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From: xgipper on 18 Mar 2005 09:48
Hello
I'm thinking of getting an iRiver iFP-899. Bit of a newbie to mp3 type
stuff, so....

The spec at http://www.iriver.com/html/product/prpa_product.asp?pidx=34
says it uses Connection Type USB 1.1(iFP-880) or USB 2. I have a G4
tower that doesn't have USB 2. So I know it will talk to my Mac, how do
I know what version of USB 1 I have? I had look in About this mac/Apple
System Profiler under 'devices and volumes' but it just says 'usb'.

And secondly, do these types of devices generally mount as an external
storage device, so you can drag and drop music files across to fill it
up?

Can I use iTunes to turn CD tracks into mp3 files that I can dump
across? I appreciate it probably doesn't 'sync' with iTunes as I
understand an iPod might (or does it?), but I don't really use iTunes
anyway so that's not a prob.

This machine has 1 gig capacity, and I think I read somewhere that at
USB 1 speeds it would take about 28 mins to transfer this amount of
stuff - does that sound about right?

Cheers


From: Mike Jenkins on 18 Mar 2005 10:13
On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 14:48:27 +0000, xgipper(a)nospam.net (xgipper)
wrote:

>Hello
>I'm thinking of getting an iRiver iFP-899. Bit of a newbie to mp3 type
>stuff, so....
>
>The spec at http://www.iriver.com/html/product/prpa_product.asp?pidx=34
>says it uses Connection Type USB 1.1(iFP-880) or USB 2. I have a G4
>tower that doesn't have USB 2. So I know it will talk to my Mac, how do
>I know what version of USB 1 I have? I had look in About this mac/Apple
>System Profiler under 'devices and volumes' but it just says 'usb'.

You will have USB 1.1. I would strongly recommend buying a USB2 PCI
card for this player or it will take an age to put songs on it.

>And secondly, do these types of devices generally mount as an external
>storage device, so you can drag and drop music files across to fill it
>up?

The iFP-899 comes out of the box as a non standard USB device that
needs the iRiver manager to put music onto it. You can download UMS
firmware that will make it into a normal USB mass storage device for
drag and drop from standard operating systems. Unfortunately the UMS
firmware makes the file transfer approx. 3 times slower than using the
iRiver manager.

>Can I use iTunes to turn CD tracks into mp3 files that I can dump
>across? I appreciate it probably doesn't 'sync' with iTunes as I
>understand an iPod might (or does it?), but I don't really use iTunes
>anyway so that's not a prob.

It doesn't sync with iTunes, but you can drag and drop items from
playlists to it using either iRiver manager or Finder if you use the
UMS firmware.

--
Mike Jenkins
Dreamcast/Gamecube FAQs - http://www.kwik-e-mart.org
Mike's Auctions: http://tinyurl.com/2374h
From: Peter Lee on 18 Mar 2005 10:58
xgipper <xgipper(a)nospam.net> wrote:

>
> This machine has 1 gig capacity, and I think I read somewhere that at
> USB 1 speeds it would take about 28 mins to transfer this amount of
> stuff - does that sound about right?

Yes - it seemed to take about half an hour to fill up my daughter's 512k
shuffle from an iMac G3 (USB 1.1), so 28 minutes for 1GB might be right,
or even a little optimistic.

Peter
--
This address is never read; use
peterattheleesdotukdotnet
From: xgipper on 18 Mar 2005 15:07
Mike Jenkins <mike.jenkins.no.spam(a)gmail.com> wrote:


> You will have USB 1.1. I would strongly recommend buying a USB2 PCI
> card for this player or it will take an age to put songs on it.

Thanks for the detailed info Mike.

Thinking about it, I'm not sure I mind waiting an age though, really.
I'm not in a great hurry.

Maybe I'll try it with USB1 (and leave it running all night if
necesary), and if I get fed up look at the PCI card option - which looks
like it will add ý25-ish to the whole deal.

As I understand it, I can always plug it into the stereo and record CDs
in real time that way - is this right?

Any recommendations, on pci card, btw? Found one at
http://www.macally.com/spec/usb/connecting_device/uh241.html
Are they easy to fit?

cheers
From: Mike Jenkins on 21 Mar 2005 03:58
On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 20:07:54 +0000, xgipper(a)nospam.net (xgipper)
wrote:
<snip iRiver iFP-899 stuff>

>As I understand it, I can always plug it into the stereo and record CDs
>in real time that way - is this right?

You can, but apparently if you use the UMS firmware it limits the
recording rate to 96Kbps MP3 which is less than ideal. I've not tried
it myself.

>Any recommendations, on pci card, btw? Found one at
>http://www.macally.com/spec/usb/connecting_device/uh241.html
>Are they easy to fit?

I used a D-Link one from Amazon which specified Mac compatibility
(didn't fit in my G5, though) and worked fine in my G4. Most USB2 PCI
card apparently work fine in G4s but you may have problems with sleep
functionality with the cheaper ones (the D-Link worked fine with
sleep). They are extremely easy to fit, just a case of plugging a card
in.

--
Mike Jenkins
Dreamcast/Gamecube FAQs - http://www.kwik-e-mart.org
Mike's Auctions: http://tinyurl.com/2374h
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