MP3 playing time?

[unregistered]

Hi everyone!

Having been mesmerized by the colour models of the new Clié SJ33 I am considering buying one.

But:

1) What is the MP3 duration people are getting on their Clié SJ33's? Sony says 10 hours with display turned off. Is this true?

2) I have no experience at all in this matter. Is it simple to transfer MP3s to a memory stick? Would I be turned off doing it every second morning or is it *more or less* as easy as choosing what you want to listen to and adding 1 minute for transfer of one album from harddrive?

/peter

[Redleg]

It is very easy to transfer files and pretty fast. I always use the "MS Import" function on the Clie, which turns the memory stick into a removable disk (in WinXP); just drag, drop, copy, paste or delete like you would on any other drive. I'm not techie enough to know all the official speeds but a 4MB file takes maybe five to ten seconds. It never struck me as too slow.

I haven't ever "torture tested" my battery playing time yet. I just started playing at 100% with the screen off -- I'll post my results later this afternoon.

[Redleg]

Okay... after 2.5 hours of nonstop playing with the screen off, my battery went from 100% to 73%. Assuming even battery consumption, that's going to be pretty close to ten hours.

[Windboi]

RedLeg, can i use ms import on infra?
what i try is 7 hours and it turn off with my zlauncher displaying 20%

[elf]

Originally posted by Windboi
RedLeg, can i use ms import on infra?


We once time the data transfer between 2 Handspring Visors beaming a file via IR and calculated the transfer rate to be equivalent to a 14.4K modem.

Even if you could import to the MS via IR, I don't think you want to.

[pumpkineater]

I found this user comment in a CNet review. I don't understand diddlysquat. Anyone knows what this person is talking about? And are other people having the same problem??

/peter

"The MP3 player is essentially useless." Former Sony Fan on 14-Mar-2003 10:52:46 pm
If you think you can drag-and-drop your MP3s onto your memory sticks and use them in this Clie, forget it. The Clie will only play from proprietary copy-protected "Magic Gate" memory sticks, and then only when you have Sony's permission to "check out" your files from Sony's lame media library app. With this product, Sony demonstrates that it is now primarily a media company, more interested in controlling your content than in making functional gear. I used to be willing to pay a premium for the Sony brand, but there's no way I'm going to buy their trojan horses. This Clie is going back. "

[Convert]

Originally posted by pumpkineater
I found this user comment in a CNet review. I don't understand diddlysquat. Anyone knows what this person is talking about? And are other people having the same problem??

/peter

"The MP3 player is essentially useless." Former Sony Fan on 14-Mar-2003 10:52:46 pm
If you think you can drag-and-drop your MP3s onto your memory sticks and use them in this Clie, forget it. The Clie will only play from proprietary copy-protected "Magic Gate" memory sticks, and then only when you have Sony's permission to "check out" your files from Sony's lame media library app. With this product, Sony demonstrates that it is now primarily a media company, more interested in controlling your content than in making functional gear. I used to be willing to pay a premium for the Sony brand, but there's no way I'm going to buy their trojan horses. This Clie is going back. "

That's a bunch of crap, that person doesn't know what they are writing about.  I copied 120 mb of MP3 to a 128mb Lexar MS, and all songs play great!

[pumpkineater]

thanks for replying!

what about that thing he says about propriatary (what does that mean) copy-protected "Magic Gate" memory sticks ??

/peter

[Aces]

Here's a quick primer on playing music from a memory Stick.  I have a SJ33, and use their included audio player.  It will play only two types of music files: MP3 & ATRAC3.  Also these files must be on the memory stick. Also there are two types of Memory Sticks out there: Standard (purple) & MagicGate (white).  So what's the difference?

ATRAC3 files compress better, so you can fit more music on a Memory Stick.  But to use this format you have to play by Sony's rules.  The short version is there software acts like a traffic cop, denying you access to a song on the MS until you check it back in.  This is a big hassel to me.  Also you can only use this format on the "MagicGate" MS.  This is a problem too, because they are usually more expensive.

MP3 files are somwhat bigger, and can be played on either type of MS.  You can copy them directly to the MS using MSImport.  To create MP3's from your CD's, I use a free "Ripping" software called MusicMatch JukeBox.

At least on the SJ33, you must be a little careful on how you create the MP3 files.  Using Variable Bit Rate (VBR) appears to cause big problems.  Also you can create MP3's with bigger or smaller sampling rates depending on where you stand on music quality vs. amount of music on the MS.  128kbps is standard for "CD quality".  But I've used 96Kbps and it's worked well for me. WMMV.  I'm told that if you sample at too small a rate (64kbps) they won't play on the SJ33.  But I haven't tried it.

So to sum up: buy Standard (Purple) Memory sticks and load MP3's onto it and you'll avoid the problems that the "Former Sony Fan" experienced.  It's too bad he didn't ask a question or two here at ClieSource first...:)

[Aces]

Here's an amendment to my post:


Acording to the manual   (I know, laugh at me..) 


You can use MP3's at as small as 32kbps sampling rate, but they need to have a 44.1Mhz frequency.

[chris36]

Hiya Guys,
I'm testing the battery life as well...
After 51/2 hours of repeat play with Display turned off... it's abt 40% power left after a full charge of 100%.... its possible to reach 9hrs of play time... will be checking again in another 31/2 hrs....

[pumpkineater]

ACES,

Thanks for your Memory stick 101 course! Clié source is really great, as I am trying to get into the whole world of PDA (i.e. everything they don't tell you in the ads...)

/peter

[Windboi]

chris36 how how

[chris36]

All right guys!
hold ur horses, it seems that the SJ33 will stop playing the songs from the memory card once the batt reaches 20% of it's power.

OK, drum rolls please.....
it seems its true that Sony claims 10hrs of playing time.... BUT since the allocated 20% of its power can't play, it's a gauge of 8hrs 50mins to 9hrs 10mins....

thats it! any of u guys managed to squeeze more out of ur Clies'?

cheers