Ogg Speex (.SPX) Portable Audio Players?

[Pedro Palhoto]

Hey there,

Anyone know of any portable audio players (flash memory preferred) that can read the ogg speex audio codec format (.spx)?

It's great for voice compression, better then ogg vorbis for 'casts. The plan is to convert my downloaded 'casts before the weekly upload to my device, saving more space on it.

Oh, and I don't want to spend above €50(US$65). 512MB is sufficient, 1GB ideal.

Thanks.

[dann]

Whew, that's a tall order. When I get the chance, I will look around. I think, though, your price cap may be difficult to find a product that will do ogg speex; in fact, I don't think there are a lot of players out there that will play ogg at that price range.

[Pedro Palhoto]

Whew, that's a tall order. When I get the chance, I will look around. I think, though, your price cap may be difficult to find a product that will do ogg speex; in fact, I don't think there are a lot of players out there that will play ogg at that price range.

Thanks Dann, no need to hunt for it on purpose, it is not that important. Anyway, if you do find a reader that surpasses the price cap, let me know anyway (I might be interested at that time).

I had been using a crappy Starbizz (InnoviX low-end I believe) €23 512MB MP3 player (no Ogg) that I had to load up with podcasts twice a week. Yesterday the lock key internally unattached by usage, and it'll take up to 30 work days to repair/replace (warranty). That's why I'm looking for a replacement for my regular podcast fixes.

Currently I'm back using my Nokia 6630 phone (with a 1GB flash card) for podcasts. You can run Symbian OggPlay on it. It doesn't yet have speex support, though there is a forum message concerning it and the respective feature request. To load up files to the phone's card, taking out the card and reading from a USB card reader is the fastest way (it compensates being many files for each "sync"). I used to pass each batch through soundKonverter first (to Ogg Vorbis quality 0 - ~32kbit/s).

The problem with the phone is not having a direct 3.5" jack connection for earplugs I want (not the crappy Nokia earphones + microphone that came with it). For that effect, I bought an AD-15 3.5" jack adaptor for €15. The problem is, its internal cable connection fails after around 5 months. I replaced it the first time still within its warranty period. I'll probably try the AD-46 adaptor for €20 if I don't find a speex player in a day or two (has a microphone and lets me connect my own earphones) and may be able to hold up to more than 5 months of intense usage as the connector cable configuration on the phone end is different. The phone doesn't have an ideal interface for listening to podcasts: pausing for example takes two much time (2 seconds more than I'd wish).

Using a standard bluetooth headset is practical inside the house (or in the car), but on the street it's a pretty clear invitation to be nicked. I do indeed have several alternatives, but if I could invest in an ogg speex portable dedicated player, that would be the preferred choice.

[Iain]

Old thread, but Rockbox supports this.