lundi 14 Jan 2008, 1h57m
My Home Audio Present:
Evidently i enjoy listening to music at home using my Ubuntu Linux powered laptop. Sound quality was and always will be a big issue for me, so before 7 yrs i purchaced a pair of Technics SB-CS95 pair of speakers where their sound is amplified with a 5.1 Sony radio-amplifier. The amplifier is inputted from Creative's Extigy sound card using its digital output. On the software side i use Ubuntu Linux 7.10, ALSA Sound Architecture, Amarok Player and always try to download music over 192kbps via good old SoulSeek P2P Music Network using its Nicotine+ client in Linux. This home sound setting has provided to me for the last 7 years the best sound you can get out of these speakers. Note that i have been using Linux for the last year. In Windows XP times i used Winamp with the DFX Sound Enhancer. It probably is the only 2 pieces of software i truly miss now as a Linux user, because Winamp is the best audio player from the many i have tried and DFX processed the sound such extent, where it sounded like i had another pair of speakers.
My Home Audio Future:
Fortunately enough my Technics Speakers have served me loyally for many years now and still have a lot music hours left. Because i always try to enhance my music experience to a higher level than before i will shortly retire my old Sony Amplifier and Technics Speakers and use another Sony amp twice my old one size and Watts. As for my new set of speakers i am considering a 5.1 set, but it will really depend on what im willing to spend whereas for high end speakers the sky is the limit as prices are concerned. Time will show as to what will give way to my Technics pair.
My Portable Audio Past:
Sony Cassette Walkman: I have always been an audio junkie. Music where ever i am, especially at home. I started when i was a kid when owning a Sony cassette Walkman with an FM player. Cassettes were the best thing back then, easily pirated and cheap enough.
Sony Portable CD Player: After some years when the CD writers where widely available i started using CD's
Sony CD Mp3 player: After some yrs mp3 became widespread so the best solution was buying a mp3 cd player. 10 times more storage in each CD but i had to carry my CD case with me but served its purpose for a short while
My Portable Audio Present:
iRiver H10 20GB: I resisted the popularity of the ipod and wisely choose to purchase from ebay my trustworthy iRiver H10 20GB. It was the best choice for me back then 3 yrs ago and i still believe has some yrs left of playing life. When i bought it had and still has an advantage of a large capacity, colored screen and a built in FM Tunner. Its disadvantages are that it is somehow bulky, the sound glitches due its HD drive spindown ,the battery only lasts 6 to 8 hrs and music can only be transferred to it through Windows Media Player. I discovered its UMS trick and since then i operate it as a common portable disk with drag and drop function. I did try using Rockbox Open Source Firmware on it but i guess its internal processor was not fast enough, so the sound glitches became irritating which forced be to use the original firmaware although Rockbox had many amazing features. I also purchased the pricey Sony MDR-EX71 Headphones which imo provide the best sound you can get from small ear buds in relatively high volumes.
My Present Smartphone:
I've also been using a Smartphone for the last 3 yrs, with the Nokia 6680, taking advantage of its multimedia functions, camera capabilities and software expansion abilities of the so popular Symbian Series 60 mobile platform. Back then i purchaced a 256MB memory card and never though of making it my primary portable audio player. Nowdays you can find a 4GB rs-mmc memory card on ebay taking you a step further to making your mobile phone an all-in-one solution making it a decent audio player. Thus it still does not provide the capacity i need in order to make it my primary portable audio player.
What the Future Beholds:
Music will always be on my mind and soul so being up to date with a portable audio player is a big priority. Mainstream technology has evolved this time speaking to an extent where all-in-one portable solutions are widely available.
A bright example of that is Apple's Iphone, which is a state of the art touch phone and ipod all together, though it has some major disadvantages. Most phones in the modern market are also mp3 players, and the only limit is probably its external card capacity. So where not talking about an audio player, but a smartphone with software and memory extendability, making you carry with you only one single lightweight device covering your communitcation, camera, radio, gps, audioplayer needs.
My Future Portable Audio / Smartphone Expectations:
These are the features i would excpect from the next single portable multimedia phone device: A high-end Operating System (Symbian S60, MacOS portable, Windows Mobile, Google Android) with software extensibility, Camera/Video Capabilties, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth Chip, FM tunner, Touch Screen and Memory Extensibility and wight small enough to be easy to carry around and operate. It must Support over 16GB cards in order to retire my iRiver H10. Memory cards are the best audio storage unit which takes up little space, consumes little battery nut sometimes can be rather pricey.
Some current solutions are some Nokia N Series and the fabulous Iphone. I do not have any intent on buying any of them now because they still fail to replace my 20GB iriver capacity and because i do not afford any of them yet. As for the platform i would strongly prefer something Open Source like Google Android, Openmoko or any other.
Mobile Platform of the Future? (Google Android) A lot has been said about this forecoming opensource operating system by google that might dominate our mobile devices in the future. Linux may have currently failed to hit mainstream in Desktops, despite the fact that it probably is the fastest growing opensrource operating system this time speaking. Though its port to mobile devices may be its true success. The current desktop OS market is dominated by Windows, MacOSX and Linux with Windows having a 90%+ share the mobile device market has a lot of equal players like Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm, Linux variations by Motorola and most of the times just a plain mobile firmware in order to support some basic functions. Google aims with Android OS to be able to make an mobile operating system that is able to be installed in most mobile devices supporting most hardware functins. Third party software development will be done in common ground making every application available to every GPhone (Mobile Device having Google Android Installed). Its still early to say what we might expect but i hope that this new opensrource mobile OS dominates by providing a free platform for everyone