durability of PMP drives

September 19, 2007 12:58 PM

Flash memory vs hard drive in a personal media player: do the hard drives have serious reliablility/durablility issues in the portable media players like iPod and Archos? I expect I'll drop the thing a few times (or more), and wouldn't enjoy sending a hard drive model off for expensive repair/replacement. Any thoughts on what percentage of hard drive equipped media players require repair? Bonus points: what software (preferably freeware) would be able to pull a single frame from the videos I make for the player and print/save it as a jpg? The vids would be mp4, avi, or wmv.
posted by bbranden1 to computers & internet (16 comments total)

Do the hard drives have relability / durability issues? AbsoFreakin'Lutely.

Wink! (on his third iPod*)

* though admittedly, I dropped one** down the stairs while it was running

** but not the second one! I treated that thing like my own baby!***

*** it was still under warranty, so my third was free (I assume it was a refurbished one)
posted by Wink Ricketts at 1:05 PM on September 19, 2007

Yes, if you drop an iPod, the hard drive will die.

I have done this twice.
posted by Comrade_robot at 1:10 PM on September 19, 2007

I can't give you any advice concerning the durability of PMP drives, but I know that VLC Media Player is able to take a snapshot of a single frame and save it as a png-file (Video->Snapshot). Transforming to jpg can easily be done with Irfanview.
posted by pu9iad at 1:15 PM on September 19, 2007

Like Wink, my 20G fourth gen iPod also got replaced twice for hard drive failure during 2 years of AppleCare. Now that it's out of warranty, the only time it goes outside is when I am using it in my car. I have a flash player for anything else outside - they're much more reliable.

Also, the really cheap way to pull a single frame out of a video is to pause playing it on your PC, copy it to the clipboard, and then paste it into something like Paint.
posted by rfs at 1:15 PM on September 19, 2007

For the bonus: I'm going to go with percentages, and assuming you're using Windows. If that's the case, you can get a Windows binary of ffmpeg and that will do everything you want.

It's not the friendliest of tools, but it's almost certainly the most powerful and can dance with just about any format you throw at it. Plus, my grad school supervisor wrote most of it. Just modify the command discussed here and it should just go.
posted by Nelsormensch at 1:17 PM on September 19, 2007

I've been through 5 iPods, and only ones hard drive failed during its lifetime. My very first one, which I dropped the 2cd day of owning. Got the sad hard drive face lol. That will definitely screw it up.

Otherwise battery-life is the only major problem really. And the newer hard drives being used in the iPod Classic and 80gb 5th gen video iPods are very reliable in my experience.
posted by PetiePal at 1:39 PM on September 19, 2007

My Archos (6gb, Samsung drive iirc--man, that was a while ago), and then my iRiver (40gb, Toshiba drive), didn't fail catastrophically, but both drives began to be noisier, and to develop bad sectors, and just generally follow the patterns of hard-drive failure, after a few years of daily use during hikes and bicycle rides and car travel and whatnot. So I bought an 8gb (at the time the biggest flash-based player available) Nano.

Just about anything with moving parts will fail eventually. If you know before even buying the thing that you're going to drop it, a flash-based player (and a good, protective case) might be a good idea. Unless you're deeply committed to a gigantic storage capacity, I think that flash is the way to go these days.
posted by box at 1:46 PM on September 19, 2007

It depends on how well designed the device is.
Ipods seem to put form heavily over function - sacrificing drive protection in favour of being slim, but a player that is bulked up with some shock protection and less flimsy can protect the drive against almost anything (I have an old archos that I've dropped many a time, including four feet onto a marble floor, without trouble. It's also been slammed into concrete at about the same trajectory and speed as when throwing a skipping stone across a lake, and while that impact was impressive enough that other parts of it were damaged, the hard drive was fine, and so I was able to fix it myself). However, I think the market favours flimsy and pretty over durable, and today's products cater to this.

Bear in mind that you are not powerless here - there are all sorts of silicone ipod sheathes and stuff that while designed primarily to protect from scratches, also add some impact protection. If you're not too concerned about shiny prettiness, you can get whatever player you like the most and considerably increase its resilience yourself.
posted by -harlequin- at 2:01 PM on September 19, 2007

on my 4th hard drive based ipod here. best buy has honored the extended warranty without question. i fully expect to end up replacing it at least one more time before the warranty runs out.
posted by phil at 2:10 PM on September 19, 2007

I believe that most of the hard drive units are not designed to be moved much when running, a report I heard on the radio about hard drive failures in mp3 players said that taking them jogging was a bad thing to do, for example.

I've killed two flash drive mp3 players. Found the first one in the wash after the load was finished. The second one I had on a lanyard around my neck, one day while talking to a friend and enjoying a nice glass of water I looked down and saw it submerged. SIGH.

Anyway, I've dropped my mp3 player onto concrete floors on more than a few occasions, and it's never been a problem. For reliability's sake, the less moving parts the better.
posted by tomble at 2:57 PM on September 19, 2007

Sorry, no hard drive portable players here, but I have a sandisk sansa flash mp3 player. I've dropped it easily 20 times onto hard tile or asphalt and other than cosmetic chips and scratches it functions fine.

I carry it (and my phone, which amazingly has been dumped 100+ times and is fine) in my shirt pocket, and things occaisionally fall out when I bend over. Because I'm bending it's usually from a height of about 3 ft, which probably contributes to the nice survival rate.
posted by nobeagle at 4:37 PM on September 19, 2007

nb: dropping flash memory can damage it irreparably as well, and more easily than you'd expect. so having a usb key / flash drive / flash-based pmp / &c. isn't necessarily safer than a hd-based dealie. for portable hd, the main concern is if it's spinning/seeking when dropped.
posted by dorian at 4:53 PM on September 19, 2007

my Creative Jukebox Zen (ver 1) has been dropped repeatedly over the last 6 or so years. the battery doesn't work anymore, but the hard drive sure does. (thanks test bench power supply!)
posted by ArgentCorvid at 5:18 PM on September 19, 2007

I have had a 3G (hard drive) iPod for almost 2 years and have experienced no problems, despite its several trips to the pavement from hand height. Of course, I've never used it outside of the hard case I got for it when I bought it.

I also used it while jogging for a full summer and similarly encountered no issues. I carried it in my hands, so that may have reduced the up-and-down motion shock from what it would have experienced on a belt clip.
posted by dondiego87 at 5:18 PM on September 19, 2007

I have an Insignia NS-DV4G. It's a Best Buy store brand, 4gig flash based player. It has wonderful reviews based on it's sound and video capabilities. There is a slot for a micro-sd card up to 2gigs.

My husband washed it. I pulled it out of the washer, cracked the case and let it dry. In two days it was running again, and in a week all the water was out of the screen.

My husband's 5g 80gig would not have been so lucky.
posted by Talia Devane at 5:54 PM on September 19, 2007

I have dropped my 4G 20 GB iPod a number of times (I guess somewhere between 6 and 10) onto hard surfaces from 2-3 feet while it is running. It still works fine, but I know one day it will die because of those drops. If ruggedness is important, moving parts are a no-no. Still, flash memory can be killed by impact too, so it's not foolproof.
posted by dg at 8:05 PM on September 19, 2007