Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: mikhael on August 20, 2005, 05:52:27 pm

Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: mikhael on August 20, 2005, 05:52:27 pm
Let me say, I'm an idiot. An IDIOT.

So I went to plug in my Iriver H120 and it started acting funny. I tried to turn it off, no dice. I unplug it, nothing. In fact, the battery is getting super hot--and the battery isn't removable.

So I trace the cable back to the wall--its the power unit for a network switch. 9v DC, instead of the 5v DC that the iRiver uses.

So, I'm about to replace this thing and I'd like some input from you lot. iPods (any sort) are not an option (me and iTunes are not a well made match), nor is any other player that requires any software to manage the unit. I want to copy my files onto it as if it were a hard drive and have it read the directory structure and do the right thing. I don't need photos. I definately do not want movies. I want at least 20gb of HARD DRIVE BASED storage. USB2.0 is a must.

Any recommendations?
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Bobboau on August 20, 2005, 06:02:22 pm
are you sure it's not just the battery that's fried?
if it is just replace it.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: aldo_14 on August 20, 2005, 06:07:45 pm
Creative Zen is pish, BTW (I have one, principally as I got it £50 cheaper than RRP and thus every other brand).  Best reviews I've seen have been for yon iRiver, and i'm sure Sandwich will nip along in a mo to echo that as he seems to pimp the thing incessantly.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: mikhael on August 20, 2005, 08:34:00 pm
It could be the battery, Bob, but the thing has an inbuilt, non-removable battery.

Personally, I think the iRiver H120/140 series were the finest things they ever produced, and the best hard-drive based MP3 players, hands down. Whilst I love the iPod interface, iTunes (mandatory to use the damn thing properly) turns me off with its hoops, hurdles and silliness. The iRiver had the technical specs of the iPod, plus longer battery life, builtin recording and FM stereo, and it presented as a hard drive to Windows and FreeBSD. I don't like the new interface on the H10 series at all (though they are pretty), but that's the way I'm leaning unless something better is suggested.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Bobboau on August 20, 2005, 08:36:52 pm
non-removeable? sounds like a challenge to me!
are you telling me you don't have a screwdriver?
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: mikhael on August 20, 2005, 08:53:52 pm
Its between 9 and 11 months old. I'll wait for the email to iRiver to come back saying I'm **** out of luck before I go in and void the warranty.

Besides, it uses a T5 Torx for the external screws. I don't have one of those. (at home, I've got a full set at work)
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Deepblue on August 20, 2005, 10:28:03 pm
Get the iRiver H10 refurbished off eBay great deal for a great player... Plus the battery is removable in case things get hot :D.

But it is a lovely player.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Deepblue on August 20, 2005, 10:28:42 pm
Oh, and look what I made in the last hour!

(http://server2.uploadit.org/files/DeepblueWA-HTTV.JPG)

Yipee!
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: delta_7890 on August 20, 2005, 11:01:43 pm
<<;  Thread hi-jacking much?
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Sandwich on August 21, 2005, 01:47:11 am
Quote
Originally posted by aldo_14
Best reviews I've seen have been for yon iRiver, and i'm sure Sandwich will nip along in a mo to echo that as he seems to pimp the thing incessantly.


Aldo, he's already USED an iRiver once - there's NO need for me to pimp anything any further. :D

Quote
Originally posted by mikhael
Its between 9 and 11 months old. I'll wait for the email to iRiver to come back saying I'm **** out of luck before I go in and void the warranty.

Besides, it uses a T5 Torx for the external screws. I don't have one of those. (at home, I've got a full set at work)


Have you tried looking through MisticRiver (http://www.misticriver.net/)? They might have a "Come Let Us Void Our Warranties In Saftey And Assurance" thread. :p
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Kosh on August 21, 2005, 02:13:31 am
Quote
Originally posted by mikhael
Its between 9 and 11 months old. I'll wait for the email to iRiver to come back saying I'm **** out of luck before I go in and void the warranty.

Besides, it uses a T5 Torx for the external screws. I don't have one of those. (at home, I've got a full set at work)



I have yet to see a warranty cover user error.......
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Grug on August 21, 2005, 04:58:39 am
Bricks are so awsome.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: WMCoolmon on August 21, 2005, 05:41:45 am
I assume it doesn't hang in the sky anymore, then?
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Roanoke on August 21, 2005, 07:54:14 am
Iwas thinking of getting a Creative Zen to replace my MD player
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: aldo_14 on August 21, 2005, 08:16:24 am
Quote
Originally posted by Sandwich


Aldo, he's already USED an iRiver once - there's NO need for me to pimp anything any further. :D
 


Aye, but he doesn't know if there are better alternatives or not.  So get stuck in there :p
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: IceFire on August 21, 2005, 09:08:11 am
Quote
Originally posted by Roanoke
Iwas thinking of getting a Creative Zen to replace my MD player

Co-worker of mine has a Zen Micro.  He REALLY loves it...we work in a computer store...so we see our share of zens, ipods, and irivers.

So take that as you may.

I don't have one yet....I'm the guy who sells gagets, but doesn't own any.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: aldo_14 on August 21, 2005, 09:11:10 am
Zen micro is apparently ok.  The big one, the 20gb one, is sheer ****e, however.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: mikhael on August 21, 2005, 11:14:46 am
Micros are out. If I were going to get a Micro device, I'd invest in another large CF card, spare battery and car charger for my PDA.

20gig is it. I was at BeastBuy last night and they had a Samsung 20gig unit on clearance for US$179 and a 20gig iRiver H10-20 for US$299. If iRiver won't do warranty work on this (and do you really thing I'm going to say, "yeah, I plugged in the wrong charger!" when I talk to them?), then my homeowner's insurance personal electronics rider will cover replacement cost less 15%/yr depreciation. I will not live without an MP3 player for any longer than I absolutely must. The damn things are critical for my sanity.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: kasperl on August 21, 2005, 11:36:32 am
iRiver is indeed on of the few with a hard-drive interface, AFAIK, which is a pity.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Roanoke on August 21, 2005, 12:24:10 pm
1gb more than enough for me
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: mikhael on August 21, 2005, 05:58:35 pm
1gb will fit only one full length audiobook. It won't even fit some of my audiobooks. I can't live without the audiobooks. Period.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Sandwich on August 22, 2005, 01:12:09 am
Yes, but flash drives are a different mentality. You're not supposed to store everything on one, you're supposed to toss on whatever you'll be wanting to use that day/week. Granted I don't like working like that myself, but that's the idea.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: mikhael on August 22, 2005, 05:22:46 am
Too much management. I tend to toss on at least four or five audibooks (usually more like ten or fifteen) so that when I finish one, I have options. I'm not usually at  home when I finish a book.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: deep_eyes on August 22, 2005, 09:27:25 am
ship looks like the new doom BFG lol! drop ship!
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: mikhael on August 25, 2005, 05:16:41 pm
So I email iRiver about this thing on Saturday and got nothing in response. Today I tried to call them and got "all circuits are busy".

Off I went to the Misticriver.net forums to ask if anyone else was having trouble contacting them. Therein I found a thread titled, "E-mail to IriverAmerica". I thought, "Hey, this might be just the thing!"

I'll quote some relevant bits:
Quote
Originally posted by Carlosantana:
Dear staff at IriverAmerica,

Recently, I purchased the Iriver H10 20GB model from my local Futureshop.  ...  Here is just a list of things that I would love to do with my player, but cannot:

1.  Play music directly from the player through my PC
2.  Edit File Names/Tags on the player through my PC
3.  Be able to see how much of the total 18.69 GB Harddrive I have used up at any given time (through my PC or on the player itself).
4.  Be able to use my iRiver h10 as a pure External Harddrive for storing any and all file types.


I have to use WMP to load files? I can't use it as a hard drive? They turned it into an iPod.

I still need some options. :(
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Sandwich on August 25, 2005, 05:23:50 pm
Quote
Originally posted by mikhael
I have to use WMP to load files? I can't use it as a hard drive? They turned it into an iPod.


Oh yeah, I was pissed about that. I was about to decide on the H10 a couple of times before I remembered that little point (which puts it completely out of the question as I run Windows 2k, which WMP 10 doesn't work on)... :-/

EDIT: Apparently, the limitation can be worked around - very cool: http://www.misticriver.net/boards/showthread.php?t=27694
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Deepblue on August 25, 2005, 05:49:13 pm
You can find loads of open firmware to put on the Irivers if you don't like the WMP 10 only thing. Luckily, I get along fine with WMP 10 and use it for my PC music purposes anyway.

@Vyper: Sorta like a BFG... It was actually concept art from Halo that never got used. But now the model is mine... all mine!!!
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: mikhael on August 25, 2005, 06:30:45 pm
I can't use WMP on FreeBSD. I don't use media management software. I have my own system that I like (called copying stuff to the right place in the first place). All I want is a fat hard drive, a standard interface, and no extraneous crap.

You'd think that would make it easier to find, not harder.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Deepblue on August 25, 2005, 06:42:07 pm
The H10 retains the drag and drop functionality.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: mikhael on August 25, 2005, 08:55:42 pm
Maybe I didn't make that part clear: drag and drop is not enough. It must identify itself to Windows as a hard drive. Not a "Mobile Device" or a "Music Player". Anything else, and it won't play nice with non-MS/Mac OSes.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Deepblue on August 25, 2005, 11:00:15 pm
I see.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Sandwich on August 26, 2005, 06:19:05 am
Mik, did you click my link? Read the thread - there's apparently a way to get the H10 series to work as an external HDD (http://easyh10.sourceforge.net/manual.html):

[q]For H10 5GB and 6GB models:

   1. Power off your H10 player
   2. Remove the battery and put it back
   3. Connect the player and your PC with USB cable
   4. Click and hold the Select key of the H10 ("o" button) and then the Power button until the "UMS Connect..." message appears on the H10's LCD screen.
   5. The player will work in UMS mode

For H10 20GB model:

   1. Power on your H10 player
   2. Turn it off using the reset botton
   3. Connect the player and your PC with USB cable
   4. Click and hold the Select key of the H10 ("o" button) and then the Power button until the "UMS Connect..." message appears on the H10's LCD screen.
   5. The player will work in UMS mode
[/q]
Title: Re: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Shrike on August 26, 2005, 03:55:53 pm
Quote
Originally posted by mikhael
Let me say, I'm an idiot. An IDIOT.

So I went to plug in my Iriver H120 and it started acting funny. I tried to turn it off, no dice. I unplug it, nothing. In fact, the battery is getting super hot--and the battery isn't removable.

So I trace the cable back to the wall--its the power unit for a network switch. 9v DC, instead of the 5v DC that the iRiver uses.

So, I'm about to replace this thing and I'd like some input from you lot. iPods (any sort) are not an option (me and iTunes are not a well made match), nor is any other player that requires any software to manage the unit. I want to copy my files onto it as if it were a hard drive and have it read the directory structure and do the right thing. I don't need photos. I definately do not want movies. I want at least 20gb of HARD DRIVE BASED storage. USB2.0 is a must.

Any recommendations?
Break it in two, put it in a sock and beat people with it, then steal their money?
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: mikhael on August 26, 2005, 08:52:16 pm
Shrike, little things like that are why I haven't dispatched the robot ninja assassin dwarves to kill you yet. That and they're busy in Venezuela right now, not taking my phone calls because some guy name Robertson sent his deposit first.

Sandwich: do files put on the drive in that mode show up as valid music files when not in that mode? IE: if I drag and drop my Dune Audiobooks onto the thing in UMS mode, will i then be able to switch to player mode and listen? If not, its just the same as an iPod, and completely unacceptable.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Shrike on August 26, 2005, 09:09:09 pm
Quote
Originally posted by mikhael
Shrike, little things like that are why I haven't dispatched the robot ninja assassin dwarves to kill you yet. That and they're busy in Venezuela right now, not taking my phone calls because some guy name Robertson sent his deposit first.
Heh.  That made me laugh. :D
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: Sandwich on August 27, 2005, 07:51:42 pm
Quote
Originally posted by mikhael
Sandwich: do files put on the drive in that mode show up as valid music files when not in that mode? IE: if I drag and drop my Dune Audiobooks onto the thing in UMS mode, will i then be able to switch to player mode and listen? If not, its just the same as an iPod, and completely unacceptable.


RTM, dude. Or RTL, in this case. I know just what it says there. It would seem to indicate that the UMS mode is the same thing as the H120/140's regular USB connection as external HDD.
Title: Look, I made a Brick!
Post by: mikhael on August 27, 2005, 08:06:37 pm
The acronym thing is neat.

That looks interesting. I'm not fond of having to add extra software to make my unit work the way it is supposed to work out of the box though. (Believe it or not, I don't like to use hackish software on my portable devices, especially not to correct an intentional deficiency).  It took me until I decided to open my Archos up and upgrade it to a 20gb HD before I even ran Rockbox. :D