Anything But iPod

Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro USB Sound Card Review

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:50:47 -0500

Most on board sound cards are not worth the PBC they are printed on. They are plagued with low quality chips and interference from other internal components. The best solution would be to go with an external fire wire solution. I and a lot of others in our forum use one of the Echo AudioFire series of sound cards. These primary application for this series is professional audio but they make an amazingly crisp sound experience, but for your desktop.

I guess it would be possible to tote around the AudioFire2 but it is not an elegant little device like the Turtle Beach Audio Micro USB sound card. It is small enough to almost be considered a dongle or even a larger headphone jack adapter that will rival the sound quality of the pro audio FireWire sound cards. Though there are a few caveats- read on for the full scoop.

Amazon MP3 Review

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:33:13 -0500

Having gone through an reviewed some of the most popular music organization applications for MP3 players it's time to turn to the other part of the equation: how to get a hold of media in the first place. Amazon MP3 is the first in a series of reviews that will test to see what media stores offer the best value for money, has the best selection and the best overall experience.

CrossRoads MylarOne Bijou 2/3, Quattro, Hippo VB, Hippo Boom Review

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:41:50 -0500

It’s been quite a while since we reviewed the CrossRoads MylarOne X3/XB and X3i/XBi. While they were good sounding in-ear phones in the sub-$100 price range, their build quality was more than questionable. Jaben, the company behind the CrossRoads brand, certainly considered these shortcomings in durability when they designed the new versions of their MylarOnes. We’re going to take a closer look at their Bijou 2, Bijou 3, and Quattro.

To make matters more confusing – or interesting – Jaben introduced a second brand of IEMs as well, called Hippo. While the MylarOne brand appears to be targeted more towards the “serious” listener, the Hippo brand seems to be catering more to the “fun” crowd. Well, at least that’s what the branding and naming scheme looks like to me. “Fun” might actually sound more scary than appealing in this audio context – but fear not, the Hippos are of course nothing like, say, your average Skullcandy IEMs. We’re going to analyze the Hippo VB (Variable Bass) and Hippo Boom in our super secret ABI laboratories, right after the jump.

Bigger and Better Things at ABI

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:10:13 -0500

For me it has been an exciting 4 years of running ABI, checking out the latest gadgets, working with manufactures on improving their products, and most of all getting a chance to interact with a lot of great people in our community forums. All in all it was always hard to call this work or a job. As the site grew to millions of page views it became much harder for me to maintain the software and servers running ABI- the more time I had to spend in an admin panel the more I missed the enjoyable parts of the site.

Faced with these issues my decision was to hire help and expand the ABI network or find the right partner that could take the weight and help ABI grow. Getting acquired by another company is always a scary prospect for site owners since you fear losing the vision of something you and your community been a part of for so long. However I was fortunate to find the right people.

CrowdGather is a network of forums with a talented staff that understands communities like ABI. After I had a met with them and had a chance to see what they have going on behind the scenes- the decision was easy. I saw that it was a perfect fit in that CrowdGather could improve ABI with their core competencies and I could lend my years of expertise running a successful site.

Other than a smoother running site, more content, and an improved user experience, not much will change here at ABI. I will be still be heading this site along with the other talented writers here. Additionally, however, I will be joining CrowdGather’s team to help them manage and grow their technology related sited. One closely related site you may be familiar with is ZuneBoards.com where I hope to add some insight from my work with the Microsoft MVP program as a Zune MVP.

I am really excited about this moving forward and will continue to find ways to improve the community experience here at Anythingbutipod.

[Press Release]

Music Software Review Roundup

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:15:38 -0500

Now that the major players (some pun intended) in the field have all been reviewed, it's time to take a look at them all and decide which is the recommended choice for music organization software.

J. River Media Jukebox 12 Review

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:08:53 -0500

One of the most commonly suggested applications to review on ABi>> has been J. River's software. Unfortunately the Media Center software is $50 and I therefore ignored it at first. Then someone linked to the free Media Jukebox, a stripped down version of the software that will only do music. Read on to see if it's stripped down too much or still has a chance of scoring some points.

Zune HD Firmware 4.3 Released

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:09:38 -0500

Microsoft just released firmware 4.3 for the Zune HD. It fixes some minor issues like speeding up the browser, does some preliminary support for upcoming applications and games and also adds predictive text input to make it a bit easier to type on the device. It also speeds up the startup a little and adds a few features in the UI like links in the artist bio and a keyboard settings menu. Definitely worth grabbing if you have a Zune HD.

[Mobile tech World via Gizmodo]

Cowon i9 and E2 Now Shipping in the US

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:47:19 -0500

Cowon just dropped two of its new players in time for the holidays here in the US. The iAudio 9 or sometimes called the i9 is the next generation i7 but this time it looks like the buttons are much more accessible. The i7 was a great sounding player (review) with some great output but it was hindered by a horrible UI with cramped touch controls.

From the photos it looks like it could be more comfortable even though the swing touch controls are still present. At Journal de Geek there are a few other photos of the UI in action sized up against the Cowon s9. You can also check out the full pitch and specs on the official Cowon i9 landing page.

The player is available in white, silver, black, and red with capacities of 8GB and 16GB. Right now only the black 16GB is available on Jettmall for $170 and should roll out to Amazon shortly. Oh, yeah and the E2… available for $65 for the 4GB screenless player with style.

Android 1.6 on the Creative Zii EGG [HD Video]

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:11:52 -0500

Today Creative Zii Labs released the first Android firmware for the Creative Zii EGG based on Android version 1.6. The firmware is very beta and really only for the developers to start working on the OS for the Zii EGG. The basic Android applications are there but some things like the camera are still not working. Also, some elements of a phone are present such as 2G options and signal strength icon are still present, so Android still needs to be cleaned up and targeted to the specificly to the Zii EGG. Android marketplace was not available but I was able to download and install AndAppstore and successfully install applications from that app library.

Even though it is still very rough around the edges and far from a consumer ready device it is exciting to see progress. Still no word on when this device will launch for the consumer market, but don’t hold your breath since I would guess that date to be well into 2010 considering the current state of firmwares.

Below is a video demo of the Zii EGG Android in action.

foobar2000 v0.9.6.9 Review

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:20:23 -0500

While not a competitor to any of the other music organizing applications I've reviewed lately, foobar2000 deserves somewhat of a "special mention" for it's computer side music playback capabilities. Read on for a quick review-slash-walkthrough.

WinAmp 5.56 Review

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:45:28 -0500

Next up in my series of software reviews is an old champion that hasn't changed much over the last few years. How will it hold up to the more updated music applications?

Sony Walkman E340 Review

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:30:38 -0500

With the S540 review out of the way, it's time to shift focus to its baby brother, the E340. How does it compare to the S540?

Zune HD Review

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:55:25 -0500

With previous generation Zunes being discontinued, the Zune HD will be rolling solo into the next generation of the Zune platform. This hardware along with the software and services is a walled garden approach that tightly integrates content delivery across your Zune HD, PC, Xbox, and Windows Phone. It is an approach that creates a very seamless and easy to use experience but on the flip side can be limiting on choices of software and formats.

This Zune HD review will show off the features of the HD hardware and how it meshes with the Zune ecosystem.

MediaMonkey 3.1.1 Review

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:23:21 -0500

Continuing my reader requested quest for the best music organizing software, I've made my way to one of the big ones in the field. MediaMonkey has been around for ages, and continues to stand as perhaps the single biggest independent music organizing application out there. Read on to see how it holds up.

Windows Media Player 12 Review

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:02:26 -0500

With Windows 7 just out , Windows Media Player 12 is slowly making its way onto PCs everywhere, replacing outdated version of a software mane – including me – haven't really had much love for. Considering the amount of people using default applications, and WMP12's ability to use Windows 7 features out of the box, I decided to take a closer look.