Some info for a newb...

[Slakker]

I just received what I believe to be a Full Metal Platinum, but as the box it came in has no label other than "MP4 Multimedia Player" there's really no way for me to be sure. I can post pictures later if anyone thinks it'd help ID it for sure. I got it in a "Mystery Box" type purchase, so I was incredibly surprised when I got it (especially since everyone else I know who bought from the same site got oversized cartoon pens and stupid sunglasses...haha).

Anyways...
It was labeled as and displays a memory space of ~1gb, so that seems to be legit. Firmware is 90.48, and as much as I'd like to play around with firmware modding it looks like I'm just gonna have to wait patiently for new software to be released. I'm okay with that.

I've read a few posts here and I've got a question or two, we'll start with formatting.

Even though my memory appears to be legit, I did get a "format error" when trying to play one particular song earlier today, but i figured it was just some random fluke with that particular file. Should I format my MPx player's flash memory anyways? What are the benefits of formatting it if everything appears to be in order?

[Relikk]

Slakker , the benefit of formatting your player is great, it gives less of a chance of your mp4 dying completely. I would advise doing it.

As far as that label goes, I cant answer cus I bought from somewhere else :P

[Slakker]

But how exactly does it reduce the chance of it dying? If it doesn't do anything to the firmware, I don't really see what exactly it changes besides clearing the content...maybe I'm missing something.

[Relikk]

Slakker , well formatting is just pretty much cleaning out the mp4 so it deletes stuff that could cause your mp4 to malfunction later on in life. that's why it's wise to format. And there is no real loss to doing so, but it will get rid of EVERYTHING on the mp4 so if you want to make a back up.

Hope that clears this up.

[lattesurf]

Slakker , for example if the memory was hacked, and you tried playing those files above the physical limit, you'll encounter player restarts or "format error".

However, in some cases, these abrupt restarts and format errors causes some firmware corruption within the player. Think of shutting down your PC directly using the power socket frequently, gradually your OS would encounter lots of problems and your harddrive might even crash.

A simple firmware extraction, repair, reflash might solve the problem when such firmware corruption occurs. But as your version is still not yet supported, you might be left with bricked player until the software supports your version.

Also, you won't know if the format partition done by the manufacturers are properly done.

Generally speaking, a single format when you just received it would be sufficient for long-term usage. Frequent formating is not good to the memory chip too. A typical NAND Flash memory chip is good for upto 1000 writes/re-writes.

[Slakker]

Ah, that all makes perfect sense. So, in theory, format once and I'm good for quite some time. Gotcha, gotcha.

Under my System Setup options I've got a Disk Format...i can use either FAT16 or FAT32...which one would you recommend?

EDIT: Read the How To and did it that way....all formatted and ready to go, looks like my 1gb of storage was legit.

I've been using WinAmp to load it with songs and stuff...what's everyone else using?

[Relikk]

Slakker , that's good it's all legit :3

And for me I use WMP, but I made it so it only places the files onto the mp4 and not all in seperete folders. And for everythign else like pictures and movies i just drag n drop.

[Slakker]

Why can't they be in separate folders? Though I did notice that when I had songs on it earlier it didn't like to browse through all the folders very much...

[Relikk]

Slakker , not sure why. I guess chipods just like to be picky. :]

[Slakker]

Apparently so...lol

In any case, I'm excited for the new software to be released so I can start tinkering with the firmware. I wonder how much longer before it's done...