What's the difference between an MP3 player and a HD?
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Apparently pricerunner.co.uk knows the difference, and shares this gem of wisdom with us all...
When looking for a price on a 750GB HD, checking out the details showed a ""Media Playback" option, that said no. Wondering what kind of SATA HD actually has media playback, I clicked on "more info" to find out.
"Shows if drive can playback movies and music. The difference between an Mp3 player and a hard drive with media playback is that hard drives does not have a display screen or support for batterys. Which concludes that they are not portable."
Well that's cleared that up, then.
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My HD supports data streaming. Does yours?
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Why yes it does.
Here's an example of a hard drive with media playback - the Freecom MediaPlayer series:
http://www.freecom.com/productsubs.asp?CatID=8020&sCatID=1146197&s=ja
http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/computing/storage/harddrives/363542/details
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It appears that those items actually have an A/V out port, and can play certain types of media files. Probably something you'd attach to your stereo with a huge pile of mp3s.
The last sentence is confusing though. The conclusion has nothing to do with the "media playback?" question.
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Yes, I know all about cut down media servers, they do the job and I know a few people who have them. I was more referring to the overall WTFness. Ignoring the bad English, the whole concept makes no sense.
These media streamers are just that, a media device with an HD as a component - the storage mechanism is secondary to the function of the device. That is exactly the same as in an iPod. Using their definition of a hard drive as being "anything that contains a hard drive", an iPod *is* a hard drive (at least, the higher capacity models). Yet despite being a hard drive, it also has a "display screen" and "support for batterys" (I'm assuming that having a battery means that it "supports batterys") yet is also portable. There are also MP3 players without displays, HD players with displays, and all other sorts of things that make a mockery of this "clarification" that doesmore confusing than clarifying.
The "conlusion itself - "they are not portable" - what does that even have to do with the question asked, "Media Playback?".
Besides... comparing two different things (HDs and MP3 players) comparing them on two criteria and assuming that that is a logical conclusion for their differences is just silly. I may as well say "The difference between a walrus and Jupiter is that a walrus has two eyes and whiskers. Which concludes that it is not a planet."
It's not often that I come out more confused after reading something, but that did it for me.
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It's indisputably poorly worded, but the comparison is not walruses and gas giants, by any stretch.
A hard drive is just a hard drive.
A hard drive with media playback is a hard drive with audio/video processing hardware added on.
An MP3 player is a hard drive with media playback, and a battery and a screen.
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An MP3 player isn't a hard drive with media playback, a battery, and a screen. There are MP3 players without screens. There are MP3 players without hard drives - I have 2. In fact, 100% of my MP3 players have no hard drives in them.
Also I'd argue againt describing those media players as "hard drives". The hard drive itself is still just that, but you've put it into a machine that does media playback. You cannot call a media playback device a hard drive because it happens to normally contains one. Heck, I'm sure that some exist with displays... does this make them MP3 players?
PVRs also play back media, contain a hard drive (or is that IS a hard drive?), have a display, and I've seen some that "support batterys", and some that don't. Are they hard drives, MP3 players, or something else? According to that haphazard description, it's neither and both.
Either way, you still have the fact that the whole load of nonsense in no way comes close to actually answering the question it sets. How does concluding that something is portable or not tell you if it supports media playback? How is the mention of MP3 players in the first place even relevant?
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"The difference between a walrus and Jupiter is that a walrus has two eyes and whiskers. Which concludes that it is not a planet."
But jupiter has an eye. If it had whiskers, would it be a walrus?
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[quote user="Isuwen"]
"The
difference between a walrus and Jupiter is that a walrus has two eyes
and whiskers. Which concludes that it is not a planet."But jupiter has an eye. If it had whiskers, would it be a walrus?
[/quote]
Considering
that these things are apparently that simple (an MP3 player is a hard
drive with a battery and a screen), I don't see why not.
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[quote user="RayS"][quote user="Isuwen"]
"The difference between a walrus and Jupiter is that a walrus has two eyes and whiskers. Which concludes that it is not a planet."
But jupiter has an eye. If it had whiskers, would it be a walrus?
[/quote]
Considering that these things are apparently that simple (an MP3 player is a hard drive with a battery and a screen), I don't see why not.
[/quote]Earth has many eyes and whiskers. It too is a planet, I hope.
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[quote user="Ozru"][quote user="RayS"][quote user="Isuwen"]
"The difference between a walrus and Jupiter is that a walrus has two eyes and whiskers. Which concludes that it is not a planet."
But jupiter has an eye. If it had whiskers, would it be a walrus?
[/quote]
Considering that these things are apparently that simple (an MP3 player is a hard drive with a battery and a screen), I don't see why not.
[/quote]Earth has many eyes and whiskers. It too is a planet, I hope.[/quote]
<font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Pluto has eyes, whiskers, and guess what? He barks!
</font>
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[quote user="xrT"][quote user="Ozru"][quote user="RayS"][quote user="Isuwen"]
"The difference between a walrus and Jupiter is that a walrus has two eyes and whiskers. Which concludes that it is not a planet."
But jupiter has an eye. If it had whiskers, would it be a walrus?
[/quote]
Considering that these things are apparently that simple (an MP3 player is a hard drive with a battery and a screen), I don't see why not.
[/quote]Earth has many eyes and whiskers. It too is a planet, I hope.[/quote]
<font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Pluto has eyes, whiskers, and guess what? He barks!
</font>[/quote]Which proves that Pluto really isn't a planet. Pluto is a walrus.
