January 10th, 2006
Ask the Readers: Questions *We* Want to Know
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
There so much talk about blogs being a dialogue and a community, and blah blah blah, but it’s still me typing out into the void. Sure, there was a time when I would type into the void, hand it to an editor, who then handed it to a proofreader, (that part we all miss VERY much), who then handed it to an art department, who then designed and laid out the page, who then shipped a completed magazine issue to a printer, who then got it to a distributor, who then trucked it to a newsstand, who then sold it to a reader, who then found it somewhere in the magazine and read it and then…and here’s the tricky part, who took out a piece of paper and a stamp an envelope and wrote and then mailed back a question or comment. Process: three to four MONTHS. Whew.
Ok. Flash forward to today and so now I type, I spell check (be gentle, our spell checker for Word Press is broken) and then I hit “publish” and in seconds after that a RealTechNews reader can find the posting and actually comment back to me and all the other readers who check out the comments. Process: Five minutes to an hour depending on the story. But it’s still mostly a one way thing.
So today, I am throwing open the mic for smarter readers who can shed some light on questions I have. If you like the format, we will try to make this a regular thing. If not, no harm in asking, right? So here goes…
1. ARE THERE ANY MP3 PLAYER PLATFORMS OTHER THAN THE RIO THAT CAN BOOKMARK?
Here’s what I don’t get. Portable devices are playing more than songs. There are downloadable TV shows, and audio books, and movies, and so on, but if your selection is longer than a few minutes, you are out of luck if your player shuts down suddenly or it fails to start up where you last left off. I listen to talk radio on my MP3 player and a show can be hours long. Do you have any idea how hard it is to try and find the right spot again if you shut your player down or your battery dies? Same with the PC-based media players - try taking out a DVD you were watching to do something else and then go back - out of luck. You can try and chapter your way back, but why oh why can’t you set a bookmark and simply drop back into where you were?
The answer is that you can with an MP3 player from Rio. I should know. I am on player #4 and that’s a costly habit because the hardware stinks and the company is now bankrupt. But the operating software that powered the Rio players was and is pure genius. You get five bookmarks, You can set and reset a bookmark on anything you are listening to - you can have multiple bookmarks in one file, or one bookmark for individual items you are in the middle of. The unit will also start up where you left off assuming it isn’t broken or you don’t change songs accidentally, but the bookmaking is a wonderful safeguard.
So my question to our smart readers is twofold: 1) doesn’t anyone else see the need to pause and mark long format media like audio books, or a TV show etc? and then 2) does anyone know of a platform that has bookmarking so I can stop buying up the last of the Rios and save my money for better things? Rant: I cannot believe the iPod is selling TV shows and yet you can’t save your spot on Lost to do listen to a song or do something else, and then jump right back to where you were in the show. Talk about lost.
So help me RTN readers. You’re the only hope I’ve got. Any thoughts or ideas?
andcraig says:
::goes to test on ipod video::
It actually does save your spot.
I watched an episode of Battlestar Galactica the other day, have listened to a large amount of music, synced it twice, etc. and i just went back to that episode and it was right on the ending credits where i left it.
Yep, def works. Just checked again and even played another video instead of just music.
When you restart a video its exactly where you left off.
I think that bookmarking hasn’t become overly popular in general because most users just wouldn’t have a use for it. I believe, but may be mistaken, that “books on mp3″ feature it, but for songs (which most people use their mp3 players for) there’s no demand.
Even then, if you turn off the player, it starts up on the same song it shut down on in the same place, just like CD players did before it (at moderately modern cd players that is)
January 10th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
Andrew says:
iPods have supported automatic bookmarks on audiobooks for a very long time now; the audiobook would resume playing where you left off last time. This would be remembered for each audiobook.
With later versions of iTunes and 4th gen or later iPods, this is now available as an option for any music file (in AAC format, at least), as a checkbox in the file’s “Get Info” window.
January 10th, 2006 at 4:51 pm
Alice says:
Wow - then I have to radically re-think my anti-iPod stance. So just to be clear. I could open an audio book, listen for awhile, power down, start it up again and then open a playlist or song, enjoy that, go back to my audio book (or TV show/video) and it would pick up where it left off?
Any other players and what about PC based media players?
This is so great. Thank you both!
January 10th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
Michael Santo says:
These can do bookmarks:
Creative Zen Sleek 20 GB MP3 Player
Creative Zen Micro
Creative Zen Extra
I stopped at that point (I was searching through the website manuals after finding the Zen Sleek listed on Amazon with a comment about bookmarks)
I’m guessing most of the recent Zen players would do bookmarks. No manual for the Zen Vision: M, but you gotta think it has this feature, too.
January 10th, 2006 at 7:41 pm
Michael Santo says:
BTW, here’s a free plugin for WMP 9 and 10 that allows bookmarking.
http://www.wmplugins.com/ItemDetail.aspx?ItemID=464#ratings
January 10th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
Bedammit says:
I have been listening to an audio book with my iPod Nano for the past few months. You can pause and stop an audiobook and restart where you left off. However…
You can only pause it.
In other words.. if you say… pause it then restart it and fall asleep while listening to it (I’ve done this a few times at bedtime) you cant go back to the last paused bookmark .. because it isnt really a bookmark.
Its just a pause/resume. Actual bookmars would a be very nice addition to the iPod.
Bedammit!
January 10th, 2006 at 11:25 pm
Jerry Hill says:
I’ve been listening to mp3 versions of audio books on my iPod. It saves the last place you stopped in your book. As Bedammit says, this isn’t quite as good as a bookmark, because it only remembers the last place you stopped, you can’t manually set a bookmark and return to it later.
You have to enable this function on mp3s by going into iTunes, selecting the properties for the file, and checking a “remember where I left off” button. Apparently this function is enabled by default if you buy audiobooks through the iTunes music store, but I have mp3s I ripped from CD a while ago, so I had to enable it by hand.
Still, it works perfectly for my needs. I can listen to half an hour of my book, then listen to some music, or listen to a podcast, and when I come back to my book it remembers where I was.
January 11th, 2006 at 7:03 am
Stephen says:
Real bookmarks are definitely needed for long form content. Not just a pause and resume. What I would want to do is pause, look at another vid or book/magazine and then be able to come back to another vid and resume where I left off or go to a place that I marked.
January 11th, 2006 at 7:22 am
Tim Goergens says:
I just turned off my SanDisk Sansa while it was playing a song. When I turned it back on, it automatically started playing the song from where it stopped.
Be careful how you stop it from playing (it may make a difference). If you hit the stop button, I wouldn’t think it would start from that spot next time. If you hit pause and turned it off or just turned it off, mine appears to restart from where you were.
January 11th, 2006 at 7:27 am
Keith says:
Bookmarking should be a given. It is technically trivial to implement, requires a minute amount of storage, and has tremendous usability benefits.
You’ll want to steer clear of the iRiver H10 if bookmarking is a requirement. I use the latest 2.51 firmware update. It does not allow bookmarking within an .mp3. All it can do is remember the song it was playing last and what playlist or mode you were in. In shuffle mode, it does not remember the songs it has already played.
January 11th, 2006 at 7:37 am
Kevin K says:
My iRiver H340 starts up where I leave off if it shuts down or I turn it off….. Of course the H340 has been discontinued, and that’s a shame, but it did it!
The US version also does not officially have support for video but you can flash it with an international BIOS and it will though you void your warranty but it does appear to start where you left off.
You can also bookmark your text files if you were so inclined to read something on the micro screen!
Kevin
January 11th, 2006 at 10:12 am
Alice says:
Hmmmm…so it sounds like the Creative Zen players have real bookmarking and then the iPod will go back to whereyou left off if you enable it and there is a patch for WMP.
This is looking up but someone needs to code this feature on all players if they expect to make video and long content succeed. On my TiVo for example I have at least three shows I am in the middle of . I didn’t set a bookmark but it will resume. Are theplayers that can resume capable of doing that with multiple files?
January 11th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
Jeff L. says:
I was very surprised when I replaced my Rio 800 (horrible batteries!) and found that no other brand had bookmarks. What I have done instead for my audiobooks is get an mp3 splitting program to split my books into workable 4 minute increments. Then I use a tagging software to make sure everything has the right name. Since most firmware can at least handle tags okay, this works for me. Tagging software is free - I had to pay for my splitting program, but the $20 is cheaper than buying up old Rios.
January 11th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
Alice says:
God - think abotu that. You have to go in and split up an audio book when the Rio had an elegant and simple solution under the hood. Why can’t someone buy up their OS and move it to decent hardware? The interface was great, they could add in color and so on, but the bookmarking alone must be worth something.
January 12th, 2006 at 12:30 pm