Great player, but steep learning curve
Written: May 31 '03
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Pros: Great sound, small, good battery life, comes with necklace for exercise.
Cons: The software. Can't upload songs to computer.
The Bottom Line: Great sound at a reasonable price (much, much less than the comparable Sony units). Steep learning curve.
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| cyberglen's Full Review: iRiver iFP-180T (128 MB) MP3 Player |
My Sony MS Walkman, NW-MS7 gave up the ghost. The non-removeable, rechargeable battery refused to hold a charge anymore. I loved the Sony's small size, look, and ability to wear while exercising. I did not love the fact that I had to constantly recharge the Sony which never played for much more than an hour at its peak.
The IRiver looks great, although I find the triangular shape a little odd --it does not sit as flat against the chest as the Sony did. Compared to the Sony, however, the sound is concert hall level. It is really very good.
The downside? I agree with all other reviewers: Neither the software nor the unit itself is intuitive. I'm computer savvy but I had to sit down for a good 90 minutes to puzzle out how to transfer songs from my audio CD to the unit. Surprisingly, this is not even covered in the minimally informative and poorly translated manual. Turns out there is a trick. Unlike the Sony software, the Iriver software will not record your audio CD's for you. You have to use another program. I used Media Player. I succesfully recorded and transferred the songs --and they would not play. At first I thought it was a navigation problem because I could clearly see that the songs had transferred. So I read, and re-read the manual and strained to see what effect pushing the little toggle switch was having in the small LCD panel. Finally went to iriver support (www.iriver.com/support) and found a minimalist FAQ. Lucky for me, my answer was there. You must uncheck "enable personal rights management" in Media Player to transfer the songs (a counter intuitive measure, as it seems like you would WANT to enable personal rights management --but don't!). I understand that Media Player is not Iriver software, but if you must use third party software to transfer Audio CD's to the unit --and you must, it seems like this would be covered in the manual.
After I getting over that hump of the learning curve, I have to say I am thrilled with the little thing. I say this only in comparison to my Sony, because I haven't heard other units, but I think the sound is really great. It makes great use of the AA battery and I am gratified that I will never have to send the unit off to get a new battery, as I would have with my Sony (at a service charge of $100.00). I take frequent plane trips to New Orleans from San Diego and the Iriver plays my rootsy, funky mood music on and on. Then I switch to WWOZ FM when I get there and the sound is wonderful.(It is an MP3 player first, and radio second though). Haven't tried the voice recorder.
One kind of odd, but fun feature is that you can actually transfer anything just about to the unit --say a word processing document-- if you have the software and a USB port installed on both computers (home, office).
How many songs it holds depends on the quality they are recorded in (the term for that might be bitrate, but I am not sure). I record at medium-high quality and have been able to stuff 2 1/2 CD's worth of materials on the Iriver.
You cannot upload songs from this device. I have not taken the time to figure out how to do a "mix" on this machine, although I think it can be done, although more laboriously than on my Sony, the software of which allowed you to do all manner of mixing and matching songs.
The necklace has a little string at the end that doesn't look very strong, so I'm marking down for that fact. The necklace itself is quite strong. Battery cover is cheap looking and I am rough on battery covers, so I hope it holds!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 132.00
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Epinions.com ID:
cyberglen
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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