Newbie with some questions. Please help.

Hey, everyone.

I'm kind of familiar with emulation, my experience is no more than newbie download & play on PC with roms and emulators (Gens, MAME, etc.) and I want to do the same on my DS. I've been reading several sites, mostly written by vets so I end up being confused, and would love a link to an introduction to emulation for the DS in laymans terms.

My cousin sold me his CompactFlash 1gig card for $25, which he'll be mailing soon, and I decided to take a chance on a Max Media Dock that I found for $20. I read some sh't about it, how much it sucks and such, on here and am thinking about returning it if it really lives up to the crap. I just want to listen to music, watch a flick, and play Genesis, NES, and GBA. I'm disappointed after reading Max doesn't do GBA. How does it fare with Genesis and NES? What about video? Is there a way to make it play GBA in non-sh'tty quality, like few had said it does?

What's this M3? Homebrew Hunter seems to be a huge fan of it and I'm wish to know more about it.

I apologize if I'm not making much sense or if the answers are obvious. I've been having insomnia issues and can't really absorb information well. :o

Well, thanks everyone. I'll probably be back tomorrow. Bye.

NDS M3 info:

M3 Adapter is an amazing product for those who want to download free games, movies and music from a PC to a GBA(SP) / NDS. You can use your PC and normal Compact Flash Card Reader to transfer and convert you movie & music files to the Compact Flash Cards. Then, insert M3 Adapter with SD Card into GBA(SP) / NDS, and it will be available after boot up the console.
Its feature are just the same as any other MP3 Player on the market but also playing the games, movies instead of playing music only.
One of the coolest feature of a M3 Adapter is that you can directly run third party software on it – that includes emulators of the video game system.
NES, FC ,SNES, GB, GBC, SMS, GG, PCE Rom and more …

General Feature:

The only perfect 3 in 1 SD game adapter:

NDS:
Highest DS game compatibility with perfect save function. (Only 2 titles incompatible.)
Fast-Read: Game size larger than 256Mb will not be slow-down too by using the Fast-Direct reading mode.
Support 3 reading mode: Normal, 1X DMA(Direct), 4X DMA mode(Fast Direct).
Support reading games data from CF directly, game size almost unlimited. (Only depends on SD capacity)
Highest SD card compatibility (Feedbacks are welcome if any SD still have problems.)
Save Management System (SMS) supports storing more than one save file for each game. (Maximum 200 files)
The save system supports storing game save data safety. No file(s) storing in card will be unexpectedly loss.
Support playing MP3 files directly. Individual files can place in any directory of SD. (use MoonShell-MP3 player special version for M3, No conversion is necessary before playing MP3 music.)
NDS Multi-Media Player. Support full-screen viewing, fast and smooth.
Work fine with “FLASHME”

GBA:
No games will be slow-down.
Highest game compatibility. Support running all flashcard games.
Support running emulator games. (GB, SMS, PCE, NES etc.)
Best Instant Save Function and Reset function. User friendly design, only one convenience key-combination need to enter, easy for users to control all functions. No complex key-combination needs to enter.
Build-in RTC IC and battery. Able to run RTC games.
No patching or conversion is need before playing. Just copy and play.

Movies: Cool & Unique!!!
World’s first full-screen NDS movie Player. Fully compatible with all .GBM movies. And a lot of .GBM movies/cartoons are available for downloading in Internet.
Build-in “Crystal Engine”
One 256M-SD card can carry around 120mins cartoon or movie.
Support converting from the most popular A/V sources:
Dobly AC3 audio frequency file (*. AC3)
target's file of DVD video (*. VOB)
wave form sound file of Microsoft (*. WAV)
MPEG-1 Audio Layer-2 file (*. MP2)
MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3 file (*. MP3)
Real media file (*. RA, *. RM, *. RAM, *. RMVB)
MPEG-1 media file (*. Mpeg, *. Mpg)
MPEG-2 media file (*. M2V)
Windows media file (*. AVI, *. ASF, *. WMA, *. WMV)
VCD video file (*. DAT)
QuickTime media file (*. MOV)
MPEG-4 media file (*. AVI)
DivX media file (*. AVI)

found here

Wow. This thing sounds AMAZING...

...but, f'ck, it is expensive. Sometimes quality will cost you a little more, I guess.

How's the Max Media Dock do with Genesis, NES, and video? If it can at least do a good job at that I'll keep it until I have the money to buy the better one.

I'm pretty sure it doesn't work too well for genesis and NES, and it depends on how the DPG converter converts it, go to the stickies and look for Best DPG settings by CPU Smarts.

Take your chances, and see what you want more.

The M3 is good, just don't try the built in emus. Go with homebrewed emus for GBA and NDS. The M3 DIRECTLY plays GBA and NDS roms, with no slowdown. It's good.

It is expensive, but the CF version is cheaper.

If you are gonna get the M3, try Divineo, just don't get it for 35 dollars shipping anywhere. I can look around if you want.

And if you ALSO want some homebrew, go get rid of the MMD and get an M3. Because, with the Max Media Dock, you can't play Lupidan's EXCELLENT Zelda platformer demo. Also, don't try Supercard if you want to play GBA. M3 is the way to go.

MY M3 should be arriving soon. It was defective, we had to send it back for 2 weeks....They're sending it out today, if they didn't yesterday.

Also, if you have a CF card, go with this.

Wow that sounds good,may be what I get when I get my DS