Support and General Use > Hardware
iRiver H120 CF Mod Attempt - Success!
scharkalvin:
The gigabeat player has the fastest cpu of the bunch (300mhz arm IIRC), and it is quite responsive.
The disk access time being the major drawback. Note that the CF will improve seek time greatly,
but file read speed is slower with the CF than with the disk. This doesn't cause skipping on playback
but WOW is file download from PC to player slow with CF!!!
I also converted an iPod mini for my wife and it is quite responsive as well.
Up until just after the holidays there were a ton of like new gigabeat players for sale on ebay.
I snatched up an F10 for about $70 in "A" condition and converted it to CF.
I also have seen "broken" iPod mini's on ebay from time to time. Look for one with a "dead battery"
or "folder icon", these are easy to fix. The iPod mini is very easy to perform surgery on, they open up
very easily. They also don't need an adapter to use CF since they are set up for it by default. The
A-Data brand CF cards work fine. I haven't heard of anyone using the 32GB size yet, but as it has similar
spec's to the 16GB (which I've used) I suspect it will work fine. Be sure to get a new battery for the iPod,
since it would be a crime not to replace the stock battery with a larger capacity one as long as you had
the patient opened up. A tip .... use a small dab of hot melt glue and a scrap hunk of wood to pull the
plastic end caps off the mini without damaging the body. Then when the glue cools it will just peel off
the plastic caps without leaving a mark.
I like both of these players. I think the gigabeat has a better user interface than the iPod (IMHO). Also the
color screen is nice ... I have converted some utube videos to mpg for use on the player. BUT the iPod is a bit
smaller and lighter weight (for those with small pockets). Cases for the gigabeat are hard to find, but for the
iPod they are a dime a dozen (almost). The iPod comes in more colors. The gigabeat battery lasts longer.
So it's 6 of one and 1/2 a dozen of the other.......
larry_llama:
Great! thanks for the replies. I think I was searching ebay completely wrong for the gigabeat. I was searching gigabeat F and gigabeat X when I guess I should hav eput the drive size in there as part of the model number.
I just buy-it-now'd a working ipod mini for $50, and will resell the drive once I get a CF card in. It will probably end up going to my girlfriend. If I like it, I'll get my own or maybe try the gigabeat.
The H320 is nice but it's really kind of huge, and I find the buttons to be a bit crumby.
I will keep my old h120 for recording purposes though :-)
Thanks for the tips; I'll be sure to report back with any new info/successes once this new project is underway. Man.. 32GB (soon 64gb?) with rockbox in an ipod mini sized form factor... killer!
scharkalvin:
I don't think I've EVER seen a Gigabeat "X" for sale on ebay.
I think they were only sold in Europe and "oz".
larry_llama:
So is the official model name (for searching) "gigabeat f10" (f20 f30 f40 etc)?
By the way, I have found that when searching for ipod minis, you can often find working ones for the same money as broken ones (or less). That's the route I went, and I guess I'll try to sell the functioning drive to offset the CF card purchase ;-)
AlexP:
--- Quote from: scharkalvin on January 22, 2008, 07:42:58 AM ---I don't think I've EVER seen a Gigabeat "X" for sale on ebay.
I think they were only sold in Europe and "oz".
--- End quote ---
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