Kung Foo - Neuros 20 Gig Jukebox

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Neuros 20 Gig Jukebox

Posted by blaid on Feb 13, 2004 at 07:20 PM

iPod.. Dell.. Gateway.... Get ready to have a run for your money.

This feature packed device comes in two flavors. There is the 128mb version, and the very handy 20 gigabyte version! I went ahead and bought the 20 gig version, so for the rest of this review, assume im speaking of the 20 gig. The features packed in this nifty little device, make it compareble to the iPod and others. Its also nice that it has a price tag of only $200 USD for a brand new, factory sealed, 20gig unit from their website (www.neurosaudio.com).
The fact that i have so many mp3's, makes this a very nice bid for power. I love being able to browse quickly, and then one by one if i want.
To start, i did a BUNCH of research on differnet jukeboxes. The iPod, the Archos, the new Dell player ect... The Neuros was simply an amazing device compared to all of these.

Features:
HiSi: Hear it! Save it! Basicly, if you hear a song on the radio (the neuros comes with an fm tuner), and dont know what it is, press one quick button, and the Neuros will save 30 seconds of the song to the hard drive. Then, the next time you synch it with your computer, the synch program accesses databases across the internet, identifies the song, and reports back to you with the Title, and Artist. Very handy, especially when those pesky radion DJ's dont tell you the song title.
MyFi: One of the biggest reasons i bought the neuros, was because it had MyFi. MyFi is a built in feature that broadcasts to a radio frequency in the area. It scans for an open station, and if non is found, you can browse stations for yourself! Great for the car! I found that the tape adapters dont work that well. Or if they do, they are just a haslle! With the Neuros, you find the station, start a song, and go! Keeps playing just as if you had headphones plugged in.
Voice recording: Built in microphone, one button starts recording straight to an MP3 file. Good quality voice recording, no skips, and easy files to find.
Backpck Style: What the hell is backpack style? Well, simply put, the hard drive is a backpack, that the actual MP3 player unit slides into. This makes the Neuros easily configurable. Swap out backpacks, turn a 20 gig into a 128mb for those quick runs to the store, or somthing like that. All in all, it comes in handy.
Synch Manager: The synch manager is fairly nice, if not a bit slow. Add files to a database on your computer. Which the NSM then reads, and displays both your PC Library, as well as your Neuros library (when plugged in) Select files to add to your neuros, then synch. Adds files, rebuilds the Neuros database, and checks all the firmware, and software for updates.
Size: All in all, the fact that the Neuros is huge compared others like the iPod, doesnt really matter...

Pros: Feature packed, swappable backpacks, easily accessible controls.
Cons: Unable to browse songs while playing song (going to be fixed in next firmware update) and the Size

Forget the iPod, forget that Dell player...and forget that new Gateway player. With a couple minor bug fixes to firmware, and a faster transfer rate, the Neuros could possibly the iPod killer!

go to link

Comments

RickySilk spoke on Feb 13, 2004 at 07:34 PM

I've never heard of this but it looks bad ass.

Especially with this firmware upgrade [link] and this sync manager for linux [link]

jellyfish spoke on Feb 13, 2004 at 07:41 PM

Indeed, it looks great, especially with that price tag. However, with that built in radio transmitter thing, I can't see it ever making it here unless they take that out as they're illegal in the UK.

I'm still liking the iRiver [link] but at the moment the price tag is just a little too high. I've been doing a load of research at this seems to be the one that best suits my needs. I also found that the iPod really isn't that amazing, apart from its stylish looks.

qu4nm1n9 spoke on Feb 19, 2004 at 07:26 AM

:yay::yay::yay::yay::yay: thumbs up for this baby gadget! i wonder if they have a version of singapore... the voltage in the mains is different with the one indicated...

burn2shine spoke on Feb 19, 2004 at 12:02 PM

No way will this thing kill the iPod.

First off, its ugly. No one wants an ugly player with a name that sounds like a psychiatric problem. The hard plastic and sticking out buttons make this thing look more like a PDA than anything else. I don't know about you, but I want to be able to carry my device with me and not worry about bumping buttons and doing something weird (or hell, turning the thing on).

Secondly, for the price of it vs. the price of an iPod, you get a lot more portability with an iPod - especially the iPod mini. iPods are small and very very light, where as this thing seems to be a lot bigger dimension wise (Neuros: 5.3" x 3.1" x 1.3", 9.4 oz. vs. iPod: 2.4 x 4.1 x .62, 5.6 oz) - again like a PDA. The storage space may be the same on the two, but the extra lightness does help if you run or are real active with these things.

Thirdly, the interface. There is a reason everyone is copying the iPod interface. It is amazing. You can create and move playlists with it while the songs are playing, browse songs, use the games features, whatever - right out of the box and all with a very sleek wheel and no real "buttons". Not to mention the transfer speed - I moved over 2 GB of songs via firewire to the iPod in about 20 seconds. I don't think you can say the same with USB :P

Finally, the features. What good is finding 30 seconds of a song anyways? And how the software knows (you sounded more like a marketer than a user) what song it is is beyond me. I'm curious how well this actually works. Some of the other stuff may be a neat idea in theory, but how practical is it and how often will you use it? It just seems like a bunch of odd features thrown on when all you want is an mp3 player, not a tape recorder.

Different strokes for different folks of course, but there is a reason why the iPod is BY FAR the best mp3 player and most popular one on the market. It's simply better.

Reverend Jynxed spoke on Feb 19, 2004 at 12:32 PM

I've actually looked up quite a few songs by their lyrics. Perhaps the system for looking up the song title is similar in that it browses a lyric database.

Reverend Jynxed spoke on Feb 19, 2004 at 12:36 PM

Oh and "ugly" is hightly subjective. It is pure opinion. I don't care for the ipod looks and scroll wheel personally.

Also consider that there is the USB 2.0 version being released (said summer 2003 per the faq) I'd be content with that over firewire. I don't have enough crap using firewire to even bother with it.

None of my digital cameras use fire wire, neither does our digital keyboard, etc. Touting firewire as the end all be all just to hook it up to a frickin ipod isn't saying much. But hey, whatever turns your crank ;)

Tekiran spoke on Feb 19, 2004 at 01:01 PM

Personally, I've always been a big fan of the Archos products. Namely the AV300 series [link] which is clearly more for portable video and images than music, and the AV100 series [link] which is more of MP3 player dimensions. It's a bit bulkier than most other mp3 players, but i like it for the fact that i can not only listen to my music, but view images, watch DivX movies on the screen or through an A/V cable to a TV, and various amounts of other data that needs transporting. The AV100 series has a version with a 40 gig hard drive and the AV300 series has a version with an 80 gig hard drive. There's also a ton of attachments with both for reading memory cards, turning it into a video/still camera, and a Digital Video Recorder. I think it's all a very good deal, but i'm a very gadget-minded person. I like this kind of stuff.

blaid spoke on Feb 19, 2004 at 07:04 PM

Dont say a word about ipod minis...they are pathetic hunks of junk that Apple wanted to make to say that the iPod is smaller and cuter! I personally think the ipod is overrated. I will give it due respect though, it is attractive. I just think your paying too much for asthtics. As for the running, or very active thing; you shouldnt be. iPod says you can run with it..but its a hard drive, just like the Neuros. It spins, it reads, it can be damaged. Run with your iPod if you want to lessen the life of it dramaticly.

Slow transfer speed? Yes. Untill this summer at the latest, which everyone with a warenty will be looking foward to. Usb 2.0 units will be available, and shipping your USB 1.0 unit back, with enough to cover shipping 2 ways, will get you a new unit, USB 2.0 equipped.

Finding 30 seconds of a song? I must've been unclear. It RECORDS 30 seconds of a song, then refrences it to a database, and retrieves the song name, and artist, so you can get the full song, or album. I dont recall saying it gives you 30 seconds of a song.

I use the voice recording daily at work. I use the MyFi daily, sometimes for more than a couple hours. When I go to my friends house, I bring that and we listen to music.

Different strokes for different folks of course, but there is a reason why the iPod is BY FAR the best mp3 player and most popular one on the market. It's simply better.

That is quite an ignorant statement. Im sorry if I sound mad, people stating opinions as pure 100% facts pisses me off. Im not saying the Neuros is going to be a market leader by any means. But it is a heaft competetior, and will become more of one as it evolves. Much like your famed iPod has evolved. Remember 1st generation ipods? The lockups? And god forbid one drop of rain touched it. The Neuros is build like a tank compared to the iPod.
Portablility? You are paying $200 bucks for 'portability.' Really though, whos pocket will fit the ipod, and not the nueros? And before you list a name, just tell them to get new pants.

And finally...about the bumping buttons and turning things on or off comment...Its called a hold button. Its for HOLDing it...so you dont press anything. Easy to turn on and off hold, just like the ipod.

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