RubenNYC
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Subject: Vibez FAQ
TrekStor vibez FAQ
Compiled by RubenNYC
To suggest additional questions/answers/information for this FAQ, please reply to this thread. FAQ suggestions posted in this thread will be deleted after they have been incorporated into the FAQ.
Acknowledgements
Though portions of this FAQ come from my own experiences with the Vibez, the vast majority of its contents would not be possible without the invaluable contributions of this community past and present. For any new Vibez owners not familiar with its ancestor the Rio Karma, I highly recommend reading the Karma FAQ. There's a lot of great history surrounding this little player. Enjoy.
General Vibez Questions
Where can I find the latest firmware and documentation for Vibez?
Vibez User Manual: http://trekstor.de/downloads/produkte/vibez/manual_vibez_v…
Vibez Quick Start Guide: http://trekstor.de/downloads/produkte/vibez/quick-guide_vi…
Vibez Device Driver for Win98 only: http://trekstor.de/downloads/produkte/vibez/driver-win-98_…
Vibez Firmware 1.14: http://trekstor.de/en/products/detail_mp3.…?pid=66&p… (Note: 1.14 is the latest official supported version. The Vibez ships with version 1.04.)
BETA Firmware Info: See this thread for information on the latest Beta firmware versions avalaible for testing at your own risk -> http://www.riovolution.org/post/13887 (Latest version is 1.19)
What's the audio quality on the Vibez?
Headphone output, impedance: 7.5 mW (L) + 7.5 mW (R) , 32 Ohm
Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 kHz
Signal-to-noise ratio: > 90 dB
Speaking of audio quality, I need help with the EQ settings.
You're in luck - our resident sound engineer, Flattop100, put together a EQ Tutorial just for you. Quite fortunately, any mention of the Karma's EQ capabilities in the tutorial also apply to the Vibez as it inherited the Karma's phenomenal 5-band parametric EQ.
I keep hearing about "gapless playback." Is that like crossfading? What’s the big deal?
Gapless is not the same as crossfading. Gapless playback means that there is no artificial gap added between two tracks where there should be none (think the second half of ”Abbey Road”). In crossfading, the end of one song overlaps slightly with the beginning of the next song (think of a DJ). Check out Nudel's great explanation (with examples) at http://www.pretentiousname.com/mp3players .
Ok, but does the Vibez actually offer crossfading, too?
Yes.
Ok, I bet it can't do pitchbend!
Yep, it can do pitchbend. Not sure why that's useful, but it's cool as hell. Though I guess if you had two Vibez' you could actually DJ with them.
It's so small. Does it use flash memory?
No. The Vibez uses a new 1" Cornice Dragon-2 Mobile Hard Drive. Full specs (along with marketing mumbo-jumbo) are available at http://www.corniceco.com/products/12gb.html . Some of the highlights:
- Able to sustain 1.5 meter drops onto hard concrete (with properly designed enclosure)
- Double Acting Latch holds head safely in place during shock events
- Will not pause during playback while device is experiencing extreme motion (running, jumping, etc.)
- Drop Sensor gives the drive the ability to sense a drop and emergency park the head. Increases effective operational shock to 2000Gs
- Transfer rate: 9.5 Mbytes/sec typical average
- Supply voltage: 3.3 V
- Electrical Interface: Compact Flash - True IDE mode (for embedded use) / CE-ATA, ATA over MMC
Is there a 15 GB Vibez? StoreX has a listing for it. (As of Feb 2008)
No. And at this point there has been zero indication that we will see anything larger than the 12 GB version available now. A few months ago TrekStor announced 4 GB and 8 GB flash versions, but again no indication has been given as to when.
Why does everyone keep comparing this thing to the Karma? What gives?
The Vibez firmware, menu system and feature set is almost entirely derived from the legendary Rio Karma, which in turn is descended from the Empeg/Rio Car. In fact, many Vibez feature related questions you have may already be partially covered in the Karma FAQ. There's a lot of great history behind this "new" player that we'll try to cover here, but it's going to take some time.
So, what are some of the things Vibez improves upon since the Karma?
- Color screen
- Album art
- Image viewer
- The VU Meters no longer block the album title
- Background visualizations (Hooray bubbles!)
- Support for wav files in addition to mp3, wma, flac and vorbis
- Ability to view full details for tracks in the Now Playing list other than the one that's playing
- Ability to name custom EQ settings (and presumably the ability to save more than 3)
- MSC/MTP
- Browse by folder in addition to browsing by ID3 tag info.
- Support for additional ID3 tags such as composer and original artist. (Covers!)
- User replaceable battery (i.e. you don't need a screwdriver)
- Pitchbend
- Two configurable "quick buttons" instead of one. And more configuration options. (Hooray one-touch shuffle!)
And what's missing?
- No Ethernet
- Dock not included
- Not able to edit/create playlists independent of the now playing list
Is the Vibez available in the US?
Yes. Check J&R Music World, Amazon.com and B&H.
Is the Vibez available in the UK?
Yes. AdvancedMP3Players is now reporting they have the Vibez in stock: LINKAGE
So far the Vibez is also known to be available in Germany (where Trekstor is based) and Poland
Thanks, gborland and cpu
How can I force the Vibez to connect to my WinXP pc in MSC mode instead of MTP?
1. Open Windows' Device Manager
2. Find the vibez in the list of devices
3. Right-click and select "Update Driver..."
4. Choose "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)", then click Next
5. Choose "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install.", then click Next
6. Make sure that "Show compatible hardware" is checked
7. There should be two "Models" available, "MTP Device" and "USB Mass Storage Device", choose whichever one you want to switch to, then click Next
8. Wait for Windows to do it's thing then click Finish
Thanks to peter, theRover and the folks over at Insignia DAP for this one.
What playlist format does the Vibez use?
If you use your Vibez using MTP -- in other words, if you use Windows Media Player 10 or 11, or Windows Vista, and haven't otherwise disabled MTP -- Playlists are dealt with in an MTP-specific way, and format support depends only on what your transfer software supports.
If you use your Vibez using mass-storage class -- in other words, if it appears as a drive-letter -- then the format support is indeed down to what the Vibez firmware supports directly.
Fortunately, the Vibez firmware directly supports all four main playlist formats: M3U, PLS, ASX, and WPL. Of these, M3U and PLS have the widest compatibility, but they're ANSI (8-bit) formats, which means they can't represent non-ASCII filenames in a way that's readable independent of locale. (Or, in other words, if your Greek friend writes some files with Greek filenames, and an M3U playlist referring to them, to your Vibez, then the playlist won't play. Nor will your French M3Us be readable by his Greek Vibez.)
ASX attempts to solve the locale problem, by being UTF-8 and XML-like; trouble is, it's not quite XML-like enough, as it doesn't escape XML special characters, and goes horribly wrong if you use "<" or ">" in filenames.
WPL is Microsoft's next attempt to solve that problem, and is genuine UTF-8 XML. Vibez uses WPL internally, for playlists sent over MTP. However, WPL support is not as widespread in other applications as either M3U or ASX.
Thanks, Peter!
Compiled by RubenNYC
To suggest additional questions/answers/information for this FAQ, please reply to this thread. FAQ suggestions posted in this thread will be deleted after they have been incorporated into the FAQ.
Acknowledgements
Though portions of this FAQ come from my own experiences with the Vibez, the vast majority of its contents would not be possible without the invaluable contributions of this community past and present. For any new Vibez owners not familiar with its ancestor the Rio Karma, I highly recommend reading the Karma FAQ. There's a lot of great history surrounding this little player. Enjoy.
General Vibez Questions
Where can I find the latest firmware and documentation for Vibez?
Vibez User Manual: http://trekstor.de/downloads/produkte/vibez/manual_vibez_v…
Vibez Quick Start Guide: http://trekstor.de/downloads/produkte/vibez/quick-guide_vi…
Vibez Device Driver for Win98 only: http://trekstor.de/downloads/produkte/vibez/driver-win-98_…
Vibez Firmware 1.14: http://trekstor.de/en/products/detail_mp3.…?pid=66&p… (Note: 1.14 is the latest official supported version. The Vibez ships with version 1.04.)
BETA Firmware Info: See this thread for information on the latest Beta firmware versions avalaible for testing at your own risk -> http://www.riovolution.org/post/13887 (Latest version is 1.19)
What's the audio quality on the Vibez?
Headphone output, impedance: 7.5 mW (L) + 7.5 mW (R) , 32 Ohm
Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 kHz
Signal-to-noise ratio: > 90 dB
Speaking of audio quality, I need help with the EQ settings.
You're in luck - our resident sound engineer, Flattop100, put together a EQ Tutorial just for you. Quite fortunately, any mention of the Karma's EQ capabilities in the tutorial also apply to the Vibez as it inherited the Karma's phenomenal 5-band parametric EQ.
I keep hearing about "gapless playback." Is that like crossfading? What’s the big deal?
Gapless is not the same as crossfading. Gapless playback means that there is no artificial gap added between two tracks where there should be none (think the second half of ”Abbey Road”). In crossfading, the end of one song overlaps slightly with the beginning of the next song (think of a DJ). Check out Nudel's great explanation (with examples) at http://www.pretentiousname.com/mp3players .
Ok, but does the Vibez actually offer crossfading, too?
Yes.
Ok, I bet it can't do pitchbend!
Yep, it can do pitchbend. Not sure why that's useful, but it's cool as hell. Though I guess if you had two Vibez' you could actually DJ with them.
It's so small. Does it use flash memory?
No. The Vibez uses a new 1" Cornice Dragon-2 Mobile Hard Drive. Full specs (along with marketing mumbo-jumbo) are available at http://www.corniceco.com/products/12gb.html . Some of the highlights:
- Able to sustain 1.5 meter drops onto hard concrete (with properly designed enclosure)
- Double Acting Latch holds head safely in place during shock events
- Will not pause during playback while device is experiencing extreme motion (running, jumping, etc.)
- Drop Sensor gives the drive the ability to sense a drop and emergency park the head. Increases effective operational shock to 2000Gs
- Transfer rate: 9.5 Mbytes/sec typical average
- Supply voltage: 3.3 V
- Electrical Interface: Compact Flash - True IDE mode (for embedded use) / CE-ATA, ATA over MMC
Is there a 15 GB Vibez? StoreX has a listing for it. (As of Feb 2008)
No. And at this point there has been zero indication that we will see anything larger than the 12 GB version available now. A few months ago TrekStor announced 4 GB and 8 GB flash versions, but again no indication has been given as to when.
Why does everyone keep comparing this thing to the Karma? What gives?
The Vibez firmware, menu system and feature set is almost entirely derived from the legendary Rio Karma, which in turn is descended from the Empeg/Rio Car. In fact, many Vibez feature related questions you have may already be partially covered in the Karma FAQ. There's a lot of great history behind this "new" player that we'll try to cover here, but it's going to take some time.
So, what are some of the things Vibez improves upon since the Karma?
- Color screen
- Album art
- Image viewer
- The VU Meters no longer block the album title
- Background visualizations (Hooray bubbles!)
- Support for wav files in addition to mp3, wma, flac and vorbis
- Ability to view full details for tracks in the Now Playing list other than the one that's playing
- Ability to name custom EQ settings (and presumably the ability to save more than 3)
- MSC/MTP
- Browse by folder in addition to browsing by ID3 tag info.
- Support for additional ID3 tags such as composer and original artist. (Covers!)
- User replaceable battery (i.e. you don't need a screwdriver)
- Pitchbend
- Two configurable "quick buttons" instead of one. And more configuration options. (Hooray one-touch shuffle!)
And what's missing?
- No Ethernet
- Dock not included
- Not able to edit/create playlists independent of the now playing list
Is the Vibez available in the US?
Yes. Check J&R Music World, Amazon.com and B&H.
Is the Vibez available in the UK?
Yes. AdvancedMP3Players is now reporting they have the Vibez in stock: LINKAGE
So far the Vibez is also known to be available in Germany (where Trekstor is based) and Poland
Thanks, gborland and cpu
How can I force the Vibez to connect to my WinXP pc in MSC mode instead of MTP?
1. Open Windows' Device Manager
2. Find the vibez in the list of devices
3. Right-click and select "Update Driver..."
4. Choose "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)", then click Next
5. Choose "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install.", then click Next
6. Make sure that "Show compatible hardware" is checked
7. There should be two "Models" available, "MTP Device" and "USB Mass Storage Device", choose whichever one you want to switch to, then click Next
8. Wait for Windows to do it's thing then click Finish
Thanks to peter, theRover and the folks over at Insignia DAP for this one.
What playlist format does the Vibez use?
If you use your Vibez using MTP -- in other words, if you use Windows Media Player 10 or 11, or Windows Vista, and haven't otherwise disabled MTP -- Playlists are dealt with in an MTP-specific way, and format support depends only on what your transfer software supports.
If you use your Vibez using mass-storage class -- in other words, if it appears as a drive-letter -- then the format support is indeed down to what the Vibez firmware supports directly.
Fortunately, the Vibez firmware directly supports all four main playlist formats: M3U, PLS, ASX, and WPL. Of these, M3U and PLS have the widest compatibility, but they're ANSI (8-bit) formats, which means they can't represent non-ASCII filenames in a way that's readable independent of locale. (Or, in other words, if your Greek friend writes some files with Greek filenames, and an M3U playlist referring to them, to your Vibez, then the playlist won't play. Nor will your French M3Us be readable by his Greek Vibez.)
ASX attempts to solve the locale problem, by being UTF-8 and XML-like; trouble is, it's not quite XML-like enough, as it doesn't escape XML special characters, and goes horribly wrong if you use "<" or ">" in filenames.
WPL is Microsoft's next attempt to solve that problem, and is genuine UTF-8 XML. Vibez uses WPL internally, for playlists sent over MTP. However, WPL support is not as widespread in other applications as either M3U or ASX.
Thanks, Peter!
This post was edited 20 times, last on 2008-08-15, 16:09 by RubenNYC.Edit reason: sub title. Added TrekStor support info under Troubleshooting.
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and then helping me anyway!