General Forum

Re: B&O MP3 players

Alex — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:43:55 GMT

I'm not sure I'd go as far as that... but I know what you mean (my 360 can be very frustrating at times, no time to play it any more anyway).

Re: B&O MP3 players

Graham1982 — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:51:08 GMT

No inclination to Microsoft products. When B&O products don't work they don't work with style. They are almost like capricious Gods or recalcitrant children. It is almost your fault that you cannot get them to work - you are not worthy. However, when MS products don't work it is infuriating. There is no explanation, they are just pants.

Re: B&O MP3 players

Dave — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:23:41 GMT

the beosound 2 is out of date and is based on the fat 16 format which only allows 2GB on the card, unlike the BS4 which is fat 32 thus accepts 4GB. The beosound 2 is not reccomendable today, unless you want it to look nice and not be used. File transfer is slow, and using a card reader is annoying, sorry to be negative, but i think is was one of B&o's mistakes. A technology they knew little about, but still charged the earth for it, just like the BV7 really hmmm

Re: B&O MP3 players

david707 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:52:37 GMT

The Zune is very good. Nice big clear screen and good quality remote AV dock. I agree about the software and stick with an earlier faster version. I have a BS2 and use it mostly in the car. It is very safe to navigate while driving rather than being tempted to look at a screen. I don't think the BS2 sounds any better than the Zune but, like most B&O products it is a special pleasure to own and use. The 256MB is an ample sized SD card for me. I don't think it was designed with large capacity cards in mind. It's easy to change your tracks in Beoplayer or (better) Windows Media Player.

Re: B&O MP3 players

Alex — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:41:20 GMT

linder:
If there is an inclination to Microsoft products, there is always the Zune player which includes an FM radio and the ability to share songs with friends who also have a Zune. There are many colors available The worst color is brown.
The Beosound 2 is a most distinctive design and will be for a long time.
After saying all this, it is true, Macs rock! Right Alex?

From what I've used, the Zune seems very good (although I hate the design). The issue I have with it is the software... and to be honest the 'song sharing' is so hopelessly limited that I feel Microsoft wasted their time and could have improved the design.

Re: B&O MP3 players

Stars — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:00:07 GMT

Hi Graham, sorry for joining late to your thread.

I bought my BeoSound 2 in early 2004 and still use it almost everyday. I have also bought and used iPods and Creative MP3 players during this time, which at the end of the day have just not been to my liking.

No MP3 player beats the design of the BeoSound 2 in my opinion and the build quality is equally as good. I also rip my music from CD at a high bit rate, and the sound is also better than any other MP3 player I have used.

In terms of memory, it is not as impressive as the iPods and using a 2GB SD card becomes a bit clumsy to find the album or playlist you're after sometimes.
I use a 1GB card which is easier to navigate and will hold more than enough music that I'll want to have on-the-go for a week or two.

Having no screen isn't such an issue for me, as I update the music on my SD card regularly and I'm happy for each track to play and lead on to the next. No screen also means a much better battery life

BeoPlayer takes a few go's to get used to, but after that it is equally as simple in its function as the BeoSound 2.

If your friend initially wanted a BeoSound 2, then I think she should get one and will like it.

PS. I bought a BeoSound 6, but for me it hasn't beaten my BeoSound 2.

Re: B&O MP3 players

wirralsimon — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 07:08:43 GMT

soundproof:
linder:

If there is an inclination to Microsoft products, there is always the Zune player which includes an FM radio and the ability to share songs with friends who also have a Zune.
That's the hard part, finding someone who also has a Zune.
A design study:

A point well made!!!!

Simon

Re: B&O MP3 players

soundproof — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:41:35 GMT

linder:
If there is an inclination to Microsoft products, there is always the Zune player which includes an FM radio and the ability to share songs with friends who also have a Zune.

That's the hard part, finding someone who also has a Zune.

A design study:

Re: B&O MP3 players

linder — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:45:57 GMT

Graham1982:
I guess she means and I follow her argument to some extent that Ipods are or were pricey for the sake of it. So are B&O but they have always been and are/were more innovative than most other products. It would appear from the responses in this thread that in this case like with the B&O mobiles (in my opinion) that the MP3s are not really that innovative. They look nice and sound good but there isn't anything different about them like a rotating stand or electronic curtains although that would obviously be very interesting on a device that size!
I bought my B&O Avant and am soon to buy a Beovision 1 because they look good, sound good and are innovative. However, I would not buy a B&O plasma because in my opinion there is nothing special about them. The Besound 2 does look different and feels like it is a quality piece of equipment. Perhaps both my friend and I are unfairly biased against Mac and that is what is currying our decisions.

Many iPods until recently and the Beosound 2 use a processor made by Wolfson in the UK. The sound is wonderful. However if she is getting a Beosound 2, the purchase should be made soon. The Beosound 2 is being withdrawn from production.

If there is an inclination to Microsoft products, there is always the Zune player which includes an FM radio and the ability to share songs with friends who also have a Zune. There are many colors available The worst color is brown.

The Beosound 2 is a most distinctive design and will be for a long time.

After saying all this, it is true, Macs rock! Right Alex?

Re: B&O MP3 players

Alex — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:18:42 GMT

I know exactly what you mean about the amount of music. I run two iTunes libraries (one on a 750gb external hard drive ~10,000 songs, and one on my laptop's built in drive ~1,000 songs), and as CoverFlow is practically useless with the former. Great with the latter though...

Re: B&O MP3 players

Peter — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:13:00 GMT

I am with Puncher! I have a 160Gb Classic (125Gb of music and rising!) and find the cover flow pretty but not that useful! The software doesn't automatically find album covers for classical music that well so listings are more useful. The iPod Touch is better with cover flow as it has fewer albums on. I am using that at the minute as I have lent the classic to a friend who is in hospital.

Re: B&O MP3 players

Alex — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:57:08 GMT

True, although I only have CoverFlow on my Nano, my 80gb iPod is of the previous generation with nothing but a boring list of artist names.

My Nano only carries my favourite albums plus a few new ones to listen to and it works beautifully...

Re: B&O MP3 players

Puncher — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:27:57 GMT

I know Coverflow is a big marketing tool but I find it of limited use. Consider browsing through your CD collection at home - you tend to know roughly where something is and then search the spines to find it. If you have a 30gb (or larger) ipod full of albums I find it quicker to browse alphabetically through the album titles (when they go to "quick scan" i.e. initial letters - I can't remember the Apple term) and then slow down to find what I want. Sometimes the coverflow can be "fiddly" to arrive where you want.

Now there's an objective opinion for you

Re: B&O MP3 players

Alex — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:18:13 GMT

Before I go on, I'm an iPod fan so I'm evidently going to be biased! I've had 3 iPods and they've all been fantastic (and all still work fine more or less).

The B&O MP3 players do sound better, it's true, but you'd expect them to given the cost. The BeoSound 6 is a big step up from the iPod in terms of sound. However, she will find it to be more limiting than the iPod when it comes to which formats it supports.

In fact, the iPod is probably the most 'format compatible' player on the market. The misconception that it's locked into formats comes from the fact that the iTunes Music Store uses 'protected AAC' files, which are very limiting. However, I've only ever bought two songs on the iTunes music store - it's just not really for me. I rip all my music from CDs, and I've found iTunes to be great at handling different formats. It supports MP3 and AAC at all bitrates, AIFF and WAV at all different settings and Apple lossless. The only thing it'll encounter issues with is FLAC (which is very rarely used) and WMA (although the Windows version of iTunes can convert these files). The iPods don't lock you into formats at all - in fact they're very forgiving to different kinds of formats...

The B&O MP3 players are great though, but very different to the iPods. The focus seems to be on the sound quality. I personally have fallen for the CoverFlow, but the choice between which menu system you think is better is all down to the user.

Re: B&O MP3 players

Christian — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:05:59 GMT

I have a BS2, and I am very happy about it.

I want to hear 5-8 of my favorite albums (which changes from time to time...), so I do not find the memory to be insufficient. Normally I have the player in my pocket, and the fact that you can change volume, track or album while it is in my pocket is a nice feature. It even works through jeans.

An iPod has many features - yes - but I just want to press GO and listen to my favorite music.

I would buy one again today, if I did not have my BS2.