Philips HDD100 Recording Audio Jukebox

[Ioman]

Philips is to introduce the HDD100 Recording Audio Jukebox that transports MP3 or any other file via an USB PC connection. This new portable hard disc device enables consumers to have thousands of songs available on demand to suit any mood, situation or activity.

The HDD100 offers a 15GB storage capacity, storing around 3000 songs, equivalent to more than a week of music. The HDD100’s hard disk can be used to store much more than audio. The PC-based software supplied with the HDD100 allows users to download standard graphic equalizer settings such as Rock, Pop, Jazz and Classic to the HDD100, or create new equalizer names and settings to suit their own listening preferences.

The large display gives clear, high-contrast light even in bright outdoor conditions, and also has a white LED backlight for use in dark areas like clubs. The LED display has a clear hardened glass lens that makes it scratch resistant, and the full magnesium body makes Recording Audio Jukebox HDD 100, with it’s 167g, the lightest and the smallest of its type.

Always the right music
The HDD100 Recording Audio Jukebox can store a complete library of songs, enabling the consumer to access them easily wherever and whenever required. Over 3000 MP3 or 6000 WMA files can be stored simultaneously on the device so there is no need to constantly remove tracks to make space for new ones.

The HDD100 compliments its storage possibilities with high-speed data transfer. By incorporating the super fast USB2.0 music and other files can be downloaded quickly from the PC. Users can record using analogue or digital connections, and even use the built-in microphone for recording speech.

Simple navigation
The Recording Audio Jukebox makes it easy to select a particular song with the Philips SuperscrollTM navigation interface. The buttons used to scroll through tracks have two-step functionality. Pressing either the 'up' or 'down' button for longer activates a scroll accelerator (patent pending) that allows faster navigation through the list of stored songs.

Tracks can also be categorized by genre, for instance 'rock', 'hip-hop', 'classical' or 'dance', which makes it much easier to find a certain type of song to suit the occasion. The user can customize these categories, which can be linked to present and future recordings in a particular genre. They are also linked to equalizer settings, so the most appropriate tone is automatically selected for each different genre.

Philips Recording Audio Jukebox offers a considerable amount of music power between recharges. Up to 10 hours of playback is possible from a single rechargeable Li-Ion battery and offers 15 GB of storage capacity. In addition to being used as portable jukeboxes, they can also function as miniature removable PC hard discs, allowing easy transfer of large amounts of data between computers.

[Unregistered]

I've dealt with Philips and Sony. In the case of Sony there was a brilliant engineer/leader (Akio Morita) who took risks and went with his gut. Things like the Walkman and CD player only came about due to his personal vision and force of will.

Both companies are large organizations run by very corporate types. Philips has very little in the way of real advanced development (like many companies they don't trust their own r&d and need to see things validated externally before trying something new).

It isn't surprising that these guys are in a following mode. None of them have a commanding figure like Steve Jobs.

[IronSerif]

This device is one of the "iPod Killers" I was considering purchasing. It really impressed me.

If I knew an available date of purchse I might have picked it over the iPod. But this looks like a very promising device. The 15GB is very generous, but I wonder if they will over different variations in HDD sizes?

[Cloud]

I really dig the look of this player. A couple questions though:

-Does it even/will have FireWire support?

-What will the price point be?

-Is it firmware upgradeable?

-Will it use 3rd party software? I.E. Music Match

[Porsche911]

Originally posted by Unregistered
I've dealt with Philips and Sony. In the case of Sony there was a brilliant engineer/leader (Akio Morita) who took risks and went with his gut. Things like the Walkman and CD player only came about due to his personal vision and force of will.

Both companies are large organizations run by very corporate types. Philips has very little in the way of real advanced development (like many companies they don't trust their own r&d and need to see things validated externally before trying something new).

It isn't surprising that these guys are in a following mode. None of them have a commanding figure like Steve Jobs.

Does it matter as long as the product is good? Some companies spend millions on R&D and still develop a bad product. If Philips can take the best from Sony and Apple and incorporate it into their new HDD100 then cheers to them. Dell basically did the same thing with their Axim PDA. They waited until the market was familiar with the PDA, then developed one based on other companies designs.

[Unregistered]

Sony's mp3 players are known for using encription technology, making their transfer speed slower than other mp3 players that does not encript their files.

[Cloud]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Sony's mp3 players are known for using encription technology, making their transfer speed slower than other mp3 players that does not encript their files.


ummm and what encryption would that be? I don't recall seeing a Sony MP3 player jukebox like this on the market.

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Cloud
I really dig the look of this player. A couple questions though:

-Does it even/will have FireWire support?

-What will the price point be?

-Is it firmware upgradeable?

-Will it use 3rd party software? I.E. Music Match

From my own research into this product:
- No, it does not have Firewire support
- The ipod 15 GB model goes for $400, I'm assuming this will too
- Not sure, but I don't think the firmware is upgradeable
- It will come with Music Match (I prefer Windows Media Player though)

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Cloud



ummm and what encryption would that be? I don't recall seeing a Sony MP3 player jukebox like this on the market.

How about my Music Clip? Not only did it have this system where you could only check out a song 3 times to a player without checking it back in, but it also required you to convert your MP3s into their special format which resulted in having two copies of each song on your computer (original MP3 + new Sony file).

Sure, it wasn't a harddrive based solution, but you are dreaming if you think that Sony will realease it's stranglehold on digital rights management now.

Oh yeah, and they don't tell you that they do this ANYWHERE on the packaging, plus you NEED their NONDOWNLOADABLE software (plus CD key) to use their product. It's just insane.

[Unregistered]

I'd get a Nomad Jukebox Zen if I didn't already have a 10 GB iPod. It's about the same size as the old I pod, but it has a 20 GB HD, and only costs $250!

Oh yeah, and you can edit your playlists on the device itself. I can't count the number of times that I've wanted to remove/add a song from/to a playlist while away from a firewire port (work computers don't have them).

Now if only they would add the scroll wheel from the iPod... What does mac have a patent on that or something?

[Cloud]

Originally posted by Unregistered


How about my Music Clip? Not only did it have this system where you could only check out a song 3 times to a player without checking it back in, but it also required you to convert your MP3s into their special format which resulted in having two copies of each song on your computer (original MP3 + new Sony file).

Sure, it wasn't a harddrive based solution, but you are dreaming if you think that Sony will realease it's stranglehold on digital rights management now.

Oh yeah, and they don't tell you that they do this ANYWHERE on the packaging, plus you NEED their NONDOWNLOADABLE software (plus CD key) to use their product. It's just insane.

Will Sony ever develop an MP3 jukebox I wonder!? I don't think people want to fork out $500 for a Clie that plays MP3's.

BTW, that sucks about the Sony encryption and that you have to use their own format to play back songs, what a terrible idea!

[Cloud]

So many unregistered users....register already so we can chat more!! Technology rules.:D

[Unregistered]

Did anybody applied to the Beta-Test for the Philips HDD100?

I was wondering, because I have got three emails from them, saying something like: "yes, you did it" , "no, you don't " and finally "perhaps, we don't know yet"

Has anybody had the same experience?

ciao
FG

[Unregistered]

Yep, i got those 3 emails...
I already have a 10 gig Ipod, I am trying to decide between a 15 Gig ipod, or the HDD. I asked their customer support and they said it will be released by the end of July, but they wouldnt tell me the MSRP. And yes, it will have upgradable firmware.

[veggiegarden]

I received an email from Phillips on the 29th of May stating I was one of 50 that was picked to Beta Test the HDD100. I cant wait. Its said it would arrive with 4 to 6 weeks.
I'll pass along my comments when I get it.

[Yet Another Unregistered]

Originally posted by Unregistered
I asked their customer support and they said it will be released by the end of July. Anyone else have any confirmation of this?? Cos I'm on the brink of buying an iPod, but if a European alternative is on the horizon then forget it.

[Unregistered]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Unregistered
I'd get a Nomad Jukebox Zen if I didn't already have a 10 GB iPod. It's about the same size as the old I pod, but it has a 20 GB HD, and only costs $250!

Oh yeah, and you can edit your playlists on the device itself. I can't count the number of times that I've wanted to remove/add a song from/to a playlist while away from a firewire port (work computers don't have them).

Now if only they would add the scroll wheel from the iPod... What does mac have a patent on that or something?


you only payed $ 250 for your nomad jukebox zen? here in belgium they cost €490 !!! can't you send one up to me?

[Cloud]

Originally posted by Yet Another Unregistered
Anyone else have any confirmation of this?? Cos I'm on the brink of buying an iPod, but if a European alternative is on the horizon then forget it.

I would wait and see what people think before spending your money on one. My guess is that the iPod will still be the better choice. It is in its 3rd generation and is pretty polished while I am sure the Philips will have some small problems with their as it is a new release.

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Philips has very little in the way of real advanced development

As far as I know, Philips has developped almost everything worthwhile mentioning in modern consumer electronics: i.e. the tape cassette (whatever that's called in English), which made the walkman possible, and the CD.

[veggiegarden]

Received my HDD100 today!! ITS great....

[Porsche911]

what your thoughts about it so far!? I cant wait to hear about it.

[veggiegarden]

I'll give a full report in a few days after I've really played around with it. so far its doing good.

[Unregistered]

I also have just received my HDD100 - its an AMAZING product.

We are supposed to be testing it for bugs, yet I havnt found a single one.....

The HDD100's built-in menu software is really REALLY great. So easy to find the track you want. By Track, Album,or Artist or even Genre! The mic is of VERY high quality - can recored even the slightest sounds at great quality. The equiliser can be set to any number of pre-sets, and also set to AUTO depending on the Genre!!

The buttons are great, I love the soft touch for moving and thhen hard touch for fast scroll. Oh and the Backlight is wonderful. Locking the keys is a great idea, and the in-linc controls are SO GREAT - small, VERY light and with a clip to put it on ur shirt....mmmmm...

My ONLY complaint with teh device, is that there isnt a seperate Play /Pause button in the senter of the other buttons - the Power button IS the play/pause button. Once I found this out though, its a breeze.

I love the Style of it. Very 80s. Its so light aswell. It also transfered 5 gigs of Transformer Episodes onto it in only about 10 mins - which is pretty dam quick.

Im in so love with this. I thought the iPod was good - this is BETTER! :D

-Unnamed tester ;-)

[Unregistered]

does any body actually have the inside info on when this product will be releast?? i call Philips and they told me the end of August..but some body said July eariler....and i can't seen to find any inside info of this product on any of the web site...so those who actually received the product maybe you can do some research or maybe you can call in as a Philips HDD100 tester and get the exact day and the MSRP...i also want to try it out soooo bad...got ipod couple days ago...the stupid firewire won't workright....so it's been on and off so i had to return the firewire card and still waiting to get a new firewire card...but i might return ipod and wait for HDD100.......

[veggiegarden]

according to phillips It will be released around the end of July. and the price should be between 250.00 - 300.00
According to a customer service rep.

So dont quote me on that. Thats what I just got from echat with the Phillips customer service people.

[Unregistered]

does companies always do things like this? i mean why can't they just tell us the exact day...it's not like it's still a year away from the release day....sigh..i called couple times too...no stright answer...but thanks for the MSRP..at least i have some idea...maybe i'll just hold off on that ipod and maybe compare them when HDD100 comes out....let's just hope it's come out before i go off to college..because there is no best buy or any kind around the campus.....

[Unregistered]

Hi guys,

I noticed in one preliminary web review that
the HDD100 only gets 10 hours of battery life.
That coupled with the fact that it's an internal
rechargeable battery (like the iPod and Zen
and others), is a serious drawback in my opinion.

I would much rather have replaceable batteries,
or some option for an outboard battery pack.
10 hours between charges isn't enough for a lot
of people (I often have my solid state player
in use for 30-40 hours without access to
charger).

So... any word from the beta testers on battery
life?

Thanks,

- dc

[Unregistered]

i don't think you need a tester for that...i mean hard drive based...that's got moving part with in the player.....and still have to make it light...unless philips have some magic break through with the battery technology (maybe using fusion or something...lol)....don't really expect too much battery time...i mean ipod only do like 10 hours...i suppose that's ok.....and yes im also still looking between ipod of the HDD...was gonna get sony but i don't want to convert files..

[vladmin]

Zen let's you charge off the USB connection. Maybe Philips picked up on this. USB port only though, not the firewire (I don't know how the Philips is set up). This works great for me because I leave my charger at home and leach off the computers I'm always around when I need to charge it up.

[Unregistered]

Hey - Unnamed tester here again...

Battery life is actually very good.

10 hours I would say is minimum, because I wne for a 12 hour shift where I work and had it on the whole time and it was still playing when I got home....I suppose it depends on the bitrate/cpu power required to decode the MP3s, and the volume u have (i have it fairly loud). You have to remember tat solid state-players dont have any moving parts. This is a HDD player, so it has to spin up and down the HDD, which uses up a lot of power. Compair it to the Zen and iPod and it is very favourable.

Again, I have to compliment Philips on their earphones.....they are really really great.

I agree that having a internal battery is not a good thing in the long-term, it does save me from buying and recharging lots of tiny batterys.

The Philips cant charge off the USB I think..but I'd rather not, as in 2 hours the HDD100 can be 80% charged using the normal Mains adapter.

From what I have from Philips, its going to cost $250 USD. They want us to test it for 8 weeks from the start of July, so I doubt its going to be out in July. I wouls say Minimum Mid-August.

Bugs wise: I have found 1 or 2 small bugs, but I cant really say what they are. They are VERY small and dont impact the player much. Easily fixed with a firmware upgrade (remember I still dont have the final shiped firmware).

Any more Q.s about it, post in this topic....I will be watching ;)

-Unnamed Tester ;-)

[Unregistered]

Oh, and its a Lithium-Polymer based battery - much better than Lithium-Ion. ;-)

-Unnamed Tester

[Unregistered]

Noooooooooooooooooooo...not mid-august....im dying to get a hold of that little device......mid-august i'll be off to college....i can't take this waiting game any longer.......some body just kill me here...lol, just kidding...but quesiton for the unnamed tester...do the device give you a solid feel? like the ipod it feels heavy...but you know the "good heavy" feel...how does the HDD feel like when you hold it up??

[vladmin]

Can one of you beta guys take some pictures and post them? I'd like to see what it looks like in real life and it's relative size.

[Unregistered]

I'll see if I can get a photo or 2 up in a few days.

But yeah - its size fits perfectly in the palm of my hand. It weight is not too light to feel as if it isnt there, but enough to let u know it has some gear inside it.....if u know what I mean. Its just about the right weight for sich a sized device. If it was any heavyer I wouldnt take it shoppign with me, and any lighter I would forget about it all the time.

Hope that makes sence :-\

-Unnamed Tester ;-)

[Ioman]

Originally posted by Unregistered
I'll see if I can get a photo or 2 up in a few days.

But yeah - its size fits perfectly in the palm of my hand. It weight is not too light to feel as if it isnt there, but enough to let u know it has some gear inside it.....if u know what I mean. Its just about the right weight for sich a sized device. If it was any heavyer I wouldnt take it shoppign with me, and any lighter I would forget about it all the time.

Hope that makes sence :-\

-Unnamed Tester ;-)


Any possiblility of you registering so we can get to know ya!? ;)

[Unregistered]

Hehe - after the Beta testing phase is over....i dont want Philips knocking on my door - I did have to sign an NDA ;-)

[Ioman]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Hehe - after the Beta testing phase is over....i dont want Philips knocking on my door - I did have to sign an NDA ;-)

Gotcha, no problem. Stay cool!:)

[vladmin]

What size HDD does it use? 1.8" like ipod or 2.5" like Zen? Any of you guys got the balls to open one up? :)

[Unregistered]

Dont need to - it tells u in the Docs ;-)

If you do a search on Philips' support page, u can actually download the manual and get the info....

But if u really need to know, its a 1.8" HDD :)

-Unnamed Tested ;-)

[Ioman]

Quick question. Why is Philips beta testing this MP3 player when it is already available? I see it in the Goog Guys ad for $349.

[xmutinyx]

Hiya guys... just thought you all would like to see this.

http://www.goodguys.com/adtemplate.asp?invky=349360

$399USD

[Unregistered]

well then if this web site is not fake or anything...HDD is probably out as it is...i was told that in asia it's been out for a while..but i was never able to find the exact price...some tester told us it's $250...but on this web site it's another $399....heart break.....i thought maybe if philips sell this good problme..then i can get a good hard drive based mp3 player with a cheap price...and even if it is not as good as ipodt...the price should make up for it...but now...seems like i have some tough decision to make.....question? is there any body actually call that web site or actually order a unit already?? from that web site? and why is it only on that web site but not amazon.com i was expect amazon.com to be the first web site to have that unit....werid..

[Ioman]

My local GoodGuys has it for $348 with a 15GB hard drive.

[Unregistered]

Seems strange - I have a statement from Philips' Hong-Kong factory (where they make them) and it says that it is $250 USD from them.

Im amazed u can buy them - they arnt supposed to be out yet, and we havnt even given back our first beta-test bug report!

I can only assume u can pre-order them now.....as I have noticed on Amazon.co.uk - That is priced at £299.99.

Photos of the Unit itself and my Hong-Kong Statement of price will follow tomorrow.

-Unnamed Tester

[Unregistered]

ok even though im at a beta tester i have thought about what is the point to release a product while the beta tester is just started or only half way done with their test...

and im thinking philips is probably expecting softwear result, so once the product is out they can actually start making upgrade or patch for the bugs will appear after thousands of peple get the product...but thats' just want i think and that's probably the only thing they can do...

[vladmin]

Originally posted by Ioman
My local GoodGuys has it for $348 with a 15GB hard drive.

and

Originally posted by Unregistered
I can only assume u can pre-order them now.....as I have noticed on Amazon.co.uk - That is priced at £299.99.
-Unnamed Tester

well £299.99 = $479

hmmm.... seems like another overpriced MP3 player. That price for 15GB is pretty weak IMO, but I guess it's comparable with the ipod.

Ipod is all white and Philips is all black... it's like evil ipod... join the darkside... or just save money and buy Zen?.. :rolleyes:

[Unregistered]

Although u have the price conversion right, its almost never actualy like that in real-life...

Most of the time, when a product comes out in the US at say, $200 - it comes out in the UK for £200. Due to the conversion rates, they make more money out of the UK unit than the US.

Photos to come later on today!

-Unnamed Tester ;-)

[Unregistered]

Ok - here are the pics I promised!!!!! :-) I apologise for the mess- Im currently moving house!

Shame I cant make the images part of the post :( Just hyperlinks.....

The Box! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/box.jpg) - Kinda groovy!

U want size comparisons...here u go!

Against a mouse! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/mouse.jpg)

Against my Hand! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/hand.jpg)

Another Hand pic! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/hand2.jpg)

Against a Credit Card!! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/creditcard.jpg) - Its a great size comparison.

And to show off the backlight (sorry about eh quality of this pic 0 my camera hates darkness)

In the Dark with a Backlight! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/dark.jpg) - Great backlight!

And finally, as regard to the pricing....

The Invoice! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/invoice1.jpg) - Direct from Philips

and closer...

A closer look at the price! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/invoice2.jpg)

Hope thats good enough for u guys - just shout if u need anything more.

-Unnamed Tester ;-)

[Unregistered]

So has someone ordered from Good Guys? The price is actually $360 with a current 10% rebate.

[Unregistered]

perhaps the $240 invoice price is the wholesale price coming out of hk to distributers. if so, that's a pretty healthy margin them.

[sebastian]

btw, previous message from me, not our unnamed beta in-the-know.

[vladmin]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Ok - here are the pics I promised!!!!! :-) I apologise for the mess- Im currently moving house!

Shame I cant make the images part of the post :( Just hyperlinks.....

The Box! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/box.jpg) - Kinda groovy!

U want size comparisons...here u go!

Against a mouse! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/mouse.jpg)

Against my Hand! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/hand.jpg)

Another Hand pic! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/hand2.jpg)

Against a Credit Card!! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/creditcard.jpg) - Its a great size comparison.

And to show off the backlight (sorry about eh quality of this pic 0 my camera hates darkness)

In the Dark with a Backlight! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/dark.jpg) - Great backlight!

And finally, as regard to the pricing....

The Invoice! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/invoice1.jpg) - Direct from Philips

and closer...

A closer look at the price! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/invoice2.jpg)

Hope thats good enough for u guys - just shout if u need anything more.

-Unnamed Tester ;-)

Thanks for getting the pics up so soon. Now I don't want anyone to think that I'm a Zen snob or I think it's the greatest thing or something but I'm gonna attach some pics just as a comparison for any who are interested.

[vladmin]

and another

[xmutinyx]

J&R Music World has it for preorder... $399.98USD

http://www.jandr.com/JRProductPage.process?RestartFlow=t&Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1749&Product_Id=3709627

[Ioman]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Ok - here are the pics I promised!!!!! :-) I apologise for the mess- Im currently moving house!

Shame I cant make the images part of the post :( Just hyperlinks.....

The Box! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/box.jpg) - Kinda groovy!

U want size comparisons...here u go!

Against a mouse! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/mouse.jpg)

Against my Hand! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/hand.jpg)

Another Hand pic! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/hand2.jpg)

Against a Credit Card!! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/creditcard.jpg) - Its a great size comparison.

And to show off the backlight (sorry about eh quality of this pic 0 my camera hates darkness)

In the Dark with a Backlight! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/dark.jpg) - Great backlight!

And finally, as regard to the pricing....

The Invoice! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/invoice1.jpg) - Direct from Philips

and closer...

A closer look at the price! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/invoice2.jpg)

Hope thats good enough for u guys - just shout if u need anything more.

-Unnamed Tester ;-)

How about a picture of it from the side? I would love to see a size comparison of it against an Apple iPod.

[Unregistered]

well ok....i try not to get my hope up that philips will sell their product for $250...but after two web site selling for over $350...i think the chance of the HDD to be $250 is very slim....well then as soon as it comes to best buy or other retailer..i'll have to buy and to compare..

[Unregistered]

is there any body out there able to find HDD100 at a more general store yet? like best buy, targer or sears? i mean if it's out at the web site already i bet it's probably out...

[Unregistered]

hey betatesters-

can you plug an external mic into the line in jack and record with a good mic (not the crummy built in one). this is essential for recording concerts (one of the most appealing aspects of this unit). i sure hope philips didn't make the mistake of not including external mic support!

[Unregistered]

how come this product is out at UK already.....but we still have no FREAKING idea when is going to be the exact relase day at US???? what is philps doing??

[sebastian]

also from J & R's site, the philips hdd400:
http://www.jandr.com/JRProductPage.process?RestartFlow=t&Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1749&Product_Id=3709628

[Unregistered]

hdd400?? what the hell is this...i can't find any of it's info on the web and how come good guy have it already?? plus other the full color lcd dispaly i don't see any difference...but where is this hdd400 came from...just kinda pop out all the sudden??

[xmutinyx]

Just got this in this morning from Philips Support.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for your e-mail regarding your interest in one of our Philips product .

We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.

Presently we are unable to provide with the exact release date for this unit. This unit is due on the market before fall, and we are not sure on the retailers price.

For this information, you can visit our web site at www.PhilipsUSA.com, click on our "where to buy" option, then insert your zip code. At this point you will be able to see stores in your area that stock this unit.

Or, if you prefer, you can visit any of our top retailers:

Sears
Wal-Mart
Best Buy
Circuit City
Target
Costco
Office Depot
Sam's Wholesale
Comp USA

Please note that we are not able to give you detailed information of the warehouse inventory or type of stock that these above-mentioned stores carry. therefore, these stores will need to be contacted for further information.

If there is anything else that we can assist you with, please do not hesitate to contact via e-mail or chat. Go to PhilipsUsa.com and click on the "Contact Us" Link and choose the medium you wish to use.

Sincerely,

Maurice Fennell
Philips USA Customer Support.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So this tells us officially NOTHING

[Unregistered]

lol...i got the exact same thing.......i don't know if philips is stupid or they are still trying to hide something...but what is there to hide?? is product is out why can't they just tell us when the product will be out to the retailer...god dam...annoying

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Ok - here are the pics I promised!!!!! :-) I apologise for the mess- Im currently moving house!

Shame I cant make the images part of the post :( Just hyperlinks.....

The Box! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/box.jpg) - Kinda groovy!

U want size comparisons...here u go!

Against a mouse! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/mouse.jpg)

Against my Hand! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/hand.jpg)

Another Hand pic! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/hand2.jpg)

Against a Credit Card!! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/creditcard.jpg) - Its a great size comparison.

And to show off the backlight (sorry about eh quality of this pic 0 my camera hates darkness)

In the Dark with a Backlight! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/dark.jpg) - Great backlight!

And finally, as regard to the pricing....

The Invoice! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/invoice1.jpg) - Direct from Philips

and closer...

A closer look at the price! (http://www.cgbox.com/tester/invoice2.jpg)

Hope thats good enough for u guys - just shout if u need anything more.

-Unnamed Tester ;-)


thanks alot for the picture....if we are just compare looks wise...i think ipod looks much much better then hdd100...i mean ipod's got the clear looks...but hdd...looks like a plastic toy...anyways but i'll still wait to see what the player really got in it

[Unregistered]

Don't know but there is a picture of the hdd100, but then with a colordisplay, don't know if it can play movies. Maybe it's the hdd400.
Hdd400? (http://users.skynet.be/fa280602/flipshdd100_bigger.jpg)


Greets

[Unregistered]

I'd love to know if the Philips HDD 100 allows you to make playlists away from your pc. I have a Jukebox Zen and I can make a decent playlist pretty quickly but I'm still not happy with the firmware with the zen. Its too clunky and the screen is a wee bit too small for it.

[Unregistered]

Yes, you can make Playlists directly on the HDD100. But I don't like the feature.
I want to make playlists with my favourite mp3-tool and then put it on the device. But thats impossible with the Philips software for transferring the files. To make playlists you have to use either the software or the HDD100 itself. In my opinion both of them do not have an ease of use for this purpose

ciao
another unknown HDD100-Tester :)

[Unregistered]

Hmmm, you'd expect the spofware to at least convert winamp .m3u files to playlists. Next software update I hope :)

moriaty

[Unregistered]

does any body have anything new on the Hdd 100?? anything about the exact relase day or price?? according to past articles End of July relase date is comming close!! i'll check out target and some other place..

[Ioman]

I sam pretty excited to hear about this system as well. I need to go over to Good Guys and try one out.

[Unregistered]

too bad where i live they don't have good guys local store(the closest one if about 6 states away)...other wise i will get one and try it out....but as for now i won't want to go through the whole online return policy too much work....

[Unregistered]

Dutch people can already buy it from their local Dixons or online @ http://www.dixons.nl/Store/product/product.asp?cat=Audio&menucat=Audio%5FMP3%5Fspelers&subcat=Audio%5FMP3%5Fspelers&scindex=7&subsubcat=Audio%5FMP3%5Fspelers&prid=0007039545

It sells for €499, so thats about $560.

/moriaty

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Unregistered
As far as I know, Philips has developped almost everything worthwhile mentioning in modern consumer electronics: i.e. the tape cassette (whatever that's called in English), which made the walkman possible, and the CD.

Indeed, I know Philips is currently developing a 3d-tv (tv which makes 3d-images of standard 2d-movies or from 3d-movies itself), one of the technicans of philips came to my university a few months ago and showed how it worked, too bad they only had a few prototypes, so I couldn't see it for myself, but it's very promissing... It'll be on the market in about 10-15 years...
So people yelling that philips is not on the very edge of technology are a little bit uninformed...

[Pepijn Borgwat]

Originally posted by Cloud
I really dig the look of this player. A couple questions though:

-Does it even/will have FireWire support?

-What will the price point be?

-Is it firmware upgradeable?

-Will it use 3rd party software? I.E. Music Match

-it doesn't have firewire support, but it supports USB 1.1 and 2.0, 2.0 is faster than firewire..

-here in the netherlands you can get it for 500 euro. just as expensive as the 15 Gb ipod.

-it is certainly firmware upgradable

-yes, it comes with music match, but that sucks like hell!!!
fed up ipod users created ephod. i don't think it will work with the hdd100, but there may come a similair program...

I'm doubting if I should get the fu<king beautiful ipod or the -less beautiful- hdd100...

but some people are having trouble with the ipod...

pepijn (haarlem, netherlands)

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Dutch people can already buy it from their local Dixons or online @ http://www.dixons.nl/Store/product/product.asp?cat=Audio&menucat=Audio%5FMP3%5Fspelers&subcat=Audio%5FMP3%5Fspelers&scindex=7&subsubcat=Audio%5FMP3%5Fspelers&prid=0007039545

It sells for €499, so thats about $560.

/moriaty

online, dixons, mycom, dynabyte, it's, v&d...
we can get it everywhere (since a month or so...)!!!
but he, you (americans) get all the games about a half year before we do... :(
pepijn (netherlands)

[Unregistered]

Can anyone tell me how it sounds.That's what i am looking for in an MP3 Player. I have tried Zen ( Which has a 98 db S/N Ratio and 75 db channel seperation). However i was not impressed with its sound when compared to my Sony Net Md ( Songs compared -- Audioslave -- Like a stone , PAul Van Dyk -- We are Alive). The specs show 5mw O/P power that is very less compared to 20 mw zen 30 mw ipod. Do you have to crank up the volume. Also does it have an Ultra Bass setting or use EQ. There is an equally promising player from iRiver ( ihp 100/200) whic has better specs and new one from creative ( Zen NX same specs as Zen only smaller). I need to buy a player so any help is appreciated


Thanks in advance

[Unregistered]

Yeah I'm also concerned about how it sounds. Especially in relation to iPod.

I do know that it has a 5 way equaliser which is a lot better than iPod.

[Unregistered]

I read that the hdd100 also can be used as an external hard drive. Is this like the zen where the only way you can access the hard drive is from the software that comes with it or does it just appear in your My Computer folder and is able to just open in the explorer window.

So far I am very impressed with what I'm hearing about this player. I already treid the zen and although I was impressed I just found that if I'm gonna spend over £300 on a hard drive mp3 player then I want it to be as near perfect as possible.

[Unregistered]

well as far as i know...people were saying that it's external harddrive ability is the same as ipod and i remember reading some article that you won't need extra softwear to make a external harddrive maybe the most you have to do is probably update to w2k service pack 4 so the computer can find the driver.

[Teaflax]

I was stunned on Friday to see the HDD100 at Swedish boys-toys store Teknikmagasinet (http://www.teknikmagasinet.se). I was just poking my head into see if maybe they hade the iRiver recording 10 GB portable, which I knew had arrived in Sweden. The iRiver looked promisng, if not stunning for my needs (I'm a subtitler, and need something to record the soundtrack of pre-release movies for translation).

But at 4500 SEK (562 USD, 489 Euro), I wanted to be sure that it worked well, and being a designer on the side, the aesthetic appeal is also important to me. The iRiver is better-looking than the Archos (then again, what isn't?), but I feel a bit uncertain buying expensive hardware from a company whose nearest official office is in the Czech Republic.

But it was beginning to look to me like I'd have to go with the iRiver, even though it was semi-ugly.

Which is why I was bowled over to see a stack of HDD's at this store - this is a machine I thought was not going to be out for another three-four months, and here it was in some dinky b-level store in downtown Stockholm.

Well, the HDD is (apart from the mythical Bantam BA1000) the only machine in its class to compete with the iPod for looks. And to be honest, to me, it looks even better.

But at a price, of course. 5000 SEK (543 Euro, 625 dollars). That's about 12% more for 50% more HD space, sleek black looks (including yummy "reversed" screen), and a remote-on-the-headphones. I believe the latter is optional on the iRiver.

The included headphones are surprisingly good, and so far have not hurt my ears (which are small enough that most earbuds become painful after longer use). The volume is much more than needed, which is good for those too-quiet MP3's, and there is a bass-boost option separate from the five-band equalizer, but that seemed to make the head phones rattle.

Early impressions are very favorable, although the DMM software that's used for transfering songs is idiotic in many ways (no ability to rename playlists, for instance), some of that can be worked around. Making and handling playlists on the player itself is cumbersome, and also has renaming issues. You cannot erase a file while in "play" mode (even if it is turned off or paused), but have to backstep to the Library mode to do so - clumsy.

Biggest drawback: the HDD100 doesn't read track order tags. So you'll step through artist/album to tracklist, only to find the songs in alphabetical order. Again, something that can be worked around (by naming your files 01 - Overture, etc.), but that's just plain dumb, because it should be a cinch. Hopefully, this will be fixed in a firmware upgrade.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[Unregistered]

what's bestbuy, sears or targer doing...why don't they have hdd100 yet....god dam..

[Unregistered]

Well it seems that the only people who have one are Scandinavians... I don't think it's been officially released anywhere apart from there.

[Unregistered]

HDD100 is pretty much like a open screct now..i mean alot of people have it now and even people who doesn't have it knows the spec of the player and what it can do and stuff...what is philips doing not telling people the exact release day!!!!!!! i mean what more is there to hide??i really don't get it...i mean i can wait that's not problme...but at least tell me when it will be out so i have a general idea..

[Unregistered]

d

[Unregistered]

Sorry about that :P.

Anyways, our local Good Guys has it. I checked it out along with the iPod sample they had. I didn't like either player. Very little options to tweak with, and I didn't like how you browse your music files. I'll hold up for now and wait for iRiver's iHP-100 to reach the US. It has numerous options to customize, capable of supporting 30+ languages, and it has the most important file-browsing feature to me: browsing by folder and filename. Seems like this is the only HD unit I've seen that could organize files in folders. And file transfer is extremely painless and easy. Just drag and drop or copy-and-paste, since Windows simply treats it as another storage device. No need to use software like MusicMatch or DMM or whatever.

Now when the heck is it gonna make it here...

[Unregistered]

Amazon UK now says available within 24 hours:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000A9Z0C/ref=sr_aps_electronics_1_1/202-8326942-4501422

[Unregistered]

alright...from the looks of it...i think the iriver looks better..and if all you have to do is drag-and-drop then you can play the mp3 or wma...that does sound pretty good and much easiler to use...but then again...it's not in US yet..other wise i will give it a try...lol...how sad...nothing is in US yet.....

[JediPoo]

I get really pissed off with these big ass companies being really cagey about releaseing info on there new products. Creative were just the same when they were releaseing the 60gb zen. I basically gave up in deciding weather I wanted a zen cuz they never gave me no reason for me to hold my interest in it. So screw them.

Now I find Philips are doing the same. In fact its gotten worse. If Philips want to sell us their product then friggin TELL US ABOUT IT!!!
I mean ffs its not that hard to make a little press release every now and then.

[Unregistered]

yea man..totally agree with you....been wating for HDD100's release day every since june..back they june they say it's going to be out to best buy and targer retailer story like that at the end of JULY....and now is pretty much the END OF JULY...still no sign of it comming out.....call them several times or e-mail them still the same....i mean..what the hell...just tell us the relase day...it' not like we'll do any damage...

[Guest]

All I really want is an accurate price range. Is it really going to cost $500+ US?

[Unregistered]

lol...they are not saying anything...what can we do...

[Unregistered]

I heard that the mp3 playing ability of the HDD100 is disabled when you add files using Windows explorer. I believe this had to do with copyright issues or something. How big is the chance that someone will make a firmware where this option is disabled so that you can just use explorer to add files or music to the player.

[Unregistered]

You have to use the Digital Media Manager software for transferring files to the HDD100. Too much hassle. I'd rather wait for iRiver's device. Straight and simple.

[Unregistered]

http://www.goodguys.com/adtemplate.asp?invky=349360&catky=162625

Finaly

[Unregistered]

it's nice that you put that up there...but some body posted that already..eariler..but thanks anyways

[Unregistered]

Does anyone know what the difference is between the HDD100/05 and the HDD100/17?

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Does anyone know what the difference is between the HDD100/05 and the HDD100/17?

Maybe the firmware installed on the product?

[Unregistered]

To the beta testers

Just wondering what you believe the quality of the unit to be like, build quality particularly? I have read of several people's complaints about Philip's products as opposed to Sony and Toshiba but I am yet to own any Philip's devices?

I'm tossing up as to whether to go the recording abilities of the Philip's or the 14 hour battery life (replacable) of the Nomad Zen NX.

[Unregistered]

Hello all,

just a couple of questions about the new HDD100. First of all will it need a firewire connection? Secondly will it be compatible with Win98 and lastly: how do you get to be a tester for these products????I'd love to test out new stuff for companies especially before handing over serious money for stuff.

[Unregistered]

no it's work with USB not firewire...don't know much about if it'll work with win98 or not...and you can't become a tester any more...back in May or June i think, on one of philips web site there is a page to sign up to become beta tester...limited time only and limited to only 50 people it's too late now....but if you really want to test out something...wait until the HDD100 gots to some big retailer store...like best buy or targer or seares....buy it don't lose the reciept...if you like it, keep it, if you don't then return it.....but this is only a methods to test out stuff don't make it habit just buy and return stuff......good luck with it..

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Hello all,

just a couple of questions about the new HDD100. First of all will it need a firewire connection? Secondly will it be compatible with Win98 and lastly: how do you get to be a tester for these products????I'd love to test out new stuff for companies especially before handing over serious money for stuff.

just keep your eyes on this page www.audio.philips.com/betatest.asp (http://www.audio.philips.com/betatest.asp")
There will be new beta tests is the near future.

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Unregistered
just keep your eyes on this page www.audio.philips.com/betatest.asp (http://www.audio.philips.com/betatest.asp")
There will be new beta tests is the near future.

Hmm, have you ever tried to read the whole bunch of posts in this thread?
The so called "Beta-Test" is already in progress.

The HDD100 is equipped with USB2.0 capabilities, so Philips has decided that no FireWire is available/needed.
As I only have WinXP, I have no real experience with my HDD100 and Win98-Machines, but drivers for Win98 are available.

best regards
another anonymous "beta tester" for the Philips HDD100 (mine is named HDD100/00, has anybody figured out yet what the differences between /00 , /05 an /17 are?)

[james]

I bought mine from amazon.co.uk last week and it's a hdd100/05. I spoke to Philips and they said that the official release won't be until next week when their new brochure comes out so maybe that will be the 100/17. Looking here:
http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/dcbint?lang=eng&s=global&mode=search&searchstring=hdd100&country= all the firmware etc seems to be the same.

In relation to some other questions, build quality is good, it feels very solid. It does freeze a lot though, requiring a soft reset, I haven't worked out exactly why yet, have beta testers had this problem? The fact that it plays the tracks on an album in alphabetical order is ridiculous (is this something that could be fixed in a firmware update?). On the positive side all the menus, etc are easy to navigate and I really like the look of it all.

The DMM software is appalling, generally feels very flimsy, crashes a lot and takes about ten minutes to check what files are on your device when you start it up (that's with about 8gb on it). Hopefully someone will come up with some other piece of software to transfer files across as it's a pretty painful process at present.

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by james
I bought mine from amazon.co.uk last week and it's a hdd100/05.
...
It does freeze a lot though, requiring a soft reset, I haven't worked out exactly why yet, have beta testers had this problem?
...
The DMM software is appalling, generally feels very flimsy, crashes a lot and takes about ten minutes to check what files are on your device when you start it up (that's with about 8gb on it). Hopefully someone will come up with some other piece of software to transfer files across as it's a pretty painful process at present.

Ok, to the other beta-testers: Have you also got a HDD100/00 - device?

Yep, it's freezing very fast. One thing I was observing was switching off and on again let's freeze in min. 75% of all cases.
Another thing is with double songs (same song transferred from two different PCs or directories). One song plays fine, the other lets the device freeze.

And for this "manager" thingy : I agree with you 100%, its absolut crap.
I am used to my archos; you can just drag and drop the files in explorer.

best regards, another "beta tester"

[Unregistered]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by james
[B]I bought mine from amazon.co.uk last week and it's a hdd100/05. I spoke to Philips and they said that the official release won't be until next week when their new brochure comes out so maybe that will be the 100/17. Looking here:
http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/dcbint?lang=eng&s=global&mode=search&searchstring=hdd100&country= all the firmware etc seems to be the same.

Official release...next week?? was in the august 11-august 16?? week? how sure are you...this is a big new...been trying to find out about the god dam release time....are you sure about the release time??

[Unregistered]

sorry about that last time....

Originally posted by james
I bought mine from amazon.co.uk last week and it's a hdd100/05. I spoke to Philips and they said that the official release won't be until next week when their new brochure comes out so maybe that will be the 100/17. Looking here:
http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/dcbint?lang=eng&s=global&mode=search&searchstring=hdd100&country= all the firmware etc seems to be the same.



Official release...next week?? was in the august 11-august 16?? week? how sure are you...this is a big new...been trying to find out about the god dam release time....are you sure about the release time??

[james]

I phoned up last tuesday and the guy said that he didn't have any information about the hdd100 yet as it was going to be in their new brochure which was due out in two weeks and that the release date should coincide with that. So that works out some time around next week. (This is in the UK).

[Unregistered]

and the relese time in US??

[james]

You're probably best to phone Philips and ask:
800-531-0039

[Unregistered]

has anyone bought one of these off the goodguys website? has it arrived yet?

[Unregistered]

I've had mine from Frys for 24 hours now (official version, not beta) Paid $399.00 and I really dig it (the equalizer matching and adjustments on recording controls is cool.) I've come from a 3G iPod and so getting used to the different interface took a little time. Actually, after dealing with the appaling DMM program (writen in Flash of all things), I was a little worried I'd have to return the HDD 100 because it wasn't user friendly enough. However, the HDD 100 , itself, is great and not that hard to understand with a very cleaned-up/polished interface. It did freeze up on me once and I soft rebooted, but I haven't seen it happen again and I was such a newbie at that time I just chalked it up to user error. I think the screen and outer design of the machine is just gorgeous (kind of like a "black tie" version of an mp3 player)

It I were Apple, I'd consider this a serious contender, especially if Philips does a good job marketing it, The HDD100 has, today, a lot of features that iPod users have been promised will show up on the _next_ revision of iPods . I'll give it a week before deciding, but if all goes as it has this last 24hrs, my 3G iPod will be going up on eBay. (Another note, the sound is _much_ better on the Philips. I used the exact same mp3 file on both the Apple player and the Philips and turned off any equalizers and bass boost on the HDD-100 and swapped out their better earbuds for the same ones as Apple's and the clarity of the sound was much better on the HDD.)

[Unregistered]

im on the beta test for this player. it is a great player, but the software that you use to transfer the music is garbage. complete garbage. slow and ineffective. i would use the player much much more if they allowed drag and drop like creatives nomad.

scott
zoomerx7@aol.com

[Unregistered]

the software always sucks....when was there a mp3 player that you heard 9 out of 10 people telling the softwear is good?? (im talking about the one that came with the player, not the one made by it's user..)

[Unregistered]

so does anyone know of any third party software that is compatible with the HDD100 ??

This software thing is giving me second thoughts. I hope philips take notice and start working on a patch or something. Or even a totally new prog.

[Unregistered]

Seeing as DMM seems like a fairly immature program, scrapping it and starting again wouldn't be a great loss. I'm not worried about my HDD-100 because both the interface software and the firmware on the HDD-100 are upgradeable and Philips is a large enough company that I don't fear tthat they would discontinue support.

I just have to keep remembering that some of these issues are part of being an "earlier adopter" for new new products. (Plus on the hardware side, I can't seen any flaws :)

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Indeed, I know Philips is currently developing a 3d-tv (tv which makes 3d-images of standard 2d-movies or from 3d-movies itself), one of the technicans of philips came to my university a few months ago and showed how it worked, too bad they only had a few prototypes, so I couldn't see it for myself, but it's very promissing... It'll be on the market in about 10-15 years...
So people yelling that philips is not on the very edge of technology are a little bit uninformed...

The 3D tv is WAY OLD... In India, a company called Niky Tasha had the 3d tv out in 1986... So if philips is making a 3d tv... its copying Niky Tasha and is definitely NOT the first company to make 3d tvs.

[samsam]

I like to know following things about the hdd100:

1: Is it possible to connect the hdd100 to an amplifier and listen over a hi-fi system?

2: what happens if the battery is broken down? Can it be changed in any way?

3: is it expectable that there will be a firmware avaiable from any source) that allows to copy music from the hdd100 back to a PC?

[genzo]

beta testers, can you verify whether or not the hdd 100 has an FM tuner? i can't find info anywhere confirming whether or not a tuner comes built in (or will have a future remote w/ one).

thanks in advance for the info! :)

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by genzo
beta testers, can you verify whether or not the hdd 100 has an FM tuner? i can't find info anywhere confirming whether or not a tuner comes built in (or will have a future remote w/ one).

thanks in advance for the info! :)

No FM build in.

another Beta Tester

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by samsam
I like to know following things about the hdd100:

1: Is it possible to connect the hdd100 to an amplifier and listen over a hi-fi system?

2: what happens if the battery is broken down? Can it be changed in any way?

3: is it expectable that there will be a firmware avaiable from any source) that allows to copy music from the hdd100 back to a PC?

1: Only via ear-plug. Its ok, but not the best solution in my opinion.

2: I don't know. Hopefully its changeable. I have not tried to open the package yet.

3: This is fairly easy. You can get every MP3-File back from the Device. You only loose the directory-information. And you need a renaming-tool for MP3 based on ID3-Tag information, as the device renames the files in the uploading-process.


another Beta-tester

[Unregistered]

Philips is the inventor and holds the patents of the Compact Disc (together with Sony) as well as the Tape Recorder / Player and was one of the main developers / inventors of DVD. It is now on the same group as Sony for the next standars for DVD.

[james]

There's new software / firmware available now from here:
http://www.p4c.philips.com

The software (v1.1) seems to be a slight improvement. A help link has been added (which just opens the manual pdf) and it also gives you an indication of its progress when updating from the library / device at the start.

The only thing I've noticed with the firmware upgrade (v4.0) is that whereas before it listed / played the tracks on an album in alphabetical order, it now lists / plays them in a random order. Which is obviously not much better.

[Unregistered]

Yeah that's not an improvement at all... I'd rather have it in alphabetical order than no order at all. So is there any way to determine the order? At least before you could add numbers to the names to get them the right order.

[james]

Yeah, must be some other improvement in the firmware because I can't imagine they'd have done that on purpose...

At least you can restore to the previous firmware.

[james]

Oh, the new firmware's also added a sleep timer.

[EvoMike03]

I just bought a HDD100 from a local Tweeter store and none of my computers will install the DMM software that they sent me...what the hell is that all about? The CD just keeps trying to read in the drive. I also tried downloading it off of Philips website and installing it that way but all i got was an empty Zip file. What should i do?

[Unregistered]

Does anyone know of the size dimensions of the hdd100? and how it compares to the new ipods?

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by EvoMike03
I just bought a HDD100 from a local Tweeter store and none of my computers will install the DMM software that they sent me...what the hell is that all about? The CD just keeps trying to read in the drive. I also tried downloading it off of Philips website and installing it that way but all i got was an empty Zip file. What should i do?

How much $$??

[Unregistered]

Just got mine in the mail today.

Nice size and looks. Dimensions as measured by my ruler: 0.7 by 4.1 by 2.6 inches. This compares to the iPod's 4.1 by 2.4 by 0.62--bigger, but not too much bigger. Weight is supposed to be 167g, which translates to 5.9 oz., vs. the iPod's 5.6 oz.

Unfortunately, there are some "version 1" kinks to work out. First of all, with the default firmware, it doesn't read the track # id3 tag properly and instead plays in alphabetical order. I really wouldn't mind this but the original firmware kept making my machine crash constantly. So I updated the firmware to v4 and now the tracks play in random order no matter what you do! Lovely.

Oh, and the fast forward/rewind buttons are a pain to use. They require a "half button" press; press a little farther than "half" and you've skipped to the previous or next track. The other menu navigation is pretty easy to pick up on once you get the hang of it. Screen is nicely backlit and has about 20 gradations for contrast .

It can be used as a hard drive. MP3s are accessible too (as far as I can tell), but they have weird file names like 4d6dedcc.mp3. I can copy these files back to the computer, but obviously the directory structure and file names are all screwed up. ID3 tags are intact, of course. So two-way transfer is possible, but convoluted.

DMM software sucks. It looks like some 10 year old programmer put it together on a late night shift. I haven't bothered trying to use it to scan my whole mp3 collection yet.

Recording quality through the mic sucks (to me). Through the mic it will only encode up to 64 kbps, so you will hear evident hissing. I haven't tried recording through the line-in yet, but I will in a bit using my Sony WM-D6C tape recorder as a preamp.

Don't have USB 2.0, but transfers seem reasonable over my laptop's USB 1.1 port.

Overall, a mixed bag, but I bought it for the recording feature, which is servicable for speech I suppose, but not anything else for sure. Hopefully somebody will hack up some software for it or Philips will fix its problems soon.

BTW, my unit is a HDD100/17, not a HDD100/00 or HDD100/05, so I suppose these are the final versions of the unit.

[Unregistered]

Oh, and one more comment about the most important quality: sound output sounds fine to me via my Shure E2 canalphones, though I don't claim to be an audiophile. It definitely is a lot better than the output on my Discman or laptop, though.

[EvoMike03]

Hey do you think you could shed any light on my situation that i stated a few posts above?

[Unregistered]

I don't know. I didn't even bother with the CD and just downloaded the zip off the website. Have a friend download it and burn it for you? What's your error msg?

Just contacted Philips technical support. They were cluless about the track order issue, but said that they'd "alert the product design team."

[dat]

how much did you pay for the hdd100? I remember early on, people said it was going to go for between 250 - 300, but then i heard 399 (all USD). So I dont' know if anyone really gave a definite answer to the question:

How much does the thing retail for?

[Unregistered]

Hi,

I have the /005 unit and I'm in the UK

Overall me plenty pleased with it, I compared it sonically to an (EU)G3 IPOD and a ZEN and to my ears the HDD100 sound is as good as the ZEN which IMHO is better sonically than the (EU) POD, which was good but a bit lacking, turn the POD equaliser on to beef it up a bit and there was distortion at higher volume lvls which was no good for my needs.

There are a few niggles but nothing a firmware / S/W revision would not fix. And neway its early doors yet.

What we need now is a portal (like nomadness / ipodlounge) to get the community running! :D

[Ioman]

Just want to let everyone know that I have turned on registration for this thread so there cannot be any more unregistered posts. This just helps us with the moderating duties so we can keep tabs on any bad or out of line posts. Registering will give you the ability to post in any of Designtechnica's forums.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Thanks,

The Designtechnica team

[mikur]

How to know the version of the hardware hdd100 /00 hdd100/05 hdd100/17 ???


DMM sucks but by the way great sound for the player.

[james]

You can see what version it is by looking on the back of the unit at the bottom. I'd be interested to hear how many freezes people are experiencing with the different models. My 100/05 is freezing at least once a day (in 1-2 hours play) and often freezes again within a minute of resetting it. I'm wondering whether I've just got a dodgy one..

[mikur]

Freezing : is it not just a problem of static electricity ??

[orange]

i have the hdd100/17 (im the unregistered who posted last page and this one). at first with old firmware it was freezing every time i played, uploaded new firmware and have had no freezes. unfortunatley now all tracks play in random order, not even alphabetical, as i documented.

[BarryB]

I posted earlier about my UK /005 player.

I d/l the latest firmware and duke box program and so far it only had 1 freeze and hasn't done it again since. but that maybe been down to large volume transfer running from the battery :)

Is it possible the version revisions are Region specific? I find it difficult to believe they would make 3 hardware revisions in such a short timespan..... unless it was very minor like diferent Hard Drive model?

Now all they need to do is to get the track order sorted lol!

[orange]

Perhaps that's true. my /17 is from the US. Perhaps the /00s are beta units.

Anyway, I went to the Apple Store today, and I played around with the iPod a bit. The dimensions are just about the same as I posted earlier, but the extra 0.1" difference makes all the difference in feel. Plus the iPod's scroll wheel and interface is sooo much more easy to use than the hdd's buttons. Looks are personal, but personally I prefer the iPod's.

That said, the iPod has no recording ability for me to record lectures for school, which is part of the reason I have this in the first place. (The other reason is that I can plug a preamped-mike into the line-in to record on this device.) If you need recording, go for this device, Otherwise, the iPod is currently a more polished unit. Didn't get to try out the sound between the two, but apparently the Philips' is better; sounds good on my Shure S2s ($99 earphones) anyway.

[Zob]

I bought my HDD in the UK and it's a /05.

Has anybody heard when the next firmware update may be out to fix the track order issues ?

[james]

I emailed about the track order issue in the new firmware but didn't get any response. Would be useful if they provided something where you could subscribe to updates.

[BarryB]

Yeah, a portal or e-mail update with this type of information would be good.

Orange: On the subject of hardware versioning if you goto the Phillips support site and type in HDD100 and select UK it ONLY gives you the /05 updates, change country to US and you only get the /17 updates :D

For anyone who wants it the support page is HERE (http://www.p4c.philips.com/) and it will spawn a sub windows with d/l's etc.

Got a strange effect on my HDD today, it started playing the track as white noise then a bit of the music then white noise. a swift reset sorted it out though and it was ok, weird tho hehe :P

[BarryB]

Hmm same hissing sound today again, switch off EQ and it disappears, switch on either EQ or Base Boost and the white noise returns.

It can only be resolved with a reset... I believe the EQ must be software based so a new firmware may hopefully resolve!
Anyone else get this?

[Zob]

Got this from Philips Customer care this morning !!!

"With regards to your query we can advise that the HDD100 is meant to play back in alphabetical order, if you could supply us with the address that you got the upgrade from the we could look into this further.

We trust that the information provided will be of assistance and
should you require further advice please do not hesitate to contact us"

Part of my reply :-

"I'm surprised you say it is meant to play back in alphabetical order, I would expect the HDD to play tracks in the correct track order based on the MP3 Track No Tag, playing in alphabetical order is not suitable if you're going to be listening to Opera/Theatre/Any other soundtrack with a storyline."

Am I wrong in thinking this? is anyone else chasing this in the US ?

[james]

That's crazy. And if it it's 'meant' to play back in alphabetical order, then how come the new firmware plays back in random order. I don't understand how something like that can not be picked up during beta testing.

Orange - I went and had a look at the ipod too and I must say I found the wheel slightly confusing, maybe it's something you'd get used to. I like how with the philips it's very clearly left, right, up and down (as opposed to having to use the menu button to go back up a level on the ipod). I wish they'd implemented a wraparound on the philips menus though, as going from a to z takes ages even with the 'superscroll' - going straight from z to a would be so much quicker.

[orange]

Argh. I hate this stupid machine. I can't properly restore the old firmware (the one that actually plays things in alphabetical order), and I'm going away on a one week trip tomorrow. I do NOT want to listen to everything in random order AT ALL! Gr. Stupid Philips. Can anyone send me their old firmware file (not the one u can download on the website?). This can be found after you plug in the HDD100: plug the player in, and you will see a new hard drive (say e:) in your Windows Explorer. Type E:\system into windows explorer and you should see a file that looks like Philips.MI4, which is about 1.2 megs. If you could send this file to me, that would be of great help; otherwise I won't have any music this vacation. (Please send to bnham@yahoo.com ) Thanks!

[Porsche911]

No offense to those wanting to try something new, but why not go with the tried and true and just buy an Apple iPod? I don't think I have heard a single bad thing about the iPod and this HDD100 really seems like it is still in the beta stages. Sounds like Philips needs a better beta program if you ask me.

[Porsche911]

Originally posted by BarryB
Hmm same hissing sound today again, switch off EQ and it disappears, switch on either EQ or Base Boost and the white noise returns.

It can only be resolved with a reset... I believe the EQ must be software based so a new firmware may hopefully resolve!
Anyone else get this?

BTW, your avatar is very cool. Where is everyones elses on these boards? I noticed they have about 200 avatars you can choose from under your profile control panel.

[BarryB]

Porsche911: Thanks bout the avatar :), I went for the HDD because I like it's look and sound as the EQ (when it works ;) ) is superior to the IPODS giving a better sound for my ears!

Orange: I mailed you my backup file and I can understand your frustrations with the unit, but they all appear to be Firmware resolvable prolems.

Fair enough the IPOD is stable but you will still find ppl complaining about then GEN 3 pod, just check out the IPODLounge, and it is afterall now in its 3rd revision, I would hope apple would have it working right by now.

Early adpoters of a technology will always get the hardest time I'm afraid :(

[Porsche911]

You are right. It is just threads like this one that scare me away from making a purchase this expensive. The iPod appears to be the player of choice over the Creative NX in that other thread. I would like to see a review of the philips on Designtechnica if they get a chance.

[ProfessionalGun]

Everyone is comparing the Philips to the iPod. . . what about the forthcoming hard drive players from iRiver and Rio? The iRiver iHP-100 is a paltry 10gig model, but for those who desire recording, it comes well equipt. In addition to a regular line input- you also get optical ins and outs. . . and in a rather attractive form factor. The huge downside is that whopping $399 pricetag we keep seeing floating about.

Here's a picture from mobilemag.com (http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/337/C1643/) .

Rio, who recently changed hands from SonicBlue to Denon & Marantz, has announced a very small looking 20gig player that I've grown rather excited about. It has a docking cradle with an ethernet jack for easy networking. . . . and though a tad thicker than other players- this is one to keep an eye on! Check out some great size comparison picks from riovolution.com (http://www.riovolution.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=17)

RCA has a new 40gig Lyra. . . but it's pretty bulky. I'm just excited about all the new options out there!

I looked at the HDD-100 at Good Guys the other day- and while I love the size of it- does anyone have any misgivings about the clunkiness of the GUI? I'm probably just picky or something (and I don't have any experience with other HD players) but I expected a graphical interface that moved with a little more fluidity at this stage in the technological game. Anyone share that view?

[BarryB]

Well as you can see from my other thread I returned my HDD100.

Here is a quick review for ppl interested in one:

Good points:
Nice small compact size

Sound Quality was IMHO great, better than IPOD as it has better bass response, similar to the Zen which I though was excellent.

User adjustable EQ settings

On the road Playlist creation and addition of other tracks

15GB size

Nice screen

Bad Points:

Frequent lock ups requiring a reset

White noise on the EQ and bass boost for no reason requiring a reset.

Track listing messed up

Not displaying track names properly

Displays the wrong track when you skip tracks

Super scroll OK but can be a bit slow when you get a lot of albums / tracks

Skipping tracks was usually slow considering 32Mb buffer, e.g. skipping from 1 track to another on my Home MD deck or CD player was sometimes faster!!

Software is clumsy, slow to read local tracks, slow IMO to transfer tracks.

Summary:
Overall I cannot recommend this player in its current state.

You will be overjoyed to begin with with its size and sound quality.

Upgrading to the v4 firmware brings a slight reprieve but then the tracks get listed what looks like randomly instead of alphabetically like the v3 firmware.

Then the consistent resets required to get it working irritates and
becomes very annoying, at least 1 reset every day or so, not good.

Don't buy this player it will ultimately disappoint I'm VERY sorry to say :(

[mikur]

I don't have any of the problems with mine (Hdd100/00 hardware v4) except for the random order of the tracks and the DMM software slowness

[BarryB]

Could be I had a bad one, but one bad experience is enough for me considering i paid £350! Where are u? I'm in the UK.

My post is based on my experience of the unit and is only my opinion, I would hate to see ppl wasting a lot of money on something which is not a spur of the moment purchase!!

[Zob]

I too am only experiencing the Random track order problem with my hdd100/05 since upgrading to V4, and hope it's sorted soon, however I've not much faith in their customer support. It seems to me they rushed the HDD out to compete with the 3rd Gen Ipod and have ****ed up big time. I'm in two minds about returning it, I chose it for it's sound mainly which IS excellent, and because it uses USB, (it seemed to use an IPOD properly I would have to purchase a firewire card therefore increasing the price again.) so am hoping for another firmware upgrade V soon.

[ibby23]

I love my HDD 100/17 -- the sound, the form factor, even the interface (as a former owner of a Rio Riot, anything would have been better). But, the random track listing in album mode is driving me crazy.

I've called the customer support number, and they don't have a clue. The first response I got was to make a playlist for each album... but that would be a huge time suck for 200+ albums, not to mention it would make the "album" sorting feature worthless.

It doesn't sound like customer service thinks this is a bug... even though it clearly is.

Give 'em a call. - 1-800-531-0039, option #3

[mikur]

For info: I have a HDD100/00 it's not a beta version , the 00 is for French (or continental europe).

[orange]

This is ridiculous. This player has been out for months on the European market and for almost as long on the American market,s eeing that my US hdd100 is 2 weeks old, and I didn't even buy it when it first came out. They had a "beta-test" program and everything and they can't even get the ****ing track order to play correctly? On an MP3 player? WTF! I'm never buying a Philips product again. They need to upgrade their QC.

[mikur]

How long does your hdd100 play before stopping because of low battery ? Mine 7h30, I mean no pause, medium , high level sound...

[orange]

Well, I'm returning mine for an ipod now, I think. I've waited too long for them to get the track order problem fixed. Anyone interested in purchasing the hdd100.com domain name from me for 5 bucks (paypal)?

[james]

I've returned mine too, because of the freezing, but maybe if the track listing thing was sorted I could have lived with it. I got a mail from Philips support after I'd already returned it saying that if there was a track number id3 tag it would use it, otherwise it would play the tracks in 'time order'. Which is just wrong isn't it?

[celluloid]

Grrrr its so frustrating that this player is failing because of such a stupid software problem. I mean why can't they just do whatever the ipod does concerning tracklisting Actually, how does the ipod work in that department?

I'm so impatient to get either an ipod or HDD100. I really want recording, that's the only reason I'm waiting.

[Zob]

Handed mine back today too, loved the hardware but had no faith in Philips customer support to fix the track number problem any time soon, so there's an IPOD with my name on it on order now.

[orange]

got my ipod today from apple, which was supposd to be a refurbished 15gb model. the sound quality is better on the hdd100, but at least this thing plays albums in order! also, apple sent me a 30gb ipod in place of the 15gb one because it was out of stock! ha! 30 gb for $329...never mind that my HD isn't even 30 gb...

[mikur]

Sorry I prefer to have a good sound, the problem of track order will be corrected soon...i Hope

[celluloid]

@Mikur - that's my thinking as well. I don't see how they can not do anything about the tracklisting issue, it would be suicide. And anyways, it seems to me that it hasn't been fully released yet, there obviously haven't been any review versions sent out as there are no official reviews. I'm sooo impatient though, I hope they sort it out soon.

[ibby23]

I've now called Customer Support 7 times (no kidding). Not only will they not admit that the track sort order is a problem, but they continue to think that the tracks are listing in alphabetical order -- which was "fixed" with the 4.0 firmware release.

===========================================
OK -- I just got an answer. After all these calls, here's the scoop (these are quotes from a customer service rep):
- The player is operating as designed (apparently random track listings in the album view)
- The "technical group" has been made aware of the problem, and they are expected to provide a response when they have completed their review
- A "fix" may or may not ever come. There is no timeframe for this fix

The agent and I both agreed that this is a serious product deficiency... and as such I'm going to return. I can't believe that Philips has shipped such poor beta software. Too bad.

[celluloid]

Jeez they haven't executed this launch very well have they. Well I think I might actually be buying an ipod now... they've just replaced the 15gb model with a 20gb one, same price.

[ArchInquisitor]

When I was reading reviews about the third generation iPods, I heard some audiophiles complain about the iPod's processor not being powerful enough to efficiently replay music above 192 kbps. Almost all my music are WMAs using Variable Bitrate tech, around 309 to 380 kbps. Does anyone know if the HDD100 will be able to properly play these songs without any problems? I am still faithful that Philips will fix the HDD100's problems, since I experinced great service from using their other products, so please don't try to dissuade me from purchasing their product. I need to record my classes, anyway. And on that topic, does anyone know if the HDD100 records a classroom environment well?

[orange]

well, this problem has been here for months and nothin has been done, as far as i can see.

you wouldn't want an ipod anyway if you encoded in wma (why wma? you should use lame mp3 with --alt-preset standard), ipod can't play wma. also, the recorder works okay, but sound quality isn't very good and it doesn't pick up far away sounds well at all, at least with the one i had.

i wouldn't buy this product.

[techfreak]

bump hehe

[Swigger]

Personally, I don't think this is a bad product to buy. Besides the track order issue, I've found no major qualms about the device. Hardware-wise, it's nearly flawless.

I may be a bit biased, however, having been a beta tester for the unit.

[Unregistered]

[i]Philips has very little in the way of real advanced development (like many companies they don't trust their own r&d and need to see things validated externally before trying something new).

[/B]

I don't think its that way. It's more like Philips had some disappointments in the past like their very advanced video system some time ago.

When you've been in the presentationbuilding of Philips Research, you would have known that Philips takes her R&D department very serieus.

I think that you're right about the fact that at the moment Philips is in the "following-mode". That's too bad, because once they were very innovating...

[Unregistered]

I've just bought one of these, and yes, they are awesome. Apart from one fundamental flaw....

No reset button.

My computer crashed whilst i was transfering some mp3's to it, subsiquently causing the unit to crash too. Unfortunately in that state, you cannot switch it off, or do anything at all to it. I'm now sitting waiting for the battery to run out to turn it off.. That could be a week away :(

Anyone has a suggestion on this issue, please let me know.

(glennbuchan@hotmail.com)

[Teaflax]

Read the manual.

Hold the Volume+ & the up/ffwd button for two seconds.

This is not a problem with the machine (although the semi-frequent lockups are). the main problem is still the track order issue, which is absolutely ridiculous and should take about a day for any astute programmer to fix.

I've already had two interested friends take a pass on the HDD100 because of this, and Philips' apparent disinterest in fixing it.

[Unregistered]

Much appreciated.

My computer was still messed up, so i couldn't read the online manual.

All fixed now however, thanks :)

[bystander]

hello there guys.
just bought one of these, used from ebay.
i have a couple of questions, hope you guys can help me,
first, the hdd already had a lot of songs on it, but i erased them the way the manual doesnt advice (i only read it after), through windows explorer, but i cant get all the capacity of the hdd available (and i checked, and there arent big files on it), i only have 10g available, everytime i start dmm, it says that i already have 37% of the hdd used, but from where? is there a way to format the hdd?
the second one, does the hdd accept long name files and using underscores? because i already tried upping some of these there, but i cant see nothing, weird characters appear.
thanks so much guys, hope you guys can help me.
what a way to start :(

[bystander]

well
got to figure out everything by myself actually, the first question, the answer is, its some stupid win98 bug or something, because on windows xp everything is fine (?), the actual space is 13,9g, i guess it may be the normal space, when in win98 is 10g, im using win98 because im on my brothers laptop that has usb 2 while my pc has 1.1. mistery solved.
the second question, the anwers was that ive deleted the serial.bin (luckily i saved everything to disc before i erased it), and because of the serial.bin not being around it would do that.
well, in overall im happy with the device, just 2 remarks, the famous tracklist issue, lets hope they decide to fix it, and the output volume through the headphones, for me, it could (should) be a little louder.
kind regards guys

[Swigger]

I've simply formatted it in Windows before. And in XP Pro, it says it only has 13.9 GB. That's how all hard drives are. It's that extra 24 bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, etc...

Example: If they come out with hard drives that are 1 terabyte, they'd label a 1000 gigabyte hard drive as being a terabyte, when, in all actuality, 1024 gigabytes is a terabyte.

I could be wrong, and if so, please correct me -_-

[mikur]

I saw in the p4c.philips.com support site that there is a DMM v2.0 available, what's new ?

[paazel]

I just got one of these (100.17) from J&R last Friday for $282 ($259 + tax). I've been following this thread on & off since this summer.

I downloaded the latest software (2.0) & firmware (4.0) before begining. As for the last poster's question of what's new in DMM 2.0; I don't know, as I haven't used the previous version. I don't seem to have this random play order bug that so many of you are complaining about. I just select an album and press play, and it plays it from the first track to the last one in correct order.

The only problem i see with this player is that the software is complete crap. I would prefer a explorer based drag&drop type software. I also would like to see the screen refresh faster. the ipod has a better display speed.

Also i haven't tried to make playlists yet, but will report back on that later.

Every thing else is great, haven't tried the headphones, just been using my B&O headphones, and it sounds great. The dbs boost algorithm is not up to par with Sony's MegaBass offering. The EQ more than makes up for it, although I wish I could adjust it from the player.

Feasable requests:
1) 3rd party software compatibility i.e. musicmatch (not perfect, but whatever).

2) automatic winamp playlist conversion.

3) eq adjustment on player.

4) battery fully charged indicator.

5) not sure if this is feasable, but VBR mp3 recordings (such as --r3mix settings).

6) internal volume amplifier could be a tad higher (new york city is loud!).


From a marketing standpoint, from the original price ($399); a docking station would have been welcome, along with a better quality remote. At $280, though it's a great deal considering the 10gig ipod is ~$300.

I actually bought this unit 1) because i'm a DJ and require the record in capability, and 2) gorgeous asthetics. I've waited too long for apple to incorporate it in; I was skeptical in getting this unit from this thread, but am happy I did.

[D7]

I just got my HDD100/17 and everytime i try to play a song it freezes up. I installed the upgrade but it did nothing to help me. Can anybody tell me what to do?

[TripSta]

Hi,

I have the hd100.05

Fisrt, theres a guy who wants to know how to reset it if it crashes..
Press the + (volume) and the back button and the left button simultaneously. That will reset.

And the other guy whos one is crashing alot ......... Take it back, I did, and got another, updated the firmware and its much better.

Yeah, theres alot of wrong in this unit, but some good.

As one of the dudes above, I only bought this for its line in and mic feature as Im a music producer and need to record on the fly.

The software that comes with this is the biggest pile of S**t ive seen, by mates could make better shareware prog.
Philips ..... if ur listening. update the firmware to accept iTunes. Theres a reason why its the best!!!!!!!! Its not even funny, how slow the refresh rate is, and im not even sure it read all the id tags correctly likje itunes does.

Please update the amplifier out its way to low. its about 4-5 milli volts and the rest are about 7-8 mV. Why???

2 things really need updating:
1. the forward and back buttons have 2 pressure points ...... good... then use them better. I want to be able to scan thru a 35 min mix quickly, not in slug speed!!!!! update that firmware!!!!

2. I want a "Play all" in the artist folder like the iPod, so I can play all the albums and not have to get up!!!!

Heres a question I would like to know:
Can it work with a mac? I havent tried yet as my mac is older and has no USB 2.0. Can a mac os read it????

There are advantages, Its Black and that cool, cause its not white!!! Dont get me wrong im a mac fan and use there stuff alot, I disslike pcs and dont like Microsoft sofware!! So all of zou stop encoding in WMA, it sucks, Use WinLAME, find it on google, use the Variable bit rate, The file size will be slightly bigger than that of 192, but who cares its about quality...... isnt it!!!
.....................
The ipod is heavier, and far less battery time and the new ones buttons are so sensitive that if u just pick it up it skips track!!!

To go, Urs truley, TripSta.

[bystander]

couldnt agree more tripsta
if only your post reached someone important at philips ;)
but the "bug" that annoys me the most is the amplifier one
and thats why i cant enjoy my hdd the way i wanted it to be

[SirSunny]

Hi.

A new firmware (v.6.6) is available.

Download:
Philips Support Page (http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/dcbint?lang=eng&s=ccc&mode=search&searchstring=hdd100&country=)

[bystander]

thanks sunny
let see if something has improved with this one.
unfortunetaly, no readme with a whats new ;)

[JantenHove]

I hate the DMM software and the Digital Rights Management, so I created a program wich can copy the music from your HDD to every computer. I am now working on a complete replacement of the DMM software.
The program can be found at: http://dawuss.student.utwente.nl/~public1/

[moket]

Hi,
I'm sorry, but when i copy my mp3 from my hdd to another compter the only poblem was the file's name. But with muscmath jukeboxe it's easy to rename with surpertagging.

HDD100_00 - V6.6

[JantenHove]

The filenames are the same as the track titles. What would you like the filenames to be?

[moket]

In my hdd the filenames is a code

[JantenHove]

If you use this program: http://dawuss.student.utwente.nl/~public1/ , you can select files that you want to copy, all files that you copy to your hardisk will get normal filenames.

[moket]

It's great an easyer. I hope you can do somethig about DMM - realy bad prog.

[JantenHove]

Originally posted by moket
It's great an easyer. I hope you can do somethig about DMM - realy bad prog. Yeah, i'm working on it right now. I am reverse engineering the database file of the HDD100. If someone knows more about this, please let me know.

[znaps]

Originally posted by JantenHove
I hate the DMM software and the Digital Rights Management, so I created a program wich can copy the music from your HDD to every computer. I am now working on a complete replacement of the DMM software.
The program can be found at: http://dawuss.student.utwente.nl/~public1/


Do you know of anyone working on hacking the Toshiba MEG50AS?

If you could write something that gets around the DRM in the Toshiba, I'd worship you forever. The filesizes that are created by the Toshiba DRM software are consistently 2 KB or so bigger than the original MP3, so I think there isn't much going on there. The problem would be getting the firmware code to find out how easy it would be to modify that to play plain mp3's.

[JantenHove]

Hi, I am quitte busy now working on the replacement of the DMM software from Philips. But if you can send me one of those file and it's original (if possible), I'll be happy to look at it.
Send the files to jan(at)ten-(!!REMOVE THIS!!!)hove(dot)net (i hope you can figure out the email :D :sponge

[znaps]

Cool! I'll encode one tonight and send it on to you.

What languages do you code in?

[JantenHove]

Originally posted by znaps

What languages do you code in?
I mainly code in VB.NET and C#, sometimes in JAVA, C++ and C. The program for the Philips HDD100 is completely written in VB.NET.

[bystander]

thanks so much for your effort janten.
hope you can do something nice for our hdd100 ;)

[Krishna]

Hello,

I'm thinking about getting the Hdd100 (if I find it for cheap), due the work that Janten is doing (Thanks alot!).

I was just wondering, can you copy the files back from the hdd100 to the pc using your program, or do you have to use the dmm?

Also is it possible to use Windows Media Player 9 to transfer songs to the hdd100?

And finally what has the latest firmware fixed?

[kevin]

I installed the new firmware - it appears to have fixed the track order issue! All my albums look to be in correct track order! :D

:cheers

[Foxguy]

Really Kevin?
I just added 2 albums but they both ended up alphabetically (still)
I am using the latest firmware also.
Frustrating to say the least!

[kevin]

I had formatted my HDD100 earlier, and had nothing on it when the new firmware came out, so I loaded the firmware and then reloaded all my music. I'm not sure if this fresh start made a difference, but I checked two or three albums where I know the track order really well and all was in order. I'll check again when I get home this evening.

Kevin

[Caje]

I finally solved the track order issue by formatting te hdd100 device, reinstalling the dmm 2.0 software and 6.6 firmware, and finally transferring all my 2.300 songs back from the computer to the player. It took a while, o yes, but it did solve the matter. Its a fresh start indeed. Didn't have any troubles with lockups or track order since. Don't know why philips doesn't hand out a readme or faq telling all those who complained about the track order bug to reformat and reinstall.

[Foxguy]

Thanks Kevin,Caje.
I will try that but how do I re-format?
(newbie to this Audio Jukebox format)

[Ioman]

Hey guys, I would be down with adding a Philips specific sub-forum to the personal audio category. This way you do not have to keep posting in this same thread.

Let me know if you would like this and I will create it for everyone.

[Krishna]

I think we really need to get a site like riovolution for the karma, dedicated entirely to the hdd100. I don't know anything about website creation but I will look into making one with a forum, etc. It would be nice if we could get it sponsored by Philips themsleves so that their engineers could come and look at the suggestions made by the users.

Edit:

Thanks Ioman that would be great, and its a start for Hdd100 specific site. (Kinda)

[kevin]

Originally posted by Foxguy
Thanks Kevin,Caje.
I will try that but how do I re-format?
(newbie to this Audio Jukebox format) '
Hey there -

You can format the player just like a hard drive. Attach it to your computer via the USB cable and plug it in. Open up Windows Explorer and find the unit's drive letter in the left pane (it's usually F:, and the size will be 13.9GB). Right click on the drive letter and select "Format". On the screen that pops up, be sure to select "FAT32" as the file system (not NTFS!). Make sure "Quick Format" is NOT selected and click OK.

This will erase all the songs off your player, so be sure you have them stored somewhere. After this is done, install DMM2.0 if you haven't already, and load the new firmware (version 6.6) using the DMM.

If you have problems loading the firmware, or get an error message, go back into Windows Explorer and manually create a folder called "SYSTEM" on the unit's drive.

Hope this helps!

Kevin

[Ioman]

Originally posted by Krishna
I think we really need to get a site like riovolution for the karma, dedicated entirely to the hdd100. I don't know anything about website creation but I will look into making one with a forum, etc. It would be nice if we could get it sponsored by Philips themsleves so that their engineers could come and look at the suggestions made by the users.

I think that is probably more trouble than you will want. We have contacts directly at Philips that we know and can get any information for you guys.

Let us know what you want and we can do it.

If you want to setup a list of FAQ we can ask Philips, then please let me know and I will personally ask them. We can also setup a sub-forum and even host firmware updates.

We are at your command :)

[kevin]

Wow this is like a dream come true! I honestly thought I was the only HDD100 user for a while :D

[znaps]

I feel like that right now with my Toshiba :/

Does ANYONE else have a MEG50AS?

[Merlin]

Anyone else find that they have better sound with the new 6.6 flash update (less distortion)?
My HDD100 also seems to be a little louder too!
If JantenHove manages to write a replacement for the awful DMM program, this bit of kit would be nearly perfect.

[Obraxis]

Hey guys - I was the Anon Tester who posted up the pics against credit card/price 'n' stuff....just been away going re-life stuff for a long time.

Yeah - we need a place of our own the the web, even if it is a sub-forum!

The 6.6 Update has made my sound clearer. Tho I've been having a few 1 second pauses with tracks recently. Also seems to me the refresh rate of the scrolling has been turned down so u can see the text clearer.

And yeah - I can't wait for the DMM replacement. DMM is such a crap bit of software - so unstable.

Oh a tip for you guys, u can rename your playlists in windows explorer as long as you dont have any spaces. U CAN use the underscore like this: Sample_Playlist.

-3D Animator/PC Technician

[Foxguy]

YAY!!!!
Re-formatting and re-installing the latest updates fixed the track order issue!
Thank god for this message board, I can imagine everyone else disgusted with their HDD100 that aren't aware of this site.

[cajetan13]

I too experienced 1 - 2 seconds pause within tracks. It might be due to a new way the player uses its (32MB?) buffer memory. There is another issue with albums that have long names with the first say 64 characters being identical (you have these things with classical music only, I guess). The DMM software will recognize them as different albums, buth the player will not, resulting in one album that plays all tracknrs 1, all nrs 2 and so on. So there is still some work to be done by the philips firmware guys. 6.6 is a major improvement though.

[Obraxis]

yeah - I prefer 6.6, but it looks like this 1 or 2 second delay is a big problem they need to fix quickly

[Krishna]

Originally posted by Ioman
I think that is probably more trouble than you will want. We have contacts directly at Philips that we know and can get any information for you guys.

Let us know what you want and we can do it.

If you want to setup a list of FAQ we can ask Philips, then please let me know and I will personally ask them. We can also setup a sub-forum and even host firmware updates.

We are at your command :)

Hey thanks, it'll surely save me alot of time. Also it would be great if your contacts at Philips could come see the boards and see our suggestions and give us some feedback.

[Ioman]

Originally posted by Krishna
Hey thanks, it'll surely save me alot of time. Also it would be great if your contacts at Philips could come see the boards and see our suggestions and give us some feedback.

Can you guys start a new thread and each post what questions you would like asked and I will put together a list for you and get them answered. We can even make an article out of this, post it on the site for everyone to see, hopefully this will help out everyone.

[Bubsy]

Hey hows it going guys :-) . I've just bought myself the HDD100 /17 for $254 yesterday and it is the sh**, I'm loving it. Never had one problem with it (I mean there was one freeze and that was it). Otherwise you guys are correct about the DMM software, it is rather considered unstable at some times.
Also thanks for your knowledge guys.

[paulmarshall]

hi,

i'm getting the track order problem
how do i reformat?

thanks!

P

[paulmarshall]

ah, by doing that.
i know it's tempting fate, but it seems to have worked.

thank god for the web eh?!

[paulmarshall]

DMM still sucks balls though.
Refresh is too slow, but the most aggrevating things are the fact it returns to the top of the page once you load up an album, and you can't resize the window to view all the ifo columns. Pretty small problems, but things that really get in the way.

Great player tho!

[lksdennis]

I have some observation how to solve the sorting method... without format the Harddisk....
1. Using the Windows Explore go to the system folder ( hidden )
2. Delete the "Data" Folder
3. Run DMM V2.0
4. Upgrade the FW to V6.6...
Sorting problem Solved.....

[sportsnutt]

any idea if the volume will ever be increased? I just bought it and may return it due to low volume (when outside) and a lack of a case w/clip.

[bystander]

i hope so sport, but dont know if thats technically possible :(

[Obraxis]

Just grab better headphones with in-line volume control.

[sportsnutt]

Thanks for the info, I'll try it. Any reasonably priced headphones that you would recommend?

[paulmarshall]

Sony MDR-ex71 are the best earphones I've ever heard. No inline remote but the have a 2 piece design like the ones included with the HDD100 so you can plug them into the remote with no excess wire.

http://products.sony.co.uk/thumbnails.asp?id=14_39_http://www.sonycentres.co.uk/ProductImages/ProductMainImage/002638_001.jpg

[bystander]

i already have those that paul mentioned, and the hdd100 is still low on them, in my opinion its not a matter of phones, the hdd output is just plain low :(

[Krishna]

Hey,

If you want loud and extra portable get the Sennheiser Pmx60 headphones. These are the loudest and best sounding portables I have ever heard, and you can probably find them for about 17bucks american.

Edit: They only sound good with the bass boost turned up, because they were made for bass boost. Otherwise great heaphones.

[Bubsy]

Talking about headphones by the way. Could anyone be glad to list some good headphones :)

[Obraxis]

I have the Plantronics Audio 90 - great sound quality.

http://www.plantronics.co.uk/europe_union/en_GB/catalog/display_product_detail.jhtml?rootId=cat1200109&prodId=prod440020&productTypeId=cat1200104

[JantenHove]

Eeh guys, for your questions and suggestions for the HDD100 there is another thread. User Ioman said that he knows some people at Philips who may answer them.
Thread is located here: http://forums.designtechnica.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=24080

[Obraxis]

Good - we need people from Philips to fix the bugs in the Bugs list thread, tell us the format of the database file and also tell us how we can customise our HDD100.

[t0rm3nt0r]

Has anyone managed to find out the database format?
I have an idea of writing something for reindexing the mp3-s on the device, and recreating the index files.
It would be nice to have some sort of software that doesn't require windows.

[sportsnutt]

I agree completely. I hope you are a success. The DMM is in dire need of adjusting. Good luck.

[paazel]

hey guys i'm having a lare problem.

upon loading DMM, the right pane (which should show what is on the HDD-100) comes up blank. i can still upload new files, but have a problem deleting. i can delete from the system/music folder i know, but it's unsettling. i have upgraded to 6.6. using DMM 2.0. every now & then upon loading DMM it asks me to check the disc w/ chkdsk, the last time it had a problem w/ some playlist, so i deleted them all from system.

any suggestions?

edit: also is it important to defrag this player?

[Obraxis]

Hi man.

The no updating thing is just DMM playing up and not working properly.

I actually found that DMM 1.0, is more stable than 2.0 and it can still flash your player to other firmwares.

[paazel]

hey obraxis, thanx for the quick response, i'll give dmm 1.0 a try. how about the derag thing... is it important?

[Obraxis]

I don't think so man. I get the same thing from DMM 2.0. The pausing/skipping most people get is just the crappy 6.6 firmware. I posted the 4.0 that doesnt have that bug.

If you use DMM 1.0, then it won't tell u that u need to defrag it.

[paazel]

wait, i should go back to 4.0?

2.0 never told me to defrag, i just figured, it's a hard drive, so defragging it would help access times

[Obraxis]

Thing is, 4.0 doesnt fix the track number bug.

If u get the annoying 'pause' bug in 6.6, u should go back to 4. Otherwise keep 6.6.

U should only need to Defrag if u constantly replace all the MP3's on the HDD. Otherwise u don't need to defrag at all.

[paazel]

i use the line in record function quite frequently. i then copy the file to my computer, then delete it off the hdd-100. i guess defragging once a month will do me some good.

[Jaskian]

When i try and open DMM it says open with ina box and i get a list of programs. Do i choose one of them? I tried installing winrar aswell and when i try to open dmm it says "cannot find the file specified". How can i stop this from happenning? Should i take the thing back and get the philips 128mb mp3 player which is plug n play compatible so i wont have to worry about this. Veiws?

[rm@p]

see this thread

http://forums.designtechnica.com/showthread.php?threadid=4219

[llbbl]

Only 5000 more views and this thread will outseat long time winner Radeon thread as most viewed =P

That is if the Isearch thread doesn't beat it first =)

[airmanos]

Hi, i just bought the Philips HDD100 used and the software was not in the box!
I cant put mp3's in my Philips HDD100 :(
can someone tell me where i can download the program to connect it with my pc? Windows XP
thanks

[Paider]

www.philips.com/support

[ECA]

I hope you got the USB cable..