Ogg this!
Saw on Slashdot this morning, some news I’ve been waiting for for quite a while. Ogg support for a portable music player is coming!
About 6 months ago I ripped all my CDs into Vorbis format. Not only is Vorbis a better sounding codec, but it is completely open source. The only two downfalls are: 1. There is no portable player for .ogg files (yet), and 2, most Windows players (WMP, Winamp) have a hard time streaming ogg files, but can play them locally just fine. (Go download Zinf you Windows using people to listen to streaming Vorbis!).
And now this morning, the Xiph foundation announces they have signed a portable deal with Digial Innovations, makers of the Neuros portable player. The Neuros player just started shipping, and Vorbis support is expected in May. It’s a tad pricy, but I’m more than happy to pay for it, and it has a couple of nifty features: 1. It can transmit MP3/Ogg files via FM, so no car adapter is needed, just tune your car to the correct station. 2. Get the 128MB player, and buy the 20GB backpack to expand it. It only costs $30 more to do this than buying the 20GB player outright, and now you can use the 128MB when jogging or cutting the grass, and attach the backpack for the car, in the house, etc.
And last but not least, in the Xiph press release above, they hint at a CDR player coming soon… decisions, decisions!