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Direct link.

You can get there by going to the iFP support page. There is a link at the bottom. It's in the same place as the link for the PC version under "Software Downloads". Oh, and by the way, they do have a Mac OS 9 version.

• Built-in FM Tuner: the Archos doesn't have one and I enjoy listening to Lex & Terry in the mornings;
• Portability: my Archos is big &amp heavy, although it didn't feel like that two years ago when I got it ;) These would easily fit in your pocket. And I don't really need 6GB of music with me everywhere I go - 256MB would be just fine;
• Battery life: When using new rechargeables, I can get 8 hours with my jukebox but after awhile, it goes down to 3. These take a standard AA battery and can play up to 24 hours (claimed);
• USB Flash Drive: these flash players and my Archos can function as USB hard drives but it's not very often I need to transfer more than 256MB.

All that said, the two reasons why I haven't bought one yet are price and USB 1.1. While the 128MB models can be had for $99, the 256MB are usually priced from $150 - $200. For that much money, I can save a little longer and get the iHP-120 HDD player which has everything I want (20GB, FM tuner, reduced form-factor, battery, USB 2.0). And believe me, there is a phenonemal difference between USB 1.1 and 2.0 when transferring files. Just my thoughts.

• Built-in FM Tuner: the Archos doesn't have one and I enjoy listening to Lex & Terry in the mornings;
• Portability: my Archos is big &amp heavy, although it didn't feel like that two years ago when I got it ;) These would easily fit in your pocket. And I don't really need 6GB of music with me everywhere I go - 256MB would be just fine;
• Battery life: When using new rechargeables, I can get 8 hours with my jukebox but after awhile, it goes down to 3. These take a standard AA battery and can play up to 24 hours (claimed);
• USB Flash Drive: these flash players and my Archos can function as USB hard drives but it's not very often I need to transfer more than 256MB.

All that said, the two reasons why I haven't bought one yet are price and USB 1.1. While the 128MB models can be had for $99, the 256MB are usually priced from $150 - $200. For that much money, I can save a little longer and get the iHP-120 HDD player which has everything I want (20GB, FM tuner, reduced form-factor, battery, USB 2.0). And believe me, there is a phenonemal difference between USB 1.1 and 2.0 when transferring files. Just my thoughts.

• Built-in FM Tuner: the Archos doesn't have one and I enjoy listening to Lex & Terry in the mornings;
• Portability: my Archos is big &amp heavy, although it didn't feel like that two years ago when I got it ;) These would easily fit in your pocket. And I don't really need 6GB of music with me everywhere I go - 256MB would be just fine;
• Battery life: When using new rechargeables, I can get 8 hours with my jukebox but after awhile, it goes down to 3. These take a standard AA battery and can play up to 24 hours (claimed);
• USB Flash Drive: these flash players and my Archos can function as USB hard drives but it's not very often I need to transfer more than 256MB.

All that said, the two reasons why I haven't bought one yet are price and USB 1.1. While the 128MB models can be had for $99, the 256MB are usually priced from $150 - $200. For that much money, I can save a little longer and get the iHP-120 HDD player which has everything I want (20GB, FM tuner, reduced form-factor, battery, USB 2.0). And believe me, there is a phenonemal difference between USB 1.1 and 2.0 when transferring files. Just my thoughts.

The iHP-120 looks like a great player, but the only problem with it is that its audio manager is for Windows only (an exe). :(

Please note that iRiver has actually had a multimedia player capable of playing OGG Vorbis files for quite some time now. I refer to their iHP-120, their 20GB hard drive player. Nevertheless, it's nice to see OGG Vorbis support on their flash devices as well now.

how about this ?

Maybe a 'Cornice Storage Element', like the iGP-100?

I'd be tempted to buy one if they only supported Macs (their support page only lists Windows downloads).

I am getting one of their flash based players (the iRiver iFP-180T) for myself [a PC guy] and one for my brother [a Mac guy]. I too was pretty discouraged that they didn't support Mac but after a lot of fruitless Googling, then some more digging on their site I eventually found that they are Mac compatible. The iHP-100 series FAQ is very clear about this, it just not clear why they the FAQ isn't better labelled to indicate it applies to the iHP-120:
"Q. Will the iHP work on a Mac?
A. The iHP is compatible with Mac OS 10.2. When attached, the iHP will display as an icon on the desktop. Open the iHP icon to add files to the player. Note, the DB functions described in the manual are not available at this time, as the index can not be created with Mac OS. This means that Album, Artist, Genre, and Title searching will not be available. ".

The iFP-100 series (the flash players) FAQ is also clear but less so since they directly contradict themselves in two consecutive sentences:
"Q. What operating systems are the iFP-Players compatible with?
A. The iFP-Players are only compatible with Windows 98SE (Second Edition) / Me / 2000 / XP. They are also compatible with Mac versions OS9 and OSX. The iFP-Players cannot be used with Windows NT (NT does not support / recognize USB based devices)."

FWIW, the reason I picked this player is that the flash version not only has the built in voice recorder and FM receiver, it will also record FM directly to memory. I can't count the number of times I've seen people on Slashdot asking for a Tivo like device for FM, well this seems to be the first step toward such a device, though there is no way to automate the process.

As to support for Open OS's, as noted elsewhere, any OS with USB & vfat support can read and write to the flash player just like thumb drive - which was the other significant item on my Xmas list this year. So with one sub-$100 item, I'm all set. The iRiver music management software is only available for Macs and Windows though.

I'd be tempted to buy one if they only supported Macs (their support page only lists Windows downloads).

I am getting one of their flash based players (the iRiver iFP-180T) for myself [a PC guy] and one for my brother [a Mac guy]. I too was pretty discouraged that they didn't support Mac but after a lot of fruitless Googling, then some more digging on their site I eventually found that they are Mac compatible. The iHP-100 series FAQ is very clear about this, it just not clear why they the FAQ isn't better labelled to indicate it applies to the iHP-120:
"Q. Will the iHP work on a Mac?
A. The iHP is compatible with Mac OS 10.2. When attached, the iHP will display as an icon on the desktop. Open the iHP icon to add files to the player. Note, the DB functions described in the manual are not available at this time, as the index can not be created with Mac OS. This means that Album, Artist, Genre, and Title searching will not be available. ".

The iFP-100 series (the flash players) FAQ is also clear but less so since they directly contradict themselves in two consecutive sentences:
"Q. What operating systems are the iFP-Players compatible with?
A. The iFP-Players are only compatible with Windows 98SE (Second Edition) / Me / 2000 / XP. They are also compatible with Mac versions OS9 and OSX. The iFP-Players cannot be used with Windows NT (NT does not support / recognize USB based devices)."

FWIW, the reason I picked this player is that the flash version not only has the built in voice recorder and FM receiver, it will also record FM directly to memory. I can't count the number of times I've seen people on Slashdot asking for a Tivo like device for FM, well this seems to be the first step toward such a device, though there is no way to automate the process.

As to support for Open OS's, as noted elsewhere, any OS with USB & vfat support can read and write to the flash player just like thumb drive - which was the other significant item on my Xmas list this year. So with one sub-$100 item, I'm all set. The iRiver music management software is only available for Macs and Windows though.

I'd be tempted to buy one if they only supported Macs (their support page only lists Windows downloads). Unfortunately, the Rio Karma doesn't natively support Mac either. All I need is an Ogg-supporting player that works on a Mac :).

iRiver has been around even before iPods were introduced, so the name is a not a knockoff. I don't have a lot research to back this up, but according to NYT iPods were introduced in 2001. The iRiver.com domain name was first registered in 1998. Their own website says the company was introduced in 1999 iriver. That's all I'm nitpicking about. :) All other points are valid opinions like you said.

If you're worried about price, why not look at other cheaper options? I have a Creative Zen which was much cheaper than an iPod, with considerably more storage. Also, the iRiver iHP-120 looks amazing. Check around for reviews, and you'll find that both of these products are held in high regard. Don't fall for the Apple hype!

Both players are almost identical in features and capabilities and have received rave reviews from Cnet (Granted, Cnet doesn't carry a lot of weight in these forums, but it was the only review I could find on short notice)

I have the iHP100 with the latest firmware and couldn't be more pleased. The battery lasts the advertised 16 hours, The sound quality is outstanding, the included in-line remote control is the best I have ever seen. iRiver also makes flash based players that either do, or will in the near future, support ogg. If you are looking for quality Ogg vorbis players I suggest you really look at the iRiver product line.

Both players are almost identical in features and capabilities and have received rave reviews from Cnet (Granted, Cnet doesn't carry a lot of weight in these forums, but it was the only review I could find on short notice)

I have the iHP100 with the latest firmware and couldn't be more pleased. The battery lasts the advertised 16 hours, The sound quality is outstanding, the included in-line remote control is the best I have ever seen. iRiver also makes flash based players that either do, or will in the near future, support ogg. If you are looking for quality Ogg vorbis players I suggest you really look at the iRiver product line.

Now, moving on from usability issues and looks, it has some other features that I just couldn't pass up. First, it has an internal mic that can make voice recordings. Secondly, it also has line in and line out ports, that work as optical OR analog. For recording via the input, you can choose to record via an external mic, line in, or optical in. The external mic is a hell of alot hotter than line in, by the way. For all this recording, you can record to wav (optical does 48khz while the rest do 44), or to mp3 that is encoded on the fly, at bitrates ranging from 40kpbs to 320. This sold it for me, as I am an avid show taper (with a pair of clip on mic's and a sony DAT), and this will be fun to play with - I plan to do a double recording sometime to do a comparison of quality between the DAT and iHP-120, but I've already done a test recording at a show and it didnt sound bad at all. My only gripe would have to be that there doesn't appear to be a way to control the level of the line-in, but you CAN adjust the level of the external mic, just not while you are recording. Also, it doesnt show levels so you won't know if it's redlining until you actually listen to it. I'm hoping they might fix this in a firmware update but I'm not very hopeful, although from what my test showed, it might not even be needed.

Anyways, just wanted to chime in, I too think the karma is rather ugly, and the slightly bigger size of the iHP-120 is not a deterrant at all. I guess the only one would be the price - it's around $355 or so, a bit more than the karma but with the extra features, I think it's worth it. It does play OGG's, by the way, and transferring files is painless with USB as the unit shows up as another hard drive connected to your system - you can easily use it as a portable hard drive if you want. There's more reviews around the net if you look, for more indepth information.

"and none of these devices play Oggs, which is a technically supieror format."

How about the iRiver or the Neuros?
They both play ogg.

The reason other manufacturers of HD based players don't get it is because they think they can compete and win on price and features. Which is true, they can do pretty well - but in their desire to push the price down lower than an iPod they end up using cheaper materials which means that what they end up with:

1. Looks cheap and nasty
2. Feels cheap and nasty

For many people, if you're going to pony up several hunded quid for a HD based MP3 player - it better not look like something made by Fischer Price.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, Toshiba might come up with the goods (and also Panasonic, but I can't find the product I was thinking of) ...

What about the iRiver iHP-120?

Now, there are two reasons why it's become this easy: (1) I'm running Mandrake 9.2, which supports all kinda hardware that I previously had to hack together support for, and (2) I've tweaked my fstab so that any old mass-storage device that appears can be mounted at /mnt/usb. Stupid little system tweak, but a Windows convert will not put up with that bit of under-the-hood Unix fun, nor should they have to. It's there for us geeks who like it, but they shouldn't have to see it -- they want things to be three-steps-max easy, right out of the box.

Linux can be that level of easy, but none of the distros are making it happen. You see bits of excellence in different areas in each -- one has a fantastic means of adding a network printer, another has a terrific clone of the Windows Internet Sharing wizard, etc. Nobody's putting it all together in the way it could be put together. One of them will, eventually, of course; it just seems strange that it won't be Red Hat.

How about the iRiver iHP-120? 20GB, and it can act like a storage device. ClubMac has 'em for $349. Seems particularily realistic to me.

Since we are promoting products today, how about we talk about the iRiver iHP-120?

- Smaller than the Dell unit
- 10GB (iHP-100) and 20GB (iHP-120) models
- Same 16 hour rated battery life
- USB Hard drive interface (no MusicMatch crappiness)
- Line In/Out, Digital Optical In/Out
- High end recording features (direct to WAV, MP3)
- Integrated FM Tuner
- Supports MP3, WMA, ASF, WAV and OGG music files
- Cross platform compatibiltiy (anything that can see a USB hard drive will work with the unit)
- 3rd Party *nix development
- $399 MSRP ... currently selling for ~$350

I dunno.. seems like this would be the unit Slashdot would be ga-ga over.. not the Dell unit.

I am not associated with iRiver in anyway ... Just been researching to find a small (iPod size) unit that interfaces as a USB hard drive and has high end recording features (record my band for practices and during live performances) -- so far, this unit seems to be the best there is.

The Player I've been looking at is definately the iRiver IHP-120. It's got an extremely slick chrome and black case, a wired remote, and it plays OGG files. The only thing is that it has a bit of a hefty price tag.

considering that the current 10GB model is $399.99 on the iRiver site and a 20GB iPod can be had for $399 from the Apple store I think it may be hard to compete.

To really get any market share iRiver needs to be priced well under "the world's best MP3 player". The masses don't really care about support for other formats.

Yes, the iRiver iFP-180T can be used as an mp3 player, AM/FM radio, dictation device or USB drive. The 128MB version costs roughly $100US, there are 256 and 512 MB players available. No removable memory though.

Samsung has a similar line: Yepp YP-55I (192MB) or a 256MB model, Yepp YP-55V.

For Smart Media support check out the Yepp YP-700H/XAC.
That's a ted more expensive but hey, you might as well indulge yourself this Christmas! *:o)

1) I'm still partial to these from Iriver (note firmware upgrade to mass-storage device). With either one:

• I have my files, radio and music when I travel.
• I can schlep new MP3's from the home server.
• I can pull some tricks with a loopback device and filesystem in a file to get ext3 support.

3) CD, yes, neat, want one; but not too carry around. It's too damned big. The biggest iRivers are close to CD in MB and you're not schlepping media left and right.

I skate. A LOT. Rollerblading now, but I'm gonna take up boarding one of these days. Street, pipe, vert, whatever. I'm into it all. I have a Samsung Yepp 30SH (128m model) and I listen to it all the time. I generally skate for about 2-3 hours a day (weekdays) with this little beauty going. I would have rather got an iRiver, but it was impossile to get in Canada at the time. I also needed voice recording capabilities for classes. But I must agree, when skiing or snowboarding, the best sounds are what's going on around you. Especially the screams of those around you who don't know what they're doing:-) On the street, though, you get tired of your skates clacking and the pedestrians yelling at you.

pff. iRiver make pretty good little players. Take this one.

512MB, voice & radio recording (selectable bitrate), mp3/wma/asf, just over 1 ounce, general file storage.

I'd worry about them not having a HD based recorder first. "Sexy" though they may be, having to swap flash cards, CDs, or data disks is annoying.

I've had an iRiver iFP-395TC for about three months now ( http://www.iriveramerica.com). It is an 512MB MP3 player with FM receiver/recorder and memo recorder.

The higher end of the iFP line has these features with varying amounts of Flash. Memos and recordings can be uploaded into a PC. It doesn't have a "pause" feature, like you would want on a "PAR". I've been using it to record "The House of Blues" on the weekend and then listen to it at my desk at work.

Nice box and I highly recommend it. Too bad its so hard to find (rumour has it Best Buy stocks different models of the iFP line but I have never seen them in stock). I ended up buying mine directly from iRiver.

myke

Two years later (or a few weeks ago) I picked up a second mp3 CD player, this one rocks and actually works

Two years later (or a few weeks ago) I picked up a second mp3 CD player, this one rocks and actually works

get iRiver IFP-390T player. So small that it fits in palm of your hands, runs on 1 AA battery for over 20 hours, plays MP3 and Windows Media files, and records lectures with direct MP3 encoding. You can also hook up any audio input to it's Line-in and it will directly encode to MP3. It also has built-in FM tuner and recorder.
It also acts as a portable hard disk and can be attached to the keychain.

But best thing is ability to record hours of lectures in MP3 and then move to your computer via USB.

The best thing I bought ever...

IFP-390T Website

User reviews on CNET

Best damn portable music player ever created

Nobody talks about MP3/CD players. My new iRiver SlimX 400 has about 11 and a half hours at 128kbps, with full track titles, 23 hour battery life, and even an FM tuner. Plus if you get bored, you can play snake (nibbles, etc.) on the smart remote it comes with. It's thinner than a AA battery on the side, and looks like 5 CDs stacked on top of one another. Not to mention I don't have to worry about taking an hour of my favorite music, I just burn 700mb at a time and take what I want, where I want. Plus iRiver actually puts a lot of support behind their products, and if you check out the firmware site, they update around every couple months, adding new features, and even increasing batterylife by use of intelligent buffering techniques. Oh... did I mention there's 6 minutes of anti-shock? Hah... GBA audio lame... Overpriced mp3 harddrive players lame... Expensive smart media/flash mp3 players lame...

-prator

For companies to produce portable Vorbis players, they need to be made aware that there is a market for them. Every day, I hear the same thing from Vorbis listeners; 'I'm not buying a hardware portable music player unless it supports Ogg Vorbis.' It's nice to hear, but we can't do anything about it (we're not a hardware company). So, this page is here to let you send that message to people who can. Remember, be polite!

The Companies:

Frontier Labs - URL - has told a lot of people that they're considering implementing Vorbis support for the NEX II machine. Here's their information:

Frontier Labs
Unit 2206 - 8, Cyberincubator, Kodak House II
No. 321 Java Road
North Point, Hong Kong
Telephone: 852.2527.3322
Fax: 852.2528.5277
E-mail: techsupport@frontierlabs.com

iRiver - URL - has said they are planning to support Ogg Vorbis in the future via firmware upgrade, but the schedule is not yet finalized. Here's their information:

iRiver America
1716 Ringwood Avenue
San Jose, CA 95131
Telephone: 1-408-452-7940
Fax: 1-408-452-9944
E-mail: contact@iriveramerica.com

UPDATE: Forwarded E-mail from iRiver America

The engineers have Ogg Vorbis under consideration to support. However, at this time, there is no decision whether it will be supported in the future or not.

Regards,

Erica L. Briggs
Customer Service Representative
iRiver America, Inc.
Direct: 408.452.7940

Wouldn't you like to see Vorbis on the super-sexy iPod? We would, too. Here's some contact information for Apple Computer (URL):

Apple
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
Telephone: 408-996-1010

UPDATE: Don't forget to drop a note to Apple about the iPod at http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipod.html!

Other companies producing audio hardware:

Archos Technology Inc. - URL
3-A Goodyear
Irvine, CA 92618
Telephone: (949) 609-1400
Fax: (949) 609-1414

ReQuest Multimedia - URL
435 2nd Ave.
Troy, NY 12182
E-mail: bizdev@request.com

Evolution Technologies - URL
118 Kitty Hawk Drive
Morrisville, NC 27560
Telephone: 919-544-3777 / toll-free: 866-848-8070
E-mail: info@nowevolution.com

UPDATE: Note from Evolution Technologies

Evolution Technologies, Inc. is committed to support our consumers music appetite. We will support the formats that are consistent with both their desires and good business practices. While we have not ruled out supporting "open source" formats, we must first evaluate the acceptance levels with the buying public so that our organization can justify the expense of developing a new compatible CODEC. When the demand is sufficient, we will support the technology.

Sonic Blue - URL
2841 Mission College Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95054-1838
Telephone: (408) 588-8000

I-Jam Multimedia LLC - URL
1092 National Parkway
Schaumburg, IL 60173
Telephone: 847-839-1233
Fax: 847-839-1277
E-mail: ehamnett@geltzerpr.com

Alaris, Inc. - URL
44061 Nobel Drive
Fremont, CA 94538

Creative Labs, Inc. - URL
Developer Relations
1901 McCarthy Blvd.
Milpitas, California 95035
Telephone: 408-546-6425
Fax: 408-432-6717
E-mail: devmusic@creativelabs.com

Daisy Technology, LLC - URL
111 N. Market Street, Suite 624
San Jose, CA 95113
Telephone: 408-286-7697
Fax: 408-351-3330
E-mail: info@daisytech-usa.com

Procell Media - URL
69 Wrexham Road
Whitchurch, Shropshire
SY13 1HT
UNITED KINGDOM
Telephone: +44 (0)1948 665048
Fax: +44 (0)1948 667099

G-NET Canada Headquarters - URL
11 Sinclair Court
Cambridge, Ontario
N1T 1K2 CANADA
Telephone: 519-623-4901
Fax: 519-623-3229

My wife owns an iRiver SlimX, and when we showed it off to one of my ogg-loving friends, he immediately emailed them and asked about future ogg support (for those who don't know, iRiver releases frequent firmware updates based on user suggestions). Their reply was that they were already considering ogg, and support would most likely be in one of the next major firmware releases (unfortunately, a major release could be awhile). So, there may yet be hope.

• It's the thinnest mp3 cd player out there (it uses those gum-stick batteries seen in minidisk players)
• Firmware Flashable
• Supports ID3 tags
• MP3, AAC, and WMF format compatible (I believe OGG format is in the works, it'e mentioned manual)
• Backlit in-line remote (like minidisk players again)
• user definable EQ, with like 5 presets
• AC adapter, external battery pack, and it charges it's batteries when you tell it to when it's connected to AC.
• It supports both Rockridge extensions, and M$'s Joliet. I have long filenames on my cds, and they all work perfectly (unlike the other piece of plastic shit I purchased off Spamazon for $160 two years ago)
• AAAAANNND, a built in FM tuner with presets

Now if only my MP3/CD Player, one from iRiver, would support Ogg anytime soon I could have a complete solution.

iPAQ. Zaurus. Oh sorry, thats two.

Well unless I can get 10-15 Hours on 2 AA's in an Ipaq or Zaurus, I would not consider that an option. However -- If I could get OGG support for my Nex II or my ChromeX then I will be ripping my CD's to ogg yesterday. Until then I don't want to be tied down to my computer --- or limited to listening to music on a $500+ PDA that eats batteries for breakfast.

Sorry in advance... another product plug :P.

Something interesting for those who like the RioVolt player (or the AVC Soul) is a little-known company called iRiver, who actually designed the latter two, and only recently started to distribute their products in N.A..

Their ChromeX (iMP 150) is *identical* to the other 2 players mentioned above, and comes with that neat external lcd controller, whereas SonicBlue will ask another $20 for it. Their SlimX (iMP 350), OTOH, simply is awesome! I own one and I must say it is the best MP3/CD player I have tried (I also use the SMC-based MPio DMG when I'm at the gym though, due its smaller (2" x 2") size.