Mac users beware

[philipz]

All,

I have my D2 since 2 months now, and I'm having quite some issues on my Mac.
Since it doesn't come with mac software, it is supposed to behave as a harddisk when connecting it to the Mac.
When trying to copy files to it, you often get the 'preparing to copy files' popup, and it stays like that for ages, even to copy 3 small files. I can't even turn off my Mac afterwards because that 'preparing ...' process is busy, can't be stopped and prevents the Mac from shutting down... Turning off the D2 is the only option, but then it won't be seen anymore on the Mac until I re-install the firmware again on the D2 (on a PC that is...)
Same for creating folders or moving stuff around on the D2. I tried it on 2 different Macs, same result. On the PC this works without a problem (latest firmware btw).
I lost already quite some sound recordings, so I am not particularly happy with this product. I've had no problems whatsoever with the many USB devices I tested, except for this one.
Oh, and there's no consistancy at all; sometimes it works, sometimes it screws up all the content.

[CrowdAds]

[e260]

Are you sure its in MSC mode, it should appear as a removable disc, and it should be fully compatible.

[philipz]

Originally Posted by e260

Are you sure its in MSC mode, it should appear as a removable disc, and it should be fully compatible.

It is in MSC mode... Indeed, it SHOULD. I have not had any problem with any device, except this behavior. Any way to completely reformat the device? Maybe that would help...

[hextor88]

i'm on mac os 10.3.9 and am considering the d2. is it working for you now with transferring files? if so, can you move over folders or just individual files? any other mac related cowon advice would be great.

thanks.

[dfkt]

I don't think it's a problem in general with the D2. For me it works on Windows 2000, Ubuntu, Knoppix, FreeBSD, and several other flavors of Unix/Linux. All of those understand MSC/UMS natively and don't give any trouble transferring files to the D2. I see no reason why it shouldn't work on OS X.

[philipz]

It is not resolved
I don't know where the issue is. When I copy several files to my D2, the Mac states 'Preparing to copy files' and then just hangs. If I copy the files one by one, it works. Not saying that it is a D2 problem; just saying that it doesn't work with MY Mac, running 10.4.
If I run into the issue again, the D2 also doesn't function properly anymore afterwards. Pressing the 'Pictures' button makes the D2 freeze; same for the video section. Again, after doing a fresh install of the firmware it works again. But all the content is gone again.
None of these problems occur when I use my PC for copying.

I also found out that the D2 copy process hangs when you have spaces in your filenames, but this is another issue, doesnt have anything to do with what I describe above. Not sure if this is Mac only or PC as well; didn't test it on a PC.

To be honest, if you don't mind about the radio (not the best quality anyway) and the voice recording (not the best quality either) better look for a video iPod. Video quality is a lot better, and the video iPod just works. No need for annoying bugfix firmware updates that remove your content and introduce new bugs without fixing the old - well know - ones.

Again, this is just my personal opinion; my experiences with the player from a PC point of view are fine (except for the bugs and upgrade path).

[dfkt]

It seems it's just you having these problems, obviously. Sorry I can't help, since I don't have a Mac, but seeing that you even have trouble transferring files with spaces in the filenames, I'd say you probably gotta look into fixing your Mac, not telling other people they should get an iPod instead of the D2... Over at the iAudiophile forums, many people use the D2 with OS X, and none described the problems you have.

Stating that the iPod has better video quality is ridiculous. The iPod has a crappy 16 bit screen, displaying 64000 colors, while the D2 has a 24bit screen, displaying 16 million colors... it's blockyness galore on the iPod - compare them side by side and see for yourself. Not to mention restrictive Quicktime vs. open XviD...

[philipz]

Originally Posted by dfkt

It seems it's just you having these problems, obviously. Sorry I can't help, since I don't have a Mac, but seeing that you even have trouble transferring files with spaces in the filenames, I'd say you probably gotta look into fixing your Mac, not telling other people they should get an iPod instead of the D2... Over at the iAudiophile forums, many people use the D2 with OS X, and none described the problems you have.

That's why I said, it is just my personal opinion and experience... I have many USB devices, none of them behaving as the D2. It could be that my D2 was manufactured on a Monday morning (or my Mac, for what it's worth).
I really do believe not all Mac/D2 users experience the same problem anyway, but that doesn't mean I can't share my experience, does it?

As far as the video goes, at this very moment the quality for displaying the content on a TV is pretty poor because of the low resolution (320 x 240) but - again - you don't need to agree on that. Hopefully this will be fixed in a future firmware release anyway.

[dfkt]

Sure, I don't question your bad experience with the D2 on your Mac, and I'm sorry it doesn't work for you - it was the "get an iPod instead" and "it just works" parts that made me itchy. Sounds pretty much like those Apple advertisements, you know...

You didn't say you meant the TV-out option when comparing the iPod to the D2. Yes, of course a 640x480 output looks nicer than a 320x240 one. I only tested it once (I really have no use for a TV-out option), and was quite impressed that the D2's 320x240 didn't look too shabby on my 32" TV (better than VHS any time).

Still, the internal screen of the D2 is much better than the iPod's... that's what I was referring to in my post above. You certainly seem to have different preferences, but that's what I - and many other people - use much more than the TV-out. If you bought the D2 only for its video-out, you weren't really well informed in your purchase. For portable video, it totally kicks the iPod's ass. Not to mention the 10 hour battery time for video playback, the BBE audio enhancements for video, etc.

For TV-out a Cowon A2 (800x600 24bit), Creative ZV:M (720x576 18bit), or even a highly inflexible iPod (640x480 16bit), is undoubtedly the better choice....

[Mantr0nix]

Originally Posted by philipz

[...] I also found out that the D2 copy process hangs when you have spaces in your filenames, but this is another issue, doesnt have anything to do with what I describe above. Not sure if this is Mac only or PC as well; didn't test it on a PC. [...]

I barely have files without spaces in the filenames on my D2. No problem.

Originally Posted by philipz

[...] To be honest, if you don't mind about the radio (not the best quality anyway) and the voice recording (not the best quality either) better look for a video iPod.[...]

So you advise other people to get a poorly designed, less featurerich, much less quality, much much more proprietary, inflexible and at least in germany more expensive product cuz you're not able to sort your problems?

Sry philipz, i can understand that you might get frustrated by something you haven't found a solution for yet. But this attitude reminds me of ... well.

Originally Posted by philipz

[...] Video quality [of the ipod] is a lot better [...]

To claim the opposite of truth doesn't make things any better.

Originally Posted by philipz

[...], and the video iPod just works. No need for annoying bugfix firmware updates that remove your content and introduce new bugs without fixing the old - well know - ones.[...]

My D2 worked out of the box. But through updating fw i got a nice flash player, i got a really great dictionary, i got a funny notepad, ... (to be continued in future firmwares?)

Originally Posted by philipz

Again, this is just my personal opinion; my experiences with the player from a PC point of view are fine (except for the bugs and upgrade path).

To be able to update the firmware is not a bug, it's a feature. To be honest, there are some minor bugs still in D2 firmware. But i really like to get better quality hardware at lower price, a great featureset, ipod owners only can dream of. I like to convert my music to free audio formats of superior quality and i really like to do the media supplying tasks with any software i choose, not the device manufaturer oblige to maximize his profits.

I kinda like the look / case design of the ipod, it's nice. But thats the only thing i like about apple products in general. They look great, do basic stuff and are ridiculously overpriced. But thats - of course - just my opinion.

(That's all there is to ... i don't wanna start a flame war.) Choose whatever product you like but don't try to convince others by questionable statements.

Edit: typo

[philipz]

Should have known what kind of reactions my statements could force by looking at the domain name for this site
Forget about the iPod statement I made; I'll never do it again, promised!

Still, I hope I can get my issue fixed sooner or later and come back with a better story, but so far that's all there is to tell from my side.

Thanks and happy D2-ing to all of you

[dfkt]

Sure thing... Belated welcome to AnythingButiPod!

[Paul133]

Phil, one way to test if it's your player or your D2 (and I think dfkt will back me up on this) would be to run a Linux LiveCD and then try the player. If it works and you can transfer files, you'll know it was your Mac. If it doesn't work, it's the D2.

As far as spaces in the file name, it might work, but it's not a good habit to get into. Just use '_', especially on a *nix system.

[derf]

Spaces are no problem on Linux/Unix systems. There are two ways to deals with them in the command line:
1) Use quotes: "Filename with space.mp3"
2) Use backslash: Filename\ with\ spaces.mp3

Non standard/regional characters or accents can be problematic. I made a test folder with files with lots of accents a while ago to test file transfers between Windows XP and Linux via Samba, and some would copy ok, some would. I tried to move this folder from FAT32 to NTFS, and it said it was unable because a file was not found according to Windows or "vanished" according to rsync. It has to do with encoding and codepages. So beware of special characters.

Examples:
âàäçéêèëîìïôòöûùü and so on...