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Mashimaro
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: location, location
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 Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 4:32 pm Post subject: Recommendations for Iriver MP3 players please |
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| can anyone recommend a good iriver mp3 player for me please. My friend can get me a discount on this brand, thats why I'm going with them |
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kprrok
Joined: 06 Apr 2004
Location: KC
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| Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 12:28 am Post subject: |
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I got the iFP-799. One Gig, plenty of storage, good accessories. Excellent player and sound. I couldnt' be happier.
KPRROK |
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U.S.A.
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 4:55 am Post subject: |
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Do you think you'll want to rent music (like "Napster to Go"--NTG)? If so, make sure your player is compatible with NTG.
How much storage do you want?
How will you be using it (exercise)? If working out, go with the IFP-799, which I have, because it is a flash based player so there are no moving parts (the large Iriver players have hard drives).
Do you want to store and show photos? If so, you'll need a HD based Iriver. The larger Irivers are nice for long flights (download books or comedy routines and enjoy). I believe one model can play video (but then your getting into a bulkier model and looking at potential issues regarding the screen).
Go to www.iriveramerica.com for some more info.
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the saint
Joined: 09 Dec 2003
Location: not there yet...
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| Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 9:52 pm Post subject: |
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I'm another happy IFP-799 dude  |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 4:57 am Post subject: |
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The IFP-799 is great, over all. Good sound. The down side is the little joystick is not very robust. It uses a little fragile spring. I broke mine within 3 months of use. Most of the players operation requires you to push down on this joystick. Assuming you don't accidentally put your backpack down on the joystick, I can't see this little spring lasting very long under normal use. Ugg. The control set is a bit of a nightmare to use. It's not very intuitive.
Worse still, it's not a plug 'n' play flash memory type unit. You can't treat it like an E drive or F drive. You need to use iRiver's slightly buggy transfer software to move songs onto the unit. Instead of drag and drop, you need to load up a rather clunky app.
I like that it uses a AA battery. Great if you've been using a portable CD and have a huge investment in AA rechargeables. I don't like built in batteries. They have limited life spans, they can be costly to replace, and if you're out of juice in the middle of a long subway ride, you can't slap in a new AA. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 5:07 am Post subject: |
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| U.S.A. wrote: |
Do you want to store and show photos? If so, you'll need a HD based Iriver. The larger Irivers are nice for long flights (download books or comedy routines and enjoy). I believe one model can play video (but then your getting into a bulkier model and looking at potential issues regarding the screen).
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Actually spoken word like comedy, This American Life (a favorite for long plane rides), or audio books can be reduced to a very small bit size. You can get 40 minutes of spoken word in a 15 meg file size. My feeling is a 512 meg mp3 player is a good size to hold your soundtrack for your Saturday bopping around Seoul. 1 gig would probably be acceptable for a plane ride back to North America. |
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the saint
Joined: 09 Dec 2003
Location: not there yet...
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| Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 8:34 am Post subject: |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
Worse still, it's not a plug 'n' play flash memory type unit. You can't treat it like an E drive or F drive. You need to use iRiver's slightly buggy transfer software to move songs onto the unit. Instead of drag and drop, you need to load up a rather clunky app. |
True that it doesn't act as a flash drive. But incorrect that you have to use iRiver's clunky app.
If you have Windows Media Player 10 which is a free download, it will autodetect your iRiver and allow you to sync files to it. To do this, it converts them to .wma files which, as you haven't bought an iPod, is no issue and there is negligible file or quality difference between mp3 files and wma files that I've transfered.
In fact, if you simply right click over any compatible audio file once you've installed WMP10, you'll find you have the option to Add to Sync List... and can build play lists that way. Very simple actually. You can even add and remove folders this way too all via the WMP10 interface. |
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Adam J
Joined: 11 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 9:49 am Post subject: |
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The 512 gig model is great for working out or weekend use. Get the 1 gig if you see yourself going on an extended trip somewhere. I'll be in Europe for 16 days this summer and now wish I had the 1 gig model. The 512 holds 8 or 9 complete albums at 192 bit rate.
Mindmetoo was spot on with his comments. This is an excellent player for going to the gym, jogging, walking around the city with. I don't like the headphones it came with, but most mp3 players have crap headphones anyway. Look for headphones that come with several different sizes of earbuds so you get a good fit.
The iRiver app is indeed "clunky" and seems to run slowly even on my brand new computer. File transfers are also slower than I expected. Overall, though, great sound quality, long battery life, lots of features, small and light weight.
Also, it comes with a sport arm band and a lanyard so you can "wear" it (don't think this is advertised), although I personally think both look stupid.
the saint - thanks for the tip about Media Player 10. Does it only work if you convert to WMA? I have something like 40 gigs of MP3s so not sure I want to convert all that. |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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if you have 40 gigs of MP3s, why didn't you get one of the hard drive models that can store 40 gigs?
On my H140 I've currently got something like 400 albums, DJ sets, comedy programs etc. There's never any wondering about what I might want to listen to, because it's all right there.
Plug it into the USB port of any PC, drag, drop, listen- it rules. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 4:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Swiss James wrote: |
if you have 40 gigs of MP3s, why didn't you get one of the hard drive models that can store 40 gigs?
On my H140 I've currently got something like 400 albums, DJ sets, comedy programs etc. There's never any wondering about what I might want to listen to, because it's all right there.
Plug it into the USB port of any PC, drag, drop, listen- it rules. |
My theory is a) I don't need to carry around the sum total of all human knowledge, just give me what a CD would hold in terms of Mp3. I'm happy to pay 50% the cost of a HD model. b) A small mp3 player is better for jogging c) give me an mp3 player I can slap a AA rechargable in. I'll use a $2 battery I have to toss out after a year because it doesn't hold a charge vs a built in battery that I have to pay $90 to replace. |
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Swiss James
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
My theory is a) I don't need to carry around the sum total of all human knowledge, just give me what a CD would hold in terms of Mp3. I'm happy to pay 50% the cost of a HD model. b) A small mp3 player is better for jogging c) give me an mp3 player I can slap a AA rechargable in. I'll use a $2 battery I have to toss out after a year because it doesn't hold a charge vs a built in battery that I have to pay $90 to replace. |
hehe- well I take your point about the battery (although mine is still going strong after more than a year of heavy use), and if you go jogging you don't want to carry around something that's about the size of two packs of cards.
I spend at least 2 hours every day travelling though, and being able to listen anything in my CD collection is just amazing. I'm going away this weekend, and where I would've previously spend about 30 mins choosing which albums to take, now I just toss the player in a bag and go. |
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turtlepi1
Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
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| Posted: Thu May 05, 2005 11:42 pm Post subject: |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
Worse still, it's not a plug 'n' play flash memory type unit. You can't treat it like an E drive or F drive. You need to use iRiver's slightly buggy transfer software to move songs onto the unit. Instead of drag and drop, you need to load up a rather clunky app.
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Is there a hack for this?
My understanding is the i-pod has the same limitation but there is a hack you can use to be able to use it as a storage device. |
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the saint
Joined: 09 Dec 2003
Location: not there yet...
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| Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 6:03 am Post subject: |
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| Adam J wrote: |
Also, it comes with a sport arm band and a lanyard so you can "wear" it (don't think this is advertised), although I personally think both look stupid.
the saint - thanks for the tip about Media Player 10. Does it only work if you convert to WMA? I have something like 40 gigs of MP3s so not sure I want to convert all that. |
Two things.
a) mine (which I got at Space9 down at Yongsan) came with no armband and the instruction manual actually showed that it did not come with the model I bought. No loss for me but just in case you are someone who does want the armband, make sure it is in the box when you get yours.
b) you don't have to convert nowt. When you compile a Sync list in WMP10, it converts them for you as it uploads them. It uploads faster than the clunky app that comes with the iRiver too.
For those who like to brag that they have their entire collection with them: that is great and I'd really like that too. But I have other priorities for my money and I made an informed purchase that gives me 10 or so albums on one device. I'm happy to have this, not a HDD device clunking round my neck while I mountain bike to and from work. I'd be less happy with my entire CD collection and less money in the bank. Everyone here is shopping for their own personal needs so while your solution may be convenient for you, it doesn't work for me no matter how much you sell it  |
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that guy
Joined: 29 Feb 2004
Location: long gone
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