i-river. Who has one and what do you think?

[Piano Player]

i-river. What are they like if you have one and would you recommend them? Heard they are better than i-pods.

 

[Alkaline]

iRiver's are good but iPods can hold heaps more songs. If iRiver's could hold the same amount of songs then it would be a 50/50 out of which one is better. I had an iRiver 256MG worth $280, which could hold about 70 songs and i lost is somewhere, and now i have got a iPod mini worth $300 which can hold 1,000 songs.

 

[beaumont911]

Depends which iRiver you want. The H340 holds 40gb and plays movies as well, and is obviously better than an iPod. I haven't got one, but I use my mates every now and again and it seems alright, but I just use my iPod.

 

[jim boy]

iRiver's are good but iPods can hold heaps more songs. If iRiver's could hold the same amount of songs then it would be a 50/50 out of which one is better. I had an iRiver 256MG worth $280, which could hold about 70 songs and i lost is somewhere, and now i have got a iPod mini worth $300 which can hold 1,000 songs.

Huh? You're comparing the iriver flash drives with the ipod hard drives. If you're going to compare at least do a 'like' product comparison.

For my part I'd steer clear of ipods, Apple are notoriously anal in the DRM stakes, otherwise there is little between them.

 

[hans moleman]

I've got an iRiver H340 (40gb). It's pretty good.
If you don't want to read the following then in generalising, I'll just say that features = iRiver & style = iPod.

Pros:
- It has a radio. So it's nice to be able to easily switch between mp3's and radio easily
- It's easy to add and remove songs. You don't have to mess with any iTunes software, just plug it in into your computer & it appears as an external hard drive - then just drag and drop from there.
- Able to record voice & radio (though I doubt anyone would use this function a whole lot)
- Comes with a case & a dock
- Big, colour screen
- You won't look like every other chump out there with white headphones on
- Able to hold file types other than music files (though I presume iPods can do this as well)
- Longer battery life than the iPod (if I'm not mistaken)
- Plays more music file types than the iPod (if I'm not mistaken)
- Can display pictures
- Can play videos with newer versions of the firmware (but why anyone would want to do this on such a small screen at a rate of just 10fps is beyond me)
The following are standard to all mp3 players, but I might as well mention them.
- Various equaliser settings
- Various playback modes (repeat & shuffle by song, directory, all songs)
- Can play songs according to Artist, Album or Genre

Cons:
- It's quite a chunky unit relative to the iPod. But stick it in your jeans pocket and you won't really notice the weight.
- Scrolling is a bit tedious. This depends on how you structure & tag your files, but I imagine that it'd still be a bit slower than the iPod's scrollwheel.
- The earbuds it comes with probably aren't sufficient. Personally, I can't seem to get enough bass out of them (Though they do come with remote playback/volume controls which is nice)
- If you're not sure what song you're listening to, you have to press a button to turn the screen back on and view it (I guess this is a measure towards retaining battery life, but it can be a bit of an annoyance)
- When playing it through the stereo, I find that you really have to crank up the volume (I may be doing something wrong here though)


I'm sure I missed some things, but yeah, I definitely recommend it.
Being lazy & having an mp3 player don't seem to mix though. I haven't put aside time to rip all my cd's to mp3's so I've only used about 15gb in space.
Plus, I often forget to tag my files properly and this causes headaches when scrolling based on Artist, Album & Genre (This can particularly be a pain for those of you who download mp3's off the Internet)

 

[Archer_11]

I've got an H140 and highly recommend it. Liike Hans said, you're basically trading the 'cool' of iPod with the functionality that a unit like the 140 brings to the table.

For me it was a pretty easy choice - do you want a unit with voice record, radio, optical in and out and no file management issues out the box or do you want a superior interface and and a cool appearance? I would take the iRiver any day but each to their own.

 

[Roonaldo!]

I Rivers kick anus.

 

[Ray Nolan]

I've got an iRiver H340 (40gb). It's pretty good.
If you don't want to read the following then in generalising, I'll just say that features = iRiver & style = iPod.

Pros:
- It has a radio. So it's nice to be able to easily switch between mp3's and radio easily
- It's easy to add and remove songs. You don't have to mess with any iTunes software, just plug it in into your computer & it appears as an external hard drive - then just drag and drop from there.
- Able to record voice & radio (though I doubt anyone would use this function a whole lot)
- Comes with a case & a dock
- Big, colour screen
- You won't look like every other chump out there with white headphones on
- Able to hold file types other than music files (though I presume iPods can do this as well)
- Longer battery life than the iPod (if I'm not mistaken)
- Plays more music file types than the iPod (if I'm not mistaken)
- Can display pictures
- Can play videos with newer versions of the firmware (but why anyone would want to do this on such a small screen at a rate of just 10fps is beyond me)
The following are standard to all mp3 players, but I might as well mention them.
- Various equaliser settings
- Various playback modes (repeat & shuffle by song, directory, all songs)
- Can play songs according to Artist, Album or Genre

Cons:
- It's quite a chunky unit relative to the iPod. But stick it in your jeans pocket and you won't really notice the weight.
- Scrolling is a bit tedious. This depends on how you structure & tag your files, but I imagine that it'd still be a bit slower than the iPod's scrollwheel.
- The earbuds it comes with probably aren't sufficient. Personally, I can't seem to get enough bass out of them (Though they do come with remote playback/volume controls which is nice)
- If you're not sure what song you're listening to, you have to press a button to turn the screen back on and view it (I guess this is a measure towards retaining battery life, but it can be a bit of an annoyance)
- When playing it through the stereo, I find that you really have to crank up the volume (I may be doing something wrong here though)


I'm sure I missed some things, but yeah, I definitely recommend it.
Being lazy & having an mp3 player don't seem to mix though. I haven't put aside time to rip all my cd's to mp3's so I've only used about 15gb in space.
Plus, I often forget to tag my files properly and this causes headaches when scrolling based on Artist, Album & Genre (This can particularly be a pain for those of you who download mp3's off the Internet)

I also have a H340 and I'd agree with most of your analysis there. I still haven't loaded any firmware on to it yet but seeing that it's been updated to play video I'll probably load all the updates on this weekend. I've put all my CD's on it and have used around 15 gig as well. It does take a long time to do particularly if we want to set out your file structure & tagging properly. Once you do it though it makes it so much easier. Despite the few cons I have to say I love mine, never go anywhere without it! Would definitely recommend it to anyone.

 

[go team]

superior interface and and a cool appearance?

for me.. scroll wheel all the way.. but that's just me

 

[Lonie_from_50]

2 of my good mates have an iRiver - pretty sure it is 20GB.

And they are awesome. Much better than iPod, IMO. You can do alot of things on it, but nothing beats the mp4 players.

 

[aesop]

Where's the best place to buy an Iriver? JB's have the H320 for $499 and the H340 for $599. Surely you can get them cheaper.

 

[ExTasDeeMan]

I have a 390t (the craft), and for my liking its a champion piece of equipment. It only houses 256mb, but thats all i really need. I use it for running and as its so light and very, very durable - its a godsend for all my needs.

Plus it gets radio, its the footy companion - During intervals, i simply switch to MP3...

I could never deal with an Ipod as i am a clumsy Nokia 3310 kinda guy who breaks any fiddly things. IRiver is extremely dependable.