as days pass by, by Stuart Langridge

The Archos PMA400 (or PMA430 depending on who you talk to) needs a software library, like the Sharp Zaurus had at killefiz. So, now, it’s got one.
http://www.kryogenix.org/pma400

Anyone know anything about Real’s Rhapsody online music download service? They’ve apparently just gone entirely web-based, opening up their market to Linux and Mac users. If you buy a track from them, what format do you get it in? There’s some talk about a subscription model, but they’re pushing the idea of mobile devices to listen to your music, including my Archos PMA400 — how does that work with subscription? If I download a file and put it on my Archos, how does it know whether I’ve paid for it or not? The Rhapsody people don’t seem to say much about formats and how it all works; any good pointers or knowledgeable people want to help me out?

I need to do this, so I’m documenting it here.

mencoder -ovc xvid -xvidencopts bitrate=1000 -oac mp3lame -lameopts preset=medium -o ww1.divx.avi vcd://

I don’t have the aspect ratio quite right, and I think therefore that the video needs resizing, but that can wait for another day.

I’ve got an Archos PMA400 pocket media assistant. It is outrageously cool. It not only plays MP3s like your iRiver or iPod or whatever, but it plays video as well, and it records video, and it records sound, and it’s a PDA, and it runs Linux. Viciously cool. Kevin Boone’s PMA400 FAQ is a useful resource for what it can do and how to make it do even more. Looking forward to the journey home so I can listen to the latest LugRadio on it :)