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Too bad Apple didn't come up with the rather elegant and intuitive solution of the iRiver Clix:

http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/ultra/clix/

http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/s_series/s10/ind ex.aspx

Too bad Apple didn't come up with the rather elegant and intuitive solution of the iRiver Clix:

http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/ultra/clix/

http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/s_series/s10/ind ex.aspx

With music though, I think there is a point well below 64GB where "enough is enough". My entire music library on my computer *MIGHT* reach 12GB tops; it's probably closer to 8GB, and that's with 2000-3000 songs. Now I realize that many people have collections that dwarf that in size, but honestly, do you really need to tote around your ENTIRE collection in your pocket? Just seems like a 2GB flash card holding a couple hundred songs that you feel like listening to at the time would be just fine.

Ya, I agree. Someone should come out with a flash based music player.

My Iriver plays WMA and vorbis. The current ones seem to as well.
http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/ultra/clix/clix- 4GB-white.aspx

One that I've had personal experience with:
* http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/ultra/clix/index .aspx

I bought the 2gb model for my girlfriend last year and was really impressed with it. I'm probably going to get myself in a few months, if life doesn't throw any unexpected surprises my way.

(cross country moves ... always fun)

The iriver clix sure does. It looks much better, has a potentially more intuitive (and customizable) touchscreen interface, doesn't waste space where a screen could/should be, and isn't too outrageous of a price. Works with Unbox too, which unfortunately isn't seeming to get as many shows as iTMS, but is still decent. Only real question is how good its software is compared to iTunes.

Apparently their marketing sucks though, as even though it got great reviews and top ratings, I never hear it mentioned in these discussions.

If you're going to get something other than an iPod, you should take a look at iriver clix. It's got good reviews, it's loaded but simple, and looks damn sexy. If it came in a 8 GB or more version, I'd probably own one already.

That was definitely one of my considerations when I went shopping for a music player too. Got me an iRiver, and I'm quite pleased with the large number of hours of play I can get out of a single AA battery. I may be killing the environment slowly, but it's a damned sight easier to throw a couple AAs in a pocket of my backpack and know that I have enough hours of music now to last me a couple weeks.
Plus alot of it's other widgets(radio, recording stuff, shiny clip thing for my belt loops/whathaveyou) are also nice. iPods are cool sure, but I'm more than happy with my iRiver. Hurray for boxing day sales!

There's a whole ubuntu forums thread on this topic...

Tool: Victorinox Swisstool
Wristwatch Computer: Suunto x9i
Media Player: iRiver H10
Cell phone: Sony Ericsson K800/K790
Notebook...

Check this out:

http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/hd/

http://www.iriver.com/html/product/prpa_product.as p?pidx=42

the iRiver mp3 players

iRiver H10 are better than the ipod, the interface is different so it will take a bit of time to get used to if you are accustomed to the ipod.

You want something that detects your player like an external drive when you plug it in.

I have an iRiver H10 and my brother has a http://creative.com/products/welcome.asp?category= 213>Creative Zen Micro. They both work great and are completely drag drop with your explorer of choice. (Only support mp3 and wma)

Can Open Source Outdo the ipod?"

You know, between that quick and easy procedure of getting videos onto the iRiver, the award-winning simplicity of the iRiver Music Store, the new iRiver Video Store, and the fact that the H300 doesn't officially support video files, it's a real wonder why iRiver doesn't dominate the portable video market. Must be entirely due to those catchy iPod commercials.

iRiver has not nearly the immense popularity that iPod possesses, but they have made a successful mp3 player that has an FM tuner, a picture viewer, a video player, and a browser to organize files inside of it. (However, this is exclusive only to Korean iRiver h320-340's. US firmware versions does not support the browser or video features; you must upgrade to a Korean firmware to enable this. Doing so will of course void the warranty)

http://iriveramerica.com/ Look for the iRiver audio jukebox models.

I say that if iRiver greatly enhances the features already present in their mp3 player, and with the right advertising choices, it can become a great competitior with the iPods. Also, adding in lossless music codecs (FLAC perhaps?) would make it flawless.

People who strive only for ease of use and trendy looks, however, will continue to purchase iPod products. It is true that lots of people aren't quite as geeky as others. Geekiness did play a factor when I bought my iRiver :P

I find that, for the money, the iRiver is a much better player and has many more features. I have an iHP-140, and the things it has built-in that a standard 40GB iPod does not have are: A) Vorbis support - the best (in my audiophile and freedom-loving opinion) lossy format! http://vorbis.com/ MP3s distort the high and low end a *lot*. Makes songs sound awful. But everyone loves .mp3 for some reason... weird. B) FM tuner - Not that I *listen* to the radio C) Built in recording support as either .wav or .mp3 - and the ability to use an external mike. D) Shows up as a USB Mass-storage device on every operating system - so you don't need any crappy proprietary software to get access to *your* data! Besides, you have music players and jukeboxes on your machine already, right? E) Long battery life - mine lasts 13 - 16 hours playing 256K vorbis files, after owning it for more than a year. F?) Not sure if iPod has this, but optical output as well as analog. Awesome sound quality. G) Other codec support - .wav, .wma, .ogg, .mp3. Check it out if you are thinking of buying a music player - http://www.iriveramerica.com/ Also check out the XClef, who's main feature is that it has a *lot* of storage space. The largest I have seen was 100GB. Disadvantage is that it is shaped like 1/2 of a brick. http://xclef.com/pro03_e.htm This is the up to, apparently, 137GB model. -Nick

see here.

I second that. I bought a second gen iPod as soon as they were released (they finally had Windows support then). I personally thought they were pretty cool looking and functional. Also, quite compact.

The previous MP3 players I've tried (the old Creative Nomad anyone?) were garbage compared to this thing. Apple simply got it right.

I have been thinking about purchasing a new mp3 player (for reasons involving lack of space and battery issues... I know, there are places to fix your battery.) and was thinking about something like iRiver makes. Unfortunately, they are ugly as sin and the navigation isn't as easy compared to the iPod.

That said, when this thing officially dies, I will probably get another iPod. They just work. (Though I do wish for gapless playback and crossfading, but that isn't that big of a deal for me).

How would the iRiver iFP-799 and iFP-899 compare to the:
- iAudio 5 and U2
- Samsung YP-MT6Z and YP-T6Z
- MPIO FY 400

Using a single device as both a USB key an an MP3 player is convenient.

In a word: I wouldn't worry about it.

Unless they're getting kickbacks from Apple as some other /.ers have suggested.

Bingo! And I am happy to have chosen iRiver H320. It does not lock me down with iTunes, and has more features than iPod. What it lacks is the 'cuteness', and I ain't complaining about that..!

I can fathom why they'd want to make a page like this, but it wouldn't stop anyone from purchasing that ever-so hip iPod/mini/shuffle/gumstick.

Really? Not even point three, "You'll want a display"? How many people would choose an iPod Shuffle over one of these? Note the price difference and the presence of an FM tuner/recorder.

Whats the big deal..,?

http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/ultra/1000/ifp_1 095.aspxHere is one of many such devices (it takes pictures...)

http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/ultra/700/ifp_79 9.aspx Here's another one that is maybe more in the ipod shuffle price range.

http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/ultra/1000/ifp_1 095.aspxHere is one of many such devices (it takes pictures...)

http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/ultra/700/ifp_79 9.aspx Here's another one that is maybe more in the ipod shuffle price range.

What's the difference between this and the old iRiver flash memory devices with a radio?

I'm still trying to figure out what the shuffle has over my iFP-190T aside from a little memory and lack of tuner.

PDA's do it.
iRiver's do it.
iPod's running linux seem to be able to do it.

Stupid hardware crippling! It's pathetic!

This MP3 player from iRiver is also amazingly sleek and sexy, but it costs $150 more than the iShuffle with the same capacity!
How is Apple selling these at such a low price? And will this bring down the price of other flash based players(I imagine it would what with the basic principles of supply and demand)?

...It's because ogg was designed from the get-go to run on PCs and not embedded systems.

So I guess iRiver missed the memo huh? They have support for OGG on almost all of their flash players, and all of their HDD players.

Click here if you doubt.

The MP3 codec was not, in fact designed to run on portable systems, indeed it was never intended to be used separately from the MPEG-1 Video codec at all! Fraunhofer IIs simply came up with an audio codec that would pair well with MPEG's high-level video compression, someone figured out how to separate the stream into its own file, WinAmp came along, and presto, new music format.

In fact, because of its kludgy origin, the MP3 spec lacks many features that would make life easier, including (exemplia gratis) a proper indexing system--hence the seeking weirdness and sometimes fugly playback that plagues VBR-MP3 files.

The OGG container-file format and Vorbis encoder were designed to address these issues, as well as to provide a Free (speech & beer) and Open alternative to MP3, which is after all, property of Fraunhofer IIs.

OGG's non-popularity as a music format is attributable to two things:

1. obscurity, and
2. the "good enough" factor.

As a FOSS-developed format, OGG hasn't got the corporate backing (and advertising) that MP3 and WMA/ASF have. Therefore, not many have heard of it, outside of techie circles.

Even beside that, many who do hear of OGG Vorbis will often casually dismiss it, saying "MP3 is good enough for me". A heresy for the /. set, to be sure, but many people simply don't have the time/energy/interest to pursue a better alternative when a functional alternative is staring them in the face.

OGG support is nowhere near as hard to do as you make out, it's simply not done as often. Please do at least a little checking before you post such flamebait. (hint: try looking here or possibly here

iRiver already has 20 GB and 40GB units, the H320 and H340 are the latest ones.

They play MP3, vorbis and a few other formats, have a built in FM radio, can record, can display photos and can play the part of a usb host with any device that's mass storage compatible.

I know I'm quite happy with my H320.

They get what, exactly? I'm not so impressed, though I know a couple of very satisfied owners.

The H320 is cheaper and rocks. It has a 20GB drive, does USBFS on USB2 and plays ogg and other music formats. No pesky software or DRM got in the way of me moving my music onto it. I just made an entry for /dev/sda1 in /etc/fstab, plugged it into my laptop and coppied my music to it with Konqueror by sftp from my cable box. You can find it online for less than $300. Iriver also have a 40 GB model and a smaller 128 to 512 MB models that run off AAA batteries.

Apple may have pegged your demographic, Iriver is what I was looking for. It sounds great and I was willing to pay more to be free of Apple's DRM, regardless of how unintrusive you might think it is. Mine is going to my wife for Christmas and she's very intersted in the being able to show pictures of our three year old. She's also going to like being able to drag and drop her music, but everything we have is already on it.

Other people might appreciate Iriver's ability to record stereo directly to compressed format. Many cool concerts are going to be preserved with these.

Now, if only it played Minidiscs as well.

Well, OS X is FreeBSD based. As for Linux, nobody cares about Linux but ignorant Penguin fucking morons, like yourself, get a real system you loser.

FM Tuner, this is a digital music device, not an outdated Walkman wannabe. Not a real surprise, after all, you think Linux is superior.

Better sound fidelity? Iriver = 20Hz ~ 20KHz and iPod = 20Hz to 20KHz. Where's the difference? In the approximate value shown by the tilde, it means about, which implies that it gets almost 20KHz, but not quite. You try to talk tech to a Linux penguin fucker and this is what you get. Ignorance. AAC and Apple Lossless blow the shit out of WMA and ASIF, you're some sort of retard.

As for driving speakers, these are portable devices, so what the hell are you talking about? You want to drive speakers, you buy powered ones and there's no difference there either. So stupid.

Get your head out of the penguin's ass and have a look around, dumbass.

The "MP3-players" that play the most formats are the most useful to users, because users can download/obtain/burn music in many formats. I think the iRiver H340 is a great MP3 player because it can play MP3, WMA, ASF, and (most importantly) OGG music files.

You are wrong about the iRiver only having "Free Mode" as you call it. This comes right from the iRiver website:

Q. Why can't I upload my MP3 / WMA files from my iFP player?

A. Due to copyright protection laws that apply towards our technology, media files (MP3 / WMA files) cannot be uploaded from an iFP player to a PC. All other non-media files (documents, images, etc.) can be uploaded to a PC from the iFP player.

This seems more like your "Big Brother" mode to me.

LOL, I like the iRiver's "news" page.

I just see their marketing team: "What's the best way to sell these? Get them in pictures with as much cleavage as possible!"

I believe "apple fans" have a reason to fear iRiver and the Nomad Zen more then this.
since IMNSHO both of these give you far better bang for your buck, not to mention the iRiver has more features.

Just my two cents really.

iRiver H340 is what you are looking for. Unfortunately, the US version does not have USB-on-the-go feature for some reason. As a satisfied owner of H120, there are other features that iPod does not have but that has been discussed in detail before.

From iRiver's website (I suspect they're a reputable source):

# Plays over 600 hours of digital music*
# Up to 16 hours of battery life
# Supports MP3, WMA, ASF, WAV and OGG music files
# Ultra-fast USB 2.0 transfers (up to 40 times faster than USB 1.0)
# Integrated FM tuner
# Backlit remote control with 4-line display
# Built-in voice recorder
# Intuitive music navigation
# Real-time MP3 encoding (no PC required)
# 20GB of internal storage
# Store or transfer files of any type
# Extra-large, 8-line, backlit LCD
# Rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery
# Optical input and output
# Upgradeable to future formats and features

How about the iRiver iHP340, which acts as a USB host so you can download from your camera, AND plays Ogg:
http://www.iriveramerica.com/products/H340.aspx

Backlit remote control with 4-line display

iRiver earphones

Carrying case

Installation software CD

AC adapter

USB 2.0 cable

Line-in cable

External microphone

Printed user manual
H340
packed with:

iRiver earphones

Carrying case

USB 2.0 cable

Audio line-in cable

Installation CD

AC adapter

another source: click

Also lets you view jpegs and bmp's and also supports OGG as well!

Having owned my iRiver for a while now I can say that there really isn't a place for lossless on a 20GB portable device--there just isn't the room for it. I have over 50GB of compressed music so space on my player is at a premium. Anyway, Ogg at the bitrate I use (256k, q8) is transparent to my ears so there is no advantage to FLAC.

After reading the "review" I'm quite glad I didn't end up buying the Karma.

The iRiver iFP-700 series flash-based MP3 players include an FM recorder function that can scheduled. The caveat is that it can presently handle just ONE station/time, so you can set it to record every Saturday at 6pm for an hour or whatever.

But you don't need your computer on (which I think you do with RadioSHARK but I RTFA and it didn't say), so no transferring to another device is necessary. It can record to your choice of MP3 bitrate and sampling rate.

Doesn't the iRiver already do this?

From the article:

The new iPod...will pack Toshiba's new 60GB 1.8-inch hard drive, a 2-inch color liquid crystal display

form factor will be identical to the existing 4G iPods...will be two millimeters thicker than the current 40GB iPod

The H320 also downloads directly from digital cameras without a PC.

Yet I bet Mac-addicts are already swooning over Apple's "innovation" on this one.

When I was looking for a 40GB player (yes, my music collection plus use as a portable HDD necessitates 40GB for me), I could find quite a few local places that had the iHP-120, but no one who had the iHP-140. Heck, it was even a pain finding any online store in Canada that had it.

I ended up buying an iPod since I could have it in my hands right when I purchased it, get a student discount and not have to pay any shipping.

I agree.

Atleast they could mention that there are several NON MICROSOFT portable media players out there too:

Iriver pmp-120

Archos gmini400

When you have several articles touting A less featured microsoft/creative model without mentioning alternatives, sounds like advertisizing indeed.

http://www.iriveramerica.com/products/pmp-120.aspx
Here you go :) A list of video codecs that it supports (from the site): DivX 3.11, 4.0, 5.x, XviD, ISO MPEG-4 SP