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Posted

I bought this Philips GoGear RaGa bollocks;

 

philips-gogear-raga-4gb-mp3-player-black-with-usb-power-adaptor.jpg

 

... for $50, which is about £35. Totally not worth it. It's got some really annoying 'features' that I wasn't told when i bought it; It only plays songs alphabetically, so I've had to rename all my tracks with numerics; the buttons, for some inexplicable reason, take ages to actually do anything, which often leads to accidentally selecting the wrong thing; shuffle appears to be a predetermined 'shuffle playlist' of your music.

 

Plus it comes with Songbird. Being used to iTunes I was hesitant at first, but finding that a single CD takes about 30 mins to rip meant that it was in fact faster to rip them to iTunes then import the library to Songbird. On top of that, a 3 minute song will take about 90 seconds to actually transfer via USB onto the bugger. I thought that I could use this time to construct some 'shuffle' playlists of my own, but alas the entire piece of software is dedicated to using as much RAM as possible to do the process as slowly as possible.

 

The headphones are a good quality (i.e. $30 for those alone - a way of feeling better 'bout the price tag) and the thing itself is small, compact, light, and the screen is minimalist and neat and well lit etc. But... man it's a faff. If an album has finished or if you want to listen to something else you'll have to physically STOP EVERYTHING YOU ARE DOING to spend 5 seconds per button press to make sure it's doing what you want, and not shooting back 3 menus or turning the volume down. Also, it will occasionally not respond visually to your button stressing, so you'll have to find a small stick that will fit into the reset button, and start all over again.

 

Due to internet caps being far too common over here considering the average speed of 'net and general coverage is so low, getting copies of the CDs I left at home isn't an option. My laptop stupidly didn't have much on, so I've got to purchase CDs IRL. Basically, there are no good CD shops.

 

I was going to post pics of the CDs I bought but actually I'm too pissed off now!

Posted

You really would think designing the basic functionalities of an MP3 player would be one of the simpler tasks on the planet, but apparently not. I, too, have had run-ins with portable music players of questionable quality and counterintuitive design, but I got lucky with my current one.

Posted

I just didn't even stop to think that an MP3 player would be badly designed. I've never had bad experiences before. I've had it for a few weeks now and it does keep me occupied for when I go for a long walk -- and the battery life is superb... But yeah.

Posted

When I first went looking for a new player (I got my first one as a gift and, while perfectly satisfied with it, thought I could do with one of better quality - I put its flaws down to its cheapness), I was surprised to find out how impractical the layouts of some MP3 players are. It seems quite obvious to me how the functionalities of a good MP3 player should be, but it would seem it either isn't as obvious to everyone or there's some other reason behind the illogical design choices.

Posted

It really is surprising. My first MP3 player was a Rio500, which was one of the second generation MP3 players. If an MP3 player made in 1999 was easy to use, there really is no excuse for current ones being fiddly and awkward.

 

I think mine still works actually, bar a slightly dodgy headphones socket.

Posted (edited)

Discman, you mean?

 

I had one for ages and it was sturdy and never skipped. I also had a pair of jeans with a deep and wide front pocket for my deep and wide front penis which housed it perfectly.

 

But going on a 3 hour walk with a discman and a bunch of CDs is much more baggage than needed.

Edited by jayseven
stroking
Posted

Sounds pretty shit, Jay. It's bizarre how somebody got paid to design that.

 

Plus, you know the answer is to get a huge radio/cassette player and carry it around with you like its 1995. Just don't forget your AA batteries. All 20 of them needed to power the thing.

Posted
Discman' date=' you mean?

 

I had one for ages and it was sturdy and never skipped. I also had a pair of jeans with a deep and wide front pocket [strike']for my deep and wide front penis[/strike] which housed it perfectly.

 

But going on a 3 hour walk with a discman and a bunch of CDs is much more baggage than needed.

 

Nope. I mean Walkman. Mine looks similar to this.

sony-nwz-s738f-walkman-thumb-500x398-89822.jpg

Had it for years with no problems. Doesn't take long adding music/other files and the random setting really is random.

Posted

Ah! Apologies :) I remember having that walkman logo on my ericsson. That looks like a decent bit of kit!

Sounds pretty shit, Jay. It's bizarre how somebody got paid to design that.

 

Plus, you know the answer is to get a huge radio/cassette player and carry it around with you like its 1995. Just don't forget your AA batteries. All 20 of them needed to power the thing.

 

Actually, there's a radio function on it that I've not experimented with yet. That could be the saving grace...

 

Also I recently purchased a pack of 20 AA batteries! ... from The Reject Shop... and no surprise, really; they didn't work in anything.

Posted
Sounds pretty shit, Jay. It's bizarre how somebody got paid to design that.

 

Plus, you know the answer is to get a huge radio/cassette player and carry it around with you like its 1995. Just don't forget your AA batteries. All 20 of them needed to power the thing.

 

I think you mean D batteries. That's right, I'm secretly a 90's rap enthusiast.

 

breakdancingbear.gif

Posted
I went into Harvey Nichols today and bought Hello Panda biscuits, cos i'm a SOPHISTICATED BASTARD.

 

pandaix.jpg

Did it take a violent panda knocking some of your stuff around to convince you to buy?

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