Tuesday, January 24, 2006

New Blog up

I have just put up a new blog called the Simpsons\Futrarama blog. Click on the link for details.

iPod With Video vs Iriver H320


NOTE: This article's name has been changed from iPod With Video vs Iriver H10 to Ipod With Video vs Iriver H320 to make the battle fairer.

Introduction

In this first article in Mp3 Wars, the proven Ipod With Video will go up against the Iriver H320. Both of these players can play photos and music.

Round One: Features
The Ipod easly beats the H320 on features, but both have music and photo playback, and that's all most users will need. The H320's interface is a pleasure to look at, but the Ipod has an easy to use and proven interface. But, the H320 has built in voice recording, which you can only have on an iPod with an expensive adaptor. The H320 also has text and search compatabily, with iPod olny have text. The iPod though has video playback and a greater "cool factor."
Scores for this round:
Ipod With Video: B+

Iriver H320: B

Round Two: User Friendliness
As mentioned before, the H320 has a good interface and screen, but the controls look to weird and may take some getting used to. There are few people who have not used an iPod, so the learning curve for the contorls is oftern very slight. Both of them have OK battery life (H320, 17 hours, iPod 16 hours.) The iPod does not come with an AC adaptor. iPod syncs with iTunes, which I found easer to use than Windows Media Player.
Scores for this round:

Ipod with Video: A

iRiver H320: B+
Round Three: Storage Capacities
The maximum capacity for the H320 is 20gb, which is 10gb less then the iPod which is avalable in 30gb and 60gb models. Both of them use hard drives and can be used as an external HDD. They also use USB connections.
Scores for this round:

Ipod with Video: A+

iRiver H320: C+

Final Results: The iPod is the clear winner here, beating te H320 in all rounds.
Final Scores:
iRiver H320: B
iPod with Video: A

Tommorow: Ipod Nano vs Creative Zen MicroPhoto

link_the_windwaker
24 Jan 2006

Mp3 Player Wars Introduction

Sorry, I have not posted to my blog for over a month. Anyway a new series has started. In the first part of this series (first three articles) Mp3 players will be compared with their rival and a "winner" will be declared. In the second part of this series, we will have a look at the history of iPod. In the last part of this series, we will have a look, in detail at the iPod Photo and the iPod Mini. Here is the series calinder:

Article One: Ipod with Video vs Iriver H10
Article Two: Ipod Nano vs Creative Zen MicroPhoto
Article Three: Ipod Shuffle vs Creative MuVo
Article Four: History of Mp3 Players
Article Five: Reveiws of the Ipod Photo and Ipod Mini (second gen)

I will be publishing article one soon.

link_the_windwaker

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Look at Freeware: Article 2


iTunes: This counts as "50-50" freeware. iTunes is free, but it is not avalable for Linux and it is not open source. iTunes comes for free on a CD with every iPod. Download iTunes.

Soldat: This counts as "near" freeware. You do'nt have to pay anything to use the base programme. But, you do get a nag screen at the beggining and you can only use the "defult" user. Soldat is a great shoot-em-up. Download Soldat.


Google Earth: Google Earth is a programme that most people use to explore the earth and find directions. Google Earth is free, but is not open source (i think.) Google Moon is simmilar to Google Earth, see the wiki article. Download Google Earth

Thunderbird: Thunderbird is an email and news\RSS client. It is free, can be used with any manjor OS and has a large community of fans. Thunderbird also has support for extensions and themes. Thunderbird is completly free, and can be downloaded here.

Skype: Skype is a free IM, VoIP and FTP client. Skype is most popular for it's VoIP part. Skype sounds like a normal telephone, and you can even buy add-on phones! If you want, you can pay to get "Skype In", a phone number that others can dial (ones without Skype, obvisiouly) to talk to you. Skype Out is the same, execept you can call normal people using skype. Download Skype.

Well, thats the Freeware series!

By link_the_windwaker

Tommorow: Merry Christmas to you all. I might post. It will probably be on the iPod I am getting.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Look At Freeware: Article One

Intorduction: Freeware is anything that is avalable for free over the Internet. It can have copyrights, but they must not be too restrictive. Note that freeware does not include abandonware or shareware. The software must be avalable to run on both Windows and Mac. If the develpers have plans, that is fine.

Part One (Click on the tiltle for a Wikipedia link)
Below: Firefox
Firefox: Firefox is one of the most widespread alternitive browsers, and is giving IE a run for it's money. Firefox has support for extensions and themes. Firefox 1.5 has already been reveiwed on this blog, so I do not need to go any further. Download Firefox.


MyVirturalHome
: My Vurtiral Home (MVA) is a freeware home desing software. It is completly free. Fetures of MVA include the ablity to add contents and to find out your home and contents insurance (coming in '06). MVA is free, but you neet to pay $5 Australian postage and handling. MVA is only avalable in Australia. You can get a copy of MVA in the Jan 2005 edition of APC and in an issue of Better Homes and Gardens. Go tho the My Vurtiral Home web site.

Media Player Classic: Media Player Classic is a compact media player. It can play most formats, incuding DVD's (without a decoder!) RealPlayer formats and WMA's. Download Media Player Classic

Right
: Videora Converter for iPod


Videora Converter(s)
:
Videora is a software, like BitTorrent that lets you download videos from the Net and watch them. Videora is not free (a trial version is avalable) but they have relesed some converter software, so you can convert any videos from your hard drive. Videora converter is avalable for PSP and iPod Movie\Video\Generation 5. Download Videora Converter

Just BASIC: Just BASIC is a software that allows you to programme in the BASIC programming lanuage. It is free. JBASIC is easy to use and comes with a tutural. Download JustBASIC

Get ready for five more freeware programmes tommorow!

By: link_the_windwaker

Tommorow: Part Two of our look at freeware