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General discussion

Which MP3 player doesn't freeze up with downloaded music?

Jun 18, 2005 8:05AM PDT

I live in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and when I went to
future Shop, this salesman told me that all MP3 players
freeze when you play downloaded music.

I would like to know if there are any and which ones.
Keep in mind that I live in Quebec and we don't get some
MP3 players that other countries to in fact get.

Thanks for your reply.

Discussion is locked

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baloney
Jun 18, 2005 2:34PM PDT

that is nonsense.

I have downloaded entire albums off of bear share and they play perfectly on my son's SanDisk.

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THAT SALESMAN'S LYING
Jun 18, 2005 4:00PM PDT

NOT ALL HARD DRIVE MP3 PLAYERS FREEZE AND IN MY OPINION, MOST OF THEM DONT DO IT. IF THEY DO, ITS NOT OFTEN AND DOESNT REALLY AFFECT PLAY. I DONT KNOW HOW MP3'S IN CANADIAN MODELS ARE THOUGH.

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Reply
Jun 19, 2005 12:45AM PDT

I'm not looking for a hard drive MP3 Player, I'm looking for a flash MP3 player. So which MP3 player won't freeze if I download music on to the player?

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it's not the mp3 player's fault
Jun 19, 2005 1:12PM PDT

Peer to peer networks don't protect you from viruses.

They intentionally infect you computer with tons of adware and spyware which commonly break computers. We have five repairs a day at waork from this stuff. Every day.

That salesman is not lying. You get spyware on your computer from bear share. A lot of it. Read the page about "how we're free" It's because they use advertising, which tracks your internet usage: spyware. Which slows computers down significantly. Not only that but it commonly attaches itself to mp3 files and mp3 players don't know what to do with it. They seize up if there's too much. Whole computers freeze up because of it too. Mp3 players also don't yet have virus protection, and they run rampant on bear share and other peer to peer networks. Read the disclaimers, they say to avoid downloading virus infected files, not we'll protect you from them. One virus and your ipod's toast. Done.

And they ALL have this problem because their customers aren't a priority to them. The advertisers are. That salesman is right, it's dangerous to download music from peer to peer networks. And shame on you that's stealing.

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ROFL
Jun 19, 2005 10:47PM PDT

be happy ... looks like the downloaders keep u job running Grin

but ...
a mp3 file can't hold a virus!
a mp3 file can't work as container for adware!
a p2p-network isn't a suitable place to spread spyware
that is done over webpages and email in a far better way!

and finally

not every usage of p2p is STEALING Wink
court yard in my country said:
when someone owns e.g. an Lp (regardless of it's shape - broken, scratched, water-played) he can dl all the songs from p2p!

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they can't hold adware?!?
Jun 21, 2005 5:54AM PDT

Yeah they can, our techs remove it from computers all the time. I asked and he said he sees them attached to mp3's occasionally. And the first page promises to advertise from spyware. And if cell phones can get viruses, so can mp3 players. And they do. They have software problems all the time. You're just wrong, they can hold adware and crap. And it's viruses and batteries that make most of our returns at work.

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some clarifications
Jun 21, 2005 10:54PM PDT

about cell phones
well modern cell phones are able to hold programable stuff (games, office solution, ...) most common based on java2 or symbian. and with symbian u can do really some gruel things with u phone Sad

about software-problems
yes they have, but the come with those problems right from the factory!

about mp3-players
i don't know of any program-able standalone mp3 player at the moment; do you ?

about mp3-files
a modern mp3-file contains a header (where u can put useless information like lyrics,photos,stuff), still this file isn't executeable by an user - if u have something 'bad' within a mp3 file you need definitly an even 'worse' program to bring it to life.


nothing (not even XXX-related stuff) beats webpages like:
the 100 best cooking recipes
the 100 best works for school
the 100 best garden tipps
*
pls complete on u own
*

peace & love
pikel

PS
u should believe everything a technican said Wink
i'm one Grin

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what kind of dl music ?
Jun 19, 2005 10:37PM PDT

can u be a lil bit more specific
are u referring
A) to an offical shop like i-tunes
B) or to ... well not so offical stuff

ad A)
well not every player is able to play files holding DRM-Stuff or even the format that is used by the shop

ab B)
here we have a different problem, even if everything is called mp3 there isn't any true standard some players have troubles with headers containing photos or lyrics,
others with VBRs

i own a mt6 too and my problems often have do to with the header thingie or with the encoder
but i never had a freezer i only know playing or no playing so far!

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Get whatever mp3 player you think is best
Jun 22, 2005 1:59AM PDT

As long as the file is in a format that the mp3 player supports (y'know, like mp3s) there is no reason that a file won't play. There is no difference between an mp3 you download and one you rip yourself.

Of course, there are also files that you can buy that are copy-protected, such as certain WMAs, and whether those work depends on whether the mp3 player supports them.

Moral of the story: The salesman was either stupid or lying and pretty much any mp3 you download will work just fine on any mp3 player. That's what they're made for after all.

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all mp3's freeze....not quite
Jun 22, 2005 7:58AM PDT

Don't listen to a salesman, 99% of the time they are of no use and provide bad advice. Could an mp3 player freeze when it plays downloaded music, sure, it could happen under the right circumstances. You download an virus ridden mp3, an incompatible music file (trying to play an WMA on a iPod), the mp3 player's fireware is buggy and needs to be upgraded. If you buy a mp3 player from a well known manufacturer and make sure you download "safe" files (wma's from places like, buy.com, msn music, walmart, and a couple of other sites the player should function normally.

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what's wrong with salesmen?
Jun 23, 2005 12:46PM PDT

Man I'm a salesman, and we're not useless. Wah.

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Well, you were lying or wrong earlier in this thread...
Jun 23, 2005 10:35PM PDT

...when you said:

"Not only that but it commonly attaches itself to mp3 files and mp3 players don't know what to do with it. They seize up if there's too much. Whole computers freeze up because of it too. Mp3 players also don't yet have virus protection, and they run rampant on bear share and other peer to peer networks."

Maybe you can download spyware and viruses from some sharing networks, but not on to the MP3 players -- MP3s are not executable. There are no viruses that transmit themselves on MP3 files. That's just wrong.

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Lying?
Jun 25, 2005 12:47PM PDT

Man we're not liars. I see so many ipod return with software issues and all of them have files downloaded from peer to peer networks, I always ask.

And just because they're not executable doesn't mean they can't CARRY them and then transfer them to another computer. And to say that an mp3 player CAN'T carry a virus is just silly. It's like handing a hacker some homework.

Our tech removes spyware from Kazaa all the time. Why would you want that on your computer in the first place? Even if it doesn't affect your ipod.

And not having the right information is not lying, it's just being uninformed. Lying is malicious. Salesmen do what this forum does all the time: Identify needs and inform consumers. We ain't all that bad.

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no liars, but sometimes desinformed
Jun 29, 2005 8:41PM PDT

desinformed
) because of the missing support.
- because there isn't any medium outside, that supports you (or me, or us) with tests about mp3-players in studioquality; did you ever see a magazin or an internet site, that comes up with measurement results taken in an studio under repeatable test-procedures ? - i havn't!

<I see so many ipod return with software issues and all of them have files downloaded from peer to peer networks, I always ask.>

all of i-pods software issues have to do
with
) the sloppy (cheap) programming style used today
) firmwareupdates (which went false in one way or another)
) unofficial updates to rise or lower parameters
*
*
*
<Our tech removes spyware from Kazaa all the time. Why would you want that on your computer in the first place? Even if it doesn't affect your ipod.>

pls realize: the whole web is full of spyware, yes kazaa is crap, but not more or less then any other webside Sad
*
*
*
<And just because they're not executable doesn't mean they can't CARRY them and then transfer them to another computer. And to say that an mp3 player CAN'T carry a virus is just silly. It's like handing a hacker some homework>

hackers are people, like u, like me, they can't do any magic!
yes u are correct u can copy a macro/a virus/a registry script to a mp3-player ... but u can't execute it there, and to put it back to a computer u have to copy it (per hand) to this computer and even there u have to execute it (or u need a program, that does it for you) and since u can't execute a mp3-file - those files are safe as long as there isn't any program around that extracts the info from the file, and executes it

hope i helped u a lil bit

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dell
Jun 29, 2005 12:36AM PDT

dell's dont

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My experience
Jun 30, 2005 11:33AM PDT

From my own personnal experience I can tell you that some are more likely to freeze than others. I have a Muvo TX FM, 512 MB and it has never frozen. I've owned two Samsung YP-T7 (one 512 MB and the other a 1 GB) and I've had to return both because of freezing problems. The Samsung and the Muvo have the same downloaded music. From my research on the internet, though not scientific by any means, about 1 in 10 YP-T7 seem to have problems with freezing. I've called Samsung technical support and they state that they are not aware of freezing problems. I've also updated the firmware on the Samsung and it has not helped, instead it made things worse.