Installation / Removal > Sandisk - Installation/Removal

PlaysForSure = v2? Or just the R-series?

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P.Opus:

--- Quote from: Llorean on February 03, 2008, 01:34:54 PM ---Are you 100% sure there's no v2 R? We've had reports of people with players usable with Rhapsody, and a v3 firmware.

--- End quote ---

Compatibility with Rhapsody does not determine whether or not it is an "R" version of the Sansa.

The vanilla E200 V1 is compatible with Rhapsody in that it can play subscription content from the service like many other Play For Sure compatible devices.  However, the Vanilla E200 V1 does not support the native playback of Real's Helix DRM .rax files, only Microsoft's PFS DRM.  The E200 V1 also does not support the Rhapsody Channels feature.

The E200R supports native playback of the Helix .rax files and was the first player to support Rhapsody Channels, which is like an offline Radio channel with constantly changing content everytime you sync the player.  It was a sort of "proof of concept" player that could natively support both Microsoft Play For Sure DRM protected files and the Helix DRM protected files.

The New E200 V2's support a new initiative by Real called RhapPFS which was first introduced with the Rhapsody Clix Player.  The new Sansa Clip, Sansa View and the E200 V2's support this new RhapPFS service which has the advantage of offering Rhapsody Channels, and tighter integration with the service, but still relies on Microsoft's Play For Sure DRM to protect the content.

One of the key features of the E200R was the appliance decryption key which allowed the entire player to be authorized to play back .rax files without needing to store a "license" file for each and every song.  This allowed E200R's to have much faster and more reliable transfers, and prevented individual tracks from expiring early.

So while the New E200 V2's do support some of the same features that the E200R's supported, like Rhapsody Channels, it's still relies on the use of Microsoft PFS DRM in the background and the use of individual license files for each of the songs.

Users of the E200 V2's, View, and Clip note that while RhapPFS is a better overall experience than the older E200 V1's provided, they are not as reliable as the E200R's.

RhapPFS is superior only in the fact that it can be implemented on most any player with a mere firmware update, where as .rax playback capability needed to be built into the player from the ground up.  As a result, third party manufacturers are much more likely to support the RhapPFS initiative since they do not have to include native .rax playback in their players.

MarcGuay:

--- Quote from: elfion on February 03, 2008, 02:46:08 PM ---so is there a point in keeping the v2? will it be supported by rockbox in the nearest future?  :-\

--- End quote ---

If you plan on using Rockbox as your primary firmware I can't think of a reason to keep the v2 (unless that wheel feels really good).

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