My Gigabeat: Toshiba: What is happening with the Gigabeat and PMC?

Friday, April 06, 2007

Toshiba: What is happening with the Gigabeat and PMC?

I have heard you guys lately, and I want to echo what you guys are saying in the forum and in emails to me.

What is going on with the Gigabeat here in the US? Not much news from Toshiba, and not much news from Microsoft on PMC. Good luck finding a page over at Microsoft's website with information on Portable Media Center these days. All the old links are now pointing to Windows Mobile software.

I'm sending an email to the few contacts I have at Toshiba and Microsoft, and will let you know what I hear. Hopefully someone is listening...

posted by Tomas @ 11:19 PM

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16 Comments:

Anonymous said...: Thanks!

Hopefully they're listening.

For the F it took them a LONG time for a firmware upgrade, so hopefully they have something up their sleeve like Tosh did for the F.; Sat Apr 07, 02:37:00 PM 2007
Tomas said...: Yeah, want to make sure they know that there is actually a pretty decent community here that cares. Just give us something...; Sat Apr 07, 03:42:00 PM 2007
Gothic_Seraph said...: Uhhhhhh.......... sorry to say it but i think u guys are kinda screwed. I love the GB as much as the next but the Zune is defiantly Microsoft's main concern right now. I mean Toshiba is manufacturer of the Zune (if you dig deep enough).; Sun Apr 08, 12:38:00 PM 2007
Tomas said...: gothic: Yeah well I know that. :) But since it is there brand I would hope they still care. The Japanese site is very up to date, www.gigabeat.net, so you they are definitely not getting rid of the Gigabeat line. Seems like they aren't paying attention over here in the US though.

Time will tell I guess...; Sun Apr 08, 04:06:00 PM 2007
alienbiker99 said...: look in the forums, its not Microsoft's fault its Toshiba's. They are responsible for the GB, not MS; Sun Apr 08, 06:29:00 PM 2007
Ben Humberston said...: Sounds great! I just got this player because of its reduced price, well aware of the fact that it has been overshadowed by the Zune, but after the radio stopped working out of the blue and the customer service people were at a loss to help me, I'm ready to find out if they can fix it up with firmware.; Tue Apr 10, 12:17:00 PM 2007
Gothic_Seraph said...: Ummm alien i hate to break it to you but the Gigabeat F series was a failure. The S series was practically a Prototype for the Zune and on the S it runs windows mobile making Tech Support Microsofts problem not Toshiba's because Toshiba doesnt have control over Windows Mobile.

and to Ben... The Gigabeat S was a great device but the battery freaking sucks.

I love the Gigabeat... Hell i had it before almost everyone on this site but it became outdated too fast. AND the firmware updates were Far and Few between making knowing whats going on a pain in the ass.; Tue Apr 10, 04:07:00 PM 2007
Jin said...: thanks tomas

I hope someones really listening and will do something to try to solve the firmware/battery/errors problem.; Tue Apr 10, 10:21:00 PM 2007
princebe said...: Actually Gothic, if you read my post in the Gigabeat S forum, in my letter to Bill Gates and his office's reply, all responsibility for the OS is on Toshiba. I'm sure that Microsoft actually does the work if it needs tweaking but Toshiba is responsible to contract Microsoft to do so.
You say that the firmware updates were few and far between? I'm not aware there was EVER a firmware release!
As far as I'm concerned the whole battery issue is relative. I'm in front of a computer daily, so it's no biggie just plugging it in while I work. I can usually go 2-3 days before it needs charging too, so that's awesome and way better than I get on my cell phone. I'm an executive and I'm on it all the time, I need to charge it at least once or twice a day as a result. Everything is relative in life.; Thu Apr 12, 03:32:00 AM 2007
Anonymous said...: princebe i was talking about the F series. the S series never had updates.- gothic; Sat Apr 14, 03:42:00 PM 2007
Anonymous said...: Oh my bad then. Sorry. Does the F series also use PMC? Didn't realize that.

Tomas, any news yet? Or are you getting the runaround like the rest of us have?; Sat Apr 14, 10:54:00 PM 2007
Anonymous said...: it's quite strange to see people with F's talking about the firmware upgrades now that we have rockbox...also selling 4000 F units in 12 hours (http://dapreview.net/comment.php?comment.news.3922) after the production has been halted almost 2 years ago just shows where the real failure was.; Sun Apr 15, 12:24:00 AM 2007
Crash said...: "Oh my bad then. Sorry. Does the F series also use PMC? Didn't realize that."

F series has its own firmware... it is generally good to do research before shooting down a persons statement - GS; Sun Apr 15, 09:16:00 AM 2007
Anonymous said...: hey man, if you can somehow get a firmware update or even just a dock for the S, that would be sweet!; Sat Apr 21, 03:29:00 PM 2007
Anonymous said...: I recieved a firmware update from Toshiba today for my S30. Mine crashed wouldn't run and was asking for a cd. Well they sent it to me and it worked!; Sat Apr 21, 05:37:00 PM 2007
Anonymous said...: Any chance on making the contents of that CD available? Toshiba Aus (well, the company they subcontract all the support to) won't share the firmware installer, even in the event of a hard crash, and want the device returned to them each time.

At the moment I'm using a hacked version of the V-series firmware when my S60 drops its guts.

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Pauly; Mon Aug 06, 09:31:00 PM 2007