[ILUG] [OT-ish] Q: iRiver H340, Linux, USB1.1/2.0, comments?

[Brian Foster]

  relax!  this is not a distro war, in any number of bits.

  the company I currently work for (I'm looking around for
 a new job, please see my CV details below), as part of its
 ever-running down-sizing campaign, has recently reduced
 the space rented by >50%.  this means almost everyone is
 now very crowded together with a very high noise level.

  hence, I am now looking at purchasing a portable “mp3“
 player in an attempt to replace the noise with something
 rather more pleasant:  my collection of >c.1500 music CDs.
 since I am a bit of an audiophile, I _insist_ on a high
 standard of sound reproduction.  also, to date, I have
 generally been ripping my CDs to Ogg Vorbis (albeit some
 have suggested FLAC instead).  and I rip on Linux (on an
 elderly box which has only USB1.1(? I think — how can I
 tell for certain (assume the specs are opaque)?)).

  ergo, I am looking for a large capacity (i.e., HDD),
 Ogg-capable, good fidelity “mp3” unit, which can be used
 with Linux over USB (1.1 ?).  that search keeps leading me
 back to the iRiver H320 (20GiB) and H340 (40GiB) units.
 so, since my searches keeping leading to the same place,
 I am now looking very closely at the H340 (International
 (not US) Version).

  does anyone have any experience with either unit (H320
 or H340)?  any comments?  or suggestions?  is there an
 alternative I should seriously consider (the iRiver's
 seem to consistently score very highly in terms of audio
 quality, which is of considerable importance to me!  only
 nuisance is I haven't seen / tested one, so I do not know
 how well they actually agree with me....  ;-(  )?

 ( I looked rather briefly at the iRiver PMP units, which
  supposedly actually run Linux, but the impression I got
  is they are not too good. )

  one specific question about the H320/H340:  apparently,
 they have two (2) USB ports, which I consistently see
 called a 1.1 (data?) and 2.0 (media?) port.  whilst none
 of the sites I've looked at have been clear, they give
 the impression the 2.0 port cannot be connected to 1.1
 (i.e., my Linux box).  this not only does not match
 my previous impression (I _thought_ USB 2.0 was fully
 backwards compatible with 1.1, just faster if the peer
 was also 2.0);  it also suggests I won't be able to
 download my ripped CDs to the H3x0 from my Linux box
 (which is obviously no good).   I want to believe the
 sites (or at least my reading of them) is confused,
 but can anyone clarify?

  also, I assume there are USB cables with a “normal“
 sized USB connector on one end and one of those mini
 connectors on the other end?  (I've never seen these
 mini — sorry, dunno what they are really called —
 connectors until I went into the shop to look at some
 “mp3“ players, so apologies if this is a particularly
 dumb question!)

  how long do the HDDs in "mp3"s last?  I have read
 some reports that the iRiver H320 (at least) seems
 to be quite rugged (it is on the large and heavy
 side  ;-\  ), but haven't seen any info on the
 expected lifetime of the HDDs?  (I assume that is
 the part most likely to fail and hardest to fix.)

  any suggestions on a competent reliable source in
 the EU who takes orders in English, and will ship
 to France?  (and who can supply English manuals?)

cheers!
	-blf-

p.s.  Ok, back on topic:  return to the distro wars
     if you wish....  ;-)

-- 
Experienced (20+ yrs) kernel/software Eng: | Brian Foster   Montpellier,
 • Unix, embedded, &tc;  • Linux;  • doc;  | blf at utvinternet.ie   FRANCE
 • IDL, automated testing, process, &tc.   |  Stop E$$o (ExxonMobile)!
Résumé (CV) http://www.blf.utvinternet.ie  |     http://www.stopesso.com