 |
(on Wikipedia)
(product archive)
A flash-based MP3 player. It was pretty good.
- ~2015-08-27 - Mostly-replaced by Zaurus SL-C1000
-
Replaces Creative NOMAD MuVo2
-
2007-10-16 resolved my Dell DJ Ditty issues, sortof.
Introduction ∞
Dell's DJ Ditty is a newer-generation interpretation of the same form factor and interface which the We Wa Concertmaster II 256MB MP3 Player used.
I also got myself some https://www.iskin.com/ silicone protectors in various colours, one of which wasn't offensive. I'm calling it my MP3-condom. Having it on will mean that I won't damage my Pentax OptioWP by having them rub together. I've since stopped using the skin since I got a cover for my camera.
I lost every other mp3 player I've had, so I got the uber-warranty on this one. It cost half the price of the actual device. =/
I've mostly stopped using this in preference for my Zaurus SL-C1000 but I'm back with using it occasionally because it's smaller and more portable.
Review ∞
- Cannot delete files.
- Using the equalizer settings seems to artificially boost the volume. Annoying.
- The volume is not smooth, especially when using the rock equalizer.
- When switching to the rock equalizer, one can use the volume function and change the volume.
- No functionality to exit the menus completely. The Concertmaster had the power button do that.
- Menuing is quite annoyingly buried for some functions. There is only one item for "information" so it doesn't deserve its own submenu.
- Shopping from Dell is a crappy experience.
- Not nearly as good value as the Apple nano.
- Uses a Li-Ion battery instead of AAAs like its predecessors. This seems to be the trend.
- Has issues with the sound level not being consistent when changing volume. It's a smooth progression and then it hops up a huge notch. Unfortunately my preferred volume is somewhere in that gap.
- The equalizer, set to rock, raises the volume a LOT.
- When changing equalizer settings, the volume control switch won't move the menus it'll instead change the volume.. but only for a moment.
-
If you pause the playback and it is set to automatically turn off, it will turn off and reset itself back to the first song in the list.
-
-
Very very good quality sound at low volume (when not using an equalizer).
The death of my Dj Ditty ∞
- It started randomly hanging
- It got so bad one day that I ended up reformatting it.
- I ended up reproducing the problem, and then calling them.
- They bumbled around looking for a solution.
- They asked me to re-flash it
- It would hang trying to do that.
- I responded to their tech email, following their instructions
- They didn't seem to get my emails.
- I called them and it took 1/2 an hour to bumble around to finally get a replacement sent.
- Overall this has taken several weeks of nonsense.
- They won't let me upgrade and I don't know if I can extend the warranty.
-
They don't know what they're sending out to me, if it's refurbished or some other thing.
But it'll probably get here next-day. Yay.
The next version ∞
In late November 2007 it seems to have died as well. It's seen as a device by the firmware tool but it won't do anything. It can't be seen as a device except maybe in Linux, but no OS can actually do anything with it..
Of course, my warranty ran out mid-Nov.
dmesg gives all kinds of fun errors, like:
Spoiler
usb 3-4.1.4: USB disconnect, address 25 usb 3-4.1.4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 26 usb 3-4.1.4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice scsi15 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices usb-storage: device found at 26 usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning usb 3-4.1.4: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 26 Vendor: Dell Inc Model: Dell DJ Ditty Rev: 0100 Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 04 SCSI device sdi: 254400 2048-byte hdwr sectors (521 MB) sdi: Write Protect is off sdi: Mode Sense: 3e 00 00 00 sdi: assuming drive cache: write through SCSI device sdi: 254400 2048-byte hdwr sectors (521 MB) sdi: Write Protect is off sdi: Mode Sense: 3e 00 00 00 sdi: assuming drive cache: write through sdi: sdi1 sdi: p1 exceeds device capacity sd 15:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sdi sd 15:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg8 type 0 usb-storage: device scan complete attempt to access beyond end of device sdi: rw=0, want=4067952, limit=1017600 printk: 22 messages suppressed. Buffer I/O error on device sdi1, logical block 1016928 attempt to access beyond end of device ... sdi: rw=0, want=4068168, limit=1017600 Buffer I/O error on device sdi1, logical block 1016982 ... attempt to access beyond end of device sdi: rw=0, want=4068168, limit=1017600 ... FAT: logical sector size too small for device (logical sector size = 512)
I called Dell support: 1-877-335-5767,1,3,1 and talked with a tech to learn that my warranty was over but we did some troubleshooting nonetheless.
I tried his steps, but they didn't work. A variation did though.
Solution: Use the dell firmware tool to nuke it, and check off the option to wipe the contents.
In Windows, it works as a USB device now.
Then after pulling it out, do nothing for a few minutes. It needs time to re-initialize.
Plugging it into my Linux box, dmesg looks good:
Spoiler
usb 3-4.1.4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 27 usb 3-4.1.4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice scsi16 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices usb-storage: device found at 27 usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning usb 3-4.1.4: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 27 usb 3-4.1.4: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 27 usb 3-4.1.4: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 27 Vendor: Dell Inc Model: Dell DJ Ditty Rev: 0100 Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 04 SCSI device sdi: 254400 2048-byte hdwr sectors (521 MB) sdi: Write Protect is off sdi: Mode Sense: 3e 00 00 00 sdi: assuming drive cache: write through SCSI device sdi: 254400 2048-byte hdwr sectors (521 MB) sdi: Write Protect is off sdi: Mode Sense: 3e 00 00 00 sdi: assuming drive cache: write through sdi: sdi1 sd 16:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sdi sd 16:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg8 type 0 usb-storage: device scan complete
cfdisk looks odd, but don't worry.. I think.
Spoiler
cfdisk 2.12r
Disk Drive: /dev/sdi
Size: 521011200 bytes, 521 MB
Heads: 212 Sectors per Track: 60 Cylinders: 80
Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sdi1 Boot Primary FAT16 130.26
Pri/Log Free Space 390.76
mounting also works. df shows stuff like:
/dev/sdi1 496M 81M 416M 17% /mnt/mnt
416M .. interesting how cfdisk was wrong.
SO.. my formatting on Linux is what was completely screwing it over.
Last updated 2020-02-15 at 04:37:58
