Latest firmware for cheap chinese mp3 players on ebay?

[jasontaylor7]

ld3188 STD 1.1 is the default firmware version for this:





More importantly, the screen looks like this:




By hitting the right button it switches to 7 modes:

MUSIC -> RECORD -> VOICE -> FM -> SYSTEM -> EBOOK –> TELBOOK –> MUSIC …

I was wondering if anyone knows of a possible firmware that is compatible with this that is better. For instance, v 1.1 cannot play m4a files. Seems like some watch mp3 players might be compatible.

Another question: what format is the phone book file? Like what extension?
Last question: there is no subforum here for this player. Is there any site where people talk about these players? It isn't like a dell where I can go to the dell forum, obviously, but is this the best site?

Thanks in advance if you are know anything that might help.

[CrowdAds]

[skip252]

I don't know of anywhere that deals with generic players like those except the manufacturer. Most often whatever they offer is the only firmware available. AFAIK firmware is hardware specific and trying to use one that was written for another device either won't work at all or will brick the device.

Most often the firmware the manufacturers offer is to repair the device. The few times I've tried reinstalling the firmware when helping someone it hasn't done anything to fix the problem.

Putting it as nicely as possible I'd say they're junk that's best avoided. The combination of shoddy assembly, cheap parts and poor firmware makes them a waste of money.

[jasontaylor7]

It almost seems like you are saying I suck as a person for even thinking of using this thing. I guess I didn't realize I was posting on topmp3players.com. I thought it was anything *but* ipod. My bad.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by skip252

... Putting it as nicely as possible I'd say they're junk that's best avoided. The combination of shoddy assembly, cheap parts and poor firmware makes them a waste of money.

Originally Posted by jasontaylor7

It almost seems like you are saying I suck as a person for even thinking of using this thing. ...

I don't see where he has insulted you at all, he's giving sound advice to you or anyone thinking of buying low cost knock offs. Most of the low cost Chinese knock off mp3 players might seem like a great deal and some might actually be good for a while. But I wouldn't expect any firmware releases to fix issues or support from the mfg.

*BTW if you have sensitive skin I wouldn’t be making follow up posts like that, you may just get more than you bargain for

[JK98]

"It almost seems like you are saying I suck as a person for even thinking of using this thing. I guess I didn't realize I was posting on topmp3players.com. I thought it was anything *but* ipod. My bad. "

You shouldn't take this personally, unless perhaps you designed some of these cheap generic players. With a 4GB Sandisk Clip+ selling for just $35, there really isn't any reason to spend $15 or $20(or even $5 or $10) on a generic player that is so far below it in sound quality, build quality, and support. For the longest time people here were bashing Coby products and I thought they couldn't be that bad, so when I saw a Coby AM/FM stereo walkman type radio for $5 I bought it out of curiosity. Not only was the sound quality very poor, it ate batteries like crazy. Even at $5 it was overpriced. I still see people using these Coby radios though, which get 20 hours play time on two AAA batteries, while the $15 Sony SRF-59 radio gets 100 hours on one AA battery, and sounds so much better than the Coby. It is amazing that the Coby eats 10X as many batteries as the Sony, and the Sony has so much better sound quality.

[The DarkSide]

No, he was saying (and quite nicely at that) that the player/s your talking about are a piece of shit and a waste of a post.

And no, this isn't "topmp3player.com. But, this isn't "buycheapchinesecopywrightlawsuitinducinggarbage.c om" either,...

[skip252]

Originally Posted by jasontaylor7

It almost seems like you are saying I suck as a person for even thinking of using this thing. I guess I didn't realize I was posting on topmp3players.com. I thought it was anything *but* ipod. My bad.

What's your issue? I let you know in a polite manner the truth about the player you mentioned. For some bizarre reason you've decided to take that personally. There's nothing in my post that passes judgement on you as a person because of your buying decision.

Attempting to shoot the messenger won't make the player you've bought any better. Had you asked before you bought it you would have received the same advice. It's a piece of junk. I know because I've owned one before and know from experience. I've also tried with a uniform lack of success to help others who have made the same unfortunate decision.

You need to get over it and put a few dollars toward a quality player at a good price. A Clip+ is what I recommend. It's decently built but doesn't cost a lot. The firmware issued by the manufacturer is pretty darn decent and if you decide to Rockbox it you can do things those pieces of junk never will.

The original purpose and reason for the name of this site was to look for iPod alternatives. In order to do that it's necessary to evaluate players honestly. Sometimes during that evaluation it turns out a player isn't worth buying at any price. This is one of those times and I've said just that.

Politely.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by skip252

... Sometimes during that evaluation it turns out a player isn't worth buying at any price. ...

*cough* fuze plus

[skip252]

Originally Posted by WalkGood

*cough* fuze plus

I might pay for a Fizzle+. I was moving some furniture around the house the other day and some change fell out of the cushions. 37 cents to be exact.

That sounds about right.

[yuki]

Why not just spend money on a sansa clip or the such. The mainland China engineered players are a bloody joke. I find it funny that people expect them to work or even decode anything more compared to mp3. For the most part these players use a z80 processor with a dsp for the audio decode and are usually stuck with finite mp3 decode functions. Expecting firmware is also a bit above these makers, they defecate out the product to make money as quickly as possible and disappear once they sold enough stock. Also I would be more scared of actually charging one of these pieces of rubbish, cheap lithium batteries are scary as hell. I got a few free china tablets as engineering samples a while back and 2 of them had a battery burst and one had a plug adapter with no regulators in it. The moral is that these companies do not even care enough for proper safety or a usable product. So just avoid them.

Also your previous posts seem to show you have a clip zip already. In this case why even bother with such a low quality joke ? You also seem to have went off on personal attacks in previous posts that were not personal attacks.

[saratoga]

Originally Posted by skip252

What's your issue? I let you know in a polite manner the truth about the player you mentioned. For some bizarre reason you've decided to take that personally. There's nothing in my post that passes judgement on you as a person because of your buying decision.

He does this in all his threads. He just assumes that if you don't tell him what he wants to hear, its because you're attacking him.

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by saratoga

He does this in all his threads. He just assumes that if you don't tell him what he wants to hear, its because you're attacking him.

So then why waste our time with ignorance?

[skip252]

Thanks for the heads up on the cheap lithium batteries, Yuki. I didn't think of the safety problems that might come from buying players like the one the OP mentions.

I see ones similar to that being sold by mainstream vendors like BestBuy and Newegg. Do you think they might have better quality controls in place to help guard against the charging problems you mentioned?

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by skip252

... I see ones similar to that being sold by mainstream vendors like BestBuy and Newegg. Do you think they might have better quality controls in place to help guard against the charging problems you mentioned?

WalkGood runs out to buy an exploding DAP from BB ... liability suit pending

[yuki]

Originally Posted by skip252

Thanks for the heads up on the cheap lithium batteries, Yuki. I didn't think of the safety problems that might come from buying players like the one the OP mentions.

I see ones similar to that being sold by mainstream vendors like BestBuy and Newegg. Do you think they might have better quality controls in place to help guard against the charging problems you mentioned?

I would guess yes that these vendors do sell a semi dangerous product. I mean best buy has had recalls on it's own battery packs and such that were marketed as extended battery packs. Newegg also sells on of the tablets I have had tested under a name (the model I had was void of branding). One of the tablets had the pcb on the battery that was supposed to have battery protection but it was unpopulated. Seems they did not even bother with solder mask to make contact point to the place that should have the ic's. One of the issues I see in the mobile players is they probably have no charging ic and just rely on a split on the usb rail or in some cases the adc and pwm outputs on the soc. While in a very low capacity this will just shorten the life of the batter it does pose issues. Another issues a while back I saw best buy selling some off branded (dynex) aa nimh. These were made in China and had no safety vents at all on them, anything above 1C such as a rapid charger would be fatal to the cell and maybe property around the device.

Two things with no name crap from china to think about. If it plugs in , you might want to open it up and check to see how bad the power supply is. As I said I have found many of the pack ins with mp3 players and tablets to have no voltage regulation and little smoothing. And if it has a battery always be careful (same goes for oem replacement batteries). At low charge rates and capacities you won't have too much explosion but the cell will just flat out die in lots of cases.

[skip252]

I can Coby radios in convenience stores where I'm at. The Sony you mention seems to be a very good radio but if you hadn't mentioned it here I would never have known about it or the long battery life. The lack of easy accessibility and information would take it off the list for most people.

As far my the OP's reaction to my post? It's the 'Net. It takes all types to keep it interesting. He wasn't especially rude, he just seems self absorbed. Fortunately people that respond like that to being told they haven't made the best choice are few and far between. I can live with that.

In fact his reaction has had a positive side effect for me. I was looking at some of the el cheapo, off brand tablets I've been seeing recently. Some of them seemed to have decent specs for the price. After what Yuki said about the ones he evaluated I've decided I'll take those off the table and spend more for one that will have less chance of poisoning me or burning down my house.

Learning about a danger I should be able to avoid by spending a few more dollars seems well worth a little bump in the road like that one.