station (for example) I’ve ever heard.
If I want to listen to my OWN idea of a playlist … that’s what the Connect’s internal memory is for, right?
Actually … I broadcast my own private station … that’s my idea of a playlist… I can also remotely access my music server … in addition, stuff like SomaFm is pretty good imho and I like BBC radio news … all of which is available via virtually any internet radio … but not the Sansa Connect unfortunately.
In another post, I discussed what Sansa should do with the Connect. The truth is, they should allow the connect to play *any* internet stream. *And* they should add stream recordiing… like the Streamripper plugin for winamp.
This would make (to be blunt now) the Connect a fine portable piracy device. Like a netbook, only smaller, and with a longer battery life (though some netbooks are getting 5 hours or more). If the Connect could do this (enable sharing) they would sell like silly. Of course, no corporation on the face of the earth is going to expose themselves to that kind of liability.
Sigh.
So, I’ll keep on doing things the way I do now. Netbook+Linux+VLC+… and any availble open wifi hotspot (thank you public library). Its trivial to do what the Connect should be able to do. Just not in a pocket sized device (ok, Archos is cool (And Chumby also), so not in a sub 300 dollar pocketable portable device).
Ha. I wasn’t talking about what I want. I don’t really care about ripping streams to pirate music. If thats what I was interested I’d use Songbird. I use Stream Ripper to time shift performances (which means scheduled recording, which would be a poor use of the Connect).
However, if *Sandisk* really wanted to sell alot of music players, they’d cater to the sharing crowd. If they don’t want to get sued to heck and back by the music label conglomorous heathen corporations, they won’t (and so they won’t).
The point is really moot though. When a 12 year old starts talking keyloggers with me, *I* can see the writing on the wall for the big media companies. Nothing like a horde of unwashed, smelly 12 year old savages to take down the multinational corporations, eh?
So, I’ll keep on doing things the way I do now. Netbook+Linux+VLC+… and any availble open wifi hotspot (thank you public library). Its trivial to do what the Connect should be able to do. Just not in a pocket sized device (ok, Archos is cool (And Chumby also), so not in a sub 300 dollar pocketable portable device).
Hans
You could do like I did. I’ll never buy another mp3 player again. I found a pda on craigslist. A dell axim30 for $120. Which is the same as I payed for the connect a year ago. Use gsplayer and you can play just about any internet stream. Also with a pda you can put whatever size sd card in it that you want.
The pda is about twice the size of the connect but then you’re not limited to what an mp3 player allows. Plus you get all the features of a pda. I bought a new higher capacity battery for it on ebay for about $8.
So, I’ll keep on doing things the way I do now. Netbook+Linux+VLC+… and any availble open wifi hotspot (thank you public library). Its trivial to do what the Connect should be able to do. Just not in a pocket sized device (ok, Archos is cool (And Chumby also), so not in a sub 300 dollar pocketable portable device).
Hans
You could do like I did. I’ll never buy another mp3 player again. I found a pda on craigslist. A dell axim30 for $120. Which is the same as I payed for the connect a year ago. Use gsplayer and you can play just about any internet stream. Also with a pda you can put whatever size sd card in it that you want.
The pda is about twice the size of the connect but then you’re not limited to what an mp3 player allows. Plus you get all the features of a pda. I bought a new higher capacity battery for it on ebay for about $8.
I have a Palm T|X, which in most respects I like. Due to weak third party support though, it isn’t the BeAll device it could be. (This is due to some horrifically poor decisions on Palm’s part). I do get streaing support through a third party app I bought, but it is incompatable with the T|X’s screen locking technology (A critical security flaw, in my humble opinion). I still don’t get the ability to record audo (or, for that matter video) streams. And the application I use (I can’t remember the name right off hand) doesn’t play all streams: there are apparently multiple MP4 video formats. And finally, I’m not impressed with the audio quality, or battery life. (To be clear, the palm has good battery life for a wifi enabled PDA, but as a music player it falls short).
I know, alot of complaints for somethign I like.
I also can’t work up much enthusiasm for anything with Windows anything on it. If I was going to go down the PDA path again, I’d most likely go with the Nokia N810. There are other similar options.
