Portable audio with gapless playback capabilities

glitch

glitch

glitch

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8 Nov 2005
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Unfortunately my lovely Sony MZ-E10 has gone to MD heaven *sniff* and I'm left with a heavy heart and a space in my pocket for some portable audio. I'd always used MD because of the gapless playback of my mixes and various mix CDs (everything, and I mean everything I listen to is a mix of some sort) and I'd previously steered away from the whole MP3/iPod/etc world because of various players inability to provide true gapless playback. Yes, you could rip a a 70 minute MP3 that you have to fast-forward through to move between songs, but I want to be able to skip through tracks at my leisure whilst still retaining the mixed aspect of the music.

But now I'm going to have to jump into the world of MP3 and I don't even know where to start, having been well out of the loop for a number of years. I've got some requirements though and was hoping some kind souls out there would be able to point me in the right direction.

Requirements:

1. Able to store at least 20 albums at the highest possible audio quality (FLAC/similar).
2. Small enough to fit in my pocket (anything around the G5 iPod size is fine).
3. Gapless playback of audio files - this is absolutely essential.
4. Remote control - ideally bundled with or at most a cheap addition.
5. 'Drag and drop' capability for transferring files - I don't want to install software a-la iTunes.
6. Some form of carrying case or protective jacket would be nice - again, included or a cheap addition is preferable.

I'm assuming that technology has now moved on to the stage where I can put my CD into my PC, rip the music losslessly (is that a word?) and then transfer this onto my player of choice, enjoy gapless playback and still be able to skip through tracks at my leisure? Is there a specific way of doing this and do I need specific software to be able to do this?

Oh and budget is pretty much whatever it takes. If I can get something that'll do everything I want it to and come in around the £300 mark with a remote control and a case, I'll be happy with that.

Right, over to you lot then. And thanks in advance for any help offered - it will be appreciated! :)
 
obviously you'll be looking at flash for gapless but i can't think of any that do, certainly ipods don't, otherwise I'd recommend that as always. I'm sure somebody will have something....
 
I've done some reading up in the hours since I posted, and I've read - although not 100% sure of the accuracy of this - that you can rip an mixed audio CD with an accompanying file called a cuesheet, and this cuesheet contains all the track information to ensure gapless playback.

And according to another source, FLAC can contain embedded cuesheet information, so would I just need a device that supports FLAC or would that not be enough?
 
I had the same problem finding a flash player that did gapless playback. In the end I got a Sony NW-E005 which plays ATRAC format the same as your old MD player, this format plays tracks without gaps between them Essential for DJ Mixes I bought it for this reason. You have to install their sonicstage software which has been slated on some forums I've not had any problems with it myself but I only use it to rip cds to ATRAC then tranfer them to my player. One problem with this player though is the max volume is not loud enough, some european law that says we can't listen to our music loud. as of yet there is no hack to turn this limiter off. there is some HD based players were you can get a hack to turn the volume limiter off.
As for accessories its the normal sony ripoff just the player and headphones you have to pay more for neckstrap, case ect...
 
Not too keen on that Sony, Clock, but thanks for the info on ATRAC - hadn't assumed that all Sony players supporting this would work like a MD.

I've found a nice player that supports FLAC - iAudio X5L - but can't find a definitive answer about gapless playback. Anyone used/own one?
 
iriver H120/H140 meets all of those requirements.

1. Roughly 450MB per album (Flac) so looking for 10GB+. iriver H120
2. H140 fits into my shirt pocket. I wouldn't wear it like that, put it into a padded zipped jacket pcket.
3. Yup with rockbox
4. Yup.
5. Yup. And can browse in Folder mode (or tag DB)
6. iskin

As for ripping/encoding side, check mistic forums...big faq there.
 
Been using a Sony NW-E005 for a couple of months. It's a USB-stick sized player, very lightweight, charges up for 3 hours use in 3 minutes of being connected, great sound quality, and definitely supports gapless playback.

Formats it supports are MP3 and ATRAC - the downside is that for ATRAC, the better compression, you have to use Sony's Sonicstage software to transfer music. Sonicstage software is notoriously bad to use (I absolutely detest it with a passion) but luckily there is community-created software starting to appear, but I believe it only supports MP3. I see you've owned Sony MD so you may be used to Sonicstage.
 
The iRiver H120 or H140 with Rockbox firmware will do gapless. You'd have to buy second hand though. Seriously, I bought my H120 2 and a half years ago and there's still nothing new on the market to tempt me away from it. :)
 
p4radox said:
The iRiver H120 or H140 with Rockbox firmware will do gapless. You'd have to buy second hand though. Seriously, I bought my H120 2 and a half years ago and there's still nothing new on the market to tempt me away from it. :)
Click to expand...


Got a H140 myself, brilliant DAP. Use the optical output to a DAC and sounds far better. :)
 
Hmmm, so Rockbox seems to be the best option, with the actual player merely being a matter of personal choice.

Out of the supported models, which would you say has the best sound quality?
 
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