[Discuss] Re: MP3 Players -- Nextar USB stick

[Jeff East]

I got a cheapo Nextar (USB stick model) on sale at Canadian Tire a month
back - special stock, I think. It includes an FM radio with presets, and a
voice recorder. The USB system reports "ALI", which is probably the chip.
I was just gonna return it, if it gave Linux a hard time.

Basic: 	It works as a thumbdrive, VFAT filesystem.  It makes special
	directories for saving voice and FM recordings.  No software came
	with it, and I haven't needed any yet.  It's a 1/2Gig device, with
	no expansion. Hey, for $28, I'd be happy if it was just a thumb
	drive.

Files and Indexing:  Oddly, it plays files in the order which they
	were written to the drive, regardless of filename.  I should
	clarify - It orders directories by written time, and plays, within
	each directory, all files, in the order which they are written.
	So I copy my numbered tracks (eg "02-Suicide Creek.mp3") with "mc"
	to ensure the correct order. And there seems to be no indexing
	done by the machine.

Formats:  Sadly, no OGG or FLAC with this (the internal browser even
	refuses to show them), tho the literature claims its firmware can
	be updated to support "other formats" in the future.  Company
	website: nothing yet. It handles WMA, MP3, and my bastard MP2's
	with "id3" adding meta data tags.  So far I use "abcde" to rip 
	(via "cdparanoia"), encode (via "toolame"), and tag (via "cddb"
	and "id3").

Playback: "toolame" makes my MP2's.  I like the 96Kbps rate, and
	that plays well on my computer, but they come out flat (poor hi/low
	ends?) on the Nextar playback.  128Kbps is great.  You can choose 
	different equalizer presets (Rock, Pop, Jazz ...) on the device.
	I only use Pop with my cheapo FM re-transmitter for car use, or
	maybe Bass sometimes with the headphones.

Voice:	I like this feature for recording phone numbers, or those
	little "note to self" moments.  This machine lets you set the
	sampling rate, but the WAV's it makes are IMA ADPCM, which "aplay"
	can't decord, but "sox" can.  You can also hold the REC button for
	2 seconds in any mode to start a recording - quick n handy.

FM:	Good quality, OK range, and it can autoscan and set station
	presets.  The record-to-WAV (again, ADPCM) feature is neat, but
	I'm not sure if I'd ever use it.  Ya, you just try to catch the
	entire song, in stereo, even if the DJ says it's coming up.

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