Nintendo DS MAX Media Player with 4GB drive

Looks like the PSP isn't the only portable gaming device in town to get a Datel MAX 4GB hard drive attachment ; the same sickos who brought our already hefty PlayStation Portable to a near unbearable size have whipped up the MAX Media Player for the Nintendo DS, which turns those empty GBA and DS game slots in your portable into some sort of multimedia monster. We're still waiting to find out exactly which codecs it supports, but what we're more concerned about is how well this thing's going to work in our DS Lite (whenever we actually wind up getting one of those).

[Thanks, Rich]

[Alcaron @ Feb 13th 2006 3:04PM]

Oh sweet googly moogly...

This a or a Gigabeat S???

Hmmm, hurry up and tell me which codecs damn you!

[BLEACH @ Feb 13th 2006 3:12PM]

By march 1, that device will be worthless. Didn't they get the memo?

[chuck @ Feb 13th 2006 3:21PM]

what happens on march 1?

[William @ Feb 13th 2006 3:21PM]

The article says it will cost about 225 USD! I might as well buy a 4GB Nano.

[RWD fan @ Feb 13th 2006 3:33PM]

So why even bother having a "DS Fanboy" website?

[Kamalot @ Feb 13th 2006 4:03PM]

Will this let you run homebrew or NDS Roms off of the hard drive?

[KIM JOHNSON @ Jun 23rd 2007 1:00PM]

my action replay keeps saying WARNING 1ST FAT TABLE FAILED ....... then it says PLEASE RESET YOUR DEVICE TO FACTORY SETTINGS............ WHAT ARE FACTORY SETTINGS?!?!? IT THEN SAYS DEVICE CORRUPT PLEASE HELP

[mat @ Feb 13th 2006 4:09PM]

this has the potential to be really cool.

[ManekiNeko @ Feb 13th 2006 4:17PM]

Me thinks I'll stick with my Supercard flash cart. A 256M SD card goes a long way on the DS, and Moonshell handles most of the media files I want to play.

JR

[Josh @ Feb 13th 2006 4:18PM]

Yeah, I wanna know if this'll work with homebrew.

[Lectoid @ Feb 13th 2006 4:20PM]

So why even bother having a "DS Fanboy" website?

I agree with this, I see just as much DS stuff here as I do on the fanboy side.

[xman @ Feb 13th 2006 4:52PM]

I wish that it get the touch wheel on the button screen

[Luke @ Feb 13th 2006 6:10PM]

This will work for homebrew and emulators.

[George @ Feb 13th 2006 6:15PM]

Didn't they get the memo?

[Osiris @ Feb 13th 2006 6:16PM]

Of course it will work with homebrew, that was surely intention for the PSP max drive, same goes for the DS model.

4GB is rather large for that sort of thing, should be able to handle a lot of legally owned ROMs...

[Kontaktanzeigen @ Feb 13th 2006 6:19PM]

The article says it will cost about 225 USD! I might as well buy a 4GB Nano

[silverhawk79 @ Feb 13th 2006 8:49PM]

Good god, that thing is enormous. If they trimmed the size down, it might be worth getting, as well as trimming the price. Otherwise...purely for people serious about their DS with extra cash layin' around.

[Scott Vieth @ Feb 13th 2006 9:30PM]

Good luck on this thing being the haven of the homebrew of pirating. That's not to say that someone won't be able to hack it for that purpose, but Datel would be stupid to put this out there capable of these things.

This will be a music / movie / picture player. But if they make the firmware upgradeable ... we shall see.

[wolssiloa @ Feb 14th 2006 3:05AM]

#15
It doesn't look that enormous to me; I think you are confused as to what is the underside of the DS and what is the hdd itself.

[raindog @ Feb 14th 2006 4:42AM]

I can already use 2GB CompactFlash cards with my M3 cart for the DS... of course, two 2GB CF cards plus an M3 would cost about a hundred bucks more than this but it also wouldn't make my DS 2 inches thick....

What I'm more interested in is whether this device is only going to operate in GBA mode, or if they found a way to go into DS mode without a Passme-type solution. (Maybe they'll even have an actual licensed DS card that you put in the DS slot.... but if so, don't count on being able to run emulators or any other homebrew....)

[Shiclacky! @ Feb 14th 2006 11:10PM]

It is a DS product only.

http://uk.codejunkies.com/news_reviews.asp?c=GB&cr=GBP&cs=%A3&r=1&l=1&page=1&p=17&i=8952&s=8

But I don't see why that will stop it from having emulators, the official site says "You can even use the browser to activate executable programs!"

This is going to be a great product, I'm sure Datel won't mess this up. Hopefully they'll use the DS' capabilities to the fullest.

[Kevin @ Feb 17th 2006 6:30PM]

Would be nice to know what codec. I have already converted most of my DVD collection to MP4 on my mac. Hopefully an existing utility will allow me to convert them seamlessly onto the datel drive?

[Lu1gi @ Feb 21st 2006 2:39PM]

It has a nintendo ds gamecard included which actually is the browser and media player for goin through the files on the 4gb hard disk drive. And by doing this you will be able to get rid of the GBA resolution and therefore have the whole screen for watching movies. And about the price: Google it and one of the first hits is a site at which they sell the max media player for 180$ about 70$ less than your predictions. I think i will buy this product for using it as a movie player and mp3.

[Samuel Mateo, Jr. @ Feb 22nd 2006 10:45AM]

Pretty awesome device. Lik-Sang has them listed for US $179.00. Will be in stock in March 06

[George Jetson @ Apr 3rd 2006 6:30PM]

The gba movie player which is way cheaper has just as good stuff as this thing.

[metaleggman @ Apr 13th 2006 8:46PM]

it's 150 at codejunkies.com, datels website. why waste your money importing where shipping kills ya and costs 20 bucks more. seriously! plus, you can buy the 20 buck media card which allows those with GBA flash carts to use their carts for DS applications and movies!

[master5o1 @ Apr 19th 2006 3:31AM]

where can i get one (provided im in New Zealand!)

[Sam @ Apr 26th 2006 3:30PM]

Will you be able to transfer files from a dvd put into the pc onto the media player???

[tyler @ Jun 12th 2006 7:04PM]

its only 150$ for 4 gig good deal ipod nano 4 gig 200$ definetly geting it

[austin @ Jun 17th 2006 4:35PM]

it's only $150 on best buy's website. that's pleasantly suprising, considering how often best buy generally overcharges for stuff. even cheaper than on amazon, which is $180.

[bpatramkmxj @ Jul 7th 2006 3:48PM]

hey, a few moths ago i just saw the MAx Medai player for the Ds for only 50$$...was that with out the Card or w/ it??

[bpatramrmxkj @ Jul 9th 2006 2:26PM]

where do u buy the extra HDD/Cards 4 it?? does anyone know... i need 2 kno!

do they only sell them with a 4 gig or are there other smaller sizes

[DS Nik @ Jul 22nd 2006 5:34PM]

Looks chunky and exspensive. Would probably turn my DS lite into some sort of brick. Im hppy with my SD reader - much cheaper + compact!

[Danus Maxwell @ Aug 12th 2006 4:46PM]

well guys this is a good thing. if you play your cards right not only will you be able to make a program like windows on the ds you will also be able to program a web browser and much more just like a pc.

[Martin @ Aug 24th 2006 2:14PM]

Does anyone know if the HDD is FAT or not?

[Tideo @ Jun 2nd 2007 9:32PM]

i saw 1 at walmart 34$......

[Alex @ Jun 26th 2007 12:17PM]

YES! TO EVERYONE: IT IS COMPLETELY OPEN-SOURCE AND SUPPORTS HOMEBREW SOFTWARE!

Just educating you a bit,
~aeharding