Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2002 03:27:50 +0000 From: "Matthew Hanson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [LIB] IBM 340MB 'CF' Microdrive $90.75 after rebate
>From: David Chien <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >I'd go CF myself. More durable, shock resistant, and works. > >$85 for a 256MB CF card on www.pricewatch.com today, and if you really want >something with a bit more storage capacity, I'd go with the 512MB CF card >listed at $179. Well, I originally was only going to spend about $125 max for an MP3 player. I had my sights on a SonicBlue Rio 600 with 128MB RAM. But the darned thing has proprietary everything, in particular the batteries and memory. But then I looked at the great features and specs on the Frontier Labs NEX II a guy on the MP3 Encoder list turned me on to. It had most all the features I wanted, but in particular it takes 2 standard AA (I have lots of NiMH) batteries, can accept ANY size CF card or microdrive, and cost $84 including shipping from Canada. I have some CF memory, so I can use it in both the camera and MP3 player. The player also doubles as a portable 'zip' backup drive. Files are loaded onto it via a USB cord right through Windows Explorer. So it's essentially a USB CF card reader. And with a PC card CF card adapter, I can load MP3s onto the microdrive from the L70. I originally was going to go for the $49 Viking 128MB CF card at Amazon with free shipping, since $49 + $82 = $131, which was within my original price range for buying a small, portable MP3 player. But then I went to Fatwallet (a GREAT resource David! Thanks for that one) and read about the $50 rebate from IBM on some of the 340MB microdrives... poked around and found a deal on one for $138.75 with shipping -$50 = $88.75 (they upped the price $2 right after I bought one). I do like the idea of full-on solid state, but I could only find a 256MB CF card for $95 on pricewatch at the time. Even at $85, the extra 84MB for the 340MB microdrive was a LOT more MP3 storage space for the price. So I ended up pumping up my total expenditure with shipping (no tax of course) to $172.75. Not bad at all for a small, light, full featured portable MP3 player with 340MB storage space. But that's starting to push up to the lower price range for MP3 players that are featuring hard drives with a capacity of 1GB -20GB. The Apple Ipod is really the sweet deal, but the 5GB model starts at $388 on pricewatch. As good as CF memory prices are getting, for the moment it looks like the large hard drives are more economical for MP3 players. And the Ipod will be just as susceptible to shock as the NEX II with the microdrive. But the nice thing is that I can pop the microdrive out, and use it in any other compatible device. Those new Nikons are looking AWFULLY nice! Shel(M) _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx ************************************************************** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://www.silverace.com/libretto/ - Archives -------TO UNSUBSCRIBE------- Reply to any of the list messages. The reply mail should be addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Then replace any text on the message's subject line: cmd:unsubscribe --------TO UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST------ Do above but with this on subject line: cmd:unsubscribe digest **************************************************************
