RE: Creative Labs 6 Gig MP3 Player

["Paul Gordon" <paul_gordon@xxxxxxx>]

>   >the basic point - the DAP costs about £300 does it not?
>
>More like 350.


Is that with VAT? - would this qualify as a business purchase for which you
could reclaim VAT?


>
>   >Many computer
>   >vendors can supply a brand-new entry-level PC for about that
>   >amount! (or not
>   >very much more)...
>
>I would seriously consider that!  Any suggestions as to where/what PC I
>could get for 350 quid (without monitor).

Well, the £350-ish mark tends be "just below" where the famous
names enter
the market. - The Compaq IPAQ desktop for example starts at £399 (EX VAT),
(but it does look georgeous!) and I think yer Dell's & Gateways of the
world
also enter at about the £400 mark. It typically tends to be the small
one-off no-name local suppliers that come in at this lower price, for
example, there is a supplier very near me, called Squire computers - they
have only one shop, and plastered across the front of it is a sign that
reads: "Internet-ready PC's from £299" Also, Scan often do
"bare-bones"
specials on the Today only offers, which comprise an ATX case & power
supply, floppy drive, motherboard, CPU & memory for about this price
point
as well, - though you do have to add extra for whatever drives you want to
add, as well as a monitor (probably not required in your case).


>
>   >the LAN, and use VNC or PcAnywhere to remote control it
>
>I have some great remote control software at work I could use for this.
>
>   >Presumably you'd be turning the device off at the end of each
>   >day anyway, so the (un)reliability of a Windows OS shouldn't be
an
>issue
>
>No...be leaving it on probably.  Win2K should do.

Good choice, but you >do< require a better spec to run W2K
satisfactorily..
(I run Win2K PRO on a Classic Pentium 266 with 64MB OK though...)

>
>   > but if it's a
>   >convern, I guess you could always use some flavour of Linux...
>
>PAH!  :-)
>
>   >So, it "could" be done with a PC for a very similar
cost as the DAP,
>but
>   >then you'd have the advantages of being able to upgrade the
hardware
>   >whenever you need to, choice of your favourite MP3 software, and
remote
>   >control (either PC remote control or IR)
>
>As I said at the start i'm all in favour of a PC.  If I can get one for
>this
>sort of money then I'll do it!

You certainly can get it for this price if you either:

a) already have any components you can reuse to save a bit of cost
b) shop around really well, and haggle.
c) buy any less critical components 2nd hand to reduce costs

Paul G.

PS Hardware has never been as cheap as it is now!....
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