[DS] Nintendo MP3 player. Anyone got one?

[jimmy_b]

I have been thinking of getting one of these for my DS lite, but it seems that this has had quite a muted release. As info on it is either quite scarce or conflicts from site to site. Anyone care to give their opinions or can confirm:

Is there a limit to the size of SD card it can read (I've read 512Mb, 2Gb, & no limit)?

What colour is it (It would be nice if it matches my black DS :dork: )?

How do you organise the file the SD card?
Are they all stuck in the root or can you organise them by artist/album in sub directories?

[pjclark1]

Its naff
buy a R4 instead $45 (£24) delivered to the UK from Gameyeeeah.com
does the same and more, does it better, does it cheaper.

Takes microSD (TF) cards of any size you can buy.

[blender]

i thought the official mp3 player has its own headphone socket. ... prehaps offering better quality than the gaming audio output

[ben.bayliss]

Its naff
buy a R4 instead $45 (£24) delivered to the UK from Gameyeeeah.com
does the same and more, does it better, does it cheaper.

Takes microSD (TF) cards of any size you can buy.
Got one on it's way from there too. Absolute bargain at that price. How long did yours take to arrive?

Looking forward to mini-screen media goodness! :)

[theADDict]

Have to agree folks, the R4 is simply AMAZIN.

Mine was £35 delivered from the UK, via Royal Mail Special delivery.
Worth every penny.

[carlito8]

Just ordered one (R4) from BambooGaming.com, couple of quid cheaper (£22) but they don't send you the box, sure I can live without it though. Where's the cheapest for a 2gb Micros SD card ? Cheapest I've found is £31 delivered.

[Drysolder]

Don't want to party-poop, but looks like the R4 enables warez, and that kind of talk isn't allowed here.

[FlangeMonkey]

Does this R4 gadget allow you to use it to store saves for games on a microSD card, plus any real difference (apart from the skin) between this and the M3 Simply?

[pjclark1]

Got one on it's way from there too. Absolute bargain at that price. How long did yours take to arrive?

10 days

[theADDict]

No difference at all between the R4 and the M3 simply at the moment.
The Version 1 R4's even have a solder point, so you can turn them into M3's !! and use their firmware !!
They are redesigning the R4 board now though, so get one quick.

[FlangeMonkey]

I'm right in thinking that neither support GBA homebrew do they?

[carlito8]

No you need a slot 2 solution for the GBA homebrew stuff.

[ben.bayliss]

No difference at all between the R4 and the M3 simply at the moment.
The Version 1 R4's even have a solder point, so you can turn them into M3's !! and use their firmware !!
They are redesigning the R4 board now though, so get one quick.
Not sure why this is so popular. R4 make the card and program the firmware, so why would anyone want to turn it into an M3 Simply - which is another step down the chain? The R4 is cheaper too, so surely it's a no-brainer to choose that one.

B

[theADDict]

Totally agree mate, but hey, it's nice to have the option !!

[carlito8]

Not sure why this is so popular. R4 make the card and program the firmware, so why would anyone want to turn it into an M3 Simply - which is another step down the chain? The R4 is cheaper too, so surely it's a no-brainer to choose that one.

B


Yeah it seems weird to me too, I think some folk just like the M3 brand really and like to convince themselves it's better.

[Jimmyboy]

Yeah it seems weird to me too, I think some folk just like the M3 brand really and like to convince themselves it's better.
Well I just brought the M3simply over the R4. As far as I'm aware they're pretty much identical cards except the M3 has a cleaner user interface. You can also turn the M3simply into an R4 btw.

[homerjhandley]

i ordered an R4 yesterday with 1 gig card for about £55 delivered.

not the cheapest but supposedly a very reliable retailer.

what film formats can it play?

[Walrus Man]

So will the R4 allow me to play music and view pictures etc., without the need to actually modify my DS? I know that in order to get a lot of homebrew stuff to work you need to flash the DS's firmware, I really don't want to do this, but it looks like the R4 works without doing this, i.e. once you take the R4 out of the DS slot, your DS is completely unaffected.

I did read the review that was linked to, and it mentioned that ScummVM didn't currently work with the R4, does anyone have any idea as to whether this may change in the future, or if Scumm will work with the M3? I have pretty much all the LucasArts adventures, and would love to get these going on my DS, but without the need to flash the thing and risk screwing it up.

Cheers.

[homerjhandley]

So will the R4 allow me to play music and view pictures etc., without the need to actually modify my DS? I know that in order to get a lot of homebrew stuff to work you need to flash the DS's firmware, I really don't want to do this, but it looks like the R4 works without doing this, i.e. once you take the R4 out of the DS slot, your DS is completely unaffected.

I did read the review that was linked to, and it mentioned that ScummVM didn't currently work with the R4, does anyone have any idea as to whether this may change in the future, or if Scumm will work with the M3? I have pretty much all the LucasArts adventures, and would love to get these going on my DS, but without the need to flash the thing and risk screwing it up.

Cheers.

AFAIK its a standalone card, nothing else needed.

I tried a mates setup the other day (cant recall the one) and he said he needed to flash his, but on my DSL it worked fine so maybe recent ones dont need any flashing?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R4DS (hope this isnt againsty any rules!)

[shy1807]

Just ordered one (R4) from BambooGaming.com, couple of quid cheaper (£22) but they don't send you the box, sure I can live without it though. Where's the cheapest for a 2gb Micros SD card ? Cheapest I've found is £31 delivered.

Where did you find a 2gb microSD for that price?

[Jimmyboy]

Where did you find a 2gb microSD for that price?
Play.com (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://playcom.at/thedvdforums) are doing em for £29.99 at the moment. That's the cheapest I could find one currently and tbh I couldn't be bothered waiting for any potential price drop down the line.

[pjclark1]

Sandisk microSD cards are very slow, but should be OK for music.

[FlangeMonkey]

So will the R4 allow me to play music and view pictures etc., without the need to actually modify my DS? I know that in order to get a lot of homebrew stuff to work you need to flash the DS's firmware, I really don't want to do this, but it looks like the R4 works without doing this, i.e. once you take the R4 out of the DS slot, your DS is completely unaffected.

I did read the review that was linked to, and it mentioned that ScummVM didn't currently work with the R4, does anyone have any idea as to whether this may change in the future, or if Scumm will work with the M3? I have pretty much all the LucasArts adventures, and would love to get these going on my DS, but without the need to flash the thing and risk screwing it up.

Cheers.

Been reading up a lot about these (the R4 and M3 DS Simply) - and it appears that the next release of ScummVM will include DLDI support - enabling it to be run on Slot-1 devices like these...

I think this is the way homebrew will be going: using Slot-1 devices. They make much more sense than the Slot-2 ones IMO. I hope coders will start releasing versions that are compatible with Slot-1...

I'd be more interested in knowing which (between the R4 and M3 Simply) is likely to stick around the longest - so I can be assured of firmware updates for the forseeable future. Anyone have any comment on this?

I haven't even got a DS yet, but homebrew is an important thing to research IMO before taking the plunge!

[carlito8]

Sandisk microSD cards are very slow, but should be OK for music.

Yeah I've read this about the Sandisk's as well, play's price is pretty decent though so it might be worth the gamble. I'd prefer a 2gb card instead of 2x 1gb cards but might consider that as an option as well.
eBuyer (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p(33903)a(60823)) were doing the Kingston 1gb cards at £10.39 plus delivery which seems another decent options.

[carlito8]

Scratch that, I decided to go with 2x 1gb Toshiba cards which are apparently rebranded Japanese kingston's (instead of the slower Taiwanese cards), came to just over £25 from mobymemory.com.

Transaction for the value of: GBP 25.38
Description: 2 Toshiba 1GB microSD (Tflash) Memory Card (with SD Adapter)
From: Moby Memory Limited

That wil do me for now until a decent 4gb card becomes available.

[pjclark1]

Toshiba is the manufacturer, Kingston (Japan), Dane-Elec, PNY and a host of others just stick their brand names on them

[carlito8]

Ah, as long as it's the same as the kingston card it should be fine from what I've read, couple of quid cheaper than the kingstons's from eBuyer (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p(33903)a(60823)) anyway and should be here next day as well.

[Walrus Man]

Lots of good info in this thread, but I don't think I've seen a definitive answer to the question that does using the R4 permanently modify the DS?

[ben.bayliss]

It is a regular game cart, like any other store-purchased cartridge. It does not modify your console in any way.

[carlito8]

Lots of good info in this thread, but I don't think I've seen a definitive answer to the question that does using the R4 permanently modify the DS?

No need to but for various reasons it may be better to flash the DS firmware. The main one being the facility to recover the firmware if it becomes damaged by a trojan (have been a couple floating around in various DS homebrew releases apparently). Can't realy go into any more detail on here though as some of the homebrew sites can have links/info about naughty activities.

[homerjhandley]

Just received a R4DS today, had it set up and working in less than 2 mins, including opening the box!

Cant comment on MP3 playback yet, but setup was simple and drag and drop so should be a cinch.

[FlangeMonkey]

Think I'm sold on one of these R4DS things for when I get my DS - it definitely seems to be the best Slot-1 card of its type at the moment, and as soon as more developers start including DLDI support in their homebrew code (which many are already doing) then it'll become even more useful...

[Jimmyboy]

The only thing that put me off the R4 is that it's in white when my DS is black but more importantly it's interface is a little clunky and lists all files regardless of whether you need to technically select them or not, which can get messy when scrolling through everything on a maxed out mem card.

[pjclark1]

Think I'm sold on one of these R4DS things for when I get my DS - it definitely seems to be the best Slot-1 card of its type at the moment, and as soon as more developers start including DLDI support in their homebrew code (which many are already doing) then it'll become even more useful...

There is already a DLDI patch out for the R4, I patched comic book DS in about 30 seconds and it works perfectly.

The only thing that put me off the R4 is that it's in white when my DS is black but more importantly it's interface is a little clunky and lists all files regardless of whether you need to technically select them or not, which can get messy when scrolling through everything on a maxed out mem card.

Mine came with both black and white cases.
Latest OS only lists the desired files.

[Jimmyboy]

Mine came with both black and white cases.
Latest OS only lists the desired files.
Cool then it's pretty much the same as the m3 then. Does it have a manual reboot option?

[pjclark1]

Soft Reset
L+R+X+Y+A+B

[sophamundo]

Doh! Made the mistake of ordering from www.games4play.com - despite their claim for same day dispatch... 10 days later I'm still waiting and they don't reply to any emails or phonecalls. AVOID!

Got an R4 on the way from gameyeeeah.com instead. Better price too! Hopefully I can get my money back for the other through Paypal.

[cmgarrod]

Cheap 1GB cards from picstop.co.uk
https://www.picstop.co.uk/Micro-SD---TransFlash

[sophamundo]

£9.99 delivered from dvd.co.uk: http://dvd.co.uk/product.asp?id=SDC1GB

[ShakeyJake]

SVP Communications (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://www.svp.co.uk) were doing the Kingston 1gb cards for about £6, all sold out now though

[cmgarrod]

Does anyone who has a White DS have the spare R4DS black cartridge cover going spare? I'd really appreciate it anyone would be willing to give me it?

Thanks

[staffyman]

Yeah, same here... Have one of these cards on the way now, and am going to pick up a Black DS in the next couple of days so would like this card to match.

Heard the original batch came with both black and white cases, now they're only doing white for some reason. Only found this out after I'd ordered and paid... *sigh*

Am happy to bung you a few quid via pay-pal to cover P&P and some pint-money for the favour... :)

Thanks for anyone who can help.

[amkhan]

I've bought 4 of these and every single one came with only white cases :-(

[FlangeMonkey]

Got mine delivered recently from gameyeeeah.com and it's only got the one (white) case.

Nevermind - haven't got the DS yet - I'll be getting a Tosh MicroSD soon too - probably use Picstop - not worth getting the Kingston unless you can guarantee that it'll be Jap-made - the Taiwanese ones are much slower and cause slowdown/crashing in some ROMs.

[FlangeMonkey]

Thought I'd update on my R4DS experiences.

If anyone's still in two minds about getting one, then don't be!

Just do it - it's marvellous. SO easy to use - the clean ROM support is brilliant. Not had one that doesn't work yet, and I've tried LOTS.

I ended up getting a geniune 1Gb Toshiba MicroSD card new from eBay for £8 delivered which is performing brilliantly - no slow down or hanging on any title I've tried yet.

[staffyman]

Yeah, I'm finding it pretty amazing too. By the two R4's that turned up for me were 'dark grey,' not white, and this was from two different stores.

Looks pretty damn good with the black DS. I'm most happy with my purchases.

Also using the Toshiba 1GB card and it is pretty snappy!

[theADDict]

yeah , all R4's now ship with a dark grey cart case.
Seems the M3 simply does too.

Shame for us that use a white DS lite, unless you have both white and grey cases to choose from like me ;-)