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AudioGames.net Forum → Off-topic room → Where do you get your music?
@wanderer, thanks for explaining. as for the card topic. you said, you put 128 gb card in it. was it exactly the micro sd type, or something else like micro sdhc, microsdxc, etc? i am asking, because my sansa has just arrived, and i am preparing to buy a much much bigger card for it.
is your 128 gb card working fine in it? no slow downs, or veird behavior from the player, as its not officially an supported card size?
@Figment, first, the Victor stream has a 32 gb sd card. You could use a 64 gb one, however last I heard the victor's software went a bit screwy, which I agree isn't good, though this could well be fixed now, (I did buy my Victor a year ago and the software has had some updates sinse).
Personally, sinse I use my victor for books, audio dramas and music, i just have the 32 gb and alternate what I stick on their very often, as opposed to hauling my hole collection around with me.
About playlists, to be honest if your wanting playlists to just play several organized folders, I don't think you need that either for the Victor, or for a semi decent media player such as winamp, sinse the "play folder" option will also play subfolders by folder name.
So for example I also have the starwars film soundtracks and want them in order, in either Winamp or my Victor, if I play my entire "starwars folder" because i have the subfolders for each film labled as "04 A new hope", "05 Empire strikes back" and "06 return of the Jedi" I'll get the hole lot in order, ditto with the subfolders for each disc, indeed this is always a part of how I organize my folders sinse I always make sure they're named so as to play an entire directory in order.
In Winamp you do this with Shift L and then navigating to the folder, on the victor you just set the level of folder navigation you want and navigate to it then start playing. The only use for playlists on the Victor is either if you have a bunch of files from different folders or subfolders you want to play, or if you want to shuffle something less than the hole collection, sinse using the shuffle function in the music directory shuffles the entire thing unless you've got a playlist.
I haven't bothered myself but according to the instructions this is how it works.
The only issue with the Victor you might have, is the Victor won't play individual files alone in either the music or book directories that are not contained in a folder, so all those individual tracks you have you might have to bung on a folder in the $music directory called favourites. I've had to do this myself occasionally, particularly when say I'm going to an audition and want just the one copy of the song I'm singing, but hay creating a folder doesn't take a long time.
As to creating playlists, as I said, it's not something I've bothered with much. Winamp will do it certainly and I did experiment, however as a program generally I can recommend Vlc media player.
I don't use any of it's audio playback functions, but sinse my desktop got reformatted and I lost the version of power Dvd I had (the current one is totally inaccessible), I switched to Vlc, and haven't been unhappy with it, though I do wish it had a dvd auto resume capability like Power dvd that would keep your place on a dvd when you turn it off, also for some reason I can't set any of the keyboard options so winding back is rather difficult.
@JAck, that site sounds cool!
@Sebby, Itunes and their drm can go to hell! I disagree that any program which removes the headings from the screen so you don't know what level of the smegging tree your on in windows can be called accessible. Usable possibly, but compared to just sticking my Victor in and going "copy!" it's no contest, particularly sinse I don't have to go creating playlists for individual books or sinking or scanning or any of the other silly hoops Apple demands you jump through just to essentially play music on a portable machine.
If people like the categorisation Apple uses (and are using macos anyway so get the better interface), fare enough, but having wrestled with the beast for two solid years I'll say it is not for me.
One thing I find ironic, is that if I could just buy stuff in Itunes the same way I would from a normal site and then have the mp3s to play anywhere, I probably would! have done, however it's the very restriction of the thing that puts me off. Well, maybe if Apple opens the file system this will change, and I'd not be against using Itunes as a buying system on Ios at least so long as I could get the stuff off there and play them on whatever and wherever I wanted, though i know that is sort of against Apple's religion 
.
Oh, and I'll have to check this site of Jack's sinse it sounds awesome.
@Dark
Nice, so by careful use of folders, I could eliminate the need for playlists, I can adapt to that.
At present I have my music organized in folders by artist, then within each artist by album, then the file names are a two digit track number, a space, a dash, another space, then the track title. It was a royal pain in the butt to set up, but now that it is, it's a sinch to keep organized. And I can find any track very quickly. I'll just add another layer of folders in front of artists I could call playlist, then have folders called Favorites, Star Wars, Christmas, etc. I like it! Easy as pie!
That means I won't need a music organizing app, I can just use my file manager. So the only thing I'll need now is an easy to use and accessible CD ripper that can get track titles from the internet. Any recommendations?
That 64 GB option would be nice, but I just called Humanware's technical support and they said that 32 GB was the current max. Oh well. For now that should be enough froom for all my music, talking books, podcasts, etc.
Once I get my Stream, probably Monday, and have had a chance to get familiar with it, I'll investigate that speaking rate problem as I'll want to speed up the user interface but not the media playback.
Does the Stream come with a 32 GB SD card? If so I just wasted buying another one. I knew from the what's in the box list that it came with an SD card, but the list doesn't say what size the card was, so I figured it was just a couple of GB to get you started.
I won't need iTunes any more for music but plan to keep it around to backup my iPhone. I know I could backup to iCloud, but I prefer to keep my backups local. More secure that way. I just wish there was an alternate solution for backing up the iPhone without iTunes, so I could get rid of everything Apple on my computer.
hello,
i will stick with the 64 gigabite card, as the 128 gb one, is way too expensive. as for the Linux thing. i heard, that the seller from the talking mp3 players, has a program, which can run under Windows, and prepare your card, too. one last question. i am not able to find this rb-clip program, anywhere. or the original rockbox utility can do the same - generate the .talk files?
thanks for all the answers. why do you think, its unethical? ofcourse i didnt bought the player from them, but anyway.
@Figment, Yep, I have always done something similar myself to that with folders anyway so translating to the victor was no problem.
I'll admit mine is a little less formal, for example I have one big directory called film soundtracks, then folders for each film, some of which (such as Labyrinth and Never ending story), have just one folder withth the music files, others, such as Starwars or James Bond have a hole bunch of subfolders and possibly individual disc folders too, so for the Victor I just copy the folder I want and bang it on.
I actually enjoy playing around with organization, it's a bit satisfying to know what I have and be able to look at it and put where I want, for example I recently created a vocalists directory. It's also nice to select what I fancy hearing at any given time from the full collection.
For Cd ripping, that is the one thing I actually still use Windows media player for. I've set it up to rip at best quality when I insert the disk and pop out when done, so I have no hassle, and it'll auto download the track names (though I often play with them before I move the ripp into my collection).
I did once try another utility, but I couldn't get it to work, and sinse I've got wmp setup to instantly rip and then pop out when done I don't have to tangle with the thing.
If I remember rightly the Victor stream comes with a 4gb sd card by default and you do indeed need to buy the 32 gb one as standard. Sinse you can just pop the card in and out, I have heard of people who keep multiple cards with them and change them, but I've not personally needed that much space.
Also, the default usb transfer onto the Victor when it's plugged into the pc is a trifle slower than usual. This doesn't bother me (it's not so slow as to be annoying), but again, I know people who buy those usb sd card holder thingies and use those to stick stuff onto the Victor's sd card, rather than using the Victor directly via it's usb transfer cable (it works like an Iphone, the power cable has a usb that goes into the plug).
I am fairly sure I'm wrong about the voice speed on the victor not being alterable without altering playback speed, though i've looked through the menus and not found anything and whenever I hit the speed controls it seems to affect both, so let me know what you find. I'm not too unhappy with the default voice speed (it's not a complete crawl like with most default tts setups), though it would be nice if it were a bit faster.
As to Itunes vs Icloud backups, well I personally felt getting rid of Itunes was a worth while price to use the cloud for backing up phone numbers and contact info. I'd probably feel differently if I had anything amazingly sensative on there like people's addresses or any personal info, but other than phone numbers there's not much particularly considering I don't use e-mail on my Iphone, (I have it setup but writing e-mails without my bluetooth keyboard is too much of a pain, and I don't carry the keyboard around with me), I certainly wouldn't bank on it, but I wouldn't have any bank details on my Pc either.
So, security a concern, but not enough of one to putup with the dreaded Itunes.
I agree with Wanderrer regarding The web site promoting MP3 players for the blind. They are just taking advantage of handicapped people and how few products are made for them to turn a quick buck.
@Dark, my introduction to digital music ,other than CDs, was the Zune media player and it's software, the software was a big help in building and organizing my digital music library. The first major task was to rip all of my music CDs into MP3s.
One thing I liked about the Zune software was, unlike iTunes, you could use a file manager to organize your music files into some kind of folder structure and it just adapted with no complaints or duplicate tracks with one being invalid, which was one of iTunes favorite tricks.
The Zune software had automatic playlists that were automatically updated as the music collection was updated, which were then sent to the media player ready for use, so I got pretty used to playlists, because the Zune software made it so easy.
I wonder how many requests Humanware get about increasing the size of SD card the VRS can accept.
WARNING!
Disregard my previous message here and avoid Media Monkey at all costs!
The web site turns out to be a shameless bait and switch money grab and if you can figure out how to download it, it installs malware behind your back.
I can thank my lucky stars for the talking Windows PE and System Restore, the malware had my system so screwed up that that's what it took to restore it to a point in time before that disaster began.
People that pull that kind of crap deserve no less than to be boiled in a tub of their own excrement. Jerks!
i hope, these players last for a long long time, as then, we have to wonder - i think, what players will be usable in the future, and no, i dont mean ipods, as i am done with them. and i dont think, that viktor can be bought in the central europe, but who knows.
I've heard of Zune but not bothered with it.
Personally, I didn't really start on digital music until I started downloading game soundtracks back in 2003 or so, which I'd just play with wmp or winamp by folder. Sinse however I needed a place to put them I started file organization, creating a music folder on the c drive (why the hell windows puts a music folder in a documents folder I don't know), and then creating subfolders as I needed them which is where all this began, indeed I still have all the mega man soundtracks that I downloaded back then.
Playlists for me have always been a bit of a distraction, sinse I've always just organized the files manually. The only time I started using playlists is when I was fixing music for our tabletop rp games and using winamp's playlist manager to bung lots of folders into a playlist and then iliminate the tracks that were not appropriate to an rp session, but obviously that is one occasion where you specifically need a certain mood of music and after all night on the bare mountain, and some bits of Stravinski's pictures at an exhibition are perfect for rp, (the catacombine, hut on hens legs etc), while other bits such as the ballet of the unhatched chicks really aren't .
@bucklee12
Yeah, I can't wait for my Victor Reader Stream to arrive, Tuesday the 8th, so I can reset the iPod, clean it up as needed, probably just fingerprints, and put it back in it's box, so I can sell it.
You should be able to get a Victor Reader Stream in central Europe, Dark is in the UK and he has one, plus Humanware does apparently have a European distributor.
http://www.humanware.com/en-united_king … dia/europe
@Dark
Prior to Windows XP there was no standardized location for user files, so they often got stored in the same folder as the program that created them, which made backing them up a nightmare. So when Windows XP was introduced, it introduced the My Documents folder concept as a place to put all your files, that way all you had to backup to protect your data was the My Documents folder.
Then in Windows Vista they moved the My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos folders outside the My Documents folders, and dropped the My part of the names on all four folders. For backward compatibility they create the original My whatever folders as symbolic links to the actual folders.
It was a good idea at first, but it didn't take long to realize the media folders needed to be separate from the documents folder.
@Figment, wow, a sensable folder organization decision from post xp windows? I'm amazed! shame windows explorer is so cruddy with the layout and your locked out of most changes by the silly uac thing .
Personally, I've always preferd to create my own folders anyway, that way I know where things are. I use my documents for documents, (though with lots of subfolders for different things), but then created folders for stuff like text games, audio, singing stuff, downloads and uploads, general storage, I even install games into a "fun program files" folder sinse I didn't want to go monkeying in program files when I'm testing games out and uninstalling and what not.
That also makes stuff really easy to backup, sinse I just backup the appropriate folders on my external backup drive, it also makes storage on multiple drives much easier too, indeed these days I've moved my audio folder onto a perminant external drive (a different one from my backup drive which sits in a box under my bed most of the time when not being used for backups).
Yup, I was always the same way to a degree even before I lost my vision. My thought was, if I create a place for it, I'll know where it is when I need it.
So even in mMy Documents, I had lots of sub folders to categorize things.
I did allow games to install in the Program Files folder because with the advent of the system registry, it didn't matter much where you installed things.
In anticipation of the Victor Reader Stream's arrival, I'm about halfway through reorganizing my music files to use folders to replace play lists.
Altap Salamander, my file manager, is getting a workout. LOL! But it's two panel design that's similar to Norton Commander for Dos is a real blessing, since most of the work is moving files from one folder to another.
I've never used a file manager, I just set display to lists so I can go up and down between folders, and move around as I wish.
Againa thing I like xp for.
The only program I've ever used specifically for managing files is the sendspace wizard, which has again a standard list structure, though mostly it works like xp does accept with a few different commands and pages in the file view, and of course it's for managing online files.
@Jack, yeah, mp3va.com is in the Ukraine, so they aren't within the jurisdiction of the idiot law that says the minimum price for a track is $0.99 or whatever. I wonder how many polititians the music industry bribed to get that passed?
One thing I don't like about them, they gave me a $0.30 registering bonus, but won't let me use it until I preload the account with a minimum of $15. This is a prepaid service, you fill it with money, then use that to buy the tracks you want. After my experience with Amazon, since they gave me enough to buy two tracks, I wanted to try it before I sink any money into it. Since they won't let me do that, I'm still looking for an accessible way to buy music in MP3s. I would have also preferred it if they accepted PayPal.
@Dark, don't look now but Windows Explorer is a file manager, and a pretty anemic one at that, so I found a third party file manager that was similar to Norton Commander for DOS, which was my favorite pre Windows file manager.
Gene, that is actually weird, and something I didn't face. I was able to use my $0.30 bonus right away, and already have my two tracks. No worry, no hassle. Then again, I got an invite link to the site from someone else, so that may be why. Have you verified your email address with the site yet? Nevertheless, the interface for buying and downloading tracks is totally and completely accessible. So, you search for a song, artist, or album. The results come up, very neatly organized in headings of artists, albums, and songs. Artists have their own page, with all their albums. If you click on an album, there will be a table with the song title, duration, a preview link, and a checkbox for each song, as well as a buy all checkbox at the end. This makes it convenient to buy songs if you don't want to buy the entire album, but rather want just the singles from it. Unlike Google Play and Itunes, where if you wanted to do that you'd have to buy and download individuals one by one, you can select the tracks you want, or the whole album. Whatever you select, the process following that is exactly the same. You click the buy selected button out of the table, you get a confirmation for your order. When you click it, a download link will appear, which will download a zip file containing the entire album, or however many songs you purchased from the album, ready to be played and copied.
Yeah, I confirmed my email address, that's where I got the $0.30 I wanted to use to do a test purchase before filling the account with real money. Apparently a trend developed that people would register, then confirm, then spend the $0.30 for registering and confirming, then either disappear, or redo the whole thing with another email address, so now they with hold being able to actually buy anything until you've put real money into the account.
That's where I have another problem, $15 is about 100 tracks, as infrequently as I buy new music, that would probably last me many years. In the eight or so years I've been buying digital music, including individual tracks and whole albums, I think that I might have purchased around 100 tracks. I'd be happier if they had a $5 minimum.
For a time they had a $10 minimum, but that must have been a limited time offer. But there's no limit, so even if you spread it across years, your balance is secure and never expires. Basically, if you purchase music infrequently, you'd never have to use your paypal/credit card on a music purchase for a good long time.
Well, If I haven't found anything better the next time I want to buy music, I'll consider them.
If they accepted PayPal before, they don't now, in fact they only take Visa credit cards now. Is this a sign of scaling back? Could they be not doing as well as they had hoped they would?
It turns out the two individual tracks, which was all I wanted now, were actually duplicates of tracks in an album, so I didn't need them after all.
I don't know why they don't accept paypal, but try their pincode receller, they may still accept paypal. Their pin code reseller is a vpn host, but since they sponsor mp3va, along with any purchase $15 or above, they will give you a pin code that you can redeme on mp3va.com for the credit. Don't forget to enter the promo code pincode when making a purchase on that site. It is confirmed that they do accept paypal. The radio buttons for choosing a payment method are unlabeled, but don't worry. When you choose one, above all the buttons, it will say which one you chose. But as a point of reference, the last radio button in that list is paypal. Once you purchase, they will email you with the pincode plus the vpn setup instructions, however if you don't want the vpn that's fine, you can just use the pincode on mp3va.com
I personally don't mind the payment of 15 usd, which is slightly less in Uk terms, indeed sinse an album on cd in the Uk can be as much as 20 quid which is twice that that's no problem with me.
My only concern is whether the mp3va site covers none chart stuf sinse most music I'm interested in is weerder things like film soundtracks, musicals, and music from odd people .
Maybe I'll wait until after the starwars film comes out and see if mp3va have the soundtrack available sinse that is definitely! something I will want.
@Figment, Yep, I suppose windows explorer is a file manager, but really so long as I can go up and down a list of folders and copy and paste and open stuff and move stuff around or check properties of items I'm not looking for any other major functions where files are concerned.
If I ever decide to get another version of Windows, sinse microsoft have broken windows explorer, or at least made it ridiculously silly to navigate compared to Xp's handy lists I might look for a file manager at that point.
Still, I really don't like this modern tendency to hide the file system and give you lots of flashy things instead when it's just easier to do your organization yourself, as well as letting you have ultimately better control, ---- that's actually one thing I do not like on Ios, you only have one level of folders possible for ap activation icons (no sub folders),and creating them is a right pest with Vo doing the drag and drop. Plus, you can't then have a list or a menu or some easy navigation, the folders are just stuck everywhere on the screen.
So, where on my Xp machine I have a start menu folder called "audio games", then folders for each developer with subfolders for all the shortcuts to the files for running each game, on my Iphone I have one folder for developers and that's it, and even those I have to flick around to find, (trying to stick stuff in folders is a part of getting new aps I dread).
I'm trying to keep one page of the interface for each thing, ie, one page for games, one page for satnav, but I'm not sure how long I can maintain that sinse I think my games page is about to run out of space.
Oh, and I won't repeat my dislike of Itunes and it's silly music organization, but pretend I did for purposes of the above point .
Mp3va does do the chargs as well as less known stuff, and I do believe they do movie soundtracks as well.
They do, or at least soundtracks is one of the entries in their list of genres.
I use pontes media downloader for music downloading.
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